About

Open the Window, Luthor refers to a panel from the DC Comics Justice League graphic novel JLA: Earth 2, showing Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter floating outside the window of the villain Lex Luthor, imploring him to "open the window" while Luthor looks ahead with a blank expression. In late 2023, the panel became a reaction image and exploitable, meme format spreading primarily on TikTok.

Origin

The image comes from JLA: Earth 2, released in September of 2000.^[1] In the panel, the Lex Luthor we see is from an alternate universe who has traveled to the world of the Justice League to enlist their help in overthrowing the supervillains of his dimension. The panel shows the Justice League confronting the alternate Luthor after they suspect their version of Lex Luthor to be behind a plane crash.

One of the earliest known social media posts featuring the panel was posted to TikTok on July 21st, 2022, by user adoniscomics,^[2] gaining over 15,000 likes in two years. The post was not necessarily a meme but a comment on the panel itself within the context of the comic (seen below).

Spread

Beginning in mid-December 2023, the panel began seeing use in edits on TikTok. On December 18th, 2023, user @yaboicomics^[3] posted an edit of the comic book panel, gaining over 662,000 likes in seven months (shown below, left). On December 22nd, TikToker azroid.fn^[4] posted an edit that gained over 12,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

The image also spawned exploitable edits on other social media platforms. On February 15th, 2024, Redditor Kyou_yuu posted a Jujutsu Kaisen edit in /r/jujutsufolk,^[5] gaining over 2,500 points in five months (shown below, left). On February 21st, Redditor @Picklee56 posted a Kengan Asura edit to /r/KenganAshura,^[6] gaining over 340 points in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References