Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe opened June 5, 2026 from Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel, directed by Travis Knight. Two hundred million dollars of sword-and-sorcery with Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, Jared Leto as Skeletor, and Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms. Somewhere inside this film lives a genuine He-Man movie with fist-pumping action and a real read on masculine honor. Six screenwriters and a four-quadrant mandate buried it under two hours of Marvel-grade joke grenades.

Knight made Kubo and the Two Strings and Bumblebee, films that balanced sincerity with spectacle. That pedigree makes the tonal chaos here more baffling, because the raw materials are present. Galitzine plays Prince Adam, exiled from Eternia to Earth after Skeletor’s invasion, cut off from the Sword of Power for fifteen years. He grows up in corporate HR, finds the blade, and gets pulled back by childhood friend Teela to lead a rebellion. The roster is stacked: Leto, Elba, Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn. You can see the budget. Critics sat this around 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences split. Both camps have receipts.

This piece needs some spoilers. Too much of what works and what wrecks the film only makes sense with the beats named.

The Snake Mountain sequence from the trailer is the best action set piece of 2026 so far. He-Man cuts through Skeletor’s forces with clean choreography, visible hits, and real stakes. People get stabbed. People get impaled. The camera holds instead of chopping the frame into Marvel confetti. You can track the swings. Galitzine sells the physicality. The fights overall are satisfying and impactful, not just that one set piece. Adam and Man-At-Arms get excellent stretches about protecting the people you love and standing up because you must. I wish those lines were allowed to stand as sincerity. Every one of them gets cut off at the knees by writer cowardice.

The acting is good. The leads bring A-game work, and Jared Leto of all people delivers an awesome Skeletor. Eternia looks incredible; you want to walk it, maybe park it next to Epic Universe. That matters in a landscape where the Volume has flattened too much of big-screen texture. Costumes work. The rogue’s gallery menaces. Galitzine is a great Adam and a great He-Man when they let him be. There is a wonderful He-Man movie in here. Then modern Hollywood sensibility flips it: emasculate the wonderful beat, embarrass it, or wink down the lens like we should all be in on how silly this is.

I am coining a term for what this film does: Jump Jokes. Same mechanic as a horror jump scare, except the detonation is a punchline timed to blow up every dramatic peak the movie builds. He-Man transforms. Goosebumps. Three seconds later he trips over his own feet. The “Princes of the Universe” needle drop hits, the theater goes electric, then characters cough through smoke for a gag. The song tries to keep going. The moment is already dead. Adam has a philosophical talk with Man-At-Arms about honor and leadership; next beat is a Teela friend-zone gag. Every positive crest gets hijacked and kicked in the testicles. We used to call it Marvel humor. This is beat-for-beat: they hold for the jump joke the way horror holds for the scare.

The movie treats He-Man the way a teenager treats their parents at the mall. The Sheep Detectives and Project Hail Mary worked because they stayed sincere. Masters wants that sometimes, and when it has it, it is awesome. Then the creators seem embarrassed to call Prince Adam He-Man, embarrassed by leadership and honor, cowardly about it. A little goofy, out-of-his-element Adam is fine. This film near-emasculates him at every chance, all the way to scoffing at the name “He-Man” when it is finally spoken at the end, then credits as he races off to save people. The 1987 film was bad by most measures, but Frank Langella played Skeletor with full Shakespearean commitment because nobody told him to be ashamed. This one keeps apologizing for existing. That breaks my heart.

Adam starts as the runt. Father humiliates him. Every trainee outperforms him. Fine underdog setup. The movie never lets up. Adult Adam on Earth is still out of place: first scene, a date with an attractive woman, he embarrasses himself talking fantasy childhood, she leaves early, implication he has been striking out for a while. Acceptable in act one if it pays off. Later Man-At-Arms delivers that honor speech, and the next scene friend-zones Adam for a laugh. Pattern: every time Adam steps up, chooses agency, or improves, something yank him back and whiplashes the room. In the resolution the Sorceress says she chose him because he connects with his feelings, unlike the implied alpha leaders of the past. Orko’s post-credits moral is strength from communication and feelings, certainly not muscles. How does Adam bulk into He-Man? Almost exactly Thor: Ragnarok: the power was inside you all along, shattered weapon, introspective chat with a deity. The film reaches for honor and protection, then flinches with a feelings disclaimer, as if celebrating a man who is physically, emotionally, and mentally strong requires an apology.

Six credited screenwriters and a Barbie producer trying to four-quadrant a boys’ brand. Rolling Stone called it mansplaining. THR called it Barbie for men through a feminist lens. Both land because both perspectives sit in the script at once, in adjacent scenes, sometimes the same scene. Every writer got a message in. Nobody owned the tone. Near-R violence and crude jokes slam into cartoon slapstick in one sequence. It mocks HR culture and validates it. It celebrates masculine strength and apologizes for it. Barbie committed to its audience and made a billion. Masters committed to all audiences, which means it committed to none.

One day after streaming and Blu-ray, some kid will cut an “Eternia Cut” and strip the nonsense that undercuts a fantastic film. Acting, world, props, action, villains: we were this close to greatness. Krennic meme energy.

Seven out of 10. By the time Toy Story 5 lands in a few weeks, nobody will care about this. Do not rush theaters unless you really want to. Wait for the Eternia Cut and have a better night.