Chris Evans Addresses the Legendary Nails Meme

Earlier this month, the internet was taken by storm with what might just be the funniest Avengers meme yet when, after hearing a quote from Captain Americastar Chris Evans in which he said he didn’t know what Black Twitter was, Twitter user @WrittenByHanna shared a hilarious meme of Evans photoshopped to have bold acrylic nails. The image, created by @alamanecer, ended up included in a whole thread of memes that Evans himself shared, noting that it gave him a “genuine belly laugh”. But that’s not the end of the story. Not only has Evans addressed the meme a bit further, but the whole thing has come full circle in the most epic of ways.

At ACE Comic Con in Seattle this weekend, Evans was asked about the meme and he explained that he was truly surprised at how well it all worked, largely due to the various ways he positioned his body in photos and screen captures.

“I was surprised how many postures I would strike that work so seamlessly,” Evans said. “You don’t think you’re making a move that would work for it but then all of a sudden you’re like [gestures] and it works. It’s kind of hilarious. Yeah, those are so funny. They crack me up. My younger brother was the first one to turn me onto it. He sent me a bunch of pictures and I thought they were just so funny. They really cracked me up.”

Now, if that had been the end of it right there it would have made for a cute little footnote to the whole meme, but there’s more to this story yet. You see, @alamanecer herself was at ACE, got her photo taken with Evans doing a pose with hand and then she took it to the next level by photoshopping the bright acrylic nails and silk sleeping caps on both herself and Evans, fully recreating the meme. She shared it on Twitter, and it went viral itself, so much so that the panel host at ACE pulled it up on her phone to show it to Evans right on stage, much to the crowd’s delight.

“Yeah, they got me,” Evans said of the hilarious photo.

And the version of the photo featuring the nails and caps isn’t the only version that @alamanecer shared on Twitter Saturday, either. She also shared a version with just the nails, commenting herself on the “full circle” moment with the meme.

“Chris Jamal Evans was HERE for the mess!” she wrote. “This is what you call FULL CIRCLE.”

And, it turns out that his wild meme ride didn’t just make people laugh, either. The popularity of the situation led @alamanecer to set up a fundraiser with the Stonewall Foundation to raise money to benefit the black and brown transgender community, a campaign she called the “#CaptainAcrylica Challenge.”

As for Captain America without his acrylic nails, Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters with bonus content now.