The 'I Didn't Expect the Third Reich to Show Up' meme originates from the satirical animated series The Boondocks. The quote highlights a moment of sudden, absurd escalation where a situation or conversation shifts toward extreme or authoritarian views without warning. In internet culture, this reaction image is widely used on platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and Discord to call out 'edgelord' behavior or to mock threads that devolve into radical arguments. Its popularity stems from the character's deadpan delivery, making it the perfect visual shorthand for witnessing a community or individual take a bizarrely aggressive or ideological turn that caught everyone off guard.