These Are Confusing Times

About

These Are Confusing Times s a memorable quote from 2019 Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame said by character Hulk. Following the premiere of the film, a still image captioned with the quote was circulated as a reaction, commonly used in reference to situations which may appear confusing.

Origin

On April 26th, 2019, Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, character Bruce Banner (Hulk), portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, comments on him merging his two personas into one.

These are confusing times. No, I get it. I know, it's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now!

Spread

The exact first instance of a meme based on the scene is currently unknown. On May 3rd, 2019, Reddutor thejazz97 posted the earliest known meme featuring the captioned still to /r/MemeEconomy subreddit, gaining 9 upvotes (shown below).^[2] In the following days, several more stills from the scene captioned with the quote were posted on Reddit.^[3][4]

On May 9th, 2019, Redditor Sheev-Palpatine- posted the earliest notable instance of the meme to /r/memes subreddit, with the post receiving over 17,700 upvotes in six months (shown below).

In the following weeks, more memes based on the format were posted on Reddit in /r/memes, /r/thanosdidnothingwrong and other subreddits, as well as on other online platforms. On August 21st, 2019, Redditor /ProfMemeMaker posted an HD version of the template.^[5]

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References