Masters Of The Universe (2026)

“They call me a devil, but I mean to be a god.”

I love this movie.

I could stop right there, but there’s so much more to talk about when it comes to 2026’s Masters Of The Universe. As a child of the 80s, I had more than my fair share of Masters of the Universe toys and I loved playing with them. I religiously watched (and eventually collected on DVD) the He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon. I saw the Dolph Lundgren-starring live action film from 1987 and watched the animated film He-Man And She-Ra: The Secret Of The Sword (1985) in the theater. I ignored the 1990 revival of He-Man called The New Adventures Of He-Man because it paled in comparison to the original. I owned comics, LPs, shirts, caps, a Velcro wallet, and tons of other MOTU merchandise. Heck, I even watched and reviewed the Kevin Smith MOTU Netflix shows. Basically, I’m saying all of this to let you know that my review will be a bit…..biased.

But I don’t care.

This movie was fun. I grinned from ear to ear as some of my favorite heroes from my childhood came to life on the big screen. Whether it was the ridiculously perfect costumes that looked so close to the original characters from the cartoon and the action figure line or the amazing score composed by Daniel Pemberton with power licks provided by Queen’s Brian May or the multiple Easter eggs, callbacks, winks, and nods to the entire franchise, I LOVED this movie. Yes, nostalgia played heavily upon my heart as I watched this film, but there’s more to it than nostalgia. It actually had a great story.

The film opens with Adam narrating the downfall of Eternia at the hands of the evil Skeletor and his minions. He then explains how he ends up in Oklahoma City, loses the Sword of Power, and how he must locate the sword in order to return to Eternia and release from the clutches of ol’ Boneface…..to a young woman that he is on a date with at the time. We then see Adam’s humdrum life working in a feeble and dull human resources department that checks off every single box of affirmation. Then he discovers the sword, is saved by Teela, and brought back to Eternia. His return is met with confusion and uncertainty, but he eventually finds the power within to lead his friends in a revolt against Skeletor.

The cast is excellent. Nicholas Galitzine did an amazing job as Adam/He-Man as did Idris Elba as Duncan/Man-At-Arms. Even better were the performances of Jared Leto as Skeletor, who chewed his way through every scene that he was in, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, who also chewed her way through all of her scenes, stealing most of them from everyone else in the cast. The rest of the cast, full of all of my favorite heroes and villains, played their characters to perfection. In particular, Sam C. Wilson dominated most of his scenes as Trap Jaw and Johannes Haukur Johannesson and Jon Xue Zhang portrayed Fisto and Ram-Man provided plenty of action and laughs.

Of special note is the performance of Camila Mendes as Teela. She portrayed a strong woman who kept a cool head in all of her scenes, hinted at a relationship with Adam, and was arguably the most believable character in a film loaded with fantastic characters. There were other heroes and villains in the film, but I’ll leave them out of this review to give you a chance to discover them for yourself.

As I previously mentioned, the characters in the film looked like wonderfully imagined live-action versions of their animated and action figure equivalents. Mekaneck looked a tad awkward, but the rest of the gang looked great. In particular, I loved the design and motion of Ram Man. I also loved the savage look given to Spikor. Other characters, especially those from the original toy line’s first release, looked almost identical to their toy counterparts.

From amazing character design, breathtaking visuals, and campy humor to the moral of the story that’s neatly tied up at the end just like it was in the animated series, Masters Of The Universe is a real treat. While it struggled at the box office, it has performed well on Amazon Prime and seems to have found its audience there. While no official green light has been given for a sequel (which was teased in the end credits), I have a sneaking suspicion that we will get a second MOTU film, and I’m totally ready for it!

Thanks for reading my post. I have the power!