The Downvoting Roman meme features a still of actor Joaquin Phoenix as the villainous Emperor Commodus from the 2000 film Gladiator. In this specific scene, Commodus signals the death of a gladiator by extending his thumb—a gesture widely interpreted as the 'thumbs down' in popular culture. On the internet, the image surfaced in the early 2010s on sites like Reddit and 4chan, where it became the ultimate symbol of disapproval or the act of downvoting a low-quality post. It is frequently used to express a cold, calculated rejection of someone else's opinion or content, emphasizing the user's perceived authority in delivering a final, merciless judgment.