Prime Video/Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0
Audio By Carbonatix
From The Daily Show to Last Week Tonight, Colorado gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx has been everywhere lately. And something about him seems familiar.
Marx is a social media personality and self-described high-risk humanitarian running in the Republican primary. The 60-year-old Colorado Springs resident has been the subject of national headlines and punchlines for his far-fetched claims. Among them: that he, as a civilian, called in a U.S. Military airstrike against ISIS, that he has the ability to exorcise demons from people over the phone, and that his ministry has rescued tens of thousands of abused women and children in dangerous missions around the world.
Beneath the spectacle and patriotism lies a darker core, as Marx frequently references violence and has publicly admitted to killing at least one person, while alluding to many more.
For fans of the comic book series and Amazon television show “The Boys,” Marx’s persona may be a bit reminiscent of the central antagonist, Homelander: a mass-murdering supervillain who uses American flags and Bible verses to advance his agenda, while believing himself to be the one true God.
In honor of Primary Election Day on Tuesday, June 30, Westword compiled 15 quotes from Homelander and Marx. Can you correctly guess who said what?
Scroll down to test your knowledge. Warning — the answers are provided under each quote, so scroll slowly to avoid spoilers.
1. “Some people have to get killed. Some people have to die. It’s what they choose.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
During a podcast interview with Jeff Lerner in January 2025, Marx said it “bothers” him when people are killed during his humanitarian missions, but it is necessary when dealing with “the manifestation of evil.” “It’s part of our approach and philosophy in what we do,” he said.
2. When asked how many times he has accidentally killed someone: “We all have the same goals, don’t we? To keep our country safe.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Homelander
In season two, Homelander refused to reveal how many innocent bystanders he had accidentally killed during his crime-fighting missions. Similar to Marx in the prior quote, the villain framed the loss of life as a necessary sacrifice.
Prime Video
3. When asked how many people he has killed total: “I don’t think that’s important.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
During a 9News interview with Kyle Clark in May, Marx refused to reveal how many people he has allegedly killed. When first asked, Marx said, “There’s no count on that.” When pressed about providing the information to voters, he said, “There’s no need. I don’t think that’s important.” Though Marx served in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years, he was not deployed and never saw combat, so all of these supposed kills would have occurred outside of the military as a civilian.
4. Said his “first kill” happened when he was 7 years old.
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
On multiple occasions, Marx has recounted a story in which he claims his abusive stepfather forced him to shoot a man in the head at 7 years old. Marx alleges the man was a stranger and his stepfather buried the body, never to be found. There is no evidence to substantiate this story. Law enforcement officials from the area in Mississippi where the murder supposedly occurred have no reports on any unsolved homicides from that time, CPR reported. (FYI, Homelander’s first kill was during his birth.)
5. Said his accomplishments “may seem impossible by human standards.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
Though this sounds like a quote from a superhuman like Homelander, it comes directly from Marx’s Facebook. The post shared on June 2 pushes back against critics who point out Marx’s many extraordinary tales: “I know much of what he’s experienced and done may seem impossible by human standards, but we serve a God who does the impossible every single day.” The post is credited to Marx’s daughter, though it is shared directly to his account and has a suspiciously similar voice to his other posts.
6. “I believe I can do what Christ did.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
During an interview with Candace Owens in May, Marx defended his history of providing exorcisms, claiming that he has the ability to command and speak to demons. “I believe I can do what Christ did and said we would do also. He was the one that spoke directly to demons…” Marx said. Owens responded, skeptically, “Yeah, he’s Christ.”
7. “I was visited by an exquisite angel, bearing the gift of revelation. … And I was awakened to my true purpose.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Homelander
In season five, Homelander declared himself God, claiming that an angel had visited him and informed him that this was his life’s purpose. Though less extreme, Marx has stated that God called on him to run for governor, describing his campaign as “ordained.”
Prime Video
8. “It’s time for true believers to wake up and take back what the enemy has stolen.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
In an X post from February 2024, Marx called on “true” Christians to take back the church, saying its morality has dropped, specifically pointing to the prevalence of cohabitation and premarital sex. “Christians lost their light,” he said. “The church got poisoned.”
9. “You need me to save you.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Homelander
In season three, Homelander goes off on a surprise tangent, screaming at a crowd of people, “You need me to save you.” Though the quote belongs to Homelander, it is reminiscent of Marx’s statements that he was forced to run for governor to “save Colorado.”
Prime Video
10. Said he cannot reveal how many people he has saved “for security reasons.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
Marx’s campaign website promoted a false claim that he has rescued more than 45,000 women and children. That claim was removed after being debunked. During a 9News interview with Kyle Clark in May, Marx refused to reveal the true number of people he has rescued. “We’ve never publicly given the number out for security reasons and we don’t have a need to,” he said. “I would say it’s more than one and less than a bunch.”
11. “Nobody wants innocent people to get hurt. … But the bad guys, they don’t think like us. And so, sometimes, these things just happen.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Homelander
In season two, Homelander defended his use of deadly force after facing backlash for accidentally killing an innocent bystander.
Prime Video
12. “There is nothing wrong with using might for right.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
Marx has posted this same quote on X four times between April 2021 and November 2024, presumably to defend the use of force for just causes. The full post is: “There is nothing wrong with using might for right, under the control of God’s Spirit.”
13. “I like the opportunity that extreme darkness brings.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
In a video shared in April 2023, Marx said he enjoys times of “extreme darkness” because it makes it easier to recruit followers for his ministry. “I don’t have to try to do image maintenance. I just don’t have the energy or the time for that. When things are so dark, you don’t even have to be a lighthouse; you can just be a spark. And people will look.”
14. “Sometimes it’s hard being superior.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Homelander
In season two, Homelander spoke to his son about the difficulty of being a superhuman: “Sometimes it’s hard being superior to every single other person on the planet. It’s isolating.”
Prime Video
15. “I can’t help it if I’ve had an extraordinary life.”
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: Victor Marx
During a 9News Republican primary debate in June, moderator Kyle Clark asked Marx, “How should voters decide whether you’ve lived one of the most extraordinary lives in human history, or whether you’re a liar and a fraud?” After deflecting for some time, Marx responded, “I can’t help it if I’ve had an extraordinary life.”
So, how’d you do?
