Thanos' "Impossible"

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame; read at your own caution.

About

"Impossible" is a memorable quote uttered by the character Thanos in the 2019 Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame. Online, people have used the image as a reaction image macro to express disbelief.

Origin

On April 26th, 2019, the film Avengers: Endgame was released in the United States.^[1] In the film, Thanos (portrayed by Josh Brolin) learns of the existence of other timelines and responds, "Impossible." On May 14th, 2019, Twitter^[2] account @MarvelFacts tweeted a photograph of a moment in the film when Thanos says, "Impossible" The post received more than 3,000 likes and 500 retweets in less than one month (shown below).

Spread

On May 25th, Redditor ^[6] cosmobhoi posted the image with the caption "When you're trying to downvote a post." The post received more tahn 28,000 points (93% upvoted) and 85 comments in less than two weeks (shown below).

On May 27th, Redditor^[3] ImFullOfSalt posted the image with the caption "Me: Uses different method and gets the right answer." The post received more than 18,000 points (96% upvoted) and 100 comments in less than one week (shown below, left).

Over the next week, others shared the image with a variety of captions. Redditor^[4] ThatBlueBanana posted one with the caption "Me as a kid seeing the moon during the day." The post received more than 94,000 points (96%upvoted) and 450 comments in less than five days (shown below, center). Reddito^[5] I_want_to_die720 posted a variation that reads "Everyone when a Redditor says they're female." The post received more than 25,000 points (97% upvoted) and 550 comments (shown below, right).

On June 1st, 2019, YouTuber pile of memes posted a video variation of the meme (shown below).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References