Joe Budden has always has a commanding voice in hip-hop, but now one person’s joke about him voicing Kratos in the upcoming God of War series has created one of the funniest social media trends of the year.
On Thursday (September 11), an X user by the name of @realradec shared on his timeline the fake news that Budden auditioned to play, perhaps, video gaming’s most serious and violent protagonist ever in the upcoming Amazon Studios series.
Since rumors just surfaced about a short list of actors being considered for the role, the news, while funny, appeared true on the surface — even if there was no proof that Budden actually sought out the role.
After the post went live, people everywhere began using audio clips of Budden’s funniest moments as the voice for Kratos in serious scenes. In one of them, Kratos is confronted by a Norse god, Baldur, who attacks him. Instead of delivering a booming response in the voice of Christopher Judge (who originally voiced him), Budden’s famous moment of saying “a two pack of ass” plays instead.
Budden’s wild quotables actually work in some instances, with fans saying they’d give anything to see the podcaster actually play the legendary role. But more than anything, people say the posts have led to the conversation being one of the funniest on social media.
Metro Boomin even hopped on X to share just how much he’d been laughing at the posts, writing: "These Joe Budden Kratos videos got me crying."
On Wednesday (September 10), film insider John Campea, who previously leaked accurate details about Spider-Man: No Way Home and Sonic 3, revealed 10 actors who are allegedly being considered for the God of War series. He listed Judge, Jason Momoa, Winston Duke, Dave Bautista, Joe Manganiello, Triple H, Olivier Richters, Henry Cavill, Travis Fimmel and Manu Bennett.
In July, the showrunner and executive producer for the series, Ronald D. Moore, provided some details about the story that the show, which was originally announced back in 2022, will focus on.
"The tone of the show is trying to emulate the tone of the game, which is there's this epic journey, this heartfelt story of these two men setting out on this thing to honor the memory of his wife, Atreus’ mother," said Moore about Kratos' in-game son. "So it has this emotional heart, but there's this sense of history of who Kratos is, this mystery about his past, what he represents, the emotions that he's going through."
“So there's a weight to it, but not so much weight that there's not enjoyment along the way and there's spectacle and there's lots of things going on in this world," he added.
Check out some of the funny reactions to Joe Budden potentially starring as Kratos below:
ComplexCon returns to Las Vegas on October 25–26, 2025, with over 300 brands and live performances by Young Thug, YEAT & Friends, Peso Pluma, Central Cee, Ken Carson, and more. Get your tickets now.