KUOW⁠73%

'Masters of the Universe' has the power to bring He-Man to modern audiences, and get a laugh ⁠27%

By Dyer Oxley⁠0%

6/3/2026, 3:01:51 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 32 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Hasty Generalization, and Halo Effect, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 59.8% saturation with 621 hits. Analysis detected 2,754 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,039 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 38.1% and a BS Rank of ⁠27% (16,155 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 73.80% of the article peer group.

After many years absent from the big screen, He-Man powers into theaters once again with a crowd-pleaser of a movie, "Masters of the Universe," that delivers as much laughter as it does adventure. 
But in 2026, many might not recognize this cherished '80s hero. 
Perhaps, however, they might understand him. 
That's because "Masters of the Universe" is really a story about Adam, the prince of Eternia, and not so much about He-Man. 
It's about a man, a bit of a geeky one at that, who navigates a life with roommates, HR trainings, and the challenges of dating. 
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A young Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) was forced to flee his planet Eternia as the villainous Skeletor takes over (Jared Leto, I guess, since the face is a skull and the voice has a lot of effects over it). 
Adam hides on Earth for 15 years. 
The film misses an opportunity here as it skips over these years and doesn't explain what happens to Adam, or how he survived as a young adult talking about his far-off home planet where he lived with a sorceress, a warrior goddess, and a guy named Fisto. 
That didn't hinder him too much, because Adam grows up to be the kind of guy who wears a salmon-colored shirt to his desk job in an HR department. 
As such, he's very familiar with buzzwords, de-escalation, emotional intelligence, and managers who communicate through fake laughs and corporate speak. 
But Adam can't escape the politics of Eternia forever and finds himself called back to his role as prince to fight Skeletor and his henchmen, along with his mighty friends, Duncan (Idris Elba), Teela (Camila Mendes), and more. 
Can Adam, a guy who'd rather draw fantasy pictures and talk people through their problems, truly become He-Man? 
"Masters of the Universe" ends up being quite a funny movie. 
Unlike its cartoon source material, it's more apt for adult audiences, unless you want to explain to kids why people are laughing at a lot of double entendres scattered throughout the dialogue. 
He-Man: Trope, nostalgia, gay icon 
Filmmakers were clearly aware of everything He-Man has become ever since his small-screen debut in 1983 — a trope, a source of '80s nostalgia, a gay icon. 
In 2026, this film doesn't hide from any of that. 
It embraces it with a good sense of humor that doesn't ultimately spoil the story, accented by some killer metal guitar riffs. 
Everything He-Man has gone through in the decades since his debut are blended into this movie and layered over a modern take on the character. 
Who would He-Man be if he were brought up in a world with "He/Him" nameplates contrasted with grunting gym bros? 
All of this is mined for humor, but everybody is in on the joke, whether it's about old cartoons where everyone laughs and slaps their backs at the end of an episode, or the nuances of sitting through corporate staff trainings. 
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Film critics are unlikely to laud "Masters of the Universe." 
It's a modern attempt at a sword-and-planet movie with some holes in the story. 
Audiences, however, will hold this movie up, admiring homages to the past, quoting one liners, and perhaps discussing a few points. 
That's par for the course for He-Man, however, a cartoon that always required a childlike suspension of disbelief. 
Even the name "He-Man" sounds like a placeholder when the show's creators were first writing it in the 1980s. 
It probably went something like: 
"OK, he's mighty, he's got a big sword and a booming voice. 
What a hero! 
What's his name? 
"Oh, well ... 
*He* ... er ... 
*Man*? 
Whatever, we'll figure it out later. 
Something macho." 
Then there is the basic premise: A very buff, very blonde guy named Adam, who has a giant talking green tiger, has to sneak away to become his superhero alter ego, He-Man ... which is a very buff, very blonde guy who also hangs out with a giant talking green tiger. 
And nobody figures it out. 
He doesn't even have glasses as a disguise. 
He-Man is just supposed to be fun, and "Masters of the Universe" achieves this. 
But filmmakers also managed to heighten the appeal with good humor and an awareness for what it is (the soundtrack is quite good, too). 
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Some of the success here could be credited to director Travis Knight. 
As the director who made the only palatable Transformers movie ("Bumblebee," 2018), he has shown he has a knack for taking 1980s cartoons (that were designed to sell toys), crafting them for modern audiences, while maintaining what made them special in the first place. 
"Masters of the Universe" excels at '80s aesthetics, from guitar-heavy music to ample product placement — this movie is produced and distributed by Amazon, so you may notice a logo or two; you might also suddenly have a desire for a Coca-Cola. 
It also leans into the 1980s practice of highlighting a moral lesson in each story, meaning that "Masters of the Universe" isn't just about flexing and fighting bad guys. 
Just as 2023's "Barbie" offered deeper meaning around femininity, "Masters of the Universe" explores the many sides of masculinity and societal pressure to "be a man." 
This moral aspect is not as potent as it is in "Barbie," but it's there. 
The 1980s argued that being a man meant triumphantly punching evil, filling a room with a booming laugh, and being an all-around macho star. 
Explosions were probably part of being a man back then, too. 
"Masters of the Universe" isn't afraid to be a little more intelligent, a bit more complex, while not taking itself too seriously in order to "be a man." 
"Masters of the Universe" 
3.5/5 stars 
Screen or stream? 
Screen. 
How often do we get sword and planet movies these days? 
See this on a big screen with great audio quality, and vibe with the theater audience. 
Rated PG-13 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 2.6%Dyer Oxley: 3.3%KUOW: 2.6%Confirmation Bias2.6%This article: 4.0%Dyer Oxley: 2.2%KUOW: 1.3%Anchoring Bias4.0%This article: 14.3%Dyer Oxley: 3.8%KUOW: 3.4%Availability Heuristic14.3%This article: 6.6%Dyer Oxley: 1.6%KUOW: 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic6.6%This article: 0.5%Dyer Oxley: 1.1%KUOW: 0.7%Hindsight Bias0.5%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 2.4%KUOW: 1.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 6.2%Dyer Oxley: 5.3%KUOW: 7.4%Framing Effect6.2%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.7%KUOW: 1.0%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 1.8%Dyer Oxley: 0.8%KUOW: 1.0%Status Quo Bias1.8%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 23.4%Dyer Oxley: 5.1%KUOW: 3.8%Optimism Bias23.4%This article: 4.0%Dyer Oxley: 1.3%KUOW: 1.8%Pessimism Bias4.0%This article: 15.3%Dyer Oxley: 8.8%KUOW: 8.0%Negativity Bias15.3%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 1.8%KUOW: 2.0%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 3.9%Dyer Oxley: 0.6%KUOW: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error3.9%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.2%KUOW: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 3.9%Dyer Oxley: 2.6%KUOW: 2.0%In-Group Bias3.9%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 17.2%Dyer Oxley: 3.6%KUOW: 2.7%Halo Effect17.2%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.2%KUOW: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 1.3%Dyer Oxley: 1.8%KUOW: 1.1%Recency Bias1.3%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.2%KUOW: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.2%KUOW: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 10.5%Dyer Oxley: 4.3%KUOW: 4.3%Appeal to Authority10.5%This article: 4.9%Dyer Oxley: 1.2%KUOW: 1.4%False Dilemma4.9%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.4%KUOW: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 18.2%Dyer Oxley: 7.5%KUOW: 4.1%Hasty Generalization18.2%This article: 4.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.4%KUOW: 0.3%Red Herring4.0%This article: 2.0%Dyer Oxley: 1.4%KUOW: 0.8%Bandwagon2.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 5.6%KUOW: 6.1%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 2.8%Dyer Oxley: 1.0%KUOW: 0.8%Begging the Question2.8%This article: 5.2%Dyer Oxley: 2.5%KUOW: 2.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)5.2%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.0%KUOW: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 4.5%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.3%Burden of Proof4.5%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.0%KUOW: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 4.3%Dyer Oxley: 0.4%KUOW: 0.2%Composition/Division4.3%This article: 3.8%Dyer Oxley: 2.1%KUOW: 3.3%Anecdotal3.8%This article: 2.7%Dyer Oxley: 0.1%KUOW: 0.1%No True Scotsman2.7%This article: 11.3%Dyer Oxley: 1.6%KUOW: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)11.3%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.0%KUOW: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 3.8%Dyer Oxley: 0.1%KUOW: 0.1%Middle Ground3.8%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.3%KUOW: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.1%KUOW: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.4%KUOW: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 9.5%Dyer Oxley: 1.5%KUOW: 1.0%Unattributed Quote9.5%This article: 1.3%Dyer Oxley: 0.6%KUOW: 0.8%Quote-first Misdirection1.3%This article: 59.8%Dyer Oxley: 6.3%KUOW: 3.2%Biased Writer Voice59.8%This article: 1.5%Dyer Oxley: 1.5%KUOW: 1.5%Indoctrination1.5%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.1%KUOW: 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dyer Oxley: 0.1%KUOW: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 9.6%Dyer Oxley: 2.5%KUOW: 1.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…9.6%

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