The first trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of Masters of the Universe has finally been revealed. The footage contains plenty of accurate recreations of both the toys and animated series albeit in live-action form. However, some Masters of the Universe fans have taken issue with a joke regarding pronouns.
The feature film and its titular franchise largely revolve around He-Man, a character whose alternate identity is known as Prince Adam. With a name like He-Man, however, the filmmakers took the opportunity to sneak in a name placard for Adam which includes “He/Him” pronouns. It’s clearly a joke to the fact that he’s He-Man – but not all fans found it humorous.
As shared via X, here are some of the complaints from Masters of the Universe fans that felt as though the reference to pronouns was too much for the character – insisting that He-Man has now become woke:
Hate how Master of the Universe has gone woke and has the protagonist declare his pronouns right in his name.
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) January 22, 2026
Doomed to Fail before it’s even released.
1.) Masters of the Universe has an aesthetic tone, they tossed it in the trash bin in favor of a Gaurdians of the Galaxy-esque feel.
2.) They gave He-Man pronouns. Way to alienate 3/4 of your core audience. This screams, “conservatives… https://t.co/543gE61UuC
— Oh Hey, It’s Ray (@OhHey_ItsRay) January 22, 2026
The new Masters of the Universe trailer is out and of course it’s not called “He-Man”. They had to go woke and make Adam a he/him pronoun warrior. This will flop majorly. pic.twitter.com/35TJB9yT8q
— Fourth and Petty (@FourthandPetty) January 22, 2026
Now ‘re making a Masters of the Universe and giving -man pronouns.
These people won’t stop until ruin everything. https://t.co/vMU5gOIqOO
— dudu 🐝 (@nwshame) January 22, 2026
Of course, this is only one element of the trailer that has fans talking. As with most mainstream releases, there has been some divisiveness, with some fans grateful for the faithful recreations of their favorite toys and others disappointed by the movie’s usage of modern cinematography.
With all of these criticisms in mind, however, it’ll be interesting to see how the movie performs when it finally hits theaters. Masters of the Universe was plagued by several complicated development cycles over the years and even the original live-action adaptation from 1987 famously flopped at the box office. Then, of course, we also have the recent animated iterations like Masters of the Universe: Revelation that have similarly received backlash from fans for being “woke.”
We’ll only know for certain once Masters of the Universe hits theaters. The film is currently scheduled to be released later this year on June 5, 2026. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.