The Unmatched Power Of The Sun

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Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

The Unmatched Power Of The Sun refers to a series of memes, including video edits and image macros, in which people use the catchphrase "the unmatched power of the sun" for various purposes, depicted as a massive burst of bright light. The memes first appeared in mid-2020 but saw a resurgence in 2021 alongside a promotional video resembling real police footage from the 2004 TV series The 4400 of a police officer getting vaporized by a burst of light that became associated with the meme, sparking confusion about the source and legitimacy of the video.

Origin

On August 31st, 2020, Instagram^[1] user @half_____price posted an edited Rage Comic^[2] in which a drunk driver shows the "unmatched power of the sun" to an officer who pulled him over, resulting in the officer getting vaporized, garnering over 1,500 likes in 11 months (shown below). This is the earliest known upload of the comic, but it is unclear if it was created by the poster. It was then posted to Tumblr^[3] the next day, garnering over 2,700 notes in the same span of time.

Spread

The joke spread slowly over the course of the next year, with memers attaching the phrase "the unmatched power of the sun" to various webcomics and meme formats to add new context. For example, on September 4th, 2020, Instagram^[6] user @pensivemoji posted an edited webcomic of Breaking Bad characters where Jesse uses the power of the sun, garnering over 2,000 likes in 10 months (shown below).

The 4400 "Promicin Freak Kills Cop" Promotional Video

On June 11th, 2007, the YouTube^[4] channel BanPromicin2477 posted a video titled "Promicin Freak Kills Cop," (shown below) meant to resemble police cruiser footage, showing an officer leaving his car and approaching the driver's side of a pulled-over vehicle, only to be covered in a blinding burst of light and vaporized. His body can be seen smoking afterward. The video gained over 14,000 views in 14 years.

The clip is a promotion for the fourth season of the show, which focuses on a number of missing people who return mysteriously after 60 years with abilities. The chemical "Promicin" is found within these individuals. When used on someone without abilities, it has a fifty-fifty chance of either killing the person or giving them powers. The clip is meant to depict someone killing a cop with Promicin.

On September 23rd, 2020, YouTuber^[5] The Meme Archives posted a meme taken from an unknown source showing the edited Rage Comic with a video clip from The 4400 promotion attached as the last panel, gaining over 10,800 views (shown below).

This meme gained significant spread and attention over the course of 2021, shared on sites including Tumblr,^[7] iFunny^[8] and Instagram^[9] without context and sparking considerable confusion about the source of the police video.

Continued Spread

On January 1st, 2021, Instagram^[10] user @harvested.memes posted a clip of Mario using a lightning bolt power up in a Mario Kart animation, captioned, "Mario wields the unmatched power of the Sun like a little kid who found his dads’ gun," gaining over 1,900 views in six months (shown below).