Spider-Man with a Wrench

What is visible in the frame

The photo shows a figure in a red-and-blue suit bent almost to the ground. One hand presses against the gray concrete, and the other, lowered, touches the floor next to a palm holding a light object that looks like a wrench. The head is tilted and the shoulders are raised. The background is a faded wall with dark stains and the same gray floor.

The frame is low quality and looks like a still from a video: the edges are blurred and the colors have faded. The wrench is not fully visible, so its role in the joke depends more on the caption than on the details of the picture. Without the caption, the meaning of the scene is not obvious.

Where the episode comes from

The frame is taken from a Japanese TV series about Spider-Man, which aired from May 17, 1978 to March 14, 1979. The series was loosely based on Marvel comics, and the hero there acts differently than in Western adaptations. Which exact episode served as the source of the scene is not known for certain.

Clips from this series have long spread online as compilations and montages. When the first montage of this scene appeared is hard to establish: early examples found online do not always match the actual first publication of this clip.

The Ant-Man joke

The joke is that serious blows to the ground are presented as the decisive fight between two heroes: Spider-Man and Ant-Man. Since the opponent is tiny, the hero desperately searches for him and strikes the concrete with a wrench. The caption turns an everyday gesture into an epic battle rather than repair work.

Over time, the scene started being captioned with other occasions as well. The joke relies on contrast: the hero's serious pose and the absurd tool, while the explanation is left to the author of the caption. The more absurd the invented reason for the fight, the better the frame works.

Caption examples

Below are three variants written for this frame. Each is built on a serious battle being replaced by a mundane task.

“There's no line for ‘fix’ in the budget, so I'm just banging on the asphalt.” The phrase explains why the hero chose this method, and the bureaucratic detail makes the scene even more absurd.

“One ant has appeared in the kitchen, and I'm preparing for a war to the death.” The opponent is tiny and invisible in the frame, just like Ant-Man in the main joke about this picture, while the hero's pose is just as solemn, as if the fate of a city were being decided.

“The report is submitted, but just in case I'm tapping the wrench on the board so it definitely gets through.” The irony is that the final touch looks dramatic even though everything is already done. The pathos holds until the last line.

How to use this template

The image suits captions where the hero shows excessive seriousness. Short text works well: the scene is unusual by itself, so the caption should give it one concrete reason. If the reason is long, the effect dissolves and the viewer does not get a chance to notice the wrench.

Do not turn the joke into mockery of real people. Good variants usually talk about the situation, not about the people who end up in it.