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The new Darth Vader: how tech execs became the film villains of our age

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The new Darth Vader: how tech execs became the film villains of our age

Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning shows how public opinion has changed around billionaire CEOs since The Social Network’s release

When The Social Network came out, Mark Zuckerberg organised a staff viewing of a film he described as “fun”.

The Social Network hardly portrayed the Facebook founder and his company in a hagiographical light (Zuckerberg later described the film as “hurtful”), but there was at least an element of the plucky upstart to the rise of Zuckerberg as he takes Facebook to 500 million users and a valuation of $25bn (ridiculously small numbers now – Meta has 3.6 billion users and is worth $1.8tn).

By the end of that film, though, a steely CEO is emerging and his company is on the brink of global hegemony. The Social Reckoning picks up from there, with a clear perspective that both the founder and his company – as well as the industry they represent – are corporate villains now.

This is set to be underlined by the release of the OpenAI drama, Artificial, where its CEO, Sam Altman, is reportedly given a deeply unflattering portrayal. Elon Musk completes the villainous trilogy by appearing as himself – aside from the odd deployment of an AI avatar – in Alex Gibney’s four-hour documentary, Musk, about the world’s first trillionaire.

Tech is the obvious thread joining these films, but another is the scathing portrayal of the company leaders in them. Film villains used to be hoodlums, ex-deep state operatives, people with posh British accents.


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