I'm the Upgrade

Submission 17,663

Part of a series on The Boys. [View Related Entries]

About

I'm the Upgrade, also known as You're Just a Cheap Fucking Knock-off, refers to a scene from the Amazon superhero television series The Boys in which the character Soldier Boy calls the villain Homelander a "cheap knock-off" of him, with Homelander replying that he is "the upgrade" during the pair's first encounter. In late June 2022, the scene spawned a two-panel exploitable meme format where users labeled Soldier Boy and Homelander with various text and images to portray something as superior.

Origin

On June 24th, 2022, season three episode six, titled "Herogasm," of the superhero television series The Boys premiered.^[1] In one scene of the episode, superhero characters Soldier Boy, portrayed by Jensen Ackles, and Homelander, portrayed by Anthony Starr, confront each other for the first time, with Soldier Boy (the star superhero of the 1980s) calling Homelander (the star superhero of the present day) "a cheap fucking knock-off" of him, to which Homelander replies by calling himself "an upgrade" (scene shown below, 0:54 mark).

[This video has been removed]

- You're just a cheap fucking knock-off.
- Oh, no-no-no. I'm the upgrade.

Later that day, Facebook user Lance Levante Govender posted a two-panel JoJo's Bizarre Adventure meme based on the scene that gained over 160 reactions and 12 shares on The Boys Supeposting Facebook^[2] group and 220 reactions and 70 shares in JoJo Standposting Requiem group^[3] in two weeks (shown below). The user also shared a template for the meme.^[4]

Spread

Starting on June 25th, 2022, more Facebook users posted memes based on the format on The Boys Supeposting Facebook page. For example, that day, user Amar Nasser posted^[5] a Naruto / Jujutsu Kaisen meme that received over 1,200 reactions and 230 shares in two weeks (shown below, left). On June 26th, Facebook^[6] user Dwithin Dileep posted a Ben 10 meme that gained over 900 reactions and 90 shares in the same period (shown below, right).

In late June 2022, the format spread to other meme groups on Facebook, most notably to The Boys Sevenposting. For example, on June 26th, Facebook^[7] user Gabriel Aviarre posted another meme based on the format that received over 480 reactions and 50 shares in roughly two weeks, with the user providing another template. The format also found notable popularity in the Pokemon: Pokeposting group. For example, on June 27th, user Ashutosh Kumar posted^[8] a meme that gained over 2,300 reactions and 250 shares in two weeks (shown below, right).

In early July, the format received further spread online, reaching Instagram,^[9] Reddit,^[10] Twitter^[11] and other platforms over the following weeks.