‘I know this sounds insane, and it is’: Mark Ruffalo says Elon Musk is ‘ending humanity’ to fund his Mars colony – The Daily Dot

Katka LapelosaSome people dream about traveling to Mars, but what will it really take for humans to exist on our planetary neighbor? It could involve compromised democratic principles, according to Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo, who recently spoke out against billionaire Elon Musk‘s space exploration plans.“Elon Musk wants his Empire on Mars,” The Avengers actor posted on his X account @MarkRuffalo on Feb. 3., 2025. The lengthy tirade on the Musk-owned platform has over 464.2K views, 13K likes, 3.7K reshares and 943 saves. “The reason he wants to shut down USAid is that he wants tax payer money to fund and build his empire there. I know that sounds insane, and it is,” the post continues.Ruffalo tried to justify his reasoning by providing personal encounters with Musk for more context:“The one thing Elon pressed upon me when I first met him was that he was going to go to Mars and set up a civilization there. He stopped being a humanitarian and ‘good guy’ when he realized there was no way to get there without cleaning out government coffers, and there was no way to do that without stopping humanitarian aid here in the USA and abroad.”The Spotlight star described the irony behind Musk’s potential motivations, and how the tech mogul’s actions seemed to only serve one purpose: his own.“Keep your eye on the ball. When Elon slashes costs, it’s for his own pocket and no one else’s. It’s stealing, is what it is. He sees those trillions as his. Not ours. He thinks he is ‘saving humanity’ by going to Mars. He is clearly ending humanity and humanitarian aid to get there.” The post ends with a chilling warning for those who are skeptical:“We are Elon’s stepping stone. Be aware. He is already rich off government contracts. Now he is gaming the system. Trump has become his lapdog. Watch all the things Trump gives Elon now. Elon has seized him.”In a threaded X post, Ruffalo linked to an article from The Guardian related to what he described in his initial post. On Feb. 4., 2025, Ruffalo wrote a follow-up post on X about the potential dangers involved in Musk having so much power and control, without being an elected official. He also reshared an editorial on Musk’s Treasury and USAID takeover, from the X account @zeteo_news.“Musk appears to be having his cronies…trawl through government data (that they’re not supposed to have access to) and identify random items they dislike,” Ruffalo states. “If Musk thinks it sounds sketchy or wasteful, he announces his intent to flip off the money flow. He then congratulates himself on X for ‘cutting costs.’”  This isn’t the first time Ruffalo has gone full-blown Hulk on Musk. The actor has a long history of taking shots at the cofounder of PayPal via social media.“Elon. Please—for the love of decency—get off Twitter,” he wrote in a post from Nov. 4., 2022, resharing commentary by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Hand the keys over to someone who does this as an actual job, and get on with running Tesla and SpaceX. You are destroying your credibility. It’s just not a good look.”Musk fired back at Ruffalo, commenting, “Hot take: not everything AOC says is accurate.” The response has 124K likes, 9.4K reshares, and over 5.8K comments.Ruffalo supported the political campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, and didn’t hold back his feelings when the subject came to Musk’s involvement with Donald Trump.“Elon Musk is such a two-faced, turn-coat traitor,” he exclaims in a video clip shared by X account @beatsinbrief posted on Sep. 22., 2024. “He was a climate champion and he sold himself out for a buck.”It’s well-known that Musk is obsessed with the universe beyond Earth. The SpaceX founder doesn’t hide his desire to potentially move to Mars, and dedicates much of his time and resources to figuring out how.SpaceX has a landing page related to how their progress towards a Mars landing, and Musk actively posts his enthusiastic feelings on the subject any chance he gets.“AMERICA IS GOING TO MARS” Musk posted on X on Jan. 20., 2025, with a video clip of himself giving a thumbs up sign, shortly after he appeared at the presidential inauguration for Donald Trump.Musk estimates that his Starship rockets will reach Mars by 2026, with humans following by 2028, in an X post from Dec. 29., 2024. As far as how the government will work on the Red Planet, Musk stated, that “the Martians will decide how they are ruled. I recommend direct, rather than representative, democracy.” Comments have been turned off for the post, but that didn’t stop X users from voicing their opinions on Ruffalo’s original statement.“Mark Ruffalo just released his most insane post yet,” posted X user @Bubblebathgirl. “He’s now falsely accusing @elonmusk of ending the corrupt USAID so that Musk can move to Mars. Ruffalo ignores the fact USAID was being used on nonsense that doesn’t help Americans but does make politicians richer.”“Apparently Gamma radiation made Mark Ruffalo as dumb as the Hulk, as weak as Bruce Banner & a liar like a CNN host,” posted X user @FERMOR_23, resharing Ruffalo’s post.“It’s really harder to get any dumber than Mark Ruffalo,” X user @catturd2 also posted, with a screenshot of Ruffalo’s post, to which X user @blueunicornJan replied, “Mark Ruffalo has Hulk brain. Elon is a genius exposing the graft that is destroying our country. I think I will listen to Elon.”Some X users sounded off on their approval of the Hollywood star’s commentary. X user @goodhazelgraces reshared Ruffalo’s words, with a caption that read, “i f*cking love mark ruffalo because i mean he’s not wrong that’s all elon’s ever been actually passionate about.”The Daily Dot reached out to Mark Ruffalo via Instagram DM for comment.The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.To laugh or to cringe? 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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/culture/mark-ruffalo-elon-musk-mars/