"Six months?" The reaction image consisting of a map of Malaysia and South China Sea, the caption "6 Months?" and an image of Venom with his maw open has been used extensively online, popping up whenever, you guessed it, a period of six months is mentioned. Where does it come from and what makes it funny? Learn this and more in this brief explainer.

What Is "6 Months" Reaction Image? Where Does It Come From?

"6 Months" reaction image refers to an image of Marvel character Venom as seen in the 2018 Venom film against a backdrop of a map of Malaysian territories and the South China Sea, captioned "6 Months?"

The image is a thumbnail originating from a 2018 fan theory video by New Rockstars. That name might sounds familiar to you: before "6 Months", multiple thumbnails from videos by New Rockstars went viral as memes, including hits such as "Does He Know?" (featuring The Riddler) and "What Was He Cooking?" (featuring Thanos).

Now, the video about Venom focuses on the timeline of six months which separate the time the symbiote Riot (commonly referred to as Venom) landed in Eastern Malaysia and the time he arrived in San Francisco. The video theorizes how Riot was making his way from the Southeast Asian country to the United States over this period which was skipped in the film, and that's why the thumbnail has the character, the map of Malaysia and the caption "6 Months?" on it.

How Did Venom's "6 Months?" Become A Meme

The "6 Months" meme started as a niche joke in the Venom by Daylight Discord server. According to a thread that documented the birth of the meme, it was X user @LetThrBeApParap who during a viewing party of Venom suggested that Venombros should all wait six months and then spam the "6 Months?" image in the server. Here's how it went down:

When we got to the “6 MONTHS LATER” the next part was absolutely beautiful, unfortunately this all that was spared from the chaos. The VC went wild saying “6 MONTHS?” And it was Beautiful (5/6) pic.twitter.com/oExHKZH0xM

— Venom By Daylight🇵🇸 (@VenomDbd) February 5, 2023

From the server, the image spread as a reaction on X and other social media. While its usability may be quite limited, this never stopped bangers like Thursday the 20th from becoming popular, did it?

For the full history of Venom's "6 Months?" be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.