The new trailer for the reboot of Masters of the Universe barely looks like the movie from the first trailer we previewed back in January here at borg. The first looked fun, close to Hero at Large with a twist of Thor: Ragnarok. But this second trailer looks like a full-on homage to Mark Hodges’ 1980 movie adaptation of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon starring Sam Jones. And what could be better than that?
The new movie stars Nicholas Galitzine (who starred in the remake of The Watcher in the Woods) as He-Man, with Sir Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms and Jared Leto as Skeletor, plus Firefly’s Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, Community’s Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, James Purefoy (A Knight’s Tale) as King Randor, along with Camila Mendes (Riverdale), and Charlotte Riley (Edge of Tomorrow).
Check out this awesome new trailer for Masters of the Universe:
Here is the earlier trailer, in case you missed it:
Notice the nice Big Jim tribute in the trailer?
Big Jim was the toy line Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darryl McDaniels and I had as kids that we discussed at a comic convention a few years ago. The camper pictured in its box on the shelf in the photograph above, is a toy classic.
Anyone remember when He-Man and Lion-O teamed up in the Masters of the Universe and Thundercats crossover for the ultimate 1980s showdown? The Masters of the Universe toys, an outgrowth of the Big Jim action figures, camper, and other toys of the 1970s, beat out Nerf and Bingo to make it into the National Toy Hall of Fame back in 2022 after being a finalist in 2018 and 2021. The franchise has remained in popularity for decades now for kids of the 1980s (and their kids) so much so that an updated set of the action figures were honored among the best “toys of the year” in 2022 at the annual toy awards. Masters of the Universe was a toy line first–Mattel then created comic books and magazines (more than a dozen) and an animated series (eventually six animated series in all), all arguably commercials with morals to convince parents they weren’t simply toy ads. You can learn their entire history in the Toys That Made Us documentary series on Netflix.
Now 45 years after they debuted, the franchise is returning with its second big live-action movie, also titled Masters of the Universe. If you missed Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, Frank Langella as Skeletor, Meg Foster as Evil-Lyn, plus Robert Duncan McNeill and Courteney Cox in two of their earliest roles, you’ll want to catch the original on Prime Video, Pluto, or Tubi.
Masters of the Universe comes to theaters June 5, 2026. Look for it streaming later on Prime Video.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
