Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome, Fanboys, to a countdown unlike any other, a visual experience for which there is no sane explanation. Fanboys Anonymous kindly presents to you, and anybody you snuck in with you, a list of all-time favorite photobombs!

The humble photobomb: Is it a cry for attention? A means of stealing thunder? Is it simply a matter of odds that when somebody snaps a photo of one celebrity, another just happens to be lurking in the background, grinning mischievously? Or is it all just a sick ruse to ruin a perfectly boring or badly planned portrait?


It really depends on the moment, and as I take you through the many different methods of photobombing so perfected by those of film and television that we know and love, maybe you too will be famous one day and will know the true art of bombing.

Onwards!

"You're damaged goods, lady!"

First off, Ahhnold here is as casual as a pensioner waiting for a bus, which makes it funny because he's at an awards evening and dressed to thrill. The look on his face says he couldn't give a damn about what's happening over his shoulder; he could be thinking about a sandwich and he'd still look more interesting than the woman who looks as though she's just been hit in the head by that aforementioned bus. The ex-Governator is hugely known these days, aside from his movie comeback, for his hilarious videos splashed all over the Internet, proving that he is indeed quite the mischievous mind beneath the serious exterior.

This right here is an example of how to and how not to photobomb!

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a boss at pretty much everything he does. He entertains the WWE like a boss, he entertains moviegoers like a boss, he bodybuilds like a boss, he eats pancakes like a boss, and he handles this quick photo opportunity like a boss, too.

Johnson treats this photobomb like it is, but dammit people, despite what Google likes to think is a photobomb, the guy taking the photograph should know better. You cannot photobomb yourself. It defeats the purpose of being photobombed. This should be called a Selfiebomb, if anything!


Poor poor Jay-Z, you make this photo, and only because Willem Dafoe just might make you cry!

Of course, Jay-Z and Beyonce have no idea (yet) that former Spider-man Green Goblin and all-round psycho nutball actor Dafoe is incorporating the classic schoolboy method into this marvelous photobomb opportunity. What would you do if you caught Dafoe sticking fingers up behind your head and grinning maniacally? I imagine some might weep fearfully, as much as this guy rocks!


This instance of movie legend Michael Douglas's head sandwiched between his wife and Angelina Jolie is hilarious because his funny melty old man face is suggestive of so many things!

Is he just confused and missed a regular photo opportunity? I imagine, during red carpet events, that whenever a camera flashes, everybody suddenly wakes up in a panic and bares teeth. Maybe he knows what he's doing though. Maybe he's saying, "yeah, I'm tapping that!" Maybe the future Ant-man movie's Hank Pym thinks he's getting a threesome!

Undoubtedly, the greatest villain in Marvel movie history, Loki just cannot let it lie!

The terminally charming British actor that is Tom Hiddleston is no stranger to practical jokery after playing the Asgardian god of mischief, Loki, in Marvel's The Avengers and the two Thor movies. What we have here, however, is an expert in photobombing in the making.

When one actor photobombs another, it can be a mite predictable. It can look like a cry for attention. Of course, there is another actor in this photo, and this may not have been an intended photobomb. Yet Hiddleston appears like a ghost, expertly taking up what little headroom exists, almost as though he just knows how funny this will look. It leaves me wondering…

Somewhere out there, Loki is creeping in on teenagers' nightclub selfies!


What on Earth is happening here, do you suppose? I spent a while trying to read this photobomb and couldn't quite interpret the situation!

My first impression, a random woman is having a photo taken in a supermarket, holding a baby in the wine aisle. She doesn't know that the Ghost Rider, Nicolas Cage, is casually collecting sunglasses to line his shirt collar.

My second impression is that Nic Cage doesn't do low-profile, so a random photo session was in order, capturing him in what can only be described as a Cagebomb.


If any Fanboy out there is familiar with photobombs, he ought to be aware that one of the great modern masters of the art is Firefly and Castle's Nathan Fillion!

The actor has led a blessed life, being hailed by fans as the man to play any and every lead role in every comic book adaptation, and thankfully never being asked. It's probably because everybody knows him as that guy who's always ruining our photos.

Here, Fillion executes his patented Ragebomb!


One endless debate about Hollywood celebrities is the questionable temper of Mission: Impossible actor Tom Cruise!

I say questionable because Tom has spent his entire life in the limelight and has been prone to some strange behavior. Nobody wants to know about his personal life, but he loves to tell us all about it, usually through Oprah. If there's one thing we're sure of, it's that he doesn't like people shadowing him or making him look a bit silly.

So here's a Turkbomb from Scubs' own comic genius Donald Faison to steal Cruise's day of thunder…see what I did there?


This particular photobomb is not only a classic example of fellow Firefly crew-member Alan Tudyk's disgusting behavior (how could you, Wash?) and his execution of what's known as The Boogerbomb: pretending to pick his nose at the sight of a camera lens!

As a matter of fact, this is a two-way photobomb, because photobombing master Nathan Fillion is actually displaying an uncanny ability to deflect Tudyk's nose-picking antics just with the power of a sideways smile.

Boogerbomb versus Fillion-bomb. Canada versus Texas. It's like the Rocky IV of photobombs. The funniest fact is that neither actor is aware of the gravity of their silly awesomeness blurring the lens!


Dave Grohl, one of the greatest songwriters of our time, is not what we would call outrageous. Not by comparison with today's celebrities that go into meltdown whenever people get tired of reading about their other meltdowns!

The Foo Fighter and former Nirvana drummer is known for his penchant for silliness, though. All you have to do is watch his music videos and other peoples' videos he has appeared in (Tenacious D).

Here is Dave destroying the beautiful celebrity people with one swift Grohlbomb. Awesome!


Remember what I said about not knowing whether Tom Cruise is just going to keep grinning or rain ungodly fire upon us? Okay, I didn't quite say it that way, but when you look at this photo, you believe that the cracks just might begin to appear soon!

The hilarious Simon Pegg is reportedly good friends with Cruise (for some reason posing with a model on each arm for this photo session). Yet when he strutted out in front of Cruise, literally leaving the short man in his shadow, I wonder if Pegg was left regretting this amazing Swaggerbomb...

The Fillion Ragebomb Mk II

Another member of the Scrubs alumni here puts Turk to shame with his unforgettable steely-eyed glare during a game!

Neil Flynn, who played Sacred Heart Hospitals janitor, was known largely for his deadpan comedy. The reason he did it so well? Let's just say that if battle-weary soldiers had "the thousand yard stare," then The Janitor had what you would call "the thousand mile stare."

Flynn puts that piercing stare to great use in this one-in-a-million chance to come between family. That face has me in stitches every time, and it's mostly for the fact that I don't even think the person taking the photo knows what's happening here. Superman might be able to fly around the world at lightning speeds, but he'll never perfect a photobomb like this!


Time for a classic photobomb from back in the day!

Comedy actor Chevy Chase has had his ups and downs throughout his career. Aside from Saturday Night Live (where even Bill Murray almost ruined him) and a handful of 80s comedies, the ups have been going down ever since. And it wasn't only Murray slapping the lips off his reputation's face.

Here, in the background, the face connected to the hand flipping the bird at Chevy Chase belongs to none other than late comedy legend and Blues Brother John Belushi. Before succumbing to one speedball too many (one, that is all it takes), the riotous funnyman didn't only terrorize his audience, he terrorized the very people he shared the stage with!


Penultimately, one of the greatest photobombs of all time happened last year, in 2013, when Tom Hanks just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, and in the right mind!

When this student passed out drunk one night, he awoke the next day to find a series of photos of him sleeping at a pub table, while a guy that looked like Forrest Gump made fun of him.

Yes, it was Tom Hanks, who saw the boy passed out in his pizza and couldn't refuse himself the opportunity. Tombomb?



What can you say about this? It's Fanboys Anonymous's top celebrity photobomb, above all others, for many reasons. Ladies and gentlemen, Fanboys and Fangirls, AMC's The Walking Dead's very own Norman Reedus aka Daryl Dixon isn't known for hilarity, as much as he is the target of a prank or two himself!

So when the enigmatic sex-symbol of so many girls today (who don't realize he's almost twice their age) nimbly swoops down into the fray like an absolute freakin' ninja grandmaster photobomber, it isn't just an opportunity to be cheeky. It isn't even just a matter of declaring "Suck it Game of Thrones!"

The beautifully marbled background, the amount of posing going on in this photo, Peter Dinklage aka Tyrion Lannister being all serious and sophisticated with his beard and sun tan…this is a true photobombing work of art. This is today's equivalent of, say, if William Shakespeare were mooning Mona Lisa from behind with BITE ME written across his buttcheeks. Mr. Reedus, we salute you!

No, Nathan, it's over. I'm sorry, not this year.

Sound off, Fanboys! I hope you enjoyed our photobomb countdown. If you know of any more that should have made this list, comment below and we may gather enough for another list. Thanks for reading as always.