parodies

2020 certainly feels like the year of fact-checking. Nearly every tweet that President Trump sends into the abyss is emblazoned with a Twitter disclaimer about facts or the election. While we appreciate that the site is attempting to prevent misinformation, it's incredibly disheartening that  we've gotten to this point. Fortunately, there are some internet jokesters that have been taking this dystopian disclaimer situation and creating some pretty funny parodies of the flagged tweets. Most of the parodies have to do with historical figures, poking fun at how their adversaries or society would flag their takes. Others use familiar characters from fandoms such as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. We're just happy to see people injecting this hellish social media reality with a little humor.

When we covered the St. Louis "gun couple" (also known as Ken and Karen) we weren't sure if they'd be able to compete with the Shredded Cheese Sad Wife. But it turns out that waving dangerous weapons on a palatial estate gives a meme some longevity.  In the wake of their viral moment, the couple (Mark and Patricia McCloskey) have made a statement explaining that they support Black Lives Matter, and that the aggressors they were afraid of were white. Their claims have done nothing to stop memers from photoshopping the personal injury lawyers into images from popular games and making parodies of movie posters. And we're definitely not complaining.

We're sucker for puns, parodies and the Star Wars universe. It should be no surprise that geniuses on Tumblr have managed to pack all of the above into this genius parody of the Star Wars prequels. This one is a mashup of The Killers' classic Mr. Brightside and the cult classic (and very poorly reviewed) films. It's a wonderful witty ride, and we're upset we didn't think of it first.

It already feels like we've experienced an eternity of Joker memes, but the internet isn't done with the film yet. The latest Joker-related meme stems from a very cringey and off-base tweet about the film. The tweet came from @__greys, who sent out an image of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker paired with one of Heath Ledger's. In both images, the villains are pictured in a car - and this was enough for Kevin to include the critical caption "for those who didn't catch the reference". Twitter users started mocking him pretty immediately for his "analytical" take, even making parodies featuring other movie characters in cars to mock the logic behind the tweet. We feel kinda bad for @__greys, but these tweets are too good not to share.

We've got just over two weeks until we can see Avengers: Endgame in theaters and we could not be more stoked. Earlier this month some talented memers started creating incredible poster parodies for the film. We've pored over hundreds of these parodies and have come to the conclusion that these are the very best. We hope you agree.

Hey nerds! Have you been sleeping on the incredible Twitter account @AwfulFantasy? It's as if The Onion started writing 280 character articles about science fiction and fantasy. As one can imagine, the passages range from devilishly clever to laugh-out-loud hilarious. We've put some of our favorites together here, but for more of their five years of content, go ahead and peruse their Twitter.

Is Ariana Grande officially 2019's most meme'd celebrity? Honestly, we're thinking yes. Her latest studio album Thank U, Next has produced several bangers that we're lowkey obsessed with, including "Thank U, Next" and "7 Rings." Her latest single, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" has been gaining attention for its parodies and surprise ending. Not to mention it's catchy as hell.

We fully recognize that Ariana's been through some bad sh*t over the past year, and we totally respect her for her bravery! That being said, have her latest singles been meme-able as heck? Hell yeah.

Seems like Pikachu and Simba aren't the only beloved characters to get the realistic live-action movie treatment! Sonic has joined there ranks, much to the horror of his very, very devoted fans. A poster for the film was released just two days ago, and the speedy hedgehog's worshippers are not pleased with his appearance. The very obscured image shows that Sonic's gotten brolic and lacks his signature gloves. The poster was even compared to Sanic, a meme of the character but very crudely draw. After the initial outcry, people started responding with parodies and memes. The memes are definitely decent, but we're more troubled by the possibility of a Ugandan Knuckles comeback. It's horrifying. 

PETA's marketing team had a serious win yesterday after releasing their chart of alternatives to "anti-animal language." If you missed this, check out our post here. The reactions and trolling have been hilarious, and now people are creating their own memey parodies of the chart. And guess what? They're damn good.

Connect Four box parodies have been around since 2007, but they're making a huge resurgence after being featured on the r/memeeconomy subreddit earlier this month. The parodies range from dark and surreal to classic nonsensical shitposts. We've put together a healthy combination of our favorite and most bizarre examples of the Photoshops - who's down for a game?

Brooklyn has long been known for its trendy food scene, offering up unicorn lattes, rainbow bagels, and the bizarre raindrop cake. New York City in general stakes its claim as a destination for pizza, bagels, and of course - pastrami sandwiches. Brooklyn is not, however, known for its barbecue. And Twitter was very quick to remind Vice's Munchies of this fact after they tweeted a very sad plate of meat from Williamsburg's Fette Sau restaurant. The tweets of shame and the parodies are very, very entertaining. 

Don't try these at home.

The latest Spider-Man film reboot was released this past Friday to mostly positive reviews - and a whopping $117 million in US box office sales. We urge you to see the film if you haven't, but in the meantime we've rounded up our favorite parodies of the movie's very crowded poster.

 Oh, and in case you hadn't heard: Iron Man is in the movie. 

The logo might look innocuous to some, but most people see something that is not entirely safe for work. The re-branding is really causing a stir.