Netflix’s ‘Masters Of The Universe’ Accused Of He-Man ‘Bait And Switch’

He-Man

Netflix

Well, it just wouldn’t be acceptable if we had to go a week without some sort of pop culture-based fan war, so here we are with a controversy about Netflix’s new Masters of the Universe: Revelation series.

The series is being “review bombed” by viewers, though many dispute that term, but it has accounted for a wide split between critics, which have given it a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and fans, who have sunk it to a 28%. That’s…quite a gap.

The issue seems to be that a certain subset of fans feel “tricked” by the marketing and branding for the new Masters of the Universe series, created and written by Kevin Smith. They believe they were promised a show starring He-Man and his alternate form, Prince Adam. Instead, the show focuses mainly on Teela, and spoilers, He-Man is killed by the end of the first episode of the series.

But in truth, if you’ve watched Part 1 of season 1 here, you will see that all of this is…overblown. Yes, I’ll agree that the marketing, from the trailer to the thumbnail image, suggest this is focused on He-Man. And yet a few things are true about the actual series. Spoilers follow.

Masters of the Universe

Netflix

– He-Man or Adam does appear in all five episodes of part 1, even if Teela is the lead.

– Adam is not actually “dead” dead. This is a fantasy universe after all. He goes to a paradise made for heroes like him, but opts to come back to be with Teela and reclaim his power. Skeletor intervenes, stabs him and takes the power for himself, and yet it doesn’t seem like Adam has died a second time, and can probably heal from what doesn’t appear to be a fatal wound.

– Again, this is just Part 1 of season 1, and 5 more episodes will follow which will likely continue to feature He-Man and Skeletor. And if the show goes past a single season like She-Ra (which ran for five seasons), I think it’s simply too early to tell how much He-Man will feature, even if Teela continues to be elevated alongside him.

I can say that yes, I suppose I agree that He-Man was featured more prominently in marketing than he was in these first episodes here, and the implication was that he’d be the star of the series. But if there was any trickery being done here, I don’t think it was for “woke” purposes of having the show star Teela, but rather keeping the secret that He-Man dies in the first episode, a plot twist you don’t want ruined. And even that has proven not to be permanent.

As ever, I think people are making too big a deal out of this. He-Man or Adam is in every episode. This is only five episodes of a series that will ultimately run for who knows how long. And if Teela is prominently featured? So what? She’s good! And the show is still a solid return to the Masters of the Universe as a concept, and it’s doing interesting things with the lore of the series.

We’ll have more answers in the next 5 episodes, though I’m not sure when those will be arriving.

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