The “No Bitches” meme is a cultural phenomenon that traces its roots to the 2010 animated film Megamind. In the movie’s promotional trailer, the titular character, Megamind, is shown peering through a peephole. It was at this moment that the internet latched on to years later.
Although the image lay dormant for over a decade, on October 27th, 2021, Twitter, user @artist_donna brought it back into the spotlight, when they posted screen grabs of a nervous Megamind online. The post garnered significant attention and sparked a renewed interest in the frame from the movie.
The rise to virality
By late October 2021, the meme began to spread, with the earliest known fan art reimagining the scene with Itou Kaiji from the Kaiji manga appearing on Reddit. Meanwhile, on Instagram, user leaderofmoosey compiled the images into a video meme about Santa being fake that received 20,400 likes.
While the image initially enjoyed moderate circulation on social media as a reaction image, its defining moment came in December when an unknown Discord user paired the image of Megamind with the caption, “No Bitches?” This incarnation first appeared on iFunny and immediately resonated with users.
@zach.elidrissi #shitpost#stitch #capcut #funny #meme #megamind #nobitches #fyp #foryou ♬ Break the bank – AIM
By January 2022, the “No Bitches?” version of the meme had gone viral, with users using it to poke fun at people who were seen to have lack of romantic success in their lives.
The meme’s spread was rapid and widespread, with Tumblr users and Twitter accounts like @TheFunny_mp4 amplifying its reach. Its popularity grew even more after users began to use the image as source material that they re-captioned and edited to adapt it to various contexts and jokes, such as quips about McDonald’s hash browns.
Interpretation and impact of the ‘No Bitches’ meme
The “No Bitches?” meme, while simple in design, is multifaceted in its implications. The meme’s phrasing, “No Bitches?” is intentionally ambiguous, allowing it to be applied broadly, from gentle teasing among friends to more pointed takedown.
In essence, the “No Bitches?” meme is a pop culture artifact that exemplifies the internet’s ability to resurrect and repurpose media fragments into new, humorous contexts. The meme’s journey from a forgotten frame in an animated movie to a viral sensation encapsulates the unpredictable nature of online culture, where anything can become a canvas for collective creativity and humor.
