It looks like something out of a low-budget action movie. You’ve probably seen the images by now: Elon Musk, the guy who wants to put a colony on Mars, standing there in a black t-shirt or a leather jacket, gripping a heavy-duty chainsaw. Sometimes there are sparks. Sometimes there’s a look of intense, slightly manic focus. It’s the kind of visual that breaks the internet every few months because it feels so perfectly "Elon." But here’s the thing—half of what you see is actually real, and the other half is the result of the internet’s obsession with turning the Tesla CEO into a meme-worthy superhero.
The most famous instance of Musk with a chainsaw isn't actually about clearing brush or home DIY. It traces back to the early days of The Boring Company. Back in 2018, before the "Not-a-Flamethrower" became a $10 million marketing stunt, Musk was leaning hard into a DIY, "builder" aesthetic to sell the idea of high-speed transit tunnels. He wasn't just a CEO in a suit; he was a guy getting his hands dirty. Or at least, he wanted you to think so.
The Boring Company and the Power of Visual Stunts
Why does a billionaire pick up power tools? For Musk, it’s about branding. When he posted photos or appeared in videos for The Boring Company, the goal was to make civil engineering look cool. Usually, boring machines are slow, bureaucratic, and, well, boring. By posing with chainsaws and flamethrowers, Musk signaled to his fanbase that he was "hacking" the industry.
It’s a classic Silicon Valley trope. Move fast and break things. Literally.
There’s a specific video from a few years back where Musk is seen using a chainsaw to cut through a ribbon or symbolic barrier at a Boring Company site. It wasn't about the wood. It was about the optics of "cutting through the red tape" of urban planning. People loved it. It’s visceral. It’s loud. It’s the exact opposite of a city council meeting.
However, we have to talk about the AI elephant in the room. If you search for images of Musk with a chainsaw today, you are going to find a lot of fakes. Since the explosion of Midjourney and DALL-E, the internet has been flooded with hyper-realistic images of Musk in post-apocalyptic settings. Some show him fighting off zombies with a saw; others show him carving out the foundations of a Martian city. It’s getting harder to tell the difference, especially when the real Elon does things that are just as weird as the AI-generated ones.
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Why the Internet is Obsessed with This Specific Image
Musk has become a Rorschach test for the 21st century. To his fans, the image of him with a chainsaw represents the "Technoking" who isn't afraid to get in the trenches. They see a leader who understands the hardware, not just the spreadsheets. To his critics, it looks like a calculated, cringey performance. It’s "Tony Stark cosplay."
Honestly, both sides are probably right.
The fascination persists because Musk leans into it. Unlike most CEOs who are terrified of a PR mishap, Musk thrives on the chaos of a "leaked" photo showing him doing something unconventional. Remember the Cybertruck window smash? That was a disaster that turned into a marketing win. The chainsaw fits that same mold. It’s raw. It’s industrial. It matches the "Cyber" aesthetic he’s been pushing since 2019.
Interestingly, there’s a real-world connection to his "hardcore" work philosophy. At Twitter (now X), Musk famously told employees they needed to be "extremely hardcore" to stay. He talked about sleeping on the floor of the Tesla factory. The chainsaw is the visual shorthand for that mentality. It says, "I am here to tear down the old ways of doing things."
The Engineering Reality vs. The Meme
Let’s be real for a second. Chainsaws are actually pretty terrible tools for the kind of engineering Musk does. You don't build rockets with a Stihl. You don't manufacture electric vehicles with a chainsaw. The tool itself is a symbol of destruction, not precision.
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But Musk has never been one for subtle symbols.
When he bought Twitter, he walked into the headquarters carrying a literal porcelain sink. "Let that sink in." It was a pun. A dad joke. A weirdly physical way to announce a digital takeover. Using a chainsaw is the same type of physical theater. It captures the "disruptor" energy that defines his career. Whether he’s actually cutting anything doesn’t matter as much as the fact that he’s holding the tool.
Separating Fact from Fiction
If you're looking for the "real" photos, stick to the verified Boring Company archives or his official social media posts from the late 2010s. Most of the recent, high-definition photos of him in tactical gear with a chainsaw are 100% AI-generated. You can usually tell by looking at the hands—AI still struggles with how a human grip actually wraps around a chainsaw handle—or by looking at the background, which often looks a bit too much like a movie set.
There was a rumor circulating on Reddit that Musk used a chainsaw to personally clear trees at the Gigafactory Berlin site. While it’s true that there was a massive controversy regarding tree removal at that site (environmentalists were not happy), there is no evidence Musk was out there doing the manual labor himself. He was busy fighting the German courts for the permits to do it.
What This Tells Us About Modern Leadership
We live in an era where "vibes" often matter more than policy. Musk understands this better than almost anyone in business. By associating himself with powerful, dangerous tools, he crafts an image of a man who is "dangerous" to the status quo.
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It works. It keeps him in the news cycle without him having to spend a dime on traditional advertising. Tesla famously has a $0 marketing budget. Why pay for a Super Bowl ad when you can just post a picture of yourself with a chainsaw and get 50 million impressions for free?
It’s smart. It’s a bit weird. It’s very Musk.
Practical Takeaways for Navigating the Hype
When you see a celebrity or a CEO in a "rugged" or "action-hero" pose, it’s worth taking a beat to analyze what’s actually happening. Here is how to keep your head on straight when the next viral image of Musk with a chainsaw drops:
- Check the Source First. If the image is coming from a meme account on X or a random Facebook group, there’s a 90% chance it’s a deepfake or AI generation. Look for the original post.
- Look at the Context. Is he at a factory? Is it a staged press event? Musk is a master of "calculated spontaneity." Even if the photo is "real," it was likely taken with the intent of it going viral.
- Understand the Branding. Every tool Musk holds is a signal. The flamethrower was about "fun" and "disruption." The sink was about "taking over." The chainsaw is about "cutting through bureaucracy."
- Ignore the "Action Movie" Narrative. Musk is a businessman and an engineer, not a mercenary. The photos are part of a broader narrative of him being a "builder," which helps recruit talent to his companies. People want to work for the guy who looks like he’s having fun, even if the reality is 100-hour work weeks and high-pressure deadlines.
The reality of Musk is usually found in the SEC filings and the engineering blueprints, not the viral photos. But the photos are what keep the world watching. Whether he's actually starting the engine or just posing for the camera, the image of Musk with a power tool is here to stay as a symbol of the modern tech-celebrity era.
Verify the metadata of viral images using tools like RevEye or Google Lens to see where they first appeared. This is the only way to avoid being fooled by the increasingly realistic AI "parody" photos that dominate the search results today.