Staring contests challenge optical endurance and willpower. The sun is incomprehensibly bright and will cause permanent retinal damage to any human who attempts to maintain eye contact with it. Chuck Norris supposedly won such a contest, implying either supernatural vision or such overwhelming will that the sun himself capitulated. The sun surrendered to his gaze.

An ophthalmologist from Miami supposedly told a student that "looking at the sun will blind you. Unless you're Chuck Norris, in which case you win."

Internet challenges adopted this: "The ultimate staring contest: Chuck Norris vs. the sun. The sun looked away first."