Memes / The Avengers (2012)

Someone please stop the pain ^* And yes, this is Kevin Feige's favorite MCU meme.

Hill: When did you become an expert in meme generation?
Tony: Last night.

Return to the main Marvel Cinematic Universe meme page here.

Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. ^Explanation The explanation behind the meme.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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• Captain America's line "I understood that reference" is often posted in online discussions as a reply to a cultural reference that says "I see what you did there". ^note  Frozen for seventy years, Steve Rogers is a Fish out of Temporal Water, which is especially clear when Tony Stark makes several pop-culture references. When Nick Fury refers to the "flying monkeys" from The Wizard of Oz, Steve seems inordinately pleased to hear something he can relate to.
  • "I understood that reference" memes usually get a response of an image of Tony Stark rolling his eyes. Which is how Stark responded to Cap's comment in the movie. The opposite response "I don't understand that reference" is also fairly popular, usually accompanied with a picture of Cap in confused or saddened face.
• "That's my secret. I'm always ____." An Image Macro of Bruce Banner saying this line (with the end changed for the poster's point; "drunk", "hungover", "horny", or whatever.)
• Loki calling Black Widow a "mewling quim". It's produced some interesting◊ reactions◊, to say the least.
• The phrase "enormous green rage monster" to describe the Hulk.
• Although Spider-Man was never really a core member of the Avengers in the comics until the last decade, his absence from the movie has become so widely discussed and debated that it's a frequent subject of jokes, to the point that both Chris Hemsworth (with Chris Evans agreeing with him) and The Amazing Spider-Man's star Andrew Garfield and director Marc Webb have expressed their desire to see Spidey in sequels. Sure enough, in February 2015, it was announced that Spider-Man is finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Marvel Studios struck a deal with Sony. Unfortunately for them, the Amazing Spider-Man franchise has been completely abandoned and Webb and Garfield are no longer involved.
• #CoulsonLives, referencing He's Just Hiding because of Coulson's huge popularity. This meme got so huge it spawned an entire TV show.
• Not all Marvel fans actually know Galaga and thus they don't really realize the scene when Tony calls out on a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for playing Galaga is related to the scene where said agent is actually shown playing it. So, if there are viewers who innocently ask out loud like this: "What video game is that man playing?", expect an answer like this: "That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did!" "They thought we wouldn't notice, but we did!" is also used as a respond to various (and especially very hidden) Easter Eggs in any media franchise, particularly those which related to Marvel.
• "How does ___ even ___ this?"
  "He turns."
  "Sounds exhausting!" ^note Tony Stark, in his usual snarky habit, covers an eye with his hand to imitate Fury's eyepatch and sarcastically asks how Fury can even see these two monitors (with only one eye). Maria, doesn't buy his snark, responds kindly with the obvious answer that Fury simply turns. Then Tony comments with "Sounds exhausting!" to dramatically make it seem it was a big deal.
• "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
  "Last night."
• The brief discussion about Budapest between Black Widow and Hawkeye has hatched ridiculously many fan theories.
• Fury's quote "I understand the council has made a decision but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it" is often used by people in various fandoms to express distaste for Canon and preference for Fanon.
• The "Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist" scene. This is the scene that spawns the entire Tony/Cap arguing meme of Captain America: Civil War.
  • Following this film, The Other Wiki always describes Tony as "a self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist" in the cast list of any MCU movie he shows up in.
• "You people are so petty... and tiny."
• Hulk punching Thor.
• "Puny god," and related images.^Explanation The Hulk's Bond One-Liner after trashing Loki in about five seconds flat, arguably the most memorable shot of the whole film.
• The scene wherein the Hulk turns around, the camera cuts to Captain America and tells him to "Smash." and then the Hulk grins back is infamous on Imgur for a different reason — someone edited it so instead of cutting to Captain America, it cuts to Black Widow and after the Hulk grins, an edited pornographic scene appears. Imgur knows it as "The GIF", and any mention of it is bound to include commenters mourning a username-less post with the words [deleted] in the comment, because an individual was banned for posting pornographic content.
• His first name is "Agent".^Explanation Stark's response to Pepper being on a First-Name Basis when Stark himself was not.
  • Why is he Phil?

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Steve: I did, I understood that meme.