{"id":2613342,"date":"2026-06-11T08:41:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/masters-of-the-universe-is-a-fun-throwback-to-when-good-guys-were-good-and-bad-guys-were-bad\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T08:44:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:44:57","slug":"masters-of-the-universe-is-a-fun-throwback-to-when-good-guys-were-good-and-bad-guys-were-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/masters-of-the-universe-is-a-fun-throwback-to-when-good-guys-were-good-and-bad-guys-were-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Masters Of The Universe&#8217; Is A Fun, Anti-Woke Throwback"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmasters-of-the-universe-is-a-fun-throwback-to-when-good-guys-were-good-and-bad-guys-were-bad%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2613342&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rather than treating *masters of the Universe* as another version of Hollywood\u2019s cynical, \u201cwoke\u201d take on beloved myths, the piece argues the film delivers a rare faithful spirit of classic hero stories. It notes how disappointing the marketing sounded-especially comments framing Skeletor in terms of \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d-and mentions the movie\u2019s box-office struggles despite its large budget. The author then claims the film\u2019s actual content contradicts those fears.<\/p>\n<p>After Prince Adam returns to Eternia following its destruction and years in exile, the columnist emphasizes that the story is strong because it understands what kind of character He-Man is: sincere, competent, and unambiguously good. They draw attention to how adult Adam is shaped on Earth by a bureaucratic \u201cHR\u201d mindset and a culture the film portrays as overly sentimental and conflict-avoidant, which the author frames as an \u201cindictment of wokeism.\u201d Even when Adam has the Sword of Power, the argument goes, he doesn\u2019t know how to use it because that\u2019s the only worldview he\u2019s been given.<\/p>\n<p>The article credits the movie\u2019s ideological and dramatic resolution to Duncan (Idris Elba), who redirects Adam toward the idea that real goodness requires warrior strength guided by a good heart. From there,the contrast between He-Man and Skeletor becomes central: the author praises Skeletor for being clearly villainous rather than sympathetic,portraying him as tyrannical power used selfishly,while He-Man represents just authority.<\/p>\n<p>the piece says the film is entertaining and lovingly constructed-matching the look of the cartoons and toys, featuring Brian May on the soundtrack, and leaning into its own fun-while admitting some action and emotional beats are uneven. it concludes that despite imperfections, the movie is worth appreciating for its party of masculine heroism.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Given how far to the left Hollywood now is, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netflix-dumbs-down-classic-persuasion-with-snarky-millennial-girlboss\/\" title=\"Netflix Dumbs Down Classic \u2018Persuasion\u2019 With Snarky Millennial Girlboss\">faithful adaptation<\/a> of He-Man \u2014 powerful, competent, good \u2014 should be impossible. Prince Adam, you would think, would be given the same treatment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8ucO78OoM6k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Luke Skywalker<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6qMLt3gPZCo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indiana Jones<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=68yCqSLJ-LY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Captain Kirk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejamesbonddossier.com\/features\/destroying-bond-how-no-time-to-die-obliterated-the-bond-formula.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Bond<\/a> have received. <\/p>\n<p>And if you saw the marketing for <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em>, you probably thought that was the path Amazon\/MGM had chosen. Director Travis Knight\u2019s assertion that Skeletor was an example of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.empireonline.com\/movies\/news\/skeletor-embodiment-of-toxic-masculinity-masters-of-the-universe-exclusive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d<\/a> and other asinine comments made it seem like Amazon and MGM were only interested in seeing how many humiliation rituals they could put He-Man through, same as Kevin Smith did in the horrendous <em>Masters of the Universe: Revelation<\/em> Netflix series. <\/p>\n<p>This probably is part of the reason why <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> is a box-office disaster, making only (as of this writing) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/movies\/articles\/masters-universe-box-office-makes-031545496.html?guccounter=1&#038;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&#038;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKu9wVYtNTs0eR2DfNiPb3h-EmABB6r8lbjWEYj3pQNkkCh03e-G2b5y1KiNDH1sc5yi1vOM_4PmutsQku5ddRCI7x0mOB2o9w6Ge2ehlCkQWWJJcAh0UpaJXydWdBH1fiJ4cvzALi-h7S6sEIaceIl7zU4sK3cJD8FLjcYTXOgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$54 million<\/a> worldwide on a <a href=\"https:\/\/cosmicbook.news\/masters-of-the-universe-box-office-break-even\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$200 million budget<\/a> (not counting marketing). People, naturally, assumed it was more of what Hollywood has been serving and passed. Fortunately, the left hand obviously did not know what the right hand was doing since the marketing assertions have no bearing on reality.<\/p>\n<p>Upon returning to his home on the magical planet of Eternia after witnessing its destruction and spending 15 years in exile, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) turns to his childhood friend, Camila Mendes\u2019 Teela, and asks, \u201cWhy would [Skeletor] do this?\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Because he\u2019s the bad guy, she replies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere has to be more to it than that,\u201d Adam protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has a skull for a face,\u201d Teela says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That, in a nutshell, is one of the reasons why Amazon\/MGM\u2019s <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> is so good, one of the best films to come out of the Hollywood sludge machine in several years.<\/p>\n<p>The film is a big-screen adaptation of the classic Filmation cartoon <em>He-Man and the Masters of the Universe<\/em>, a cartoon made primarily to sell Mattel\u2019s Masters of the Universe toys. Like <em>Transformers<\/em> and <em>G.I. Joe<\/em>, <em>He-Man<\/em> started life as a glorified toy commercial. And from 1983 to 1985, He-Man <a href=\"https:\/\/wheeljackslab.com\/blog\/moments-in-toy-history-how-mattel-gained-the-power-through-he-man?srsltid=AfmBOopg7_2imai4avFduutVa6ltkBJL6rjGl1rS0auhO8uWijPaxHtC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sold Mattel\u2019s toys<\/a> five days a week by defending the secrets of Castle Greyskull from the \u201cevil forces of Skeletor,\u201d an interdimensional demon who coveted the power He-Man possessed. The show is silly, simple and not technically impressive, especially when put beside the likes of <em>Batman: The Animated Series<\/em> or Fox\u2019s <em>X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>It is also sincere and heroic. A throwback even in the \u201980s, an echo of Flash Gordon and Superman\u2019s original incarnation, He-Man was \u201cthe most powerful man in the universe,\u201d able to lift and toss entire mountains and cities. He was also unequivocally, incorruptibly good. He used his awesome power to help people simply becaus<em>e <\/em>he <em>was<\/em> the hero. The power and the goodness were intertwined: He-Man could not be as good as he was without the power, and he could not be as powerful as he was without his goodness. He was, in many respects, the old ideal of chivalry dressed in barbarian skins for Gen Xers.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it is not a stretch to say that <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> is an indictment of the woke mind parasite, particularly its intersectional feminist form. When we meet the adult Adam, 15 years into his emergency exile on Earth, he is literally in hell. He works in the HR department of a nameless corporation where he must listen to asinine complaints and take part in meaningless, feelings-affirmation meetings. <\/p>\n<p>Away from work, things are no better: He rooms with a nameless, effeminate guy who only seems to watch romance movies like <em>The Notebook<\/em>. While crying. Adam\u2019s world is literally filled with feminine energy that the people around him, like his boss, frame as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-project-veritas-twitter-insider-records-ceo-jack-dorsey-laying-out-roadmap-for-future-political-censorship\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Project Veritas: Twitter Insider Records CEO Jack Dorsey Laying Out Roadmap For Future Political Censorship\">real world<\/a>, the only world. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to choose whether to be part of the real world,\u201d she tells him, or be a dream-filled loser, referencing his drawings of Eternia (that there are children\u2019s drawings and actual sketches in his room is a great touch) and his constant looking for the Sword of Power, the movie\u2019s MacGuffin, which holds the power of the universe. A world of masculine energy does not even exist in this mindset.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Adam finds the sword and returns to Eternia, but the indictment does not end as Earth recedes in the rearview mirror. Adam, even after seeing the destruction Skeletor has wreaked on his home, even after all the time spent trying to escape, is still in HR mindset. He tries to dialogue with monsters. He tries to call seminars so that differences can be resolved. He does not think that ripping off the mechanical arm of Trap-Jaw (one of Skeletor\u2019s minions) is something to celebrate. <\/p>\n<p>Some people have argued that this is the movie\u2019s leftist ideology bubbling up to the surface, the writers feminizing He-Man, whittling him down to an appropriate size for the 21st century. But the script is trading woke for brilliance. Adam is not being the HR guy because he\u2019s feminized. He\u2019s being the HR guy because that\u2019s all he knows. If we assume it is 2026 in the movie, it means 10-year-old Adam arrived on Earth in 2011, just when woke was about to vomit itself across the culture. <\/p>\n<p>Intersectional feminism is the only operating system that he has been given during some of the most formative years of his life. He may have the sword. He may have the power. But, like Skeletor says, he doesn\u2019t know how to use it. Far from being woke, this is the movie\u2019s biggest punch against wokeism.<\/p>\n<p>The feminist operating system is replaced primarily by Adam\u2019s mentor, Duncan (race-changed but still brilliantly played by Idris Elba), the former captain of the Royal Guard. It is Duncan, channeling G.K. Chesterton, who tells Adam that he has fighting all wrong. When evil comes, Duncan says, \u201cit\u2019s not the poets who step up,\u201d but the warriors. And who are the warriors? The ones who want their children to see one more sunrise. The ones who shield those who cannot defend themselves. Muscles \u2014 power \u2014 are needed to actually beat evil down. But a good heart is needed so that those muscles are channeled in the right directions, used for the right ends.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the great contrast between He-Man and Skeletor comes into play. A hero is only as good as his villain, and Jared Leto and the writers deliver. This Skeletor is not sympathetic. He is not misunderstood. He does not have a tragic backstory. As he says, he\u2019s the villain, and it feels good to be evil. <\/p>\n<p>And, like most evil people, he is paranoid. He understands that the power he has can be lost, stolen, taken away. He needs the power of Greyskull so that he can oppress and destroy and kill without fear that there will be retribution. Skeletor is tyranny, power used selfishly. He-Man is authority, power used justly.<\/p>\n<p>Besides its anti-woke themes, <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> is one of the few modern movies that seems to actually be having fun. It understands what kind of movie it is and embraces it. Costumes, characters, places all look like their animated counterparts and even the original toys. Brian May, one of the lead guitarists of Queen, is part of the soundtrack. Even the old cartoon theme is given a chance to shine.<\/p>\n<p><em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> is not perfect. Some of the action sequences come off flat. Some emotional beats are handled way too quickly. Some of the jokes do not land. But it is a fun, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >energetic popcorn summer movie<\/a> that actually loves masculine heroism. And that is reason enough to love it.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Nathan Stone is a storyteller who looks at culture, politics, and religion from a different point of view on his YouTube channel Nate on the Stone, and who exercises moral imagination in his writing. A lover of books, music, and the outdoors (especially with dogs), he earned a master&#8217;s degree in American history from Liberty University in 2016. Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCAf9yqD5ewDue7gE8NDUmqg?view_as=subscriber\">his channel<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nes_nathan\">follow him on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hollywood\u2019s leftward shift should make a faithful He-Man adaptation impossible-but it\u2019s exactly why *Masters of the Universe* works<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1686,"featured_media":2613343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Untitled-2026-06-09T225108.882.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[13735,14890,13353,36660,81181],"class_list":["post-2613342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-anti-woke","tag-entertainment","tag-nostalgia","tag-pop-culture","tag-retro-gaming"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copy-of-Untitled-2026-06-09T225108.882.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2613342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2613346,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613342\/revisions\/2613346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2613343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2613342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2613342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2613342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}