354: Startling

2026-05-27T19:30:32Z

Emmet Z. H.: The 21st century technically began in 2001, because there was no year zero in the Anno Domini Calendar system. https://www.timeanddate.com/counters/mil2000.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_century

{{comic
| number = 354
| date = December 7, 2007
| title = Startling
| image = startling.png
| titletext = We actually reached the future about three years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is startled every few months when he, again, realizes that he now lives in the 21st century. When he grew up as a child, the year 2001 seemed very far away — it was the future, but he now exists in that timeframe with the rest of society.

The title text states that "the future" was reached in 2004... Three years before the comic was published. This is possibly a joke on how time works, as "the future" is always, was always, and will always be ahead of the time you're in. There may, however, be a reference to some movie set in the future year 2004....

The 21st century, even the year 2004, was futuristic for people growing up in, for instance, the eighties. This view just belongs to the perspective of people — for people growing up in the '70s, even the novel {{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}} was futuristic.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits silently in front of his computer.]
:[Text block:]
:I still do this every few months.

:[He continues to sit for two more panels.]

:Cueball: Holy crap, it's the 21st century.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

Black Hat

2025-04-07T23:17:20Z

Emmet Z. H.:

{{Infobox character
| image = BlackHat_head.png
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[12: Poisson]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Black Hat|Comics featuring Black Hat]].''
:''For Black Hat's girlfriend, see [[Danish]].''</noinclude>

[[File:Man in Hats.png|400px|thumb|right|The [http://meninhats.com/d/20040225.html ''Men in Hats'' comic] which Black Hat is based on.]]'''Black Hat''' is a [[stick figure]] character in ''[[xkcd]]''. He is distinguished by his eponymous black hat, and, unlike other ''xkcd'' characters, he always represents the same character in every comic. In [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_zwyJ6IYR0#t=1451 his talk at Dartmouth], [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] discusses his why he wanted to create a separate "asshole" character in his comics, or "Classhole", a term coined by his friend Beth and used in [[72: Classhole]]. In his first appearance, [[29: Hitler]], Black Hat wore a taller top-hat style hat, that quickly evolved to have the current shape and style of a {{w|pork pie hat}}, already used in [[45: Schrodinger]].

The title text of [[29: Hitler]], his second appearance, says he's based on a character named Aram from a now discontinued webcomic called ''[http://www.meninhats.com Men in Hats]'' and, in the original caption, Randall directed the user to a specific ''Men in Hats'' [http://meninhats.com/d/20040225.html comic about parenting]. Like Black Hat, Aram frequently made judgmental, insulting, or controversial comments in a very emotionless manner. Aram wore a dark gray suit with a red bowtie and a black top hat with a white strip above the brim. Black Hat's hat clearly evolved from the top hat design later in ''xkcd''.

==Name==
The official transcript of "Basketball Earth” refers to him as “Blackhat”.(https://xkcd.com/1515/info.0.json) In the title texts of [[29: Hitler]] and [[493: Actuarial]], Black Hat is referred to as "the hat guy" and "Hat guy" respectively. In [[1139: Rubber and Glue]] a young [[Hairy]] also gave him the nickname "Hatboy". These early characters may also be a different persona.

It's not verified that Black Hat is a reference to {{w|Black hat hacking}}, but the character's personality is in line with the idea of a "black hat hacker" from the software engineering culture that [[Randall|Randall's]] comics are written for. Black Hat speaks from a place of casual power and safety, living in the luxury that many early hobby hackers found by being ahead of the tech curve or even actually hacking financial systems, hatching evil schemes often for no reason other than to cause chaos or go against the societal norms.

The title text also says Black Hat is based on a character named Aram from a now discontinued webcomic called ''[http://www.meninhats.com Men in Hats]'' and, in the original caption, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] directed the user to a specific ''Men in Hats'' [http://meninhats.com/d/20040225.html comic about parenting]. Like Black Hat, Aram frequently made judgmental, insulting, or controversial comments in a very emotionless manner. Aram wore a gray suit with a red bowtie and a black top hat with a white strip above the brim. Black Hat's hat clearly evolved from the top hat design later in xkcd.

==Characteristics==
He almost always wears his hat and has short hair, as shown in the [[:Category:Journal|"Journal" series]], [[412: Startled]], and [[1401: New]]. Judging by [[1139: Rubber and Glue]] and [[1753: Thumb War]], he has worn the hat since he was a child. He used to work alone, sometimes helped by [[Cueball]], but he has found a female counterpart and partner in [[Danish]], his girlfriend.

While no definite reason is given for how he became so sadistic, in [[792: Password Reuse]] Black Hat says "since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything" suggesting some traumatic experience made him this way. Some black hat hackers are simply so detached from the real world they don't understand that others suffer; others may have led rough lives and been through crime rings as a sole way to find community. In [[1139: Rubber and Glue]], the boys making fun of Black Hat as a child appear to be in elementary school based on one calling for his mom, so Black Hat probably is too. He is already sadistic by this point so the event would have happened when he was quite young; experiencing it so early would explain how the mystery event could have reshaped his entire personality. Unfortunately, no details are ever given.

{{navbox-characters}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Characters with hats| Black Hat]]
[[Category:Major characters]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

354: Startling

Black Hat