A frame grab of a Batmanning video. (YouTube)
Planking might have met its match with Batmanning: holding a pose that pays homage to the Caped Crusader, or at least to the nocturnal mammals that inspired him.
Like planking, Batmanning involves suspending oneself rigidly in an awkward or funny location, but Batmanning is done (of course) upside down. The stunt might just be the next big meme, as performed to the Batman theme song in the video below.
It’s not the first time a new pose has been offered up to replace the contagious trend that, earlier this year, had Twitter aflutter with photos of people lying facedown in odd places, such as on newspaper stands, in the office or on the red carpet. Owling (perching owl-like on elevated surfaces) seems to have phased out quickly, and horsemanning (an awesome pose, reportedly originating in the 1920s, that mimics beheading and is often spelled as “horsemaning”) has yet to catch on in the mainstream.
So far, planking is the unrivaled viral success, attracting the likes of Lady Gaga, actress Ellen Page and even “Star Trek” writers Robert Orci and Damon Lindelof, who planked in front of Han Solo, frozen in carbonite. Lindelof tweeted, “If planking isn’t the greatest single thing the human mind has ever conceived, I don’t know what is.”
Well, Damon, maybe it’s Batmanning.
– Noelene Clark
RECENT AND RELATED
Julie Newmar: I don’t envy Gotham’s new actors
Lindelof’s love letter to ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’
Toga party with Adam West and William Shatner
‘DKR’: Newmar says Hathaway will be purrr-fect
‘Dark Knight Rises’ : The Bat, the Rat and the Cat
Michael Keaton’s dark memories of ‘Batman’
A ‘lost’ scene from 1989 Batman film
Comments
Print
Read Later
Our legion of super contributors is led by Hero Complex editor Gina McIntyre and 
People with too much time on their hands, apparently.
Batmanning song!! "HIT EM With The BATMAN!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jaP3UIFKls by SupDude!
We love this new craze! And we'll be waiting for Lady Gaga to embrace Batmanning in one of her videos. Our research shows that there seems to be a compendium of batmanning photos at http://batmanning.co.uk
>>Lindelof tweeted, “If planking isn’t the greatest single thing the human mind has ever conceived, I don’t know what is.”
More proof that Lindelof is a boring writer.
BTW, when people start dying "batmanning" from skyscrapers etc, and public officials wring their hands over it, they should simply ban camera phones and watch the crazes disappear.
If you slip, don't you risk crushing your skull or breaking your neck? This "craze" might weed some idiots from the gene pool.
Not so much time on their hands as strength in their feet and calves . . .
I'm sure those boys all deserve a good sound planking.
This is going to spawn many failed attempt videos where folks seriously injure or kill themselves. The nominees for next year's Darwin awards will be in for some competition.
………PLANKING……….
Because, yes..our youth is really that brain dead.