Masters of the Universe: What Screenwriters Need to Know About Reimagining The Fantasy Action Franchise

The action figure-verse is alive and well. Thank you Barbie, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. The new film version of Masters Of The Universe has arrived courtesy of the Amazon MGM Studios based on the Mattel action figures. It’s an acutely meta, self-deprecating bonanza which offers a sly nod and a wink to He-Man and company

Barbie had her pink moment in Mattel’s spotlight. Now it’s Prince Adam/ He-Man’s (Nicholas Galitzine) turn to wield his glistening Sword of Power.

It certainly takes a village to make a movie. Screenplay credits go go Chris Butler (Paranorman, Missing Link) and Aaron Nee & Adam Nee (The Lost City) & Dave Callaham (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) with additional story by credits to Alex Litvak & Michael Finch. Needless to say, there was a lot of fine tuning to get the tone of the shooting script right. The plot is simple, but the execution is nuanced as it walks the fine line between parody, nostalgia, and comedy. It salutes muscles, loincloths, and tall boots while wailing synthesized music of the 80s.

The main cast includes Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, Sasheer Zamata, Jon Xue Zhang, Christian Vunipola, featuring Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto and Idris Elba. All are playing it dead seriously. They are there to save Eternia.

Character Development in Franchise Films

The plot could be taken straight off the action figure box. But don’t be fooled. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe follow the hero’s journey according to the scheme proposed by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The film can’t resist leaning cheekily into the opportunity to poke fun at one the most important books in modern storytelling. Skeletor (Jared Leto) quips that Adam doesn’t have the face to be a superhero and Skeletor doesn’t even have a face.

After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor  To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe – every boy’s dream!

Skeletor (Jared Leto) Phot courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios Content Services LLC

The Theme of Power in the Storytelling

This is a universal theme. Masters of the Universe handles it responsibly. Accessing power and wielding it requires an inner strength more powerful than the power itself. Therein lies the thematic spine of this deceptively cartoonish film.

Adam is a goofy man who is the Prince of Grayskull and must find the Sword of Power to save his beloved Eternia. He even has an ID to prove he is the Prince. Few people believe he really has the power to save his planet. Adam believes only the sword can grant him the power bestowed by Grayskull.

The deception is the sword is merely a prop. It holds no actual power. Only a belief that it’s more than a shiny inanimate object unleashes the power. As Adam transforms into He-Man he realizes that the power already lies within him.

Adam is determined to prove himself worthy of the “fabulous secret powers” locked away inside Castle Grayskull, while Skeletor (Jay Leno) seeks only a shortcut to these abilities so he can enact tyrannical control over others. After all, he is the villain.

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“Skeletor, on his surface, seems like he just wants power and he’s willing to do whatever it takes, but it’s what’s lacking in him that makes him want that power,” says producer Jason Blumenthal. “What’s lacking in him is what’s inside of Adam. I’d call it a moral compass. You either have one or you don’t. And if you don’t, you are evil.” As with many high stakes action films, Masters of the Universe is ultimately a battle of good versus evil.

Skeletor is almost absurdly malevolent. He is not just a misguided figure who chooses a dark path to achieve his mission. He actually recoils from decency and revels in being monstrous and destructive. There’s something almost comical about how bad he wants to be bad.

If Prince Adam embodies The Hero With a Thousand Faces, it’s fitting that his nemesis Skeletor is the villain with no face whatsoever.

Dunacan (Idris Elba) Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios Content Services LLC

Multi-character Ensemble Cast Writing

Adam was exiled as a ten-year-old child from his home planet of Eternia when the forces of Skeletor seized the throne from his noble parents King Randor (James Purefoy) and Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley). Queen Marlena is originally from earth and migrated to Eternia, making Adam a child of both worlds.

The castaway child grew up on Earth, clinging to hazy memories of the warriors that he once knew. He drew pictures of them to rekindle their memories.

Most prominent among them were fellow young swordmaster trainee Teela (Camila Mendes), and her adoptive father Duncan (Idris Elba), who as leader of Royal Guard was known by the honorable title Man-at-Arms. There was also a ragtag assortment of fighters with unique abilities: a brawler with an indestructible metal hand (Adam thinks of him as “Fisto,”) a stout soldier who can batter through walls (Adam dubs him “Ram Man,”) a bionic man with with a periscope head (a.k.a, “Mekaneck.)”

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Adam’s transformation carefully tracks Jospeh Campbell’s hero’s journey starting with a call to action.

It’s a story of self-acceptance, of becoming empowered, of realizing that power does not lie in anything else but yourself. Along the way we meet these really eccentric, fantastical, funny characters who bestow on him different points of growth – Nicholas Galitzine

Worldbuilding & Action Structure

Prince Adam is reticent to accept his quest, not because he’s afraid, but because he’s unsure if Eternia’s real? Why can’t he remember the royal palace? What if it was all a dream? If it was a dream, then where did the pictures he drew as a child come from? Despite heckling from his earthling friends, Adam senses there must be a port back to the gates of Castle Grayskull at Eternia.

Returning to Eternia would also mean facing the skull-faced usurper Skeletor and his monstrous mercenaries: fiendish Beast Man, metal-toothed Trap Jaw, triple-eyed sniper Tri-Klops, and the sinister enchantress Evil-Lyn. Having longed for this return since childhood, Adam vows to do his best to restore the Eternia he remembers.

“By the power of Grayskull … I … Have … the POWER!!!”

Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios Content Services LLC

Tone Management

Producer Jason Blumenthal is well aware of the franchise’s campy, colorful and eccentric levity of the era. His film didn’t set out reinvent the action genre. “A Masters of the Universe movie should understand the playfulness, understand that some of these characters have crazy names, and figure out a way to work that into the storytelling.”

“Adam put on a facade of someone who was timid, who was a little bit lazy, and then he becomes He-Man and we see a different side of him,” says Travis Knight. “The film’s challenge was to show this duality in the character without making Adam a faker, pretending to be a mild-mannered know-nothing.”

“One of the things I loved aboutthe original series was it had a feeling of sincerity,” Knight adds. “It wasn’t trying to be cool, it wasn’t trying to be ironic. There was a heart to Adam in how caring he was. The film’s solution was to make sure Adam’s journey to He-Man was a true evolution, rather than a false identity or alter-ego.”

“The central theme of the movie is about humanity,” Chris Butler says. “Having Adam grow up and spend his formative years on Earth, he really gets to be human. And that’s what he takes back to Eternia.”

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by Staff Writer

From our in-house editorial team.