The Dark Knight from X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story

Elon Musk's origin story keeps changing. First, he was Tony Stark, or Iron Man. Not too long ago, he compared himself to Batman. Arguments started online over whether or not Musk is a real-life Bruce Wayne. In this episode, Jill Lepore looks at the original 'Caped Crusader', created back in 1939. Batman's origin story is bound up with fascism. And every time Musk is compared to Batman it raises a very old question about the Dark Knight: is Batman fighting fascism, or is Batman — a brooding, fabulously wealthy vigilante — somehow, himself a fascist?

You can listen to The Dark Knight from X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Dark Knight from X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story is an episode from The Last Archive by Pushkin Industries.

This episode is 28:01 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2025.

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