About

Gumball Caveman, also known as Caveman Gumball, refers to an image of the cartoon character Gumball as a caveman, from the Cartoon Network series The Amazing World of Gumball. He's seen in a cave with a big forehead, pointing his hand up with his mouth open as if he's about to make a point. The screencap became the subject of an image macro meme series on TikTok, Twitter / X and Instagram, among other social media sites, in mid-2025. Gumball Caveman memes often showed the character expressing an objectively stupid opinion. The image was widely used in TikTok comment sections, which led to humorous backlash about its overuse. A speech bubbling version was a common iteration of the meme as well. Gumball Caveman was compared to similar memes featuring cavemen, like Caveman SpongeBob and Grug from The Croods.

Origin

The image of Gumball as a caveman is from season 6, episode 42 of The Amazing World of Gumball, titled "The Decisions," which aired on June 17th, 2019.^[1] The original screencap shows Gumball making the face on a school bus when he's sitting next to Darwin (shown below). Gumball looks like a caveman with a large forehead and underbite. His mouth is open, and he's holding a spoon in the air.

On March 31st, 2022, Pinterest ^[2] user Phimagine posted a photoshop, which showed the Gumball Caveman in a cave setting. The pin received over 790 likes in three years (shown below). It is currently the first known upload of the image.

Spread

In the following years, the image spread across the internet, landing in reposts on Pinterest^[3] and Facebook. ^[4]

The image gained viral spread in 2024 and 2025, evident in a Slow-Fade In video shared by TikToker^[5] @travis_biscott69 on October 9th, 2024, which added a top caption to the image about someone saying, "Bro, it's just a game," and Gumball Caveman representing the other person's Honest Reaction. Over eight months, the video received roughly 7,500 likes (shown below).

In May 2025, multiple TikTokers^[6] shared videos that claimed that the Gumball Caveman image was frequently used in TikTok comment sections. Many of the memes mocked the people who used and found the image funny.

For instance, on May 15th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @kaefur posted a video about people who use the Gumball Caveman and 'SYBAU 💔' Lazer Dim 700 images in comment sections, gaining over 56,000 likes in three weeks (shown below).

On May 21st, X^[8] user @ThatDesertAgain tweeted the Gumball Caveman image, captioning it, "This is how it feels to use the same swear word more than once in a row," amassing over 136,000 likes in 12 days (shown below).

The abovementioned post was screenshotted and reposted on Instagram^[9] soon after. The Gumball Caveman meme also saw use on Reddit^[10] in late May 2025.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References