Vin Diesel fans are perplexed over a viral post claiming to be a scientific portrait of “the first human being” that looks identical to the actor.
In a joke that has since gone viral, the Alamo Drafthouse movie theatre in New York City shared a photo captioned: “Scientists at Princeton University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Adam, the first human being created by God, might have looked.”
The text was accompanied by what appears to be a CGI rendering of the actor Vin Diesel.
Many people were fooled by the post, believing that Princeton scientists had indeed made this 3D model. The confusion prompted Alamo to remind fans “we’re a movie theatre, not an academic journal”.
“Vin Diesel confirmed as first human being,” wrote one person.
Another added: “Ain’t this Vin Diesel?” while a third person questioned: “So all humans come from Vin Diesel?”
Many people responded to the post with photos of the actor, often in costume as his Fast and Furious character Dominic Toretto.
Author Roxanne Gay was among those to respond to the post, writing: “This man lives his life a quarter mile at a time,” referencing a line of dialogue spoken by Toretto in 2015’s Furious 7.
At the time of writing, the post has received over 120,000 likes and nearly 28,000 retweets.
Earlier this year, franchise director Justin Lin exited his role on the 10th entry in the film series.
Inside sources have since claimed that his departure was due to a “major disagreement” with Diesel.
Lin has directed five of the car-racing franchise’s lucrative movies, returning after a two-film break for last year’s ninth outing, F9.
He also co-wrote the forthcoming instalment with Dan Mazeau, and will stay on as a producer.
Diesel has also been engaged in a longstanding war of words with former franchise star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who departed the film series last summer. “I wish them well,” Johnson said.
