He-Man & The Masters of the Universe (2026) VS Masters of the Universe (1987)

[00:00:05]By the power of gray skull. No.

[00:00:29]I have the power.

[00:00:37]You got to love He-Man. There are different versions, but mine was the 2002 series. For those of us that grew up with this show, [music] we'd love the heroes, the villains, the toys, the world of Attorneyia, the one video game.

[00:00:52][groaning] [screaming] And then the show got cancelled mid-season due to poor toy sales and lower than expected television ratings.

[00:00:59]And we never got He-Man again until the more feminized version by Kevin Smith, which is strange because the feminized version of He-Man was always supposed to be Shira. I thought it was pretty decent, but booting He-Man and the rest of the male characters for most of the season was a very bad call. I just started watching the second season, however, and they seem to have addressed that issue, although it was an issue that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Flash forward to today, and we have a new liveaction movie, and it has flopped at the box office just like their first attempt. Could this be another case of a good movie that suffered bad luck at the box office? Or is this a case of a bad movie that got what it deserved? That's what we're going to find out. Let the battle commence.

[00:01:42]The story for He-Man 2026 follows a young Prince Adam who is separated from the power sword and jettisoned from Attorneyia when Skeletor attacks. Raised on Earth as an ordinary man for 15 years with a human resources job, he finally gets reunited with his lost sword and his childhood friend healer brings him back to a conquered Attorneyia where Adam must embrace his destiny and transform into He-Man. Now, something I liked right off the bat is that we get a long 15-minute backstory of young Adam in Eternia and the circumstances that led to him being sent to Earth. And they establish a lot of the iconic heroes and villains in this time, including Manin- Arms and Skeletor. But the thing I didn't like about this opening is that the entire intro has an opening narration about Grey Skull and Eternia that 100% reminded me of the opening narration in Ready Player 1. They even described the sword of power like how Wade described the creator of the Oasis.

[00:02:33]They also throw in some MCU style comedy. We'll talk more about the comedy in a bit. And the story for He-Man 1987 is that Skeletor finds a mysterious device called the cosmic key that can make him all powerful. However, He-Man locates the inventor who created the key and has another version of it. During a battle, one of the keys is transported to Earth where it's found by teenagers Mon I mean Julie and Kevin. Now both He-Man and Skeletor's forces arrive on Earth and it's a race to the finish line to see who gets to their thingy first.

[00:03:04]>> Yes, we have to find the lead. Yes, don't forget.

[00:03:07]>> And yeah, you heard that right. They come to Earth. Even back in those days, He-Man was another one of those movies where it takes the character away [music] from his fantastical world and brings him to Earth so the studio doesn't have to pay for any expensive sets. Ironically, the 2026 film has it in reverse. It starts out with adult Adam on Earth and then brings him to the fantastical world. Now, in the 80s movie, the only bit of Attorneyia you get to see is in Skeletor's lair. In the 2026 movie, however, you get to see a lot more of Atia. The only problem is that it doesn't look all that big. If you look at the Lord of the Rings or Aquaman, the sets and CGI worlds are gigantic in scope. And in He-Man 2026, the small looking scale of Eternia that I noticed in the trailers looked just as small when watching the final film in theaters. So, I really wish they could have gone bigger with Attorneyia both in size and scope. But when compared to the 80s film, this is a huge improvement and is far better than what we got before.

[00:04:02]Now, tonally, the 2026 movie is very uneven. We got the MCU jokes, as I mentioned, and even the music throughout the film constantly switches between 80s retro and dramatic orchestral music. And I tell you, the constant use of 80s rock music is so out of place. And it makes the film feel like a music video during these scenes. And then it mixes in orchestral music. And it's an unsuitable combo because it feels like two completely different tones. Speaking of which, the comedy, it's all over the place. The first joke is Adam stupidly telling his date about his real life story. Right after that, we see his roommate crying to Chickflick. Then we get awkward modern office humor, and it all feels very forced and dated a lot of the time. And there was one joke that was mostly a ripoff of the slow-mo walk that we got in the first Guardians movie. And although this one ended with a better joke, it still felt like it was trying so hard to be funny, and it was terribly edited as well. Now, the comedy is not a complete lost cause. There are a good amount of decent jokes, most of them involving Skeletor. There are moments where he loses his evil composure and becomes insecure about his menace, and those were okay and surprisingly didn't throw off the tone like the rest of the humor did, and it maintains some of that He-Man goofiness from the original cartoon, which is a much more appropriate style of comedy as opposed to the MCU humor. The 80s film, on the other hand, is just one tone the entire film and stays pretty consistent.

[00:05:23]It has some comedy thrown in, but I didn't find any of it funny. The biggest laughs for me was the unintentional comedy, which we'll talk about in the He-Man and side characters segment. The film also took a lot of inspiration from Star Wars, as many movies at the time did. Even the 2026 movie is guilty of this. When Adam meets the Rebellion, their hideout looked just like the Rebellion from the original Star Wars trilogy, and Moss Man looked like a Chewbacca ripoff. So, yeah, Star Wars is still an inspiration with these live action movies, and I'm happy to say that both films can get a little edgy at times, especially the 87 movie. For a PG, this film has quite a bit of blood, and for a corny 80s cartoon adaptation to have violence like this is so cool.

[00:06:04]It was a different time back then when PG ratings would be taken seriously.

[00:06:08]Now, the new film is rated PG-13 and doesn't have anything like this, but it has some edge. One character gets impaled in a bunch of spikes. Another gets his arm ripped off. He-Man breaks one villain's horn and stabs it through his chin. But this was so poorly edited and hidden that I'm not even going to count it. But the 80s movie definitely had more of an edge to it to the point that it actually surprised me and my patrons as we were watching this during our watch party. In terms of pacing, me and the patrons watched the original movie in sync on my private Discord, and we had a great time laughing at the film in all its corniness. But it was around the 40minute mark that for me the joke was starting to wear off and I was getting bored. So I looked at how much of the film was left and was surprised to find that there was a whole hour of the movie to go. This shocked me beyond belief because I was under the impression the movie was going to reach the end of its second act soon and then was going to start wrapping things up.

[00:06:59]But no, the movie felt it had another hour worth of things to say. And honestly, it should have just kept his opinions to itself because the rest of the film is just dragged out action sequences, multiple attempts from Skeletor to get the electric bugaloo device, and bare chest here talking to Monica from Friends. Now, the 2026 He-Man movie also had a lot to say because the run time is actually a lot longer than the 87 film. It's 2 hours and 12 minutes. Does it have enough to say to justify this run time? Well, kind of. They try to give Prince Adam more of an arc and they even give more worthwhile time to the side characters and even some of the villains. But with that said, I still felt the movie was 20 minutes too long. But unlike the 80s film, the runtime didn't wear me down.

[00:07:43]The 80s He-Man had a simple story that was overly long and followed a very repetitious pattern of exposition, action scenes, characters walking and talking, more exposition, action scenes, characters sitting and talking, exposition, and you get the picture.

[00:07:57]With the 2026 movie, even in its slower moments, it still felt like the movie was progressing and moving the story forward. It wasn't obnoxiously meandering and padding itself out.

[00:08:07]>> Not quite sure what happened to my shirt, though. [snorts] Where are my pants? Do those come back or >> Okay, it was a little, but nowhere near the level of the 80s film. So, the movie with superior story is Masters of the Universe 2026.

[00:08:27]In the 2026 movie, Prince Adam is kind of a dork. He's not very socially popular. In fact, people find him to be a weirdo because he has a crazy obsession with swords. Even his boss thinks he is so distracted by swords that they threaten to fire him over it.

[00:08:40]It makes you wonder why he doesn't just stop telling people. But 15 years later and he's still telling everyone, but they make Adam dorky and socially awkward. And I like that. It's a great contrast for when he becomes He-Man. And that's where this movie completely drops the ball because although he dresses like him, He-Man is nowhere to be found in this movie. When Prince Adam becomes He-Man, he is supposed to be a completely different person. Think Clark Kent and Superman. But in this movie, he is just the same dorky Prince Adam, but now he's got muscles. This is such a huge thing that this movie messes up.

[00:09:14]How did they get this wrong? It's such a simple thing to understand, but they screwed it up. Even his first transformation was so lackluster. The new He-Man theme they give him was nothing special. And the transformation wasn't done with any gravitas, urgency, or even any buildup. A transformation that did have all those things was the 2002 series, which even had a badass musical score. Even the Netflix series had a much better transformation with far superior music. But this film just completely botched it. This should have been one of the most memorable and effective scenes in the film. A scene like this should be worth the price of admission alone. But I felt nothing.

[00:09:49]Even his I have the power yell was real weak.

[00:09:52]>> I have the power.

[00:09:56]>> It was also weak in the 87 movie.

[00:09:58]>> I have the power.

[00:10:02]>> Seriously, only the animated shows seem to know how to do this. So, in the 2026 movie, there is no He-Man, just Prince Adam. And that's ironic because in the 87 movie, there's no Prince Adam, just He-Man. Yeah. He stays in his He-Man form throughout the entire movie and never once reverts back to Adam. That alone is very strange. But what's even stranger is that they had a perfect opportunity where they could have shown Prince Adam. And that's when He-Man gets captured by Skeletor in the climax. They should have had him revert to Prince Adam here since he is captured and no longer has the sword on him. That way when he breaks free, he could take the sword, say the magic words, and then transform back into He-Man. but instead he stays in his He-Man form, retrieves the sword, and says the iconic line, even though he already had the power. So why did he say the magic words? How did they make this simple thing make no sense? So all that was a very big missed opportunity to me because the way the movie plays it, you wouldn't even know that Prince Adam existed.

[00:11:02]Also, Dolph's pronunciation of the English language just cracked me up the very moment he started talking. I've been looking for you.

[00:11:09]>> And it's not that he couldn't speak English at the time. He could. It's just that his accent is so thick that it gives the impression that he can barely speak English. Now, Dolph Lungren is actually a really good actor. Watch him in Creed 2 and you'll see just how good he is. So, he has done noteworthy performances, but he wasn't a very good actor in this film. He has the build for He-Man, but he didn't have the acting chops at this point in his career. And I never felt like I was watching He-Man in this film. He just doesn't have any of the charm or leadership that He-Man is supposed to have. It felt like he was playing a completely different character. Speaking of which, this He-Man also feels like a completely different character, as well as He-Man just being dopey Prince Adam in this film.

[00:11:52]>> What the Okay, >> even towards the end of the movie, they work overtime and trying to make him seem really dumb. In the animated series, most of Attorneyia doesn't know that Prince Adam is He-Man. So, there's a reason he usually runs off and secretly transforms. But in this movie, everyone knows he's He-Man from the very start, even Tieer. But for some reason, at the end of the movie, he makes an excuse to leave the group and transform.

[00:12:17]And the characters are like, "He knows we already know that he's He-Man, right?

[00:12:21]And they all nod along and agree to humor him as though they're dealing with an idiot." And that's not good. There's a lot of scenes that are done at He-Man's expense in this film. And I got to tell you, I did not like this He-Man one bit. So, this is tricky. We've got two bad He-Mans in this film, but which one is slightly superior? Or an easier way to look at it, which one is slightly less worse? And I think I got to go with the 87 movie. Yeah, this version ain't good, but he was treated as a badass action hero, and he wasn't the victim of self-deprecating jokes and constant cringy speeches like he was in the 2026 movie. And even though he felt like a completely different character, if I really really squint, I saw more He-Man in him than I did in the 2026 film.

[00:13:11]So, the movie with superior He-Man is Masters of the Universe 1987.

[00:13:20]I can't believe how bad Skeletor looks in the 80s film. Everyone has talked about how terrible the makeup is, and it's true. It looks like a mask.

[00:13:28]Skeletor is supposed to look like a skull, and there are so many ways they could have accomplished this back then, such as using an animatronic skull or something. But no, the $22 million movie went with this instead. And $22 million was a lot more back then. I could argue it, but what do you expect from the studio that made Superman: The Quest for Peace? Terrible design aside, the original movie gives us a darker version of Skeletor than what was portrayed in the 80s cartoon. And you can tell that the actor Frank Langella is trying to give him that weight and gravitas, which to be fair is not that dissimilar to another 80s kid show turn movie. And in a better film with a better script and with better makeup, I have no doubt he would have delivered. But sadly, he doesn't. The script is just so hokey and it makes this more [clears throat] serious version feel all wrong. That being said, rather than being straight up bad, I thought he was entertainingly bad. And you got to love the way he treats his assassins. The movie bigs them up like they are something to be feared. He sends them to kill He-Man and then they get taken out like nobody's business. Even the human characters beat the [ __ ] out of them. And it's funny when they come back. They're all humiliated and reduced to little [ __ ] since the last time we saw them. And Skeletor gives all of them one more chance to prove themselves, except for this poor guy right here.

[00:14:55][laughter] Get away.

[00:14:57]You see what I mean? Look, for me personally, all these villains are so bad they're good. That doesn't make them actually good, but to me, they are a guilty pleasure. And that sentiment extends to Skeletor as well. As bad as this Skeletor is, I got to say he gave me a ton of laughs for how serious he is trying to be and how little you take him seriously. I had a blast. Honestly, I did. And in the 2026 He-Man, Skeletor is also taken more seriously, but he's a mix of serious and goofy. He's very powerful and as a result can be very threatening, but he's definitely played tongue and cheek. He's constantly trying to act evil and then fails. And sometimes when He-Man gets the upper hand, you can see the >> he [ __ ] up >> meme all over his face. And unlike the 80s film, Skeletor actually looks really cool in this movie. His face doesn't look like cheap makeup. It looks like a skull. And he clacks his teeth, moves his skull around, and even snaps his jaw into place after a battle with He-Man.

[00:15:52]And the red eyes this movie gives him was a really good addition. So his design was much better and far more convincing here. But he's not without his faults. Despite all his power, he makes stupid mistakes at times. The way he loses the sword to Adam in the climax was beyond careless. Skeletor could have easily blasted him, but instead he just lets him take it with no attempt to stop him. Also, there are some funny jokes with him, but there are a good amount of jokes where they are just FORCING A LAUGH.

[00:16:18]>> THAT IS THE CRESCENDO.

[00:16:21]>> YOU know for the future, my lord.

[00:16:23]>> Now, if you are worried that Jared Leto would bring his quirks to this role, you don't have to. They modify his voice and his face is covered with CGI, so you can't really tell it's him.

[00:16:34]Occasionally, you can tell it's him acting through all that motion capture and CG, but for the most part, you can't. And I preferred it that way. So, both movies are kind of campy with how they portray Skeletor, but they also have a lot of serious moments, too. But I think that the performance that won out overall with regards to how serious he was and also his humor was Jared Leto's version. As I mentioned, he has a lot of faults, but of the two, I found him to be the far bigger threat and one that I was able to take much more seriously. Plus, his design isn't distracting here. It's really good, and it's a far bigger improvement over what we got in the original. So, I think it's very clear here that the movie with the superior version of Skeletor is Masters of the Universe 2026.

[00:17:19]The Masters of the Universe are just fine in the 80s movie, though. Nothing memorable, but they look the part all right, I suppose. Some more than others.

[00:17:27]They couldn't afford to make Oro float every scene he's in, so they gave us this thing instead, which looks like the Gremlins and Leprechaun had a love child. And there are other characters such as Mecca Neck and Cringer, who are not in the movie either for the same reasons. Man in-arms is all right, and Tila here, aside from having a laughably dated haircut, she has an even more laughable way of holding a gun. I mean, what the heck is this? What makes this even more hilarious is that this was supposed to be a badass girl power moment.

[00:17:53]>> Not yet. The room's secure. Anyway, sounded like you needed a woman's touch out here.

[00:18:01]>> Woman at arms.

[00:18:04][laughter] [screaming] >> All jokes aside, the big problem with Masters of the Universe in the 80s movie is that they're bland. You'll watch them and then forget all about them the very same day. You more enjoy being in their laughably dated 80s company than you do their personalities. The only noteworthy thing I can say in their favor is that they're nice people and they're not noisy or obnoxious characters. But that's where my consolations end. And I'll just say it, the masters of the universe are way better in the new movie. Because unlike the 80s film, the 26 movie gives them personality. And sure, they might not be great characters, but they sure as heck are far better than the ones we got here.

[00:18:41]Man in- arms is played by Idris Ela, a racebend I actually don't mind. And not surprisingly, he does a great job. Being a much bigger budget, we also get other masters of the universe that weren't in the previous film, such as Cringer, Mecca, and a whole smattering of others.

[00:18:56]That being said, there were some serious problems. Man in Arms was cool in the film's opening, but then he becomes a drunk for the rest of the movie. Now, although it makes sense for his character, I felt they kept it going for way too long and they didn't need to bring his character down that much.

[00:19:11]>> Okay, >> Skyllet in the back.

[00:19:13]>> Come on, Sky.

[00:19:14]>> Not you.

[00:19:15]>> What?

[00:19:16]>> Definitely not you.

[00:19:17]>> And as for Cringer, he only shows up very briefly in the opening and then we don't see him again until the third act, at which point I completely forgot he was even in the movie. And even then, we only saw him for a few minutes. Oro doesn't show up until the last few seconds, so I wouldn't even qualify him as being in the film. And then we have Tiea, and I felt that she was very two-dimensional, and her acting was okay. But there was one scene in the climax where He-Man gets stabbed with his own sword by Skeletor, and her reaction was the equivalent to watching someone stub their toe on a table leg.

[00:19:48]Her acting was unforgivably bad here. I also didn't really care for the very obvious romance they were setting up with human and tie. And then she suddenly pulls the brother card on him after giving him so many googly eyes.

[00:19:59]That's not a way of endearing us to this cheap romance. If anything, it makes us hate them both. Especially googly eyes here.

[00:20:06]>> You lousy minks. I WOULD HAVE YOU SPAYED. YOU SENT OUT ALL THE SIGNALS.

[00:20:11]>> And Adam's reunion with his mother felt like nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if they shot more scenes with the two of them, but then cut them out for time.

[00:20:18]Now, the reunion with his father was done a lot better, but it still wasn't anywhere near as emotional as it should have been. and as it was clearly trying to be. Oh, and the human characters in both films, they were just dead weight and ultimately were not needed. But more so in the 2026 film. This whole segment on Earth, these characters he meets, none of them play a part in the overall movie, and you could have just cut them out and would miss nothing. We even get Mr. Strickland in the original movie.

[00:20:43]>> Jesus, didn't that guy ever have hair?

[00:20:45]>> And he was just an annoying, intrusive cop whose involvement is completely forced and unnecessary. All of the side characters are. The only upside to them is that they are not as annoying as the side characters in the 2026 movie. So neither were great, but I found the Masters of the Universe to have much more to do in the 2026 movie than they did in the original. And they also have more character, particularly Man in Arms. But with even that being said, I didn't find myself caring for any of them. So although the characters are an improvement over the 80s film, that doesn't mean they are good. They were just all right. Having said that, I would still take them over the characters in the 80s film. So, the movie with the superior masters of the universe is the 2026 movie, and the movie with the superior side characters is Masters of the Universe 1987.

[00:21:35]As for Skeletor's Henchmen in both films, I thought they were just fine.

[00:21:39]Beastman was in both films, and he was much more destructive in the 2026 movie.

[00:21:43]At the same time, though, he was just a monster with little to no personality.

[00:21:47]He actually had more personality in the 87 movie. I especially loved when he begged Skeletor not to kill him. That was so pathetic and hilarious. Evil Lynn is also in both films and she was pretty bland and boring in the 87 movie. And in the 2026 movie, she's played by Allison Brie and I actually found her to be the most cartoony of all the characters.

[00:22:05]From the way she speaks to the way she moves, she came across a bit too animated and she felt a little out of sync with everyone else. I thought she was just okay. She gets the odd moment to shine here and there, but I thought she was underutilized. Now, I did not expect this, but the best side villain was Trapjaw. He was primarily man-in- arms villain throughout the film, and he was surprisingly strong. And even when it seemed like Man- in-arms got the upper hand, Trap Jaw always turned the tables on him. And every time he showed up, he was a threat that you took seriously. Despite his ridiculous design and his name, I mean, Trap Jaw, >> what kind of a dumb name is that? Now, as good as he was, I do think that they took him out way too easily, and it felt very quick and telegraphed. But overall, I thought the side villains were far better in the 2026 movie. And although they weren't as violent and hilarious as they were in the 87 film, I still much preferred them. They had a lot more to do, and they were definitely more threatening and memorable than the villains in the original. So, the movie with superior side villains is Masters of the Universe 2026.

[00:23:09]So, aside from Skeletor, the decent world building, and the cool opening scene, I thought the 2026 Masters of the Universe was a complete disappointment.

[00:23:17]Aside from the opening scene and final battle between He-Man and Skeletor, the action was nothing special, and one action scene copied a lot from this scene in The Incredibles. Not only with some of its choreography, but also with the design of these double-bladed ships.

[00:23:30]The Earth stuff was pointless. The dialogue was really bad. The tone was way too goofy. The masses of the universe were mediocre. The side characters were awful. The side villains were a mixed bag. And He-Man was Peman as far as I'm concerned. And this all goes back to the tone. We didn't get He-Man because the film had no confidence in its source material and decided to make fun of it every step of the way. And that was unforgivable. And everything it tried to do with He-Man, it failed at. It's trying to be funny and it's not. It's trying to be emotional and it's not. It's trying to be deep with a hero talking to his villain and it's not. There is a great scene in Daredevil Born Again season 2 where Daredevil talks to Kingpin about what it would have been like if the two had never met. How all their friends and family would still be alive and what would it take to stop all this. That was a great conversation. And He-Man has a similar conversation with Skeletor where he's trying to talk him out of fighting, but it was so corny. And not surprisingly, it doesn't work. Which is ironic because on Earth, Adam had a job at HR. He is supposed to be good at communication, but throughout this movie, he is just so bad at it. Even the 80s He-Man had a more convincing argument than him.

[00:24:37]>> Let her go.

[00:24:38]>> Now, the 1978 movie is not as bad as people have said. It's by no means a good film, but I've seen far worse. And I'd be lying if I said the movie didn't have almost a nice and cozy 80s film vibe to it. Everything from its more old school and gritty cinematography, the obvious Stormtrooper knockoffs, the overly energetic and pulledback score, the dated 80s fashion, and the old style. It made the movie fun to watch with friends and laugh at. And that was the experience I had when I saw this with the Discord members. I didn't include an action segment in this versus battle because, well, it's no contest, isn't it? The new movie didn't stand a chance. I mean, if you think that this is better than this, then you're out of your mind. In all seriousness, the action in the 80s movie was pretty boring and goes on for way too long. I was willing to go with the 2026 movie at first, and even when it declined, it didn't matter because the whole time you're anticipating the arrival of He-Man. That is supposed to be when the movie takes off and really gets started.

[00:25:38]But as soon as we got him, that's where the movie crossed the point of no return for me. and I stopped caring. It's time for the scores. Masters of the Universe 2026 gets a mediocre five out of 10 and Masters of the Universe Electric Booaloo gets a below average four. An important thing that the 2026 movie doesn't cover is who cared for Adam when he was on Earth. The kid couldn't fend for himself. So, did someone look after him?

[00:26:03]Was he sent to the foster system? What?

[00:26:05]The movie either doesn't care or completely forgot to tell us. It just further proves that all this Earth stuff was not thought out. This movie was directed by Travis Knight who directed Bumblebee. And the best part of that film was the opening Cybertron sequence.

[00:26:18]And ironically, just like Bumblebee, the best part of the film was the opening.

[00:26:22]And as soon as Prince Adam comes to Earth, that's when it becomes a completely different film. One that has its moments, but is far inferior to what was promised at the beginning. So, it doesn't surprise me that the film flopped. As much as those of us who grew up with it would hate to admit, He-Man is not as popular as other animated shows from that era. And I think that is the root cause for this movie flopping at the box office. And in typical Hollywood fashion, it sets up a sequel, which very much is a copy and paste of how the first Sonic movie did it. I keep telling these movies not to do that because there's no guarantee that they will get a sequel. And well, read it and weep. [laughter] >> [screaming] >> Ironically, despite this character's catchphrase, neither of these movies had the power.

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[00:27:33]And a huge thanks to those of you who have joined my Patreon already. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much for watching everyone, and I will see all of you very soon. Take care.