Netflix's Masters of the Universe movie will be an origin story, according to the film's directors. Masters of the Universe is the name of the popular franchise born of the Mattel-owned toy line that featured muscle-bound warriors and villains from the fictional fantasy world of Eternia. The toy line led to a popular animated series and a live-action He-Man film in 1987 starring Dolph Lundgren. The animated show has been rebooted several times, with the action figure line following suit. The current iterations of the property are on Netflix, which recently debuted the Masters of the Universe: Revelations series from Kevin Smith and the more kid-friendly CGI version, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Multiple attempts have been made to revive Masters of the Universe for a feature film since Lundgren's half-hearted effort, with the property changing hands with various studios, creators, and actors. Directors Aaron and Adam Nee are the most recent filmmakers attached to the project and have already lost and replaced the lead as the film toiled in development hell. Actor Noah Centineo was initially tapped to play He-Man but eventually dropped out (going to Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam as Atom Smasher) and was replaced by West Side Story's Kyle Allen.

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Screen Rant spoke with The Nee Brothers while they were promoting their newest film, The Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, and the duo spoke about their intent for Masters of the Universe and the origin story they plan to tell. Adam Nee said that the MOTU property is something they seek to capture the nostalgia and empowerment of, saying, "I think with Masters of the Universe, for us, from growing up with it, we just wanted to make something that captured that fun and color and bright and vibrance and the empowerment that it gave little kids. We just wanted to capture that. So that's what we hope to have." Aaron Nee commented on the casting of Allen, citing the desire to bring new audiences on the adventure and feel that Allen is the right person to embody that. Here's his quote:

Yeah, and Kyle's perfect for it because we also want to take a new audience on this adventure. So we're treating it as an origin story, and Kyle, there's not a more perfect person to come in and embody that.

he-man, masters of the universe, netflix, kyle allen

While franchise fans and long-time toy collectors might be familiar with the origin of He-Man, whose real name is Prince Adam, the wider Netflix-viewing public might need a refresher. Superhero movies have generally moved away from the origin story formula and benefited from it. However, He-Man isn't popular enough that audiences can just be thrust into the world of Eternia with no backstory or explanation for what's happening on screen. Casting a younger actor to portray Prince Adam/He-Man also allows the filmmakers to explore the character's growth in future installments.

Aaron and Adam Nee are best known for their 2015 breakout indie hit Band of Robbers with Kyle Gallner, Hannibal Buress, and Supergirl's Melissa Benoist. The Lost City is their first big studio film, with Masters of the Universe as their first streaming feature for Netflix. Masters of the Universe still has a long way to go before it debuts, as the current release date is set for October 4th, 2024, giving the directors two-and-a-half years to complete the film.

Masters of the Universe is a big property for Netflix, as the streamer is making use of it in both animated and live-action form. Still, the feature is a long way from completion, which could be troublesome for the already long-delayed project. With the film nearly three years away, it will be interesting to see if Netflix can maintain momentum, interest, and hype for it, as audiences may well have vacated the property by then. Still, Masters of the Universe has remained a pop-culture staple since its debut, and now that the kids who played with the toys and watched the original cartoon are adults, they're sharing the new ones with their kids.

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