He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is celebrating 40 years of the first time Prince Adam held aloft his magic sword and said “By the power of Grayskull.” Next month also marks the 35th anniversary of Dolph Lundgren’s appearance as the muscle man of Eternia in what is currently still the only live-action version of the character to ever make it to screens. As part of the Kevin Smith moderated panel celebrating the Ruby anniversary of the franchise, Lundgren recalled playing He-Man in Masters of the Universe, a movie that would come to be a perfect example of a “cult classic.”
For that reason, it was not surprising to see Dolph Lundgren making an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con as part of the Masters of the Universe panel. Lundgren recalled the moment he was revealed as bringing the man to bring He-Man to life back in 1986 and how it could possibly have been a career-ending move. He said:
"I was standing on stage as they were cheering and yelling, 'I have the power,' wondering if it was a good idea to do this movie. Playing a toy in those days was kind of the end of your career maybe. But the fact that we're still here and these wonderful people are still into this character and this universe means the franchise is still very relevant."
Lundgren went on to comment on the much talked about, barely-there costume that he had to wear for the role, joking:
"I used to say my costume was the size of a stamp basically, with some straps on. And while filming 54 cold nights in a row, everything was very, very small.”
At the end of the panel, surprise guest William Shatner was asked by Kevin Smith to pass a replica of the Sword of Power to Lundgren, who held it up and invoked the classic He-Man line of “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power.”
Masters of The Universe Has Made a Huge Comeback in the Last Year
Masters of the Universe is one of the biggest franchises of the 80s, and as well as the constant “in-development” status of a new live-action movie, Netflix has released two new animated series in the last year. While many fans are hoping the new live-action movie will deliver the goods, back in 1987, the Earth-based movie that hit cinemas was both a critical and commercial failure, but now, 35 years later, it is loved by fans of the franchise for what it was and has certainly achieved its status as cult classic movie.
With Netflix now seeming to be the ones who are happy to put the time and effort into the franchise, fans are hoping that the original Filmation series will also make its way onto the platform, to join the Kevin Smith series and the younger-aimed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series which just released its season 3 trailer. One thing for certain is that it doesn’t look like Masters of the Universe is going anywhere anytime soon, and that can only be a good thing for its many loyal fans.