Staring Eagle / Marvin Beak

About

Staring Eagle, also known as Marvin Beak, Handsome Eagle, Eagle Staring, Bald Eagle Man or Is This Eagle Perfect? refers to a photoshopped picture of a bald eagle with a human man's face staring directly at the camera. The image became notable in memes on TikTok within photo slideshows, many of which used a progressing ringtone. The Staring Eagle was used alongside other Staring Animals and Pics That Go Hard that were popular in late 2022 such as the Wise Mystical Tree and This Dog Is Fucked Up Bruh. The original Staring Eagle image came from a Photoshop tutorial channel on YouTube in 2018.

Origin

On July 9th, 2018, the YouTube^[1] channel PhotoshopSurgeon uploaded a video titled "Is this EAGLE Perfect?" in which the Photoshop artist transformed a high-definition (HD) photograph of a bald eagle into a human-looking bald eagle, shaping the eagle's face around the outline of a man's head. The final result of the video is what later became known as the Staring Eagle. Over the course of four years, the video received roughly 135,600 views and 5,800 likes (shown below).

On January 14th, 2020, a screenshot of the Staring Eagle was shared to Pinterest ^[3] by the user キルスティン. On July 4th, 2020, Redditor alifashf posted the video to /r/oddlyterrifying,^[2] gaining over 70 upvotes in two years. Sometime in early 2021, a currently unknown meme creator created a video using the Staring Eagle, placing a CapCut edit of it directly after a baseball being ricocheted into the camera's lens. Although the OP is currently unknown, it was reuploaded to YouTube on February 10th, 2021, by the channel SoTrestas (shown below).

Spread

On July 10th, 2021, Pinterest^[4] user 🕸kylie🕸 posted a moldier version of the Staring Eagle, captioning it, "this is a genuine cry for help😆🆘," and gaining 79 comments in 15 months. Yearly a year later, on June 22nd, 2022, since-suspended Twitter^[5] user deersnout tweeted a screenshot of 🕸kylie🕸's Pinterest post, gaining an unknown amount of likes but numerous replies that are still accessible. On June 24th, 2022, Twitter^[6] user barneycalhoun__ reposted deersnout's screenshot via a quote retweet (shown below, right).

Sometime in late June 2022, a since-deleted TikToker named ncveya posted a "Photo Swipe" with the Staring Eagle. It's unknown how many likes and plays it received, however, Twitter^[7] user juicelooped tweeted the photo with ncveya's watermark on June 29th, 2022, captioning it, "heizou im waiting" (shown below, left). On September 18th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user juicelooped used the image in a tweet that received over 85 likes (shown below, right).

On September 21st, 2022, TikToker^[9] no.humor.memes posted a photo swipe with Staring Eagle, setting it on repeat to the sound of a slowed-down iPhone ringtone that ended in the Home Depot song. In two weeks, the photo swipe received roughly 463,800 plays and 73,500 likes. On September 22nd, 2022, TikToker^[10] justreyfr used the same sound in a copycat photo swipe that earned more engagement, roughly 3.2 million plays and 408,900 likes in the same time period (photo shown below, left).

The image was also referenced on Reddit in September 2022. For instance, on September 13th, 2022, Redditor awackydudehahaexdee shared a meme using the Staring Eagle image to /r/distressingmemes,^[11] gaining roughly 3,600 upvotes in 24 days (shown below, right).

Marvin Beak

On March 26th, 2023, TikToker^[12] @marvinbeak69 posted a video that used the Staring Eagle image and named him Marvin Peak, showing him calling the video's viewer in a way that referenced the then-recent John Pork memes. The "Marvin Beak is Calling" video gained roughly 690,100 plays and 84,900 likes in 17 days (shown below). On March 31st, 2023, TikToker^[13] @marvinbeak69 posted a follow-up video that proclaimed "Marvin Beak Is Dead." The video gained roughly 2.8 million plays and 502,000 likes in 12 days.

On April 1st, 2023, Instagram^[14] user @itsthemcdouble reposted the video, gaining roughly 47,400 likes in 11 days. The repost spread awareness of the Staring Eagle's new name.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References