If you’ve taken a glance at TikTok lately, you may be convinced that a blue Whopper is available at Burger King to tie in with the DC superhero film Blue Beetle releasing this week. But the question remains: Is this a genuine promotion from the restaurant chain or merely a meme created by some Photoshop-inclined content creators?
For instance, take a look at this TikTok, which seems to present a “Burger King and Blue Beetle combo” as a genuine restaurant item in the same vein as the poinsettia-colored Spider-Verse Whopper that came to the chain earlier this year in commemoration of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Over on X (formerly Twitter), another image was shared by the user @NebsGoodTakes that appears on the surface to be a Burger King promotion.
Is the Blue Beetle burger real?
Once you do a little digging into the situation, some clues surface that point to resolving the question of whether the Blue Beetle burger is real. For instance, a Change.org petition by Christopher Grinnan makes it clear that fans of the hypothetical burger want to make it happen in the real world. What’s more, the profile by @NebsGoodTakes makes it clear the nature of their posts: “assume everything is a bit unless stated otherwise.”
It is also obvious from looking at Burger King’s official website that the fast food chain is not engaging in any kind of Blue Beetle promotion, even though the Spider-Verse Whopper from earlier this year was the genuine article, as USA Today reported.
There is a somewhat heartwarming conclusion to this sordid affair. You see, @NebsGoodTakes initially made the Blue Beetle burger meme, which inspired a wave of other fake promotional products, after DC fans scrutinized the terrible marketing Warner Bros. has engaged in for the movie so far. As 3cfilms explained in a TikTok, Blue Beetle star Xolo Maridueña and others involved in the movie actually took the individual who started the Blue Beetle burger trend out for tacos.
It just goes to show that as disposable as memes seem sometimes, they could genuinely contribute to some good in the world. The internet is not likely to forget the time DC fans rallied together to advocate for a film that seemingly got swept under the rug by its own production company. If this has made you hungry to check out Blue Beetle for yourself, it comes to theaters on August 18.