Two men walk down a street in a promotional image for DC's Lanterns. Next thing you know, they're SpongeBob and Patrick. Did DC announce the weirdest crossover in television history? Nope. The internet discovered that two people walking side by side make an excellent blank canvas for absolutely any duo.
The original image shows Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan. On September 4, 2026, an X post simply asked for thoughts on Lanterns. On September 8, a version with badly edited clothing helped turn that unremarkable question into a format: keep the pose, replace the characters, act as though this is the show everybody is discussing.
Cuphead and Mugman? Sure. SpongeBob and Patrick? Naturally. Walter White and Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad? Apparently they're also taking this walk. Examples circulated on X in early September, with artists redrawing the same two-person setup in their favorite franchises.
The joke isn't that the edits are convincing. The less convincing the disguise, the more stubbornly the photo insists it's a serious promo. A single publicity still accidentally became an open casting call for fictional friendships. The actual Lanterns can have their street back whenever the internet finishes borrowing it.
Source: Know Your Meme, added September 10 and updated September 14, 2026: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thoughts-on-lanterns
