The Brief: The John Walker smiling with his hands up meme is being used to tease actor Wyatt Russell after he became the new Captain America on The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.

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DEEP DIVE

To many Marvel fans’ dismay, the studio’s new Disney+ series The Falcon And The Winter Soldier unveiled a new Captain America. Sam Wilson (Falcon) gave the shield in good faith to the US Government who initially placed it in the Smithsonian. Instead of the government keeping it on display as part of Steve Rodger’s memorial, they decided to pass the shield on to John Walker, making him the new Captain America (ew). He is played by Wyatt Russell. Both the character and actor are receiving flack for trying to take the place of Marvel’s beloved super soldier.

Fans have since started to use a screenshot of Walker from episode 2 to portray how arrogant the new character is, as well as how fans feel about Russell picking up the shield.

https://cryoverkiltmilk.tumblr.com/post/647008613403181056/casting-director-speaking-to-wyatt-russell-the

https://ken0bes.tumblr.com/post/646897287447117824/i-just-wanna-punch-him

The meme has also come to represent annoying, overly confident white men/fanboys who think their opinion is the only opinion that matters.