Baron Zemo: It is a masterpiece, James. Complete. Comprehensive. It captures the TV Tropes meme page experience.
Sam Wilson: He's out of line, but he's right!
Memes found in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
- "He didn't move his seat up." ExplanationThe 2021 Super Bowl trailer has a counselor ask Bucky why Sam aggravates him and fans recall this hilarious moment from Captain America: Civil War. When this is given a Call-Back in Episode 3, fans immediately latched onto it.
- Many fans immediately would've had Bucky answer the counselor's question of "How old are you?" with such lines as "Over 100" or "Old enough to have dated your grandma once".
- "This is just Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan being themselves." ExplanationSam and Bucky's chemistry is so indistinct from Mackie and Stan's usual behind-the-scenes shenanigans that fans like to joke that Marvel just filmed the two going about their day while dressed as their characters. Stan's joke in a featurette about their Vitriolic Best Buds relationship led to even more jokes about how the series is just Mackie and Stan trying to get each other killed on camera.
- Fans will jokingly describe this series as a reunion between Steve Rogers' various exes, sometimes with the further joke that they've decided to get with each other now that the man himself is gone. ExplanationSam and Bucky were nicknamed "Cap's two girlfriends
" during production for Civil War, and Sharon was his official love interest in that film. - "Carl Fredricksen/Casey Neistat is the new Captain America." ExplanationWalker's extremely square jaw, especially accentuated while wearing Cap's mask, got a lot of comparisons to the Up character as well as the vlogger Casey Neistat.
- #NotMyCap ExplanationThe internet took an immediate dislike to John Walker as the new "Captain America", especially compared to Sam or Steve Rogers, resulting in the hashtag. Ironically, the hashtag was used in the comics...to disparage Sam.
- "They recast Captain America?!" ExplanationAnother common reaction to the new "Captain America" has been to take the scene in WandaVision where Darcy Lewis reacts to Evan Peters Pietro and caption it like she's reacting to Walker's debut.
- [X] is Mephisto ExplanationA parody of Epileptic Trees in general and those surrounding WandaVision in specific (as it had ended only a few weeks earlier and had frequent speculation that Mephisto was secretly either the Big Bad or Greater-Scope Villain due to false rumors about him appearing). Some of these jokes include Insane Troll Logic that "justifies" the accusation.
- Quite a few fans darkly joked that banks insisting that being wiped from existence for five years is in no way a valid excuse for not having any income during that time is the most realistic thing that's ever happened in the franchise. (The actual reason banks would take this stance is to prevent fraud from people lying about being "blipped", even though this can screw over those who actually were...)
- Comparing two different products to each other using John and Steve, with John being the cheap knock-off/"inferior" product and Steve as the better product. Case in point.
- Lots of people have noted that the scene in the beginning of "Power Broker", where Bucky and Sam point at Zemo and tell him to shut up looks a lot like the "woman pointing at cat" meme, leading to lots of edits and even fanart of the scene.
- Zemo's bad dancing in "Power Broker" quickly became a popular GIF, with many comparing him to Emo Peter's infamous dance moves in Spider-Man 3. When fans learned that a longer version of the scene was cut from the episode, they immediately got #ReleaseTheZemoCut notea spoof of "Release the Snyder Cut" trending on Twitter due to high demand. Marvel, of course, obliged. Now an hour-long.
- "It is a masterpiece, James. Complete. Comprehensive." Explanation Zemo says this to Bucky after he dismisses Sam's obvious passion for Marvin Gaye's Troubleman soundtrack. Fans have taken to using this to describe something of incredibly fine or high quality, such as the aforementioned hour-long cut of Zemo dancing.
- Zack Snyder's Captain America.note A description commonly attached to images of John Walker's brutal murder of a Flag Smasher, meant to mock perceptions of Snyder's superhero movies as overly dark and edgy. The image is often in grayscale.
- "He's out of line, but he's right," as Falcon's response to Zemo saying something true but improper or unpopular to say, has become an exploitable image pair, similar to "Why would you say something so controversial and yet so brave?"
- Just a couple of guys being dudesnote In "Truth", Sam and Bucky, describe themselves (among other similar descriptors) as "a couple of guys with a mutual friend". This led to many people noticing its similarity to this vine (mildly NSFW warning)
- Cool Gay Uncle BuckyEnding spoilersPutting Bucky's reputation for being an Ambiguously Bi Ho Yay magnet aside, the show's closing scene has him arrive to Sam's party in very hammy fashion in a stylish outfit and sunglasses before goofing off with Sam's nephews. Many viewers saw his behavior and appearance as reminiscent of the common family gathering stereotype of the fun rich Camp Gay Cool Uncle from out of town.
- "*laughing nervously* What the fuck?"ExplanationJulia Louis-Dreyfus' Unexpected Character appearance has prompted this reaction meme of her from Veep.
- My Name is BuckyExplanation Bucky's plotline concerning his list of amends drew comparisons to Earl Hickey's list of misdeeds.
- Ayo is not Okoye.ExplanationAfter Okoye (Danai Gurira) was confirmed to appear in the Disney+ series about Wakanda, numerous entertainment journalists stuck their foot in their mouth by saying she'd last been seen in this show, mixing her up with Ayo (Florence Kasumba).
- Sam and Bucky repairing the boat while [X event is happening].ExplanationFans noted the relative mundanity of the events of this show relative to other Phase 4 works set in the same timeframe, such as the Eternals, WandaVision, and Shang Chi, with memes emphasizing how while everyone else was fighting to protect the world from destruction, Sam and Bucky are just having a good time.
- "She took my arm, I don't know how it happened!" ExplanationThe scene of Ayo deactivating Bucky's Vibranium arm, followed by his bewildered look at her, had several edits synching these lyrics to the moment.
- "We can do better."ExplanationThe climax sees Falcon, now the new Captain America, giving a Patrick Stewart Speech to the GRC senators about the oppressive legislation they're implementing, with many viewers finding it extremely Narmy and Anvilicious, particularly since Falcon offers no solutions except "we can do better". It's often thrown out with a picture of Falcon in his new Captain America uniform, either as callous advice, or as a "solution" to a complex problem.
