The 'Red Leader Standing By' meme originates from the climactic Battle of Yavin in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. As the Rebel fleet approaches the Death Star, various pilots check in via their comms, starting with Red Leader and famously including Luke Skywalker as Red Five. In internet culture, this sequence became a popular format for 'roll call' style threads, where users post variations of '[Something] Leader standing by' to show solidarity or participation in a group activity. It is frequently used in image macros showing characters from other franchises photoshopped into X-wing cockpits, or simply as a way to signal readiness in a humorous context.