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By Chris Snellgrove
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Tonight, I walked out of the movie theater with a huge grin on my face. To my surprise and astonishment, the new Masters of the Universe was an absolute blast: it brought the original He-Man cartoon to life with vivid performances, dynamic designs, and seemingly endless action. As an added bonus, the movie kept old-school fans’ heads on a swivel from beginning to end. Why is that? Because of all the Easter eggs!
Basically, this new movie is a love letter to all things He-Man, new and old. Accordingly, practically every scene is brimming with homages to different decades of the franchise. There are more homages than I could count, and even if I could, we’d be here all day. To save us both some time, I rounded up my favorite Easter eggs; the ones that made me want to bust out my Castle Grayskull playset and start posing all my old toys. Ready for your own “good journey?” Keep reading to discover the coolest fan service Easter eggs in Masters of the Universe!
Toys To Men
Weirdly enough, the biggest nexus of nostalgic Easter eggs in Masters of the Universe is the comics and collectibles store where Prince Adam goes to find his magic sword. The store is named The Fright Zone, which is actually an homage to He-Man’s sister, She-Ra. She battles a villain named Hordak, and he operates out of a creepy gothic metropolis known as the Fright Zone.
The interior of this store also prominently displays Big Jim toys. Big Jim was the name of a Mattel brand that came out long before He-Man. In fact, one of Big Jim’s toy designs was later modified to be Cringer, whom He-Man periodically transforms into Battle Cat. Finally, Prince Adam has to wrestle the sword out of the hands of a life-size barbarian. That barbarian may look like Conan, but he’s actually Torak, a character created by franchise designer Mark Taylor. Later, this character’s design was modified to become He-Man, meaning our hero had to wrestle himself for the sword of power!
It’s A Pig Man, Jerry (And Friends)
At one point in Masters of the UniverseSkeletor is being doted on by a subservient pig man. His appearance made my wife lean over and utter the Seinfeld quote that we share frequently around my house: “he’s a pig man, Jerry, a mutant pig man!” Later, I told her how this guy’s appearance was a weirdly meta Easter egg. The original Masters of the Universe movie held a contest for one lucky fan to have a walk-on appearance, and young Richard Szponder got to play the role of a diminutive Pigboy.
In fact, he’s one of several characters from the 1987 movie who make a cameo in Masters of the Universe. Another character is Karg, a kind of monster-faced guy who could benefit from some Just For Men. But the coolest cameo from the original movie is an appearance from original live-action He-Man actor Dolph Lundgren. He does some banter with the new He-Man actor Nicholas Galitzine (“you’re here to take my spot!”), offers some sage advice, and even says goodbye with the weird farewell phrase of the earlier film: “Good journey!”
The final major homage to the first Masters of the Universe movie is also the most dramatic. At one point in the new film, Skeletor appears as a hologram in the sky, issuing a challenge to the newly emerged He-Man. This is an Easter Egg reference to the original movie, in which Frank Langella’s Skeletor broadcasts his own message throughout Eternia. While Langella is an all-time great, Jared Leto deserves credit for making his own sky hologram appearance that much scarier (and, if we’re being honest), that much more dramatic.
Kneeling Before The Goddess
While the new Masters of the Universe has the tonal silliness of movies like Thor: Ragnarokit still tries to be a more grounded version of the bonkers original cartoon. That left writers and producers with a distinct challenge: how do you have grown-ass men and women going by the names mentioned earlier in the toyline and in the animated series? The movie sidesteps this issue by revealing that Prince Adam gave nicknames to everyone he knew (like “Fisto” for the guy with the big fist, and “Ram Man” for the, uh, man who rams). He even gave himself the aspirational nickname “He-Man,” representing his desire to be more masculine.
One of the more confusing code names is Teela, whom a sheepish Adam admits he called “warrior goddess.” The movie jokingly plays this off as a manifestation of the young man’s fixation on this woman’s strength and beauty. However, this is a meta Easter egg referencing the He-Man minicomics that came packaged with the toys before the cartoon came out. Back then, there wasn’t a separate Sorceress character, so Teela was a literal warrior goddess who roamed Eternia, counting down the days until she would rule Castle Grayskull.
Killer Post-Credits Easter Eggs (Spoilers Past Here; You Have Been Warned!)
Ok, I hate to interrupt your good journey, but let’s make one thing very clear: there are some major spoilers from this point on. Masters of the Universe has two mid-credits scenes and one post-credits scene, all of which offer powerful hints about where this franchise will be going in the future. If you haven’t seen the movie and wish to remain unspoiled, smash that back button. Otherwise, keep reading to discover the immaculate Easter eggs hidden in these scenes!
The first “mid” credits scene occurs almost right away. It features Orko, the red-robed wizard from the cartoon, telling us what lessons Prince Adam learned in the movie. On the broadest level, this mid-credits scene serves as a notice that Orko will likely pop up in any and all future sequels. But his appearance is also a reference to the original He-Man cartoon, which always had Orko tell us the story’s primary lesson. Filmation added these public service announcement-style messages to please networks, parents, and other critics who opposed the idea of making an entire TV show just to sell toys.
The final, post-credits scene features Evil-Lyn retrieving Skeletor’s severed head; between this and his signature cackle, we know he’s still alive, which is likely an homage to the original Masters of the Universe having its own post-credits scene, which revealed that Skeletor was still alive. While that’s a fun Easter egg unto itself, it’s also interesting to remember that the first He-Man movie was doing universe-changing post-credits scenes 21 years before the first MCU movie ever hit theaters!
None of this is as interesting as the middle credits scene, which featured She-Ra, He-Man’s cousin, getting ready to fight the Evil Horde, who had brainwashed her. Her appearance here is a minor miracle because He-Man is owned by Mattel, and She-Ra is (at least, when it comes to film and TV) owned by Dreamworks. The companies don’t usually get along, which is why He-Man makes no appearance in the DreamWorks She-Ra series and She-Ra doesn’t make an appearance (not a recognizable one, anyway) in Kevin Smith’s He-Man cartoons. Now, it seems these companies have reached a Disney/Sony-style deal, and DreamWorks is finally happy to let She-Ra loose on the world of live-action sci-fi.
