GagBase Logo Explore

News In Recent Days Somehow Pandemic Returned Meme

This is a reaction meme using a screenshot from *Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker*. The top text reads 'News in these last days be like...', and the bottom text modifies the original film line 'Somehow Palpatine returned' to 'Somehow Pandemic returned'. The central character, Poe Dameron, wears a shocked, exasperated expression as he stands with a group of other characters behind him. The meme satirizes the recurring news cycle of announcing new pandemic concerns after much of the public assumed the public health crisis was fully resolved.
Make

Dialogue

News in these last days be like...
Somehow Pandemic returned.

Overview

This is a reaction meme using a screenshot from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The top text reads 'News in these last days be like...', and the bottom text modifies the original film line 'Somehow Palpatine returned' to 'Somehow Pandemic returned'. The central character, Poe Dameron, wears a shocked, exasperated expression as he stands with a group of other characters behind him. The meme satirizes the recurring news cycle of announcing new pandemic concerns after much of the public assumed the public health crisis was fully resolved.

Origin notes

The base template originates from a scene in the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, where the line 'Somehow Palpatine returned' became a widely used viral meme format to mock unexpected returns of things people thought were resolved. This specific edited variation was shared on Reddit's r/Meme subreddit, with the original upload title 'Dark Science, a rat in a ship'.

Similar memes

A two-panel meme featuring movie screenshots. The top panel shows a close-up of a smiling person with the text 'SOMEHOW' in bold white letters. The bottom panel depicts Steve Rogers (Captain America) standing among a group of people in a nighttime outdoor setting, with the text 'STEVE ROGERS RETURNED' in bold white letters. The meme likely references fan excitement about the return of the character Steve Rogers, using a humorous or dramatic tone.

Somehow Steve Rogers Returned

A two-panel meme featuring mo…

This is a two-panel reaction meme. The top header text reads 'Living on Earth in 2022 be like:'. The first panel shows an older man being interviewed by a reporter holding a yellow microphone, with a waterfront and mountain landscape in the background, captioned 'Fortunately the bad days are over'. The second panel shows the same scene, with the man smiling wider, captioned 'Now it's time for even worse days'. The joke uses dark, relatable sarcasm to reference the widespread perception that global conditions were continuously deteriorating in 2022, after many people hoped earlier crises like the COVID-19 pandemic's peak were the worst of the period's problems.

Living on Earth in 2022 Bad Days Get Worse Meme

This is a two-panel reaction …

An animated meme featuring two characters in a room. The left character, wearing an orange shirt, gestures with their hands and has text overlay reading 'Me still processing the pandemic.' The right character, wearing a gray shirt, holds a knife and is labeled '2025 ending.' A 'KAPWING' watermark is present at the bottom right. The meme humorously depicts the feeling of still emotionally processing the pandemic while time (represented by the approaching end of 2025) moves forward, with the knife symbolizing the urgency or inevitability of time passing.

Me Still Processing the Pandemic as 2025 Ends

An animated meme featuring tw…

A meme featuring a large orca (killer whale) emerging from turbulent ocean waves, symbolizing the overwhelming and sudden arrival of the year 2026 in two months. The top text overlay reads '2026 ARRIVING IN 2 MONTHS' in bold white letters, while the bottom text states 'ME NOT BEING ABLE TO PROCESS TIME NORMALLY SINCE THE PANDEMIC', humorously expressing the common post-pandemic experience of time perception distortion. The orca's powerful presence and the crashing waves visually represent the shock of time passing quickly.

2026 Arriving Like a Tsunami: Post-Pandemic Time Confusion

A meme featuring a large orca…

A 2x2 grid meme featuring four sequential frames of a young child sliding down a bright yellow slide. The top-left and top-right frames both display the text 'January 2026' with the child appearing relatively calm. The bottom-left frame is labeled 'Also January 2026,' showing the child looking more distressed, and the bottom-right frame reads '... January 2026' with the child visibly upset, mouth open as if crying. The meme humorously exaggerates the feeling of January 2026 dragging on endlessly, using the child's worsening reaction to depict the month feeling interminable.

January 2026: The Never-Ending Month Meme

A 2x2 grid meme featuring fou…

The meme consists of two lines of text at the top: 'me closes reddit' and 'also me a few seconds later', followed by an image of a real person in a classroom environment. The person is leaning forward aggressively, with a determined and intense expression, and there is yellow text overlaid on the image that reads 'i said we going back again'. It humorously portrays the common experience of attempting to stop using the social media platform Reddit, only to immediately feel the urge to return.

Closing Reddit but Immediately Going Back

The meme consists of two line…

A meme featuring text and simple stick figure drawings. The top text reads 'Them: "Sorry but we have to cancel the plans"' followed by 'Me:' below. Under 'Me:', there are two stick figures: one standing with arms raised in an excited or celebratory posture, and another rounder stick figure with a neutral expression, possibly representing the creator's internal reaction to plans being canceled, blending humor with relatable social situations.

Reacting to Canceled Plans Meme

A meme featuring text and sim…

A four-panel meme using screenshots from SpongeBob SquarePants. Top left: SpongeBob stands behind a wooden stand with a 'Musician' sign, looking happy. Top right: A large crowd labeled 'Fans' gathers outside SpongeBob's pineapple house. Bottom left: SpongeBob slumps forward with the text '*Dies*' over him, appearing lifeless. Bottom right: A close-up of the crowd with the text '"Been there since day one" MFs', mocking fans who falsely claim long-term support after the musician's death. The humor lies in satirizing bandwagon fans who only show interest posthumously.

SpongeBob the Musician and the 'Day One' Fans

A four-panel meme using scree…

The meme is split into two sections: a black bar with white text at the top, followed by a still image of an emotional older cowboy. The top text reads 'When it's the last day of a class that you liked and the professor says their last goodbyes:'. The image below shows a somber, gray-haired man wearing a cowboy hat, appearing to hold back tears, which captures the quiet bittersweet sadness of saying goodbye to a well-liked class and professor at the end of a semester. A 'made with mematic' watermark is visible in the bottom left corner.

Sad Cowboy Reacting to End of Favorite Class

The meme is split into two se…

A GIF meme consisting of four frames, each displaying the same overlaid text: 'Me going back in time to late 2019 to stop COVID from ever spreading so the timeline with AI slop, widespread brainrot, mass hysteria, and RAM shortage never happens'. The visual content features sci-fi movie clips depicting time travel elements, including a circular, mechanical time machine structure, people flying through a tunnel-like time vortex, and a bright, explosive light, collectively conveying a humorous narrative of using time travel to prevent COVID-19 and avoid perceived negative post-pandemic outcomes such as low-quality AI content ('AI slop'), mental fog ('brainrot'), mass hysteria, and RAM shortages.

Time Travel to Stop COVID and Avoid AI Slop Timeline

A GIF meme consisting of four…

This is a two-panel SpongeBob SquarePants reaction meme. The top panel depicts a large, intimidating, muscular green mutated monster with sharp teeth and red eyes labeled '*Hantavirus in 2026*', looming over a small SpongeBob who faces away from the monster. The bottom panel cuts to a close-up of SpongeBob, labeled 'People*', who has half-lidded eyes and a bored, completely unimpressed expression, showing no fear of the supposedly threatening virus. The core joke is that after living through multiple public health crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent virus scares, the general public is no longer frightened by news of new potential virus outbreaks, to the point that even a future hantavirus would be met with total indifference, effectively being 'bullied' by the lack of public reaction.

First virus to get bullied

This is a two-panel SpongeBob…

A meme structured in two sections: the top section contains bold text reading 'Me, "I hope 2026 is a better year"', expressing new year optimism. The bottom section features a fabricated news screenshot with the headline '3 days into 2026, US launches strikes on Venezuela, captures President Maduro and charges him with drug offences', accompanied by a cityscape background, a 'LIVE' indicator showing 63,858 viewers, and 'Updated 4 minutes ago' text. The meme humorously contrasts early-year hopefulness with an unexpectedly chaotic and negative event, using sarcasm to highlight the letdown of new year expectations.

2026 Starts with a Bang (Literally)

A meme structured in two sect…