About

James Franco Staring at Tobey Maguire is a two-panel image macro image based on a scene from Marvel's 2007 super-hero film Spider-Man 3. In the meme, the meme's author expresses feelings of unknowingly being plotted against or judged.

Origin

On May 4th, 2007, Sony Pictures released the film Spider-Man 3.^[1] In the film, Peter Parker's longtime friend Harry Osborne learns that Peter (portrayed by James Franco and Tobey Maguire, respectively) was involved in his father's death. In the film, Osborne glares at Parker, who is enjoying a musical performance by his girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), from the mezzanine of a theater (shown below).

The earliest available usage of the meme was posted on July 22nd, 2019 by Redditor ^[5] user ryatr. In the meme, Parker is labeled "Me, thoroughly enjoying Spider-Man 3 on TV," and Franco is labeled, "My parents, watching their adult son quote all the lines to a superhero under his breath." The post received more than 17,000 points (97% upvoted) and 140 comments in less than one year (shown below).

Spread

On October 3rd, 2019, Redditor^[2] spankyandthepossum posted a variation of the meme about the controversy surrounding the 2019 film Joker. In the meme, Parker is labeled "Me enjoying Joker a little too much," and Franco is labeled, "The undercover cop in the back of the theater." The post received more than 18,000 points (98% upvoted) and 200 comments (shown below, left)

That day, Redditor ^[3] hermitcrab29 shared a variation of the meme using characters from the television series Game of Thrones. The post received more than 1,400 points (8% upvoted) and 40 comments in less than two months (shown below, center).

Later that month, Redditor^[4] illum1nati11 posted a version in the /r/dankmemes subreddit/. The post received more than 61,000 points (98% upvoted) and 230 comments in a little over a month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

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External References