IF YOU’VE BEEN lurking on the viral internet recently, you’ve probably seen this GIF.

Imgur Imgur

It shows Russell Crowe in the film Les Misérables, as obsessive police inspector and troubled bad guy Javert.

And it is EVERYWHERE.

Here’s how it took off. (This post is heavily indebted to Imgur compilations by users AllKneelBeforeBattra and Zechling, but we’ve tried to credit the original creators throughout.)

First: the beginning

According to Imgur user Zechling, the GIF was first posted to Reddit by a user named Goorab in November 2013.

"MRW I'm told that I'm too old to participate in the toy lightsabre battle my little cousins are having before Thanksgiving Dinner" Imgur Imgur

It then gradually began to circulate more widely, with different captions

"MRW my new bottle of Windex leaves streaks" Imgur Imgur

One year later, the alterations began

"MRW I'm checking under my bed for monsters" FasterThanChris FasterThanChris

"MRW I run out of roll and I need to borrow some from the guy in the shitter next to me." MyFartsAreMethaneFree / Imgur MyFartsAreMethaneFree / Imgur / Imgur

And it REALLY took off over the last few weeks

"MRW I Drop My New Phone And Nervously Check To See If It Cracked" Sw3rvematic Sw3rvematic

It’s pretty wonderful

"MRW some stranger takes a picture of me while trying on my new pirate costume" karvis karvis

"MRW I look into my aquarium and notice my fish is dead" CanadianBanana CanadianBanana

In fact, it just keeps getting better

"MFW someone's taking a shower and I need to check my pirate costume" Turtletown Turtletown

"MRW I'm trying on a hat in the store's dressing room." aFloridaMan aFloridaMan

… all the time.

"MFW Sean Connery lets me ride shotgun." Cufflebuck Cufflebuck

"MRW everyone's at the diner without me" FunkyTClown FunkyTClown

Where will it end?

"MFW I hear the neighbors fighting outside and I don't want them to know I am looking." itsokayyoucanlaughandjokearound itsokayyoucanlaughandjokearound

"MRW when I have to hook up the tv" daibsler daibsler

It’s even spreading outside the Javert world now

"MRW somebody compliments me and says that I look better since I shaved, dyed my hair and got rid of that stupid hat." SirNotAppearingInThisPost SirNotAppearingInThisPost

Javert forever.

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