The Hitman series is a Stealth-Based Game franchise that's full of memes and in-jokes, here's a list of them.
Please add entries in the following format:
- The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] Explanation Like this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
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Codename 47
- "HE'S PACKING!"
Explanation Guards in Codename 47 say this when you point a gun at them. The odd pronunciation gave way to it becoming a meme.- "This guy is LOADED!" Explanation Similar to the above, with the same odd pronunciation.
- I need to use the bathroom!Explanation One of 47's first lines in the entire series, infamous among fans for its awkward delivery, and for just being a weird line for a hired assassin to say in general conversation. For some context, 47 is trying to pull a Corleone. and get a pre-placed gun from a restaurant's restroom. IOI have a lot of fun referencing this odd line as it's referenced in later games and media. In Hitman (2016), it's an Easter Egg in Hokkaido's bathrooms, and in Hitman 2, the odd pronunciation appears in Whittleton Creek when 47 is showing off a house disguised as a realtor. In Hitman 3, the unlockable Codename 47 suit (a literal low-poly 47 model) has some of the Flavor Text of "The perfect suit for when you need to use the bathroom". The Dev blog for the 20th anniversary for Hitman also has an image of 47 as a detective, with the filename also referencing the meme; "20_years_and_he_still_needs_to_use_the_bathroom"◊
- "Hola, honcho! Say hello to my little friend!" Explanation Pablo's opening line to 47 when he enters his office. The over the top accent and on the nose Tony Montana reference made it quite quotable.
Silent Assassin
- "Stop it! STOP IT!"Explanation The ninjas in the Japan missions would shout this in Japanese upon seeing 47. Thanks to how twitchy the guards in those particular levels are, you'll be hearing this a lot.
- "What? A gaijin here?" Explanation Also said by the ninjas, this time when they discover that 47 isn't one of them, despite him wearing the same face-concealing mask as them.
Contracts
- "You know the procedure. I now feel your flesh."Explanation The bouncers at the Meat King's party say this in Romanian before frisking 47. The rather monotone way the line is said sells it.
- "Getting tired of this place..."Explanation 47 says this at the beginning of "Rendezvous in Rotterdam". Often used to express annoyance.
- "I AM IMMORTAL!"Explanation "Immortal" by Clutch plays in the biker club in the aforementioned level, and was picked up by fans.
Blood Money
- Allan, Please add details.Explanation A note from one of the developers from IOI that was left in the game on a crate of lobster by complete accident. The Allan in question is former IOI 3D Artist "Allan Hansen", and has remained one of the more persistant jokes in the Hitman community. It appears in every game afterwards as a series in-joke. In 2016 it can be found on computer post-it notes, in Absolution, it can be found by getting the score of 666 at the shooting range, while in Hitman 2, it's in one of the briefings, written on a neon sign. Became an Ascended Meme in the remasters, as the first remaster changes it to "Any details yet, Allan?", and the Reprisal remaster changes it to "Seriously Allan, It's been seventeen years, Any details yet...?"
- "Lots of Hummus".Explanation A mutation of the Latin lyrics heard in the music track: "Apocalypse"
- "Get lost, chumley!"Explanation Guards would yell this at 47 if they spotted him trespassing. The repeated use made it into a meme.
- "This is a very large casino."Explanation Sheik Al-Khalifa says this repeatedly to 47 while the latter is disguised as Hendrik Schmutz in "A House of Cards". Made all the more amusing by 47's deadpan reaction and the fact that the "casino" is just a bunch of slot machines.
Absolution
- Cancer GuyExplanation The Fan Nickname for a guard you encounter at the start of the tutorial level, where 47 can ruin his day by throwing him out of the window.The name comes from his dialog, where his doctor confirms he doesn't have prostate cancer, and mentions that "nothing can ruin this day!"
- "Yee-ha! Lemme tell ya, I don't ordinarily yee-ha. But that was a fuckin' yee-ha! Fuckin' Christmas!"Explanation Blake Dexter excitedly exclaims this upon realising that he's come face to face with 47 himself. The over the top, Ham and Cheese way he delivers the line so clashes against the established tone of the series that it became rather emblematic of Absolution's grindhouse, B-movie atmosphere.
Hitman (2016)
- Gloves (or rather, the lack of them).Explanation They tend to be referenced a lot by both fans and devs alike.
- The Blackballer.Explanation The ICA19 pistol quickly gained the nickname of "Blackballer" among fans, especially in previews for the game, as the gun was essentially a black variant of 47's Silverballer. It became an Ascended Meme in Hitman 3 as Joanne Bayswater (an Elusive Target that was clearly designed to be a mocking Foil of 47 and Diana) wields this in her Elusive Target briefing)
- "Welcome to [location], 47. (facts about location and current target situation and routine). Good luck, 47".Explanation Some variation of this sentence structure is used in Diana's mission briefing, as well as when you start the level. Diana's briefing style is frequently emulated by the devs and players alike when making briefings for Contracts Mode, with the goal of making it read and sound like Diana wrote them to 47.
- "THAT is (target name), (optional snide comment).Explanation Diana's tendency to announce when you've spotted a target by emphasizing THAT. She did this most famously in Paris with Viktor Novikov ("THAT is Viktor Novikov. Head of Sanguine, and Ringleader of IAGO. Quite the résumé."), where it became a colossal meme. In Hitman 2, the devs did initially try to avoid this (all the callouts in Santa Fortuna do not place emphasis on the word), but later levels turn her into The Snark Knight whenever a target is in her line of sight. Became an Ascended Meme as "The Last Resort", "A Bitter Pill" and "A Silver Tongue" all have her target identification quips starts with an uppercase "THAT".
- Ethers Field Lab, you made it! The virus prototype should be close by; Look for some kind of quarantine unit.Explanation Diana's response to players entering the field lab underneath Villa Caruso in "World of Tomorrow". On repeated playthroughs however, it comes off as Diana being totally blind to the otherwise very large quarantine bay setup in the cave.
- Whacking the Chef in "Freeform Training" with a wrench.Explanation The aforementioned Chef is used as an easy, scripted way to navigate to a boat's restricted area. What IOI didn't account for is the prevalence of this technique. Became an Ascended Meme in Hitman 2 onward where they acknowledged this meta with the Chef now wearing a bandage around his ear and head.
- Sad ViktorExplanation An image of Viktor Novikov from the Paris end cinematic in 2016 often used to show sadness or disapproval at a situation.
- Jack Please.Explanation At the end of the "Welcome to Sapienza" trailer, 47 asks for the check from the waiter outside the ice cream shop in Sapienza. It lead to people hearing it as "Jack Please". Became an Ascended Meme, as IOI made "Jack Please" the name for the waiter, as seen in Contracts Mode.
- "You made it! Most Impressive 47!".Explanation Entering the car park or Moroccan consulate in Marrakesh's "A Gilded Cage" causes Diana to say this one-liner in a congratulatory fashion. However, it used to play every time you did this, and became instantly quotable, and soon comes of as if Diana is being sarcastic toward 47.
- Much of the random NPC dialog you hear in a level comes off as this due to sheer repetition:
- ROCCO! Explanation In Hitman (2016), Craig "Rocco" McVeigh is a newly hired kitchen hand at Villa Caruso. At the start of the mission, his sister Claudia, a maid at Villa Caruso who personally recommended him to Chef Marcello, shouts at him to get down and get to work. Fans liked his relaxed personality and made him a meme due to his repetitive voice lines being a laugh to listen to.
- CARPETS! Explanation There are tons of merchants in the Marrakesh missions, who irritatingly follow you around hawking their products.
- No, but he is capitalism! Explanation A conversation between a pair of NPC's in Marrekesh that gets activated when you go past them. They're talking about Strandberg and how he is the epitome of capitalism, and when one of them denies wanting materialistic things, the other calls BS and claims otherwise.
- Massage expert, Konny Engstrom, report to the reception desk. Explanation As with KAI below, the receptionist in the Marrekesh consulate is on the tannoy announcing the in-house masseur to meet up with her. Naturally, this gets heard quite often by the player.
- MR. JASON PORTMANExplanation KAI, the AI that runs the GAMA facility, speaks in a semi-robotic voice, and part of the level has her announce to the titular Jason Portman of his checkup.
- So you're the Curator's research aide, right?Explanation A conversation between two morgue doctors that plays every time you pick the starting location of 47 hiding in the morgue.
- Corrupting the phrase "Hitman: Enter a World of Assassination" into portmanteaus to make other sentences like "Hi World" or IT Man◊.
- Gelato lady. Explanation In "World of Tomorrow", a customer at the gelato café blathers on what flavor of ice cream to get, often repeating her love for the color pink. In March 2021, videos started emerging on the Hitman Reddit of killing the lady in various ways simply for being annoying.
- "Target down. Well done, 47." and its variations. Explanation Added as a humorous caption to real situations — typically someone suffering a bizarre accident or in response to an unusual situation (e.g. a video which makes no sense without context).
Hitman 2
- Anything the Ghost Mode announcer said.Explanation The female announcer from Ghost Mode said things in a very stilted voice, and had some amusing announcer lines that got repeated quite often. If your opponent wasn't doing that well and kept killing NPCs and guards while you were in the lead, the Announcer made sure to remind you of this every time they killed yet another NPC. The meme died when Ghost mode was shut down.
- This gif of 47 clapping◊ Explanation Ghost Mode added a bunch of emotes to the game, and one of which was of 47 clapping while leaning back. It's either used to convey sarcasm, or to praise a good decision.
- The Slow Homing briefcaseExplanation The Briefcases travel time was initially far too slow, and became memetic because of it, but was tweaked four months into 2019 to stop it looking silly. For example, the following kill in Haven Island against Steven Bradley saw videos of the briefcase going viral. Later became an Ascended Meme with the release of the ICA Executive Briefcase MK.II, which restores the slow homing speed.
- IT'S ORSON! OR-SON!Explanation Orson Mills in Hitman 2 is made fun of by everyone because of how incredibly pathetic he comes off as, to the point even the developers call him Alma's nickname of "Sean 2".
- Killing Mark Faba for good explanation People taking it upon themselves to kill Mark Faba for good (case in point...) after his re-run in Miami. Given Mark Faba being played and voice by Sean Bean...
- "The Signature MKII Look"Explanation The addition of MK.II Items into the game, which are statistically identical weapons from 2016, only with a small red "2" sticker on the side of the weapon/ device. It became a running meme in the community to call anything remotely similar (suits, weapons etc.) the "MK II" version of said thing. Became an Ascended Meme with the release of the ICA Exectutive Briefcase MK.II, a MK II variant of the Gold Editions' Briefcase unlock. This MK.II version has a massive worn out "2" sticker on side of the briefcase, and also has slow homing properties, as noted above. Steam also has a MK.II Emoji, added at a similar time. Hitman 3 averts this by making the MK III weapons actually look different to older unlocks. The Trinity Pack suits also mention containing "MK II Variants", which makes fun of this meme.
- Fanart of Dawood Rangan.Explanation Dawood's silly demeanor made him a meme overnight with art of him being posted on the subreddit, which conveniently mirrors how much art he has of himself in his Rangan tower
- Taking the Sawed-Off Shotgun in the Primary Slot.Explanation A quirk in the games' code as to how it applies concealable weapons causes 47 to wield the otherwise-concealable 12G shotgun if he's not carrying anything else. The result is 47 entering the level with a shotgun in tow, and immediately getting into a firefight. This most famously happened in Paris, where the scripted intro shows the guards being pretty OK with you waving a shotgun in their face. It was patched out two patches later, so the shotgun could only be placed in the secondary slots, but the bug still works if you have your loadout saved prior to the update, and it'll even work in Hitman 3 if you do the save transfer from the former into the latter!.
- "This is one of the Mumbai Chawls 47."Explanation Diana exclaiming this every time you enter the Chawls in Mumbai. As with the other Diana memes, it got toned down to not be heard as much.
- This gif of 47 in a Miami food vendor outfit using a shotgun and blasting a guard through a pair of double doors.Explanation IOI's twitter posted the gif when advertising "The Unpalatable Termination" escalation for Miami. They also kept posting it every time they advertised it.
Hitman 3
- Marcus Stuyvesant's outfit.Explanation Unlike the formally-dressed Ingram and Carlisle, Stuyvesant opts for a Paper-Thin Disguise consisting of a golfer's hat, Cool Shades, a white and blue short-sleeved shirt, and open-toed sandals. When he was first revealed, many poked fun of the goofy outfit for making him unrecognizable, with some believing he was a bodyguard or Ingram's son.
- a; The Secretary of StateExplanation In "The Farewell", one of the party attendees talks about having been scouted by Providence into doing several jobs, eventually landing the aforementioned role. Marking him as a target in Contracts Mode caused his name to be listed as "a". Many were quick to joke about his name being the result of Allan yet again missing details, or trying to justify it as being his actual name. There was also another woman called "w" on the map. The names got changed, and the meme got put to rest in May 2022's Patch 3.110 update, one year and four months after release.
- The Tactical TurtleneckExplanation A crossover meme with Archer, for all intents and purposes. After the February 2021's 3.11 patch, completing "The Final Test" will reward you with the "Tactical Turtleneck", a black-blue-ish turtleneck and cargo jeans ensemble. This shares its name with the turtleneck ensemble Archer wears and dubs it "The Tactical Turtleneck" when talking to Lana. It was even picked up on the subreddit for that series, and searching for the Tactical Turtleneck on Youtube will give you results for both Archer and Hitman.
- Potential Lust outfitsExplanation When the Seven Deadly Sins expansion pack was revealed, many were quick to joke about what the outfit for Lust could be, including 47 in nothing but underwear or having a mosaic bar around his groin. Thankfully (or sadly, depending on your perspective) nothing of the sort happened, with the released suit being a rather nice red fleur-de-lis pattered jacket with rolled up sleeves and sunglasses.
- The Ducky GunExplanation The reveal of the ICA 19 F/A Stealth "Ducky" Edition pistol lead to the rise of Memetic Mutation of duck-related names and puns, such as "Quackshot", "Duckballer" and simply "Ducky Gun". Similar memes occurred when the Ducky rifle was also made an unlock. Became an Ascended Meme in May 2022's Patch 3.110, which added an actual Ducky Gun as an unlock for Elusive Target Arcade (a reskin of the Compact 5mm, but with duck sounds when you shoot).
- Hey! ...Listen!Explanation In Chongqing, activating a specific conversation will eventually cause an NPC's voice line to be heard level-wide; a very loud "Hey!...Listen!" due to an oversight in how it handles the volume for that one voice line. It being an almost identical quote from the already legendarily-annoying Navi (itself a meme in its own right) from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time probably helped with this meme's popularity.
- People strangling targets and unfortunate civilians in VR, often with hilarious results.
- "It's the thing that gets you to the thing".Explanation This odd line is said in the "Agent of Change" cutscene before "The Farewell", with Edward mentioning to Diana that "Power is a tool Miss Burnwood, it's the thing that gets you to the thing", which is a really strangely phrased line that's since been frequently mocked in the fanbase. It's either a piece of Narm that ruins the Constant's serious tone, or is some Narm Charm that makes him sound threatening, depending on who you ask.
- 47 not being able to touch grassExplanation In Freelancer, it takes until Mastery 12 to open up the outside area of the safehouse, with fans pointing out how strange and amusing it is for 47 to not be able to "touch grass" (a gaming slang term for going outside) until several hours into the mode.
