John Wick Reloading

About

John Wick Reloading refers to a still image of film character John Wick, portrayed by Keanu Reeves, reloading a gun. Online, the image has been used as a reaction, often used to express annoyance or desire to deliver vengeance, particularly as retribution for dog abuse.

Origin

On October 8th, 2016, the first trailer for 2017 action film John Wick: Chapter 2 premiered. In one scene, the main protagonist John Wick is shown reloading a Glock 17 pistol.^[1]

Spread

On the same day, a still image from the scene was added to "John Wick: Chapter 2" entry on Internet Movie Firearms Database.^[2] On February 10th, 2017, the day of the film premiere, the image was reused in an article "The Guns of "John Wick: Chapter 2"" on Range365.^[3]

On June 9th, 2017, Redditor AlojaFreunde poster the first known meme using the image to /r/pics subreddit, with the post gaining over 660 upvotes in six months.^[4] On June 14th, the image was reposted to /r/funny subreddit where it gained over 3,300 upvotes in the same period.^[5] On January 17th, the image was posted to /r/memes, gaining over 40,500 upvotes in six months.^[6]

The image saw limited use online as a reaction until February 2019. On February 13th, 2019, Redditor concealed_weapon posted a meme based on the image to /r/me_irl subreddit, where it received over 2,400 upvotes in four months.^[7] A repost to /r/memes subreddit received over 19,500 upvotes in the same period.^[8]

In the following weeks, the format gained significant spread on Reddit, with several notable examples posted to /r/dankmemes subreddit.^[9][10]

In many examples, the reaction image has been used to illustrate intention to deliver vengeance for dog abuse, referencing a major plot point of the first John Wick film.

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References