The 1987 film Masters of the Universe has spent nearly forty years being treated like a punchline. A cheap cash-in. A toy commercial gone wrong. A beloved cartoon mangled beyond recognition.
And here’s the thing: all of that criticism is basically correct. It is a terrible He-Man movie. I remember when it came out. I was a huge He-Man fan. As were all of us kids. I was so excited for the movie. Then I watched and… I had no idea what I saw, but I knew it wasn’t He-Man. It did grow on me. It’s fun enough in many ways.
It’s not a He-Man movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s a terrible movie.
In fact, once you stop judging it by the standards of Filmation cartoons and toy-aisle accuracy, something unexpected happens. The movie suddenly makes sense. Not as He-Man — but as a disguised, compromised, oddly sincere Jack Kirby cosmic myth.
Put more bluntly: Masters of the Universe is a lousy He-Man movie, but a surprisingly good New Gods movie.
And the reason for that is simple. They weren’t really trying to make He-Man.
The New Gods Hiding in Plain Sight
Jack Kirby’s New Gods are not subtle stories. They’re mythic, operatic, and obsessed with power—cosmic power, inherited power, abused power. Fathers and sons. Gods who pretend they aren’t monsters. Monsters who know exactly what they are.
Once you approach Masters of the Universe with that framework, the character mapping becomes almost embarrassingly clear.
Skeletor → Darkseid
This one barely needs explanation. A tyrant obsessed with ultimate power. A ruler who sees free will as an inconvenience. A figure who doesn’t just want to rule the universe, but to flatten it into obedience.The Sorceress → Highfather
A distant, spiritually authoritative guardian of cosmic balance. Less a “wizard” than a living conduit for a higher order. She is the keeper of the cosmic order and the spiritual counterweight to Skeletor. She doesn’t fight; she preserves.He-Man → Orion
This is where the movie diverges most sharply from the cartoon. and accidentally improves. Film He-Man is grim, restrained, and burdened. Less cheerful barbarian, more reluctant demigod raised away from his true nature.Evil-Lyn → Granny Goodness
She isn’t just a henchman. She’s a true believer who is the keeper of the system. She understands how power really works. She isn’t impressed by Skeletor; she knows he is temporary. She is the one who really runs things.
Evil-Lyn also has a bit of Desaad in her.Lt Lubic → Dan Turpin
Kirby always puts one blunt, stubborn, working-class human in the middle of the god-war. In New Gods and Forever People, that role is Dan Turpin. and Lubic is exactly that. A cynical, tough as nails cop, who isn’t impressed by gods, has a strong sense of right and wrong, and is willing to throw fists it monsters.
There are others. Teela is Big Barda. Beast Man is Kalibak. But the most obvious one, beyond Skeletor being Darkseid, is
- The Cosmic Key → Mother Box
It opens doors, opens dimensions, responds to the user, sings, glows, guides, bonds with the bearer — and most obviously, it opens boom tubes.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. The movie isn’t interested in episodic heroics or toy-friendly adventures. It’s interested in who deserves power and what power does to those who seize it.
Why Earth Exists at All
One of the most common complaints about the film is that it spends so much time on Earth. But this is another place where the New Gods reading clarifies things.
Kirby constantly grounded cosmic stories in ordinary settings. New York. Suburbs. Streets. Because the contrast matters. Gods are only meaningful when placed next to people who aren’t.
The Earth characters aren’t there for comic relief. They function like Kirby’s recurring “everyman witnesses,” the humans who stand in awe of powers they don’t understand but still must survive.
That’s not a He-Man move. That’s a Kirby move.
Why the Movie Feels So Strange
If you grew up with the cartoon, the movie feels wrong. The tone is off. The humor is thin. Eternia doesn’t look like Eternia. The characters feel heavier than they should.
But that heaviness is exactly what makes it work as a New Gods story. Kirby’s gods are not fun. They’re tragic. They’re locked into cosmic roles they didn’t choose. They inherit wars older than memory. Even the “heroes” are damaged by their destiny. That weight is all over this film.
He-Man isn’t having fun. He isn’t quipping. He isn’t flexing for the camera. He’s enduring. Which is precisely why fans of the cartoon rejected it—and why it’s worth revisiting now.
The Accident That Made It Interesting
There’s a persistent rumor that the script began life as something closer to a New Gods adaptation, then got hastily re-skinned as Masters of the Universe when studio realities intervened.
Whether that’s literally true or not almost doesn’t matter. The DNA is unmistakable. And the director agrees. Comic book legend John Byrne once wrote that Masters of the Universe is the best New Gods film. The director of the film, Gary Goddard, write a reply that thanked Byrne for “getting it” and admitting that the film was a homage not just to New Gods, but to all Kirby’s work, including the Fantastic Four/Doctor Doom epic stories and Thor.
What we ended up with is cinematic bricolage: Kirby myth filtered through toy IP, budget constraints, and 1980s studio panic.
And somehow, against all odds, it still works.
Judging It for What It Is
If you want a faithful He-Man movie, this isn’t it. If you want Filmation Eternia, bright colors and moral lessons, you’ll be disappointed.
But if you’re willing to see it as an accidental Jack Kirby film, a rough, imperfect New Gods story smuggled into a toy franchise, then Masters of the Universe becomes something else entirely.
Flawed. Awkward. Sometimes ridiculous. But also earnest, mythic, and far more interesting than its reputation suggests.
Not every misunderstood movie deserves rehabilitation. This one does.
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |