The 'Summoning Captain Planet' meme is based on the 1990s animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, specifically the iconic sequence where five teenagers from across the globe combine their elemental rings—Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart—to call upon the titular superhero. In meme culture, this template is used to represent how disparate or specific traits, people, or events merge to create a singular, often chaotic or funny, outcome. It gained popularity on platforms like Tumblr and Reddit as a way to illustrate the 'ingredients' of a certain personality type, a specific situation, or even corporate entities. The humor often stems from replacing the heroic elements with mundane or negative traits to 'summon' something relatable, absurd, or ironically terrible.