Remember the ’80s? They’re back, in Masters of the Universe Netflix series form. Showrunner Kevin Smith has listed some of the influences on Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and they’re all very era-appropriate.
The Clerks director has been fielding questions from fans since Revelation’s trailer was revealed during Netflix’s Geeked Week. One commented on how inspired the show already feels, which Smith quote-tweeted to say that each episode contains a specific homage, and listed what movie pertains to what episode. Superman 2, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Batman, and, of course, 1987’s Masters of the Universe, each get a nod, and then horror movie Hellraiser. Hm.
Smith provided no other context than that, letting speculation run wild. Four of the five you can understand: Temple of Doom is a classic adventure movie, Batman and Superman loom as large outside of the DCEU as they do within it, and acknowledging previous He-Man iterations makes sense. But Hellraiser? That’s a bit of a wildcard choice. Not unwelcome, just unexpected, raising eyebrows before we’ve seen a full episode.
In honor of the era in which @MastersOfficial began, each of the 5 eps in Part 1 of our series homages a different 80’s flick!
Ep 1 – Superman II (80)
Ep 2 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (84)
Ep 3 – Batman (89)
Ep 4 – Hellraiser (87)
Ep 5 – Masters of the Universe (87) https://t.co/eeZsMUNXKP— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) June 13, 2021
The first part of Masters of the Universe: Revelation arrives in July. A sequel to the classic ’80s cartoon, Netflix assembled a powerful cast for He-Man and Skeletor’s return. Mark Hamill is voicing Skeletor, opposite Chris Wood’s He-Man, and then there’s Evil-Lyn (Lena Headey), Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Cringer (Stephen Root), Orko (Griffin Newman), Tri-Klops (Henry Rollins), Stinkor (Jason Mewes), and Skeletor’s original voice actor, Alan Oppenheimer, who’s now playing Moss Man.
Revelation is one of two upcoming Masters of the Universe productions coming from Netflix, a CGI show for younger children is also in the works. The first five episodes of Masters of the Universe: Revelation will be viewable on Netflix July 23.