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However, as with all major franchises built on toy lines, not all the movies and cartoons were equal, and while some were incredibly entertaining, others fell short in every way. Here is alook at the Masters of the Universe franchise leading into the 2026 movie, ranked.
8) Masters of the Universe (1987)
Five years after the release of the toys and four years after the first cartoon series, The Cannon Group brought He-Man to the big screen. The cast of the lead looked perfect, with Dolph Lundgren taking on the role of Prince Adam, the heroic He-Man. However, as most action movie fans know from the 80s, other than Rocky IV, Lundgren was good in fight scenes, but not as great in regular acting roles.
The movie does have a bit of curiosity, as the great Frank Lengella played Skeletor, an anomaly in the actor’s career. The film follows two teens from Earth who meet He-Man when he travels there to stop Skeletor from gaining a cosmic key that would give him untold power. Bringing the action to Earth and basing it around two kids was a mistake. The movie wasn’t even good enough to become a cult classic, although the camp level remains high.
7) The New Adventures of He-Man (1990-1991)
The first He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoons were great and helped bring a lot of attention to the toys on which they were based. However, in 1990, Mattel released a new line of toys, and this led to a new cartoon series called The New Adventures of He-Man. This was a major letdown, and it was bad enough that it ended the entire cartoon franchise for a full decade.
Much like the Dolph Lundgren movie, this cartoon takes He-Man away from Eternia, where he has to defend a futuristic planet called Primus from evil mutants from a neighboring planet, only to find Skeletor has followed him and sided with the mutants. The animation changed drastically, and the new cartoon dismissed the tone of the original cartoons. Not only did this end the He-Man franchise for a decade, but its continuity also ended here, and the next cartoon rebooted everything.
6) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002-2004)
The 2002 cartoon reboot of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had a lot of heavy lifting to do. The last cartoon was a bomb, and didn’t supply any of the fun that the original cartoon supplied. As a result, this series chose to start from scratch and try to rebuild a franchise that had fallen so hard that even the toyline was no longer successful.
The smartest thing that this cartoon did was to go back to the original series and attempt to repeat what made it so entertaining. What worked so well here was that the new series created origins for several of the characters, adding to the depth of the franchise’s world, and adding some value to supporting characters, and therefore, the toys for those characters. With two seasons and 39 episodes, it also inspired a new comic book series and helped revitalize the He-Man franchise.
5) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021-2022)
In what was confusing, Netflix released two different and competing He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoons in 2021. The worst of the two arrived first with a reimagining of the original series, but using the same name. This series has Prince Adam separated from his father, King Randor, and rendered amnesiac. When he finds the Power Sword, he becomes He-Man and has to fight his uncle, who has become Skeletor.
There were three seasons and 26 episodes of this cartoon, and while it received positive reviews, it fell short of what would come later on Netflix. However, on the positive side, it was a very smart show with good dialogue and great animation, although having He-Man as a much younger character was an interesting decision. However, since it was aimed more at little kids, there is a lot to like about the release for the young ones.
