Prowler Theme / Goku Prowler (XenoVerse 2)

About

Prowler Theme refers to the song "The Prowler's Theme" from the 2018 movie Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. The theme became the subject of memes and edits as early as 2019 on YouTube. Prowler Goku or Goku XenoVerse 2 Stare refers to a series of video edits in which a dark image of Goku from Dragon Ball set to "Prowler Theme" is inserted after clips of characters annoying or wronging Goku, followed by footage of Goku attacking them as if he snapped. The meme first appeared on YouTube in late 2022 and became popularized on TikTok in early 2023.

Origin

"The Prowler's Theme" is a song from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, used as the theme music for the villain called The Prowler. It was uploaded to YouTube^[1] on December 16th, 2018, garnering over 5.9 million views in five years (shown below).

The theme song became the subject of edits on YouTube over the following months as users placed it over new scenes. On October 31st, 2019, YouTuber^[2] Serperior and the animator posted a compilation of scenes with the song, garnering over 332,000 views in four years (shown below, left). On August 2nd, 2021, YouTuber^[3] Spicy Shark placed the song over a scene from Regular Show, garnering over 23,000 views in two years (shown below, right).

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Goku Prowler

On October 31st, 2022, YouTuber^[4] NotVintage uploaded a video that they purportedly found on Discord of Krillin throwing a rock at Goku, followed by a cut to a darkened image of Goku with "The Prowler's Theme" playing over it, then a scene of Krillin exploding as if Goku killed him, garnering over 91,000 views in six months (shown below).

In March 2023, new versions of the meme started appearing on TikTok. On March 16th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @jabonkasthemaker posted a version of the meme using a scene with Chi Chi, garnering over 56,000 views in a month (shown below, left). On March 25th, Twitter^[6] user @Extralongdokkan posted a video, writing, "Goku with the Prowler theme is peak fiction," garnering over 1,400 likes in just over a week. On March 30th, TikToker^[7] @just5am_ posted a version of the meme that gained over 1.2 million views in five days (shown below, right).

On April 1st, 2023, Twitter^[8] user @Cordeeeeee started a thread of Goku Prowler memes. On April 2nd, TikToker^[9] @papasaber posted an original animation that uses the meme, garnering over 750,000 views in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References