The 'Thank You For Being Our Heroes' meme gained significant traction during the 2020 global pandemic as a way to express gratitude toward essential workers, including healthcare professionals, delivery drivers, and grocery staff. The original imagery often featured illustrations of these workers standing heroically, sometimes with shadows of capes behind them. Over time, the template evolved into a versatile format used both for sincere tributes and for internet humor. Memers often replace the faces of the workers with characters from video games, movies, or niche internet personalities to ironically label them as the 'true' heroes of a specific situation or fandom.