Based entirely on the amount of time he spends online, you’d imagine James Gunn knows the ins and outs of internet culture like the back of the hand, and that becomes especially true when it applies to projects that he works on; a list that will soon see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 added to its ranks when the threequel releases in a couple of weeks.

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The filmmaker also spends a great deal of time and effort debunking rumors and speculation, so he’s obviously got his finger on the pulse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DCU fandoms, too. With that in mind, there’s surely no way that a line of dialogue uttered by Rocket in the cosmic caper is anything other than a deliberate shot at one of the most recurring criticisms of the franchise.

The MCU’s relentless reliance on snappy quips and one-liners has been a bugbear for years, particularly when it’s used to undercut a serious, dramatic, or emotional moment. As a result, the “well, that just happened” meme was born, which is regularly lampooned by social media users whenever Kevin Feige’s outfit releases anything.

THEY DID NOT

— Lunwi (@Lunwi88) April 22, 2023

Oh he's definitely making fun of "those" people 💀💀💀

— Bozzman COMMS OPEN! (1/5) (@B0zzman_) April 22, 2023

They knew what they were doing for sure

— Lunwi (@Lunwi88) April 22, 2023

Gunn's on this app way too much to not know what he was doing here 💀

— Marvelous Mx. Larceny (@OmerErskin) April 23, 2023

lmao That had to be on purpose.

— Noah Spence (@AlphamegaZulu) April 23, 2023

Looking at the facts, then, Gunn writing it into the script for Vol. 3 can’t be anything other than a self-aware shot fired across the bows of the superhero saga, which is perfectly in keeping with the anarchic spirit of the Guardians themselves.

We’ve now reached a point where a Marvel blockbuster made by the guy who runs DC Studios is incorporating memes used solely to mock the MCU in a $200 million epic funded by the company itself. What a time to be alive.