Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League; read at your own caution.

About

Superman "Not Impressed" refers to a memorable quote uttered by the character Superman in the DC superhero film Zack Snyder's Justice League. In the film, the villainous character Steppenwolf attempts to attack the hero Cyborg. Before he can, Superman blocks Steppenwolf's ax, catching the weapon on his shoulder, and says, "Not impressed." Online, people use the image as a reaction image macro meme.

Origin

On March 18th, 2021, the film Zack Snyder's Justice League premiered on HBO Max.^[1] In the film, the character Superman (portrayed by Henry Cavill) blocks an attack from the villain Steppenwolf, stopping Steppenwolf's ax with his shoulder. After the ax touches his shoulder, Superman says, "Not impressed."

The following day, YouTuber Adham Nassar posted the clip on YouTube, where it received more than 22,000 views in less than two weeks (shown below).

Spread

On March 20th, 2021, Facebook ^[2] user LaMarcus Carter posted a version of the meme, in which the cover for the film The Dark Knight edited onto Superman's face is responding to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Within two weeks, the image received more than 115 reactions (shown below, left).

Over the next week, the meme continued to spread across platforms. On March 22nd, Instagram ^[3] user @tanaypratap posted a variation that received more than 1,000 likes in less than one week (shown below, center).

On March 24, the meme hit an inflection point when an unknown Redditor posted a variant on the /r/memes^[4] subreddit. The post is an object labeling meme in which the ax is labeled "hacker telling me my address" and Superman is labeled "me who already knew it." The post received more than 55,000 points (91% upvoted) and 190 comments in less than one week (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References