Nearly 40 years ago, my favorite toy line was brought to life on the big screen. I can remember the excitement and anticipation I had for the original Masters of the Universe back then, and I can also remember the confusion and disappointment that followed. Did I hate the movie? No way…this was He-Man, after all; it just wasn’t the He-Man I was used to. Over the years my understanding and appreciate of Cannon’s adaptation of Mattel’s popular toy line grew, but so did my hopes that one day, we’d see He-Man, Skeletor, and the supporting cast of MOTU characters getting the Hollywood blockbuster treatment. Today was that day for me, because I have just returned from the theater, where for 2 hours I fully immersed myself in a world of power, magic, and…meta-humor? I promise to keep the spoilers as light as possible, but I have to use this No Surrender Cinema to talk about 2026’s Masters of the Universe!

After years of being bounced around from studio to studio, getting trapped in developmental hell, and surviving a revolving door of rumored casting choices, it felt like all hope was lost. Then the success of Barbie lit a fire under Mattel, who sought to adapt more of their brands for the big screen. Barbie’s popularity turned out to be a huge plus for people who wanted to see the heroes of Eternia clash with Skeletor’s Evil Warriors again, and with production now linked to Amazon MGM, everything was turning up roses. Actors and actresses started to sign on. Production images started leaking. People’s concerns that it may not be true to the source material and questions about how long the film would be set on Earth for ate up much of the space on He-Man fan pages and social media groups. While some of those worries were valid (after all, we lived through the Eternia-less, full of unfamiliar characters Cannon version), there seemed to be a lot of trepidation about the new movie. Even people who professed to be lifelong fans were stating that they’d stick to the cartoons, because they expected to be disappointed.

Now, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and as a lifelong He-Man fan, here’s mine; this movie RULES.

That’s it. That’s the article.

OK, not exactly. I’ve got more to say, and again, I’ll do it without major spoilers. The perceived failures of 40 years ago are not present here. Original MOTU characters, toys we played with like Ram Man, Fisto, Spikor and Trap Jaw are all present along with a villain like Karg (a character that originated in Cannon’s Masters movie). Time on Earth is limited to what was shown in the trailers, with Prince Adam being stuck there searching for the Sword of Power and a way back home. Not only do we get to see Eternia and Castle Grayskull, but we also get Skeletor’s lair Snake Mountain. As far as what fans have stated they’ve wanted for years and years, this movie hits it out of the park!

Now, that’s not to say it’s completely flawless. Humor runs through the film continuously, even in battle scenes or dramatic monologues. There’s a LOT of meta-humor and inside references. In a lot of cases it works, like when it’s a set-up to explain how the Heroic Warriors got their names. Or when just before Beast Man starts wreaking havoc in search of Adam on Earth, we hear 4 Non Blondes playing on the radio, a nod to a meme from years ago. As a superfan, I can appreciate trying to throw these references in the film, but there were a few times where it felt like the director may have gone too far with the silliness and slipping Easter eggs in. I’m going to make an educated guess that this was at least partially inspired by Barbie‘s tone, and maybe Mattel was hoping that lightning would strike twice.

Action-wise, the film excels, and actually goes further than I expected it to. The 80’s cartoon was extremely tame (remember He-Man mostly just threw people around), and in the film He-Man is swinging his sword, slashing through the bad guy fodder. He also pretty brutally dismantles one character. I’d go as far to say that He-Man’s actions towards Skeletor’s lackeys are more violent than the latter’s actions towards the heroes. While there is one instance of a Heroic Warrior facing the worst of Skeletor’s wrath, most of them just wind up trapped in Snake Mountain’s dungeon. Meanwhile, Adam (during his first He-Man transformation) seems to take great joy in destroying the bad guys once he’s gotten a grip on how to utilize his newfound power. I guess the frustration of years of being bullied as a youngster and then getting stranded on another planet for 15 years may as well be channeled into beating the crap out of the bad guys. I’m perfectly ok with a more aggressive He-Man running through the roster of colorful villains that the franchise can provide!

The biggest deviation from the norm, and something that gets spoiled in one of the later trailers, is that Adam’s transformation is not a secret. In the original cartoon, it was only Cringer/Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms, Orko, and The Sorceress who knew that Prince Adam and He-Man were one and the same. Masters of the Universe takes inspo from the Kevin Smith penned Netflix cartoons, where everyone discovers the secret and it has repercussions throughout the series. Here, it’s easily accepted that this is just how life is now, and it’s even used as a punchline towards the movie’s end. Given that Adam spends the majority of his time reunited and bonding with Duncan and Teela, they could have had Adam do his initial transformation in front of Duncan, who would agree to keep it a secret and guide him through the ultimate battle with Skeletor and his crew. Now that I think about it, that slight twist would have made Duncan’s redemption arc even more important; not only does he have to overcome what has made him a shell of his former self, but now he has to move forward with the weight of Adam’s big secret on his shoulders. 

The one area that the film doesn’t spend much time on is the romance aspect. Although it’s implied that Adam always had a crush on Teela and that she’s willing to reciprocate, the film doesn’t take it there save for one scene played for laughs. The set-up is clearly there for them to get together should a sequel come out (and based on the fact that we get not one, but THREE credits scenes, I think Amazon MGM are banking on it), but since it didn’t have any impact on the other events of the film, it’s a plot point that likely could have waited for Masters of the Universe 2.

I would be remiss in not mentioning the villains and just how amazing they are. Spikor as a slobbering mutant? Trap Jaw as a menacing mercenary? Even Goat Man, a B list character by MOTU standard, is portrayed as a hulking brute and one of Skeletor’s main enforcers. Then of course there is Evil Lyn, played by Allison Brie, whose co-dependency on Skeletor knows no bounds, even when she appears to be rolling her eyes at his latest master plan. It’s another old plot point that was truly expanded on in Revelation and Revolution on Netflix, and it’s one that plays out right up until the final credits scene rolls.

It’s taking every ounce of my being to not go more in depth as to what I loved about the film and what may have been able to be tweaked just slightly, but it’s a new movie and we have rules around here, you know! So instead of droning on and on about how much I enjoyed it, I’m going to end this column by encouraging everybody to see it.  My son and I had a blast at the theater, and between the battle scenes and some of the surprises that were thrown in, we couldn’t wait to get in the car and talk about it all. While Masters of the Universe may be banking on the nostalgia crowd to help its box office numbers, it’s also a perfect ground floor experience for new fans to get a taste of a classic character and to see where this franchise takes us in the future.

Masters of the Universe is now in theaters.