The Rock/Instagram/PA ImagesJust when you think The Rock and Kevin Hart have exhausted all avenues of trolling, one of them hits back with a killer joke, and this time their antics feature Baby Yoda.
The pair appear to have stepped up their back-and-forth banter recently, most likely to help garner attention for their new film Jumanji: The Next Level, but promo stunts or not their constant jabs at each other are extremely entertaining.
Hart set a very high bar recently when he dressed up as The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, on Halloween and recreated the iconic picture of the retired wrestler wearing a black turtleneck, a bumbag, and a gold chain.
The incredible act of mockery seemed impossible to beat, but Johnson faced up to the challenge and, personally, I think he’s nailed it.
As you may have noticed – unless you’ve been living under a rock – Baby Yoda is a pretty hot topic right now. The adorable little creature is part of the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian, but his huge eyes have taken the world by storm in the form of memes and GIFs, so his face is popping up pretty much everywhere.
One of those places is The Rock’s Instagram page, where Johnson trolled Hart by suggesting the comedian is related to Baby Yoda.
Disney+Now, this joke has foundations in the pair’s trolling history, so bear with me as I do a quick 20-month recap.
In April 2018, Johnson announced the arrival of his new baby daughter, Tiana. He shared a picture of the newborn on Instagram, showing the young girl pressed up against her father’s bare chest in an adorable show of love.
He shared the same photo a week later, except this time Hart’s pained-looking face had been superimposed over Tiana’s.
As a result, it appeared as if The Rock was cradling Hart:
The pair have often found trolling content in their size difference as Johnson looms over Hart and, given his former profession, is much more bulky than the comedian. So the idea of a muscly, shirtless Johnson cradling a fragile Hart is basically an extreme exaggeration of this joke.
Needless to say, it went down brilliantly with fans.
Fast forward to this week, when Johnson shared the same photo yet again, though this time his child had been replaced by a little, green Baby Yoda.
Check it out below:
The image appeared to have been sent to The Rock as a caption above jokingly congratulated him on his new family member but the actor managed to turn the post into a weapon with the help of a few words.
Alongside the image, he wrote:
Thank you all so much for your well wishes, love & support
Can’t wait to bring this little nugget home to meet his brother [Kevin Hart]
Johnson threw in a reference to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back for good measure, with a hashtag which read ‘I am your father’.
Sony PicturesThe post racked up more than six million likes in just one day and many amused fans expressed their delight at the joke, though Hart probably wasn’t quite as impressed.
The comedian is yet to respond to the comparison, but I’m sure he’ll come up with something just as creative when he does!
Brilliant.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.