Kevin Smith Addresses The Fans Outrage Over He-Man in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION

I don’t know if you’ve watched the first half of Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation yet, but fans are not happy with how Smith handled He-Man’s story arc. In fact, fans are downright outraged by it. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes has a 33% splat rating.

If you haven’t watched the series yet, you might want to steer clear of this article. But if you have or you just don’t care about spoilers, then, by all means, read ahead!

Prince Adam a.k.a. He-Man really didn’t have much screen time in the first five episodes. In the first episode, Prince Adam/He-Man and Skeletor seemingly die and then they don’t show up again until the final moments of episode four. We learn there that Prince Adam/He-Man was alive and well in the Hall of Heroes in Preternia.

Well, not long after that at the end of episode five Skeletor emerges from Evil-Lyn's scepter and stabs Prince Adam in the back! From there Skeletor harnesses the power of Greyskull.

As you might imagine fans took to Twitter to unleash their hatred for Smith and what he’s done and how he treated Prince Adam/He-Man in the story. They are pissed that Smith seemingly killed off He-Man. One complaint from Rotten Tomatoes reads, “Terrible and terribly disappointing. He-Man completely removed from his own show and we’re forced to follow an angry, bitter, fragile Teela and her girlfriend bumbling about and talking about feelings. It was a complete waste of time.”

Smith was certainly not expecting this kind of backlash from fans, and in an interview with The New York Post, he said:

“It was kind of an homage to every version of ‘Masters of the Universe.’ So I was like, ‘When this comes out, fans are going to lose their shit!’ And I was half-right. I’ve watched fandoms get mad at creators before like Rian Johnson on ‘The Last Jedi.’ And heading into this I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that!’ And yet, here we stand. So, you never know.

“I did not get into this business to upset anybody. Periodically throughout my career, I’ve done things that have made people unhappy, [the 1999 film] ‘Dogma’ being the perfect example. This time, I think they’re superfans who have their idea of what they were going to see and I guess we didn’t match it, or they don’t seem to process that the story is not over. I’m not a disruptor, I’m not a provocateur. So, it’s a little disconcerting.”

He went on to explain that he’s confused by some of the accusations that he tried to make the franchise “woke” by focusing on Teela:

“Teela was one of the first figures launched [and] she’s in every episode of the cartoon fighting right beside [He-Man]. So I didn’t bring anything to this where I’m like, ‘Man, watch this woke shit!’ Some of the takes on it feel like the people haven’t seen a movie or a TV show like, ever, in their lives. They seem to think that we have done irreversible things to some of their favorite characters…We’re halfway through a story. There is so much He-Man in the next five episodes. Ours is one long story cut up into chapters.

In a separate interview with Variety, Smith was a bit harsher to the fans, telling them to “grow the fuck up” and it’s also revealed that He-Man is not dead:

"I see people online go, ‘Hey man, they’re getting rid of He-Man!' Like, you really fucking think Mattel Television, who hired me and paid me money, wants to do a fucking Masters of the Universe show without He-Man? Grow the fuck up, man. Like, that blew my mind, bunch of people being like, ‘Oh, I smell it. This is a bait and switch.'"

Chris Wood, who voices He-Man shared the news on He-Man not being dead, saying:

"Adam’s not dead; he’s very wounded. If you want to light the whole world on fire, in terms of destroying a fandom, you’d take He-Man out and be like, 'That’s it, he’s gone, bye!' Now what they’ve done is they’ve found really interesting ways to turn the dynamics of the show on its head and raise the stakes to a point that the original never saw."

So what can we expect from the second half of Masters of the Universe: Revelation? Mattel Television's creative VP Rob David said:

"A lot of Part 2 is a world in which Skeletor has the power – then we get to say, ‘Well, what made Adam special? What does it mean to have the power? What made Adam the person who was most worthy to be He-Man?’ I will tell you this: Adam’s story is not done and will never be done. Not saying what happens to him, but I’m just saying the story continues."

So there is a plan for Prince Adam/He-Man, this comment makes it sound like He-Man will be largely absent from the second half of the series if Part 2 is going to focus on Skelator wielding the power of Greyskull. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens because Smith also said, “There is so much He-Man in the next five episodes.”

In the meantime, the series is being review-bombed by fans who are looking to destroy it. As for me and what I think, I’m a huge He-Man fan, and I’ll admit, I was underwhelmed by this first half of the series. I didn’t hate it and I’m not going to trash on it. I’m just waiting to see how the rest of the story plays out because Smith and his creative team might end up doing something really cool. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.