Film & TV Characters Inspired By Elon Musk

By ETCanada.com Staff. 15 Sep 2023 3:11 PM

Elon Musk, the electric car visionary who launched Tesla and outer space explorer (through his SpaceX venture) who took over Twitter only to rename it X, looms large in the public consciousness.

In fact, there’s evidence that the billionaire has inspired several fictional characters in film and television — almost always depicted as villains. From “Succession” to the third season of “The Morning Show”, check out these (possibly) Elon-inspired characters that have popped up on screen.

Apple TV+

©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" - Miles Bron

Photograph by Macall B. Polay/HBO

Photo: Jeff Neumann/©Showtime/courtesy Everett Collection

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Paul Marks - "The Morning Show"
Apple TV+
The third season of Apple TV+ series "The Morning Show" introduces a new character, ambitious billionaire Paul Marks, played by Jon Hamm.

Elon Musk was clearly one of the character's inspirations, given that he's in the midst of testing his own rockets for a planned outer space journey. As Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson can attest, yachts are no longer the billionaire status symbol they once were — rockets are.
"Iron Man" - Tony Stark
©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Marvel purists may rightly balk at the notion that Elon Musk in any way inspired billionaire inventor Tony Stark (famously played by Robert Downey Jr.), given that the character was first introduced in the comics back in 1963, before Musk was even born. However, there's no denying certain similarities between them, including their inventive natures, bold pronouncements, lack of political correctness and extreme hubris.
"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" - Miles Bron
Cr. John Wilson/Netflix © 2022.
Edward Norton played tech billionaire Miles Bron in 2022's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery", who wound up being the murderous mastermind behind the mystery.

Like Elon, Miles has an obsession with space exploration, and director Rian Johnson confirmed that the character was inspired by several billionaires, including Musk. “There’s a lot of general stuff about that sort of species of tech billionaire that went directly into it. But obviously, it has almost a weird relevance in exactly the current moment," Johnson said in an interview with
Lukas Matsson - "Succession"
Photograph by Macall B. Polay/HBO
In the final season of "Succession", Alexander Skarsgård's tech billionaire Lukas Mattson attempts to buy Royco, until the whole thing goes off the rails.

While Mattson appears to be an amalgam of several billionaires, there's definitely a little Elon thrown in the mix.

"Once he focuses on a task he is almost unstoppable and it's almost like a fun challenge to him to see if he can do this, if he can pull it off," told "Town & Country" of his character. "He has to figure out a way to work the different members of the family and the different members of the board."
Sir Peter Isherwell - 'Don't Look Back'
Cr. Niko Tavernise / Netflix © 2021
In dark comedy "Don't Look Up", Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play astronomers who discover a massive comet is on a collision course with Earth that will destroy all live on the planet. Surprisingly, nobody — not even the president of the United States (Meryl Streep)— seems to think their discovery is that big a deal.

Oscar winner Mark Rylance plays Sir Peter Isherwell, a greedy tech billionaire who learns the comet is comprised of trillions of dollars worth of rare minerals he wants to mine.

It's not much of a stretch to imagine Elon Musk having the same reaction.
'Billions' - Craig Heidecker
Photo: Jeff Neumann/©Showtime/courtesy Everett Collection
Craig Heidecker (played by James Wolk) entered "Billions" in its second season, a tech billionaire obsessed with launching rockets and creating is own space fleet. Sound familiar?
'Venom' - Carlton Drake
© Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection
Riz Ahmed played Carlton Drake, the baddie in the first "Venom" movie, a tech billionaire who has developed an obsession with space exploration.

"I honestly think my character has good intentions," Ahmed told The Intercept's Mehdi Hasan. "We've ruined this planet; we've brought it to the brink of ecological collapse; it's gonna get to a point where humanity can't survive here so we're going to have to find another home."

Film & TV Characters Inspired By Elon Musk

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