Warlock Watching Intently

About

Warlock Watching Intently refers to a reaction image of Top Gun: Maverick character Solomon "Warlock" Bates, portrayed by Charles Parnell, staring in an intense manner. The image first gained popularity in August 2023, and has been used to convey great interest and being captivated.

Origin

On May 27th, 2022, action drama film Top Gun: Maverick premiered in the United States. In one scene of the film, protagonist Pete "Maverick" Mitchell flies an unauthorized flight through a training course in a record time, proving that it can be done. During the sequence, reactions shots of Maverick's students and superiors are shown, including a shot of character Solomon "Warlock" Bates, portrayed by Charles Parnell, watching intently as Maverick closes in on target (GIF shown below).

On June 12th, 2022, Redditor omfgregg posted a still image of Warlock watching to the /r/MemeEconomy^[1] subreddit, suggesting it be used as a reaction image, with the post failing to gain traction.

On August 2nd, 2023, X^[2] / Twitter user @HeylKatme posted the image, commenting, "Maybe the greatest reaction shot of all time???" The post (shown below) garnered over 450 reposts and quotes and 7,400 likes in seven months.

Spread

Starting in August 2023, the image achieved popularity as reaction and source material for image caption memes. For example, on August 16th, 2023, X^[3] user @Musachaudhry captioned the image, "Me every time Denzel sets his stopwatch in an Equalizer movie," with the post (shown below) garnering over 180 reposts and 1,800 likes in seven months.

In the second half of 2023 and in 2024, the image saw more use online, being used to convey great interest and being engaged in something. For example, on August 25th, 2023, X^[4] user @jesawyer made a post about Rocinante scenes in The Expanse that gained over 420 reposts and 6,200 likes (shown below, left).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References