‘No Gods or Kings’: Musk posts cryptic message — Here’s the video game that inspired it

Billionaire Elon Musk shared a cryptic post on Sunday, which read- “No gods or kings, only man.” He captioned the post, “Anyone else think of this yesterday?” The post came just a day after widespread anti-Trump protests across the United States, coinciding with the parade on US president Donald Trump's birthday and the 250th anniversary of the US Army.

The protests, referred to as the "No Kings" demonstrations, were organised by opposition groups accusing Trump of behaving like a king and undermining democratic values.

Later, Musk shared another post with a video of a successful flight test of SpaceX’s Starship, captioning it with the same phrase- “No gods or kings, only man.”

Musk has not explained the posts, leaving people to speculate. Some see it as a reflection of his focus on human achievement in space exploration.

Others view it as a message about individual power without depending on higher authorities or rulers, especially in light of his recent clash with Trump.The image Musk shared with the caption “No Gods or Kings, Only Man” comes from the video game BioShock. In the game, the phrase is tied to the character Andrew Ryan and the underwater city of Rapture, which promotes human autonomy above everything else. In the game, the words appear on a red curtain with gold letters and have since been widely used in fan art, merchandise, and wallpapers, often in an Art Deco style inspired by the game's design.