Warning: Spoilers follow for Masters of the Universe.
You have the power, He-Man fans, because Masters of the Universe is now in theaters. The long-gestating reboot of Mattel’s sword and sorcery franchise (seriously, this thing’s development has been reported on for at least two decades) is entering its opening weekend with solid reviews, including an 8/10 from IGN’s Clint Gage, who wrote that the movie “proves the best way to add to a 50-year-old franchise that’s about toys as much as anything else is to not take it too seriously.” Yet although the film has a lot to excite fans, including some big post-credits surprises, the best part winds up not being He-Man, played by Nicholas Galitzine, but his main nemesis: the interstellar skull-faced warlord Skeletor, played by Jared Leto.
Better than any other aspect of the film, Skeletor’s portrayal finds the right balance between goofy and serious, with the villain winding up as the funniest character while never taking away from his threat level. It’s an approach that suits the material and stays true to the popular conception of Skeletor as a walking meme generator. Yet it also highlights that no matter what iteration we’re talking about, Skeletor will likely always be the franchise’s most iconic creation. How so? Let’s get into it.
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Guy Without a Face
The way Skeletor is both funny and sinister, often in the same scene, is illustrated in the new film by his introduction, when he overthrows King Randor (James Purefoy), Adam/He-Man’s father and ruler of Eternia, while the latter is still a boy. You don’t even need to see the film to watch this, since a clip of it was made available online before the film’s release. Many Masters of the Universe fans around the world praised the scene for capturing just how much of a goofball Skeletor is, which is conveyed not just by the writing and performance, but by some truly stellar VFX work on the character’s expressions.
Most supervillains would come off as too absurd to take seriously doing these things, but the joy of Skeletor is that a combination of comedy and treachery is exactly what makes him tick.“
Director Travis Knight’s background in animation is clearly paying off dividends here, because Skeletor’s face has more malleability than many live actors despite being a literal skull. That’s not to discount the performances from the live cast; Galitzine makes for a likable lead as a young man who feels lost both on his home planet and his adopted one, Camila Mendes holds her own as the “one sane person” among the heroes, and Idris Elba and Alison Brie are as charming and watchable as usual as Man-At-Arms and Evil-Lyn. But Skeletor has more charisma and screen presence than anyone else because he can take advantage of the visual possibilities of not being limited to the actual dimensions of a human face, which makes him stand out even among the stacked cast.
His intro scene is just the tip of the iceberg for the hilarity Skeletor is involved in, from refusing to be baited into a 1-on-1 fight with He-Man because he “doesn’t want to,” to repeatedly failing to activate the Sword of Power’s, well, power, despite striking the signature pose and saying the iconic lines, to commenting on He-Man’s physique with references to things like his “glorious thighs” (Happy pride?). Then there’s the sequence during the final battle where Skeletor enters Adam’s mind and participates in flashbacks to his life on Earth, including activities like lifting weights at the gym and berating him at the office while wearing a suit and tie.
Masters of the Universe Movie Images
Most supervillains would come off as too absurd to take seriously doing these things in other movies, but the joy of Skeletor, going back as far as the original Filmation cartoon, is that a combination of comedy and treachery is exactly what makes him tick.
Meme Master
The reason MOTU fans are so pleased with Skeletor’s antics is because it harkens back to his classic interpretation from the original He-Man cartoon, which established the character’s persona for decades to come. Even if you haven’t seen the show, Skeletor has penetrated the modern cultural consciousness to a greater degree than other He-Man characters through clips, gifs and meme images that have spread like wildfire across the internet for years. They’re hilarious on their own, but what makes them so endearing for fans is that they don’t have to warp Skeletor’s personality to be funny. He’s always been a cheeky bastard with goofy mannerisms who berates his henchmen with hilarious insults; the memes just cement his status as the franchise’s most well-known figure.
However, what makes Skeletor compelling goes beyond just his comic potential. It’s the fact that he’s an extremely powerful archvillain while also being a sassy diva without either aspect undercutting the other. Typically the hero’s greatest nemesis in a fantasy or sci-fi property also being so silly would hurt a work’s narrative credibility; you might notice characters like Sauron, Darkseid or Thanos aren’t all that funny. But Skeletor succeeds by hitting a very specific tonal register that doesn’t just fit the Masters of the Universe brand, but also imbues that brand with its most dynamic character. MOTU heroes and villains are typically quite arch, with their personalities usually designed around their physical features and combat gimmicks. That’s not an insult — there’s plenty of cool characters in the MOTU roster — but a mere fact of the design philosophy of toy-centered franchises.
But Skeletor breaks that mold because he’s arguably the most well-known supervillain who is able to be both the ultimate antagonist and the funniest figure of his own franchise. It’s a niche that most other fictional characters don’t quite fit, and the fact that no other He-Man character has that level of specificity is likely why the brand never had the long-term cultural cachet of other toy properties like Barbie, LEGO, or Transformers.
It’s also why trying to do a more straightforwardly menacing version of Skeletor with dramatic gravitas but no comedy just wouldn’t feel right (I mean, unless you had an absolute legend like Frank Langella giving it a try). Yes, the new film’s Skeletor is menacing when he’s battling He-Man or threatening Evil-Lyn for her failures. The movie wouldn’t have stakes if wasn’t. But look at the guy.
He’s a buff blue dude with a skull for a face. He’s absurd all the way down to his bones. Leaning into that absurdity while still portraying him as dangerous is not just what makes him the best character in the new movie; it’s also the reason why we’re still talking about him all these years later.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
