It's nearing the two-year point since The Winchesters is set to air on October 11, 2022. While many fans dislike John and Mary because of how they treated their children, Jensen Ackles's role as an executive producer gives them hope that it will be handled correctly.One major hope for the prequel series is that it will feature Castiel, who was last seen being sucked into the Empty after confessing his love to Dean. Dean and Castiel's relationship was central to the series from the angel's first introduction, and a large portion of the fandom wanted them to become a couple officially. While that hope was not realized on the show, the fans' memes clearly show all the reasons it should have been, and with any luck, there will be some confirmation that Destiel reconnected in Heaven in The Winchesters.
Castiel Choosing Dean
Castiel's naivety toward human culture should never be seen as an indication that he is young and inexperienced. Over the years, the show gave viewers the impression that the angel is millions of years old, spending at least two millennia on Earth before the Winchesters were even born.
That massive lifespan is what makes it so shocking that Castiel betrayed it all for Dean. After living as a soldier for all of human history, he is willing to turn on his fellow angels and the divine plans they followed for Dean. The shock that the other angels would have felt over that fits perfectly with the distracted boyfriend meme format, as it perfectly conveys how much of a betrayal Castiel's alliance with Dean really was.
Their Familiar Dynamic
In most cases, Castiel warns Dean to follow the rules and be careful, while Dean completely ignores him and acts recklessly. With this attitude, Dean has made some terrible decisions over the years, but Cas repeatedly comes back to clean up after them.
Incorrect Quote memes are perfect for them because they never quite say what they're feeling for each other. Both men speak best in actions, so the added words say what they can't. As the meme shows, Castiel knows better by this point than to think he can control Dean, even when he's looking out for Dean's best interests.
Castiel's Attachment To Dean
It can sometimes be hard to how much of Supernatural works off of a Biblical framework, but this meme brings that element out perfectly. Dean asks why an angel would rescue him, as he's nothing special. While the true answer has to do with the intended war between Michael and Lucifer, the meme's answer is far more entertaining.
Castiel quickly became obsessed with Dean, but this meme suggests that it began before the two had even met, with Castiel resurrecting Dean for himself. While that obviously wasn't true at the time, the relationship Dean and Castiel eventually developed fits well within the childish rebellion shown in the meme.
Dean's Readiness To Fight The World For Cas
Dean has a habit of taking the weight of the world on his shoulders, willing to fight God himself for the people he loves. As much as he might've denied it, that always included Cas. He stood between Cas and anyone who intended to hurt him and took beatings that the angel could have handled.
To the world, Dean was defined by his fight, by the way, he protected his loved ones and killed their enemies. But to Cas, he was the epitome of human love, and he offered that to his best friend. Call it brotherhood or a profound bond or true love, but there is never any doubt that Dean loves Cas, through every chaotic adventure.
Everyone Sees It
Castiel didn't confess his love for Dean until the final season, but that doesn't mean it was a well-kept secret. Angels and demons alike alluded to them dating throughout the show, including when Uriel told Dean that Castiel's weakness is that "he likes you," and Meg said "he was your boyfriend first."
Perhaps the most overt example is when Balthazar referred to Cas as "the one in the dirty trenchcoat who's in love with you," nine seasons before Castiel itted it himself. The fans and the other characters all knew that Castiel loved Dean, and the meme hilariously mocks the idea that it was something Cas succeeded in hiding.
Raising Children Together
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A major piece of evidence for fans that characters are in a relationship is when they raise children together, and this is actually shown twice over the course of Supernatural. This meme shows off the first. Castiel swore to take care of Claire Novak because he was responsible for taking her father from her, but Dean was the one she resembled more, with her attitude and affinity for hunting.
In the meme, Claire teases Dean over his relationship with Cas, and he shuts her down, which could honestly have been a scene out of the show. A similar dynamic came about with Jack a few seasons later, and fans can imagine the same conversation taking place with Jack's characteristic innocence in place of Claire's snark.
Sacrificial Instincts
While Dean and Castiel are opposites in many ways, their self-sacrificial nature is one place where they repeatedly prove that they are the same. Dean dies over 100 times over the course of Supernatural, though most of those were Gabriel's fault. Castiel has died six times, which is tiny in comparison, but his deaths tend to last longer.
Fans can watch Dean and Castiel fight over which of them is going to give their life to solve this crisis, or they can simply look at this meme for the same sentiment. Both men truly believe that the best thing they can do for the world is give their lives for it, but both also scold each other for doing the same thing.
Mary Getting To Know Castiel
Mary had a lot to catch up on when she came back from the dead, but one of the most interesting dynamics developed between her and Castiel. Though she tried to shoot him when they first met, she quickly learned how important he was to Dean.
Mary also developed her own unique relationship with Castiel, because both were considered part of the family while simultaneously being cut out of the brotherhood. This meme does a great job summing up both what Mary saw between Dean and Cas and how she interacted with him herself.
He's Dead Again?
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At the end of season 13, the world was in chaos as the angels tried to save Heaven and the Winchesters tried to rescue Jack and Mary from the Apocalypse World. When Castiel makes a dangerous move, Dean tells him "just don't get dead again." While Cas survives that encounter, he does end up dying for his sixth time a few seasons later.
This meme calls back to those moments, using a scene from The Office where Michael Scott is doubly upset when he believes his ex cheated on him because he "specifically asked you not to." Dean is repeatedly devastated by Castiel's deaths, so his shocked anger at yet another death feels completely in character.
Queerbaiting + Bury Your Gays
While LGBT+ representation has gotten much better over the last ten years, Supernatural has been criticized for continuing the legacy of two of the worst tropes: queerbaiting and burying their gays. Queerbaiting is when showrunners deliberately set up a same-sex couple to seem like they are in a relationship while refusing to deliver it explicitly, a trope that is hard to deny with Destiel given their canonical "profound bond."
The "bury your gays" trope involves repeatedly killing off LGBT+ characters, especially after making their sexuality explicit—like when Castiel gets sucked into the Empty immediately after announcing his love for Dean. Dean and Cas's relationship was extremely important to the fans, but it cannot be appreciated properly without also acknowledging the ways it was harmful.