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The famous "Elmo Rise" meme has sprung into real life at a protest in Philadelphia. The meme, sometime referred to as "Hellmo," is a fan favorite on the Internet, especially in the last few months. It features the classicSesame Streetcharacter Elmo, photoshopped over rising flames. It pops up often on social media, sometimes as a reaction gif. However, as is often the case with memes, users sometimes add other characters or text to "Elmo Rise," with one popular version featuring SpongeBob SquarePants.
Ironically, another popular meme on the Internet also has flames: the arguably even more famous "This Is Fine," which shows a dog sitting in a house burning around him. That meme has also only become more relevant this year, as the coronavirus has taken hold. That particular meme originally came from a webcomic, before reappearing as the now well-known meme a year later. All told, memes can provide social media users with the perfect reaction to whatever situation they're in. They also show the creativity of the collective Internet, with the same image remaining fresh and funny just because of the context it's used in.
Related:The Origin Of The Spider-Man Pointing Meme
The "Elmo Rise" meme received some added attention this weekend, thanks to a protester dressed as Elmo. In photos shared by various Twitter users, a person wearing an Elmo costume head stands in front of a burning object with his fist in the air, making the "Elmo Rise" meme come to life. One user even provided a side-by-side comparison of Philly Elmo and the meme. Check out a selection of photos below:
This isn't the first time pop culture has factored into this weekend's protests. Also in Philadelphia, an individual dressed as Batman took to the streets to cheers from the crowd. One Twitter user even pointed out the scene was reminiscent of one of Bane and Batman's fights in The Dark Knight Rises. Meanwhile, Marvel character Hawkeye got some attention for the wrong reasons, trending on Twitter after a man shot an arrow into the crowd, terrifying nearby individuals who were protesting peacefully.
It's not surprising to see pop culture play a role in a key moment like this one and also shows the importance of social media. During this weekend's protests, it was an important resource for sharing information, as well as photos and videos. It also allowed separate protests across the nation to remain connected to a common cause. Though the "Elmo Rise" photos may not make quite as much of an impact as others shared this weekend, it's impressive to see people finding humor during a stressful time.
More: Avengers: Endgame's "These Are Confusing Times" Hulk Meme Explained
Source: Blackrock Wednesday, S. Rifai, Alex Mason
DC Comics Cancels Another Series, But Instead Of A Digital First Approach, It Goes Right To Collected Edition!
The following has been reported:
After completing its periodical publication with issue #18, released on March 18, DC’s Lucifer #19-24 will be released directly as a collected edition, or in this case an OGN. Writer Dan Watters and artist Sebastian Fiumara’s planned story will reportedly not be changed aside from switching to the collected format.
“At last, the devil goes to hell,” reads DC’s original solicitation for Lucifer #20, with #21’s solicit saying “Lucifer trespasses into the garden of Destiny of the Endless, but for what nefarious purpose? Nothing less than tearing a page from the Book of Destiny itself.”
The follows the surprise cancellation of an event spin-off mini-series as well as the cancellation of 18 books Dollar Comics line titles and 4 from the Facsimile line.
Sad news for Lucifer fans above, but a nice way to end the run.
Footage shows fans in Fort Lauderdale tossing chairs into the ring at the end of the ECW show there.
Joey Styles says that tonight’s show is coming from Orlando, Florida. He hypes the “new” Tully Blanchard that is coming for Shane Douglas’ ECW title.
ECW Champion Shane Douglas cuts a promo by a hotel pool. Douglas meanders before saying Blanchard was a hypocrite telling people not to do drugs and yet he did cocaine behind the scenes. He says he is addicted to the ECW title and he is not going to give it up. Douglas also puts over how he, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit are now the Triple Threat and will be a challenge to anyone in the promotion.
ECW Tag Team Championship Match: The Public Enemy (Champions) beat Sabu & the Tazmaniac (w/Paul E. Dangerously & 911) when Rocco Rock pins the Tazmaniac after knocking him off the top rope and through a table at 8:52:
Sabu and the Tazmaniac put the Enemy on their heels, but just like Holiday Hell the referee has a hard time getting into position to count falls when Sabu hits a moonsault and the Tazmaniac covers Rocco Rock after a Tazplex. Lots of weapons are used and the combatants brawl into the crowd. What this match proves is that doing a tag match without tags is hard because there is no sustained heat segment to engage the crowd. A table is set up in the ring by Sabu and the Tazmanic and Johnny Grunge is laid on top of it, but Rock saves his partner. As Sabu uses 911’s help to put Grunge on a table on the floor, Rock knocks the Tazmaniac off the top rope and through a table to help the Enemy retain the titles. This was a mess. Rating: *
After the bell, Sabu puts Grunge through the outside table with a somersault leg drop. Rock hits 911 in the back with a chair, so 911 does not sell it and chokeslams him. Referee Pee Wee Moore gets chokeslammed as well.
Styles interviews Paul E. Dangerously, who says that the Enemy are going to go through tables at the next ECW Arena show. He vows to send the Enemy back to the hood.
In an empty classroom, Raven says that childhood is not kind to misfits and leaves them with a scar that refuses to fade. Raven warns Tommy Dreamer that he will return to the classroom of his youth and this time he will not graduate. After the promo, the camera turns to the classroom’s chalkboard where “I hate Dreamer” has been written more than ten times.
Falls Count Anywhere Match: Cactus Jack beats the Sandman (w/Woman) (0-1) after a Cactus elbow drop at 9:10:
One of the world’s most noted hardcore wrestlers, Jack came to ECW after finishing a three-year run with WCW in 1994. He won the promotion’s tag team titles with Mikey Whipwreck twice before settling into a feud with the Sandman over who the company’s best brawler was. The match is a fun mix of wrestling and brawling, with the Sandman nearly finishing Jack after a Bitchin’ Leg Drop off the top rope as a trash can lay over Jack’s face. And then Jack’s hand is hurt when he goes to punch the Sandman but hits the trash can instead. The trash can gets used so much that it is flat as a pancake by the end of the bout. Just when it looks like things are dire for Jack, the Sandman misses a dive and flies over the top rope, allowing the Cactus Elbow Drop to finish on the arena floor. Rating: ***
After the match, Woman hits Jack with a Singapore cane. Jack no sells it but the Sandman comes in and beats Jack with a cane several times to get his heat back. Cactus bleeds as the Sandman continues to land blows and then the Sandman lights a cigarette and tries to use it to put out Jack’s eye. With only one good hand, Jack looks like a goner until Mikey Whipwreck makes the save by caning the Sandman.
Following a commercial break, the Sandman and Woman are in the backstage area. The Sandman beats himself with a cane as Woman tells Jack that she is going to turn Jack into the Sandman.
A bloodied Jack tells the Sandman that he used to have pride seeing him wrestle because he reminded him of himself. In an awesome promo, Jack tells the Sandman that he has lost his edge and that he needs to stop caring about others. He challenges the Sandman to a Texas death match, where if Jack loses, he will walk away from wrestling forever.
The Last Word: The last half of this broadcast was awesome, with Cactus Jack and the Sandman having a fun brawl and Jack cutting an intense promo to crystalize why and the Sandman are so hell bent on destroying each other. ECW could not have asked for a better show to hook new fans or get them invested in the Jack-Sandman angle.
Before the Double Tables show at ECW Arena on February 4, which will be recapped next, the company did a house show in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Here were the results of that show (courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com):
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania – The Flagstaff – February 3, 1995 (400): 911 defeated the Young Dragons in a handicap match…Stevie Richards beat Dino Sendoff…ECW Champion Shane Douglas beat Mikey Whipwreck…Chris Benoit wrestles the Tazmaniac to a no contest…Tommy Dreamer beat the Sandman…ECW Tag Team Champions the Public Enemy defeated JT Smith & Hack Myers…Sabu beat Al Snow.
Backstage News*: WCW took a shot at ECW on its Worldwide program this week when it said that SuperBrawl V was going to be at the Baltimore Arena and not a bingo hall.
*After closing a deal to get the promotion on television in Birmingham, Alabama, ECW is hoping to get access to the New Orleans market, possibly running television tapings and house shows at a casino there.
*In talent relations news, Terry Funk and D.C. Drake have been contacted to come into the promotion to feud with Cactus Jack.
*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for February 13.
Up Next: ECW: Double Tables!
The exploits of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) as the Winter Soldier in the decades between Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are some of the most notorious in the history of the MCU. Yet, despite his evil deeds (which he performed under brainwashing and he deeply regrets), Bucky is a beloved character among fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He will soon return to headline The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ TV series alongside Sam Wilson AKA The Falcon (Anthony Mackie).
As seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, Sergeant James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was born in 1917 and grew up as the best friend (and occasional protector) of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Bucky enlisted in World War II, but while he served in the 107th Infantry Regiment,Steve volunteered for the Strategic Scientific Reserve's Super Soldier Program. After the experiment to create a new breed of super soldier proved successful, Hydra attacked the program and killed the inventor of the Super Soldier Serum, Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci). However, Rogers emerged from the experiment enhanced and he took on the name Captain America. After Steve entered the European theater of the war, he rescued the captured 107th from Hydraand was reunited with Bucky, who had been the subject of experiments by Dr. Arnim Zola (Toby Jones). Captain America then led Bucky and the Howling Commandos on a slew of missions against Hydra, until Bucky was lost during a train mission in the Austrian Alps in 1945.
Related:Captain America Is Marvel's Best Movie Trilogy
After Bucky was presumed Killed In Action, Captain America himself was frozen in ice in 1945 and wasn't discovered until 2012. After Steve was revived in the 21st century, he joined the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., respectively. In 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve was shocked to discover that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. since its inception and that the Hydra operative known as the Winter Soldier was actually Bucky, who also survived World War II. Steve made it his personal mission to rescue Bucky and restore his true personality; ultimately, Cap was successful. However, his loyalty to his oldest friend tore the Avengers apart in Captain America: Civil War, after the Winter Soldier was framed by Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) for the assassination of the Wakandan King T'Chaka (John Kani).
Eventually, Bucky began to piece his old personality and memories back together. After taking refuge in Wakanda (where he was called the White Wolf), Bucky fought alongside the Avengers against Thanos (Josh Brolin) and the Black Order in Avengers: Infinity War. Bucky was among the billions who died thanks to Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet snap, but he was brought back by Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to fight and defeat Thanos alongside all of the MCU's heroes in Avengers: Endgame. However, despite his recent heroic deeds and his noble path to redemption, Bucky fears that he may never make up for the evil he was forced to commit by Hydra as the Winter Soldier.
When Bucky fell into the Danube River, he survived because of Zola's experiments, which had enhanced his physiology. Sadly, Bucky's left arm was ripped off during the fall. He was found by Soviet soldiers, who turned him over to Hydra's Soviet division. Zola continued to experiment on Bucky to turn him into Hydra's super-soldier; he was grafted with a new, metal prosthetic arm and he underwent severe brainwashing that erased his memories and personality, thanks to a memory suppression machine.
Bucky received extensive combat training and he was turned into a living weapon and assassin for Hydra and the KGB under the designation "The Winter Soldier". Bucky was activated using a precise sequence of trigger words, which, in Captain America: Civil War, Zemo learned were: "Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight Car. Soldier". Bucky's mind was wiped after every mission and, to prevent him from aging, he was routinely placed in suspended animation in a cryostasis chamber. Along with his superhuman physiology, this allowed Bucky to survive for decades into the 21st century.
Related: Bucky Is One Of The Marvel Characters Who Got A Second MCU Superhero Identity
As the Winter Soldier, Bucky performed over two dozen assassinations for Hydra and the KGB over the next fifty years. As Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) told Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the robotic-armed assassin was considered a ghost story, and "most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists."
Perhaps the most fateful kill that Bucky carried out was the assassination of Howard (John Slattery) and Maria Stark (Hope Davis) and the theft of a supply of Super Soldier Serum on December 16, 1991. The Winter Soldier ambushed the Starks as they were driving in Long Island and caused their car to crash. After the Winter Soldier secured the Super Soldier Serum from the Starks' car, he beat Howard, who recognized him as "Sgt. Barnes", to death with his metal arm before he turned his attention to killing Maria. Bucky then destroyed the closet circuit camera recording the double murder before making his escape.
Once Bucky returned to Hydra's Siberian facility, he was used to train the next crop of potential Winter Soldiers that Hydra used the stolen Super Soldier Serum to create. Under Hydra's rules, if the potential Winter Soldiers could defeat Bucky in battle, they would be accepted into the program. However, the new Winter Soldiers proved unstable and caused a riot. They were captured and placed in permanent cryostasis, where they remained even after the Siberian facility was abandoned. Meanwhile, Hydra continued to use Bucky as the Winter Soldier.
In 2009, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff was assigned to escort a nuclear engineer out of Iran. The Winter Soldier was sent by Hydra to assassinate the scientist. As Romanoff recounted her encounter with the Winter Soldier to Steve Rogers, "Somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me."
After the Winter Soldier successfully killed his target despite Black Widow's protection (leaving her with a permanent scar in the process), Natasha went on the hunt of the mystery assassin but came up empty. The Winter Soldier proved to be more elusive than anyone Black Widow had faced up to that point, and they wouldn't meet again until Bucky Barnes was unleashed by Hydra after Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was targeted for assassination as part of Project Insight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Next: Everything We Know About The Falcon And The Winter Soldier TV Series
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