---
title: "Nikola Tesla in popular culture"
chunk: 3/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_in_popular_culture"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:04:56.506096+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In 1941, the first of Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons (titled The Mad Scientist or just Superman) depicted Superman fighting a character named "Mad Scientist", which is very similar to Tesla (a 1999 VHS release of the movie was titled Superman vs. Tesla).
The Secret of Nikola Tesla (1980; Serbo-Croatian: Tajna Nikole Tesle), a Yugoslav film directed by Krsto Papić and notable for its inclusion of Orson Welles as banking baron J.P. Morgan, touches on Tesla's psychic powers and lost vision of the future.
David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the movie The Prestige (2006), in which one of the main characters gets Tesla to develop a remarkable electro-replicating device for him.
An independent Tesla film, Fragments from Olympus-The Vision of Nikola Tesla, producers of the film made news by using part of their budget to make a $33,333 donation to help save Tesla's Wardenclyffe lab during a crowd-funding campaign started by the popular internet comic known as The Oatmeal. The story of Wardenclyffe and the effort to save it was the subject of a documentary from the same filmmakers called Tower to the People – Tesla's Dream at Wardenclyffe Continues in 2014.
Red Giant Entertainment's Benny Powell was working on a film adaptation of the popular comic book in 2013.
Tesla – a 2016 documentary film by David Grubin presented on the American Experience series.
In 2017  American biographical historical film The Current War Tesla is portrayed by Nicholas Hoult. Film is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Michael Mitnick.
In 2020, the American biographical/historical/fanciful film Tesla premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda, it features Ethan Hawke as Tesla, and Kyle MacLachlan as Thomas Edison.
Tesla is portrayed by Canadian actor Robert Vilar in Matthew Rankin's 2017 experimental short film The Tesla World Light.
Tesla Nation, a 2018 documentary film on Serbian Americans
In Record of Ragnarok (2021 —) by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui, Tesla is depicted as a fighter for humanity.

=== Allusions ===
Disney's Tomorrowland depicts Nikola Tesla as one of four members (with Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel, and Jules Verne) of a group of inventors called Plus Ultra, dedicated to finding dreamers and inventors who wanted to create a better future. Plus Ultra later discovers an alternate dimension in which the titular City of Tomorrow is constructed.
In Jim Jarmusch's film Coffee and Cigarettes, the vignette "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil" features Jack White of the band The White Stripes praising Tesla's work and showing his bandmate Meg a Tesla coil he built; Jack is also a fan of Tesla in real life.
The 1986 Science Fiction Comedy The American Way (also known as Riders of the Storm) features a character named "Tesla" (played by Michael J. Pollard), an engineer on an airborne pirate television station.

== Music ==

=== Allusions ===
The American rock band Tesla is named after Nikola Tesla since 1986. They have referenced his life and works a number of times, such as in their debut album Mechanical Resonance (1986), their second album The Great Radio Controversy (1989) and the song "Edison's Medicine" (and accompanying music video), from their 1991 album Psychotic Supper 
Russian synthpop band Tesla Boy formed in 2008 is named after Tesla.
Yugoslav rock band Teška Industrija recorded the rock epic "Nikola Tesla" for their 1976 studio album Teška Industrija. In 2017, the band rerecorded the song with singer Goran Karan for the large Tesla exhibit held in Zagreb, Croatia.
"Tesla Girls" was a 1984 single by English band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Tesla is the subject of the song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the American duo The Handsome Family. The song is featured on the duo's 2006 album Last Days of Wonder.
American metal band The Human Abstract released the album Midheaven (2008), which includes songs referring to Tesla and his struggles.
Some of lyrics from the 2011 album החבר אני (The Friend Me) by Israeli rock singer Rami Fortis was inspired by the life and works of Tesla. Fortis had dedicated the album to Tesla, and said his works inspired him.
The electronic dance album RISE (2013) by American electro-pop band Renaiszance is themed after The Inventor: The Story of Tesla graphic novel created by Ravé Mehta. The first single and "I Will Rise" are written to Tesla's story and use edgy electronic Tesla coil sounds and dubstep in the production. RISE was produced by Ravé Mehta and co-written with his sister and Renaiszance lead singer Radha Mehta.
Tesla is the subject of the song "Tesla" by the American rock band They Might Be Giants which appears on their 2013 album Nanobots, with lyrics covering his involvement in X-rays, AC power, radio, and neon lights. The song also references Tesla's death at the New Yorker Hotel.
Tesla featured in the official "My Demons" (2013) music video by the American electronic rock group Starset.
The Norwegian artist Sturle Dagsland released a single in 2013 entitled "Wardenclyffe Auquarium" with reference to Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower.

== Online ==
In the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, in season 2, Tesla is depicted in a rap battle against Thomas Edison. Tesla is portrayed by Dante Cimadamore and his singing voice is provided by both Cimadamore and Nice Peter.
The Oatmeal, a website created by Matthew Inman, contains a comic explaining "Why Nikola Tesla Was The Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived".
In the animated series Super Science Friends, a fictional Nikola Tesla is one of the main characters and is voiced by Hayden Finkelshtain.
In online culture, Tesla's quote regarding the number 369 is thought to refer to the supposed natural vibration of the mind. The body opens counterclockwise, so the mind is also thought to operate in a counter-clockwise current. Some speculate attunement to this frequency may assist in helping their thoughts 'manifest' into their reality, though experts consider this to be pseudoscience.