The True Stories Behind 5 Famous WTF Images

Most people have already seen the following images in the WTF sections of social bookmarking sites, in threads dedicated to badass pictures or just circulated through their inboxes by the funny boss. There is never an explanation for these pictures, because they seem to intrinsically defy explanation; they are just still moments in time of unbelievable scope, and epic badassery. It seems hard to imagine what brought about the extraordinary circumstances these images depict, and thats the magic, really - letting your imagination run with these ridiculous situations. Well, I decided to do some research on what the actual explanations were behind these famous picturesbecause I hate magic, and I want to ruin it for you forever. I drown witches, bitches.

This image has been circling the Net for a while now, and its not hard to see why: This guy is equal parts Shaft, Lex Luthor and Doctor Who. If anybody was going to possess superpowers, but still be cool about it, its Professor Badass. He looks like he controls both time and panties. He looks like a man who would, if you offended him, promptly knock you unconscious with a single blow. And when you awoke - terrified to find yourself stranded in the Cretaceous Period - you'd have to just watch in helpless awe as he pleasured your girlfriend on top of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Also, if you've only seen the poster, you missed these sweet-ass hot pink loafers.

That's Kevin Stewart; fashion designer, style director for ESPN Magazine and co-owner of the Roger Charles New York design studio. So, the downside is that Professor Badass does little more than design pretty outfits for fancy boys. But the upside? This wasnt even a photo shoot; thats just how he rolls on an average day. Professor Badass? Shit, that's just Tuesday for Kevin Stewart. Heres how else he rolls:

Jesus! He looks like somebody cast Isaac Hayes as Roadblock in the G.I. Joe movie that Heaven would make. If this is what mens fashion looks like now, count me right the fuck in. I would gladly stand in line for a runway show if the models were sporting a formal Tommy Hilfiger Sword and a puce Kenneth Cole Fusion Reaction Jetpack.

Hillbilly Tornado Man rivals the Mona Lisa for his subtle depiction of both intrigue and perplexity. What was Mona Lisa smiling about so enigmatically? Why is Hillbilly Tornado Mans truck lodged 50 feet up a tree? Why does he look so satisfied about it? Was he caught in a twister? Did he literally ride the whirlwind? Did he just fucking drive it up there like an Appalachian Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Did he throw it?! Nobody knew, all they knew was the man had a chest like a barrel of meat, he could not afford an entire shirt and his goddamn truck was in a goddamn tree.

The Truth:

That's Mark Madson, and the truck behind him is actually a tree-house he built for his son, Luke, in the town of Beloit, Wisconsin. So, on the downside, the truck-in-tree was not the fantastic drunken feat of a modern day redneck Paul Bunyan, but actually just a pretty slick - if dangerously negligent - act of charity from a father to his son. None of that changes the fact that, when faced with creating a play space for his little boy, Mark Madson said fuck you to blueprints, cracked open a Coors Light, rammed a truck into a tree and called it a day. And it also doesnt change the fact that, when the photographer came to do a photo shoot about it, Mark oiled up his chest-planks, threw on his formal vest and posed like he was the Captain Morgan of moonshine.

He sails the rocky seas of the Wisconsin plains, boarding minivans and plundering trucks of Natural Ice.

This image is often captioned with some variant of the words shark juggling, and the bizarre position of the shark coupled with the nonchalant stance of the man makes you believe it literally. This man must toss sharks about like oranges, you are forced to assume, presumably using his dense-as-a-collapsed-star testicles like ballast to keep him on the ocean floor. While other jugglers thought they looked brave with their precocious fire and adorable chainsaws, this guy not only opted to toss about a species notorious for its ferocity, but he picked the biggest one he could find, and did it in the animals own natural environment. Hes not just humiliating natures most tooth-egregious badass, but hes doing it in its own fucking house, and right in front of its family.

The Truth:

Thats Michael Rutzen, a marine photographer and shark expert. And though hes actually holding a real, live shark up there, its been rendered completely catatonic for the picture. Rutzen has long studied the physiology and behavior of sharks, and has learned to trigger sharks with certain types of touch. Hes already quite famous for this practice, which you can see him using in the picture below, where he looks like hes reading the sharks fortune.

I predict you will find an exciting new love interest this week then bite it and thrash around a bunch.

And as for that shark juggling image? Well, on the downside, hes used something called tonic immobility to pacify the shark. Essentially, sharks play possum when theyre turned upside down - a period that can last for up to 15 minutes. The shark hes holding is basically paralyzed, and not just obeying the iron will of the ruthless Shark King. But, on the plus side, not only is that a Great White that hes balancing, but if you consider the situation literally - then that is a picture of Mark Rutzen holding a shark that he just knocked unconscious with his bare fucking hands. Jesus, the only thing that could more completely depict his dominance over that shark would be if he made it go down on him while all of its friends watched. But while that image would accurately portray mans mastery of nature, it would also be gross and sexually inapr-

A picture is worth a thousand words; it can tell you about the touching intersection of man and nature, about the sometimes odd companionship we find in life or about the loving relationship between a man and his dog. This image says none of those things. This is just black Mad Max and his Chain Hyena. They look like they roam the wastes, scavenging for what scarce little water remains in that desolate landscape, fending off marauding bands of Junk Raiders in their steam-powered Landships. Also, that rooster in the background probably has a gun or something.

The Truth:

Thats just Mallam Mantari Lamal, and his pet, Mainasara. Theyre part of a group of Hyena Guides, who were rumored to be elite gangsters, shadowy assassins and brutal bank robbers in their home country of Nigeria. But thats just the Nigerians making up their own shit in an effort to explain the mysterious appearance of a raggedy man strolling into town, walking a wild predator on a chain like its a poodle. But the Hyena Guides, in reality, are basically just gypsy showmen, traveling from town to town and putting on performances with their animals in order to hawk homemade crafts and medicines, or just to trade. In fact, not all of them even have hyenas.

This poor bastard, for instance, looks like he just realized he brought a monkey to a hyena fight. Seriously, with Nigerian Road Warrior up there to compare yourself to, what were you thinking, Monkey Dude? Theres no way you can look that epic with some stupid mon-

Man throwing a hatchet? Pretty cool, I guess. Maybe hes at the lumberjack games, maybe hes lazily chopping wood, hell, maybe hes just disgusted by hand tools. Man throwing a hatchetwhile in the air? Okay, now were talking. This is a man with a mission. You dont leap into the goddamn air to hurl a hatchet if youre just splitting kindling. Man throwing a hatchet, while in the airand upside down?

Thisthis is serious shit, here. This can be nothing less than a super soldier! This was a deleted scene cut from Rambo for being too unbelievable. No, this is surely the climax of a Jackie Chan film, not reality. Reality just isnt allowed to be this awesome. Nobody gets to wake up in the morning, kiss the kids and then get down to work at the Backflip and Hatchet Hurling Workshop for Aspiring Bad Motherfuckers. Its just too impractical for this to be real military training.

Actually, thats all... pretty accurate! That up there is just Spetznaz boot camp. The Spetznaz were an elite branch of the Soviet military, much like the U.S. Special Forces. One battalion was assigned to every army, and their existence was kept a closely guarded secret. They often wore no special insignia, both to keep from identifying themselves as primary targets, and also to really fuck with any enemy troops who might happen across what appears to be just another seemingly ordinary Russian grunt... who then promptly somersaults off into the woods to hurl flaming knives at them. These were entire battalions founded almost exclusively to look badass:

"What purpose does this serve, Yuri?" "It looks fucking sweet, Vladimir! What more reason do you need?!"

And, though youd be right in arguing that a rad backflip wont typically save you from a few well aimed bullets, just imagine the one time that it does! The soldier firing on Captain Axe Backflip is going to do serious damage to his troops morale when he gets back to base, and reports that the target got awaybecause apparently all Russian soldiers are half-lumberjack, half-ninja and entirely drunk. Sadly, the Spetznaz no longer exist in any form resembling the originals before the collapse of the USSR. So, while the fall of the Soviet Union may have helped spread democracy across the world, it also cost us the closest thing to a John McClane training camp the world has ever seen.

I am just naturally assuming that the roof above them is exploding.

Still, its nice to know that occasionally one of these badass Internet pics depicting something way too ridiculously cool to be real is, if anything, tastefully understated.

Thanks, communism!