Masters of the Universe will be released in theaters on June 5. It’s based on the 1983 cartoon of the same name. It follows Adam, Prince of Eternia, who receives the magical Sword of Power.  Fabulous secret powers were revealed to him the day he held aloft his magic sword and said “By The Power Of Grayskull, I Have The Power!” He keeps his dual identity secret from most others. Adam gains incredible abilities as He-Man, including levels of strength comparable to Superman. His pet tiger is known as Cringer and shares some of the magic during Adam’s transformation to become Battle Cat, whom Adam rides. He-Man and Battle Cat spend their days fighting against the skull-faced Skeletor and his army of villains.

The movie is the second live action adaptation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and will star Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as Skeletor. The movie will follow Adam as he tries to leave Earth and go back to Eternia, in order to save his home from Skeletor.

Other characters from the show will also appear, like evil sorceress Evil-Lyn and royal soldier Teela.

Many reactions to the teaser trailers have been positive. However, some criticism was aimed at the fact that the film focuses largely on He-Man on Earth, as well as trying to mesh too heavily with the real world. The CGI visuals were also a sore spot for some. A new official trailer, released on March 31, showed off more of the action elements of the movie, including several battle scenes. The first live-action film adaptation of He-Man (released in 1987) did not perform well critically, earning a 21 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, early opinions suggest the new movie will not have the same fate.

Another 1980s cartoon that may receive a movie is ThunderCats. This show was about a group of humanoid cat people escaping their dying planet and landing on the planet of Third Earth where they battled against Mumm-Ra, the Mutants, and various other villains. Adam Wingard, known for films like Godzilla vs. Kong, is the director attached to a possible film, but most of the recent articles or updates on this movie come from 2024, so it’s unclear how much progress is happening (if any) on that movie. Among the limited remarks that Wingard made about the possible movie was the fact that he wanted to blend live-action and animation in a never before seen way. The lack of clarity in the statement gives the impression that not much is concrete about this film. If the He-Man movie is successful, it may provide an incentive to give a little boost to the ThunderCats movie.

But what this really means is that 1980s cartoons are making a comeback in pop culture. He-Man generally has name recognition among younger audiences these days, in part due to the multiple cartoon spinoffs it has received, like the Revelations and Revolution spinoffs in 2021 and 2024 respectively, as well as the 2021 3D animated cartoon. This makes it more likely that the film will pull in young and old fans alike.