Masters of the Universe Trailer Complaints Ignore Key Aspect of He-Man Lore

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It’s no surprise that fans of He-Man had strong reactions to the first trailer for Masters of the Universe. While some criticized the casting of Jared Leto as Skeletor or the trailer’s humorous approach, one particular complaint seems to come from a misunderstanding of the original animated series’ story.

Fans are questioning the new Masters of the Universe movie’s emphasis on Earth. The story follows Adam, a prince from another world, who was sent to Earth as a child and spent years living a normal life as an office worker. Despite this, he remembers his home and his duty to protect it using a powerful sword. The trailer shows that Earth will eventually be threatened by the villain Skeletor and his forces.

Many fans have expressed disappointment with the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie, partly because it took place mostly on Earth – a result of the film’s limited budget. But the biggest issue seems to be a feeling that Earth isn’t a significant part of the He-Man story. This isn’t true, though. Earth has always been connected to the main setting of the franchise, Eternia.

Masters of the Universe has almost always incorporated Earth

Before becoming Queen of Eternia, Marlena Glenn had an adventurous life as a pilot for the Air Force and an astronaut with NASA. After becoming lost in space, she crash-landed on Eternia, where she was discovered by King Randor. He kindly offered her shelter and care as she healed, and they eventually fell in love and married.

As a longtime fan of He-Man, I always loved the little backstory threads woven into the series. Most remember Queen Marelena’s Earth origins from the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ episode in ’84, and it was revisited the following year with ‘Visitors From Earth.’ But digging into the older comics, I was surprised to learn her story as a traveler from Earth actually first appeared way back in 1982. It’s neat to see how the creators built on that idea over the years!

In 1982, a special DC Comics issue brought together the characters He-Man and Superman. Interestingly, this was the first time the story revealed that Prince Adam was actually He-Man in disguise. The story also showed that Adam pretended to be foolish to hide his true identity, similar to how Superman acts clumsy as Clark Kent. Some believe the ‘Masters of the Universe’ movie, where Adam is sent to Earth, is a nod to Superman’s own origin story.

The original plans for Masters of the Universe included a different backstory for Marlena Glenn. Instead of being a solitary explorer on Earth, she was part of an astronaut team. The other astronauts were intended to become the villains Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, and Tri-Klops. Though this concept wasn’t used in the original cartoon series, the recent movie includes nods to this early idea.

Alison Brie plays two characters: Evil-Lyn and Professor Evelyn Powers. Professor Powers is the original identity of Evil-Lyn, who was Marlena Glenn’s enemy. In the new movie, she uses the Professor Powers guise while on Earth to keep an eye on Prince Adam.

Masters of the Universe arrives in movie theaters on June 5, 2026.

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2026-01-23 20:07