The Masters of the Universe toy and cartoon franchise got a live-action film adaptation back in 1987, with Dolph Lundgren taking on the role of lead hero He-Man, who defends the planet Eternia (and the rest of the universe) from evil forces, usually headed up by the villain Skeletor. To cut costs, the majority of the film is set on 1980s Earth, with He-Man and various other characters being transported from Eternia to Earth with the use of a “Cosmic Key.” He-Man was joined on this journey by his cartoon allies Man-at-Arms and Teela, and they battled some familiar characters in that film – Skeletor, his right-hand woman Evil-Lyn, a monstrous villain called Beast Man – but, despite the filmmakers having a long list of toy and cartoon characters to choose from, they also created some characters for He-Man to go up against.
In the cartoon, He-Man is the alter ego of Prince Adam, the young son of Eternia's rulers King Randor and Queen Marlena. Whenever Prince Adam holds the Sword of Power above his head and proclaims "By the Power of Grayskull! I have the power!" he is endowed with "fabulous secret powers" and transformed into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. In the movie, there is no Prince Adam. He-Man is just in He-Man mode for the entire duration.
So the ‘87 Masters of the Universe movie wasn’t quite what a lot of fans were looking for. In fact, it was a box office disappointment and had a bad reputation for a long time. It has managed to develop a cult following, though. Nostalgia has made it look better over time – and there were also fans like me, who never had a problem with the movie to begin with. I was a massive Masters of the Universe fan as a child and was probably four years old the first time I saw that movie, and I accepted it just as much as I would have accepted the latest episode of the cartoon. I always thought it was a good time.
That film ended with a tease for a sequel that, of course (and unfortunately), never happened. Things were quiet on the movie front for a long time.
Talk of a new live-action Masters of the Universe began in 2004, at which time John Woo was the director of choice. The project then spent more than a decade in development hell. It passed through the hands of multiple directors: John Stevenson, Jon M. Chu, Jeff Wadlow, McG, David S. Goyer, the Nee brothers. It bounced from studio to studio: Warner Bros., Sony, Netflix, Amazon MGM. Noah Centineo and Kyle Allen were attached to star at different points. Screenplays were written by Goyer, Wadlow, Mike Finch and Alex Litvak, Evan Daugherty, Terry Rossio, and Chris Yost, but for some reason the thing never went into production. It was quite a mess.
But now, a new Masters of the Universe movie has finally made its way out into the world, directed by Travis Knight from a script that’s credited to Chris Butler, David Callaham, and the Nee brothers (Aaron and Adam Nee), with the Nees also receiving story credit alongside Litvak and Finch. With a budget of $170 million at hand and a desire to bring more characters from the cartoon to the screen, Knight had the opportunity to bring the ideal Masters of the Universe movie to the screen. I don’t think he managed to do that. Honestly, I still prefer the Dolph Lundgren movie over this new one. But the 2026 film was entertaining to watch.
Things got off to a really promising start. The new MOTU warmed my heart right from the beginning, with the MGM lion being replaced by the cartoon character Cringer / Battle Cat in the opening logo. The story begins in Eternos, the capital city of Eternia, where we see a young Prince Adam (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) – a precocious little kid who drops lines about having poor hand-eye coordination – reluctantly being trained in the art of battle by Man-at-Arms Duncan (Idris Elba) alongside other youths, including Duncan’s daughter Teela (Eire Farrell). We’re with them long enough to see that little Adam is a disappointment to his father... and then things get cool when Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his forces of evil raid the city.
Watching Man-at-Arms battle a cartoon-accurate version of the character Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson), I thought I was in Masters of the Universe Heaven. This fight was a glorious sight to behold.
Then, the filmmakers made a bizarre choice: they sent Adam to Earth again. As Skeletor takes control of Eternos, the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin), guardian of Castle Grayskull on the outskirts of Eternos, sends Adam through a magical portal to Earth along with the mystical Sword of Power. Adam is told that the Sword of Power is his ticket back to Eternia – but while going through the portal, he loses it.
Jump ahead fifteen years. Adam has grown to adulthood on Earth (in Oklahoma, to be exact), with Nicholas Galitzine taking over the role as an adult. I seriously questioned the casting of Galitzine when it was announced (much like I questioned the casting of Centineo and Allen before him), but he does a fine job in the role – even if this isn’t really my idea of He-Man. Adam is a soft goofball, and even when he does find the Sword of Power, raise it, and transform into He-Man, he remains a soft goofball. He’s powerful, sure, but he’s also a dweeb.
Anyway, Adam has spent fifteen years making people think he’s nuts by telling them about Eternia. He finds the Sword of Power and catches the attention of people on Eternia, with Teela (now played by Camila Mendes) showing up to give him a ride back home and Beast Man showing up to try to tear him apart. Things go Teela’s way and they return to Eternia, where Skeletor is still running the show.
From there, Adam has to realize the powers of He-Man, help Teela pull Duncan out of a drunken stupor, and team up with the likes of Battle Cat, Roboto (voiced by Kristen Wiig), Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), Ram-Man (Jon Xue Zhang), Mekaneck (James Wilkinson), Moss Man (Stephen Adentan), and Dian (Christiaan Bettridge) – a character who originated in Masters of the Universe newspaper strips – to fight Skeletor, Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie), Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops (Kojo Attah), Spikor (James Apps), Goat Man (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), and – a character created for the ‘87 movie – Karg (Ben Pronsky).
Adam is also reunited with his parents, King Randor (James Purefoy) and Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley)... and the way the Randor scene plays out is truly bizarre. As Matt Singer of Screen Crush put it, “In what has to be one of the strangest character choices in any major blockbuster in recent memory, He-Man kills his own father and then borderline covers up his crime. ... Adam never admits what he’s done, and never expresses any sort of remorse about it.” During a confrontation with Skeletor, He-Man causes a cave-in that crushes and kills his father, and he never says so much as “Oops” about it. He acts like Skeletor killed the man in front of him, when he actually causes the King’s death through pure stupidity.
It was really nice to see so many characters from the cartoon in Masters of the Universe ‘26, but there were also plenty of questionable decisions made along the way, and the film has a sense of humor that often serves to undermine moments that could have been cool. You can tell the people behind the scenes were desperately trying to replicate the successful formula of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, but they just couldn’t quite pull it off.
That said, I did enjoy the new Masters of the Universe and I’m glad it exists, since it gave me the chance to see a lot of the cartoon characters in live-action, something I’ve been waiting forty years for. I would be interested in seeing a sequel where He-Man is an established character who’s more like his cartoon counterpart – and while this was a box office disappointment, pulling in just $113.7 million worldwide, there is a chance that a sequel could happen if enough people stream the movie on Amazon’s Prime Video. We’ll have to wait and see.
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