In early September 2026 on X (formerly Twitter), one frame from the promo suddenly went viral for the DC series "Lanterns".
In the frame, two Green Lanterns — Hal Jordan and John Stewart — are simply walking down a road. An ordinary promo post with the question "Thoughts on Lanterns 2026?" was noticed by almost no one. But on 8 September, the user @jadeladeljadel posted the same picture, only with very crudely drawn clothes on the actors. The post immediately soared to 53 thousand likes in two days.
After that, the frame turned into a meme template. People started:
- redrawing or badly photoshopping the heroes,
- substituting any other pairs in their place (SpongeBob and Patrick, Walt and Jesse from "Breaking Bad," the characters from Cuphead, etc.),
- changing the caption to "Thoughts on [anything] 2026?".
The series "Lanterns" premiered on HBO back on 16 August 2026. Starring Kyle Chandler (Hal Jordan) and Aaron Pierre (John Stewart). It's a detective story: two Green Lanterns investigate a murder in rural Nebraska.
Why did this particular frame "take off"? Because the pose of two people walking forward is very universal — it's easy to insert any pair into it. And the bad Photoshop and slight absurdity only add to the humor.
In the end, an ordinary promo frame from a DC series turned into a universal meme format that people use to joke about completely different stories.
Memes don't just entertain: they show how a series' promotional material lives a life of its own on social media, turning into a universal template for discussing other stories. What awaits this format next — only time will tell.
