How A Massive Star Wars Blunder Led To The Creation Of He-Man
For the first time in almost 40 years, He-Man returned to the big screen in live-action in Masters of the Universe (2026). The movie serves as Amazon MGM’s reboot of the franchise, bearing no connection to the last live-action film, Masters of the Universe (1987), or the original animated series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983).
Not only does the new Masters of the Universe usher in a new era for the franchise, but it also marks a new era for Mattel Studios, establishing its own cinematic universe on the big screen following the success of Barbie (2023). Given the new era, you may wonder how Mattel, a toy company, came to create the expansive multimedia sword-and-planet franchise in the first place. Interestingly, the franchise was born out of a massive Star Wars blunder on Mattel’s part.
How Mattel Missed Out on Star Wars
Today, Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. However, it started much like every bold new idea does: in the throes of rejection. George Lucas shopped Star Wars (1977) out to several major studios in the ‘70s. United Artists, Universal Pictures, and even Disney rejected the pitch. What you might not know is that another major company missed out on Star Wars as well.
After 20th Century Studios picked up Star Wars, Lucas began pitching the merchandising rights to toy companies. Naturally, he pitched the rights to Mattel, a giant in the toy industry that was riding high on the success of Hot Wheels and Barbie. The company, though, didn’t have the foresight to see Star Wars' potential. Unimpressed with Lucas’s vision, the company turned down the rights, convinced that the hefty $750,000 licensing fee wouldn’t be worth it. Lucas would ultimately go with Kenner Products, and Star Wars-themed toys would go on to generate $12 billion in revenue.
Mattel wasn’t the only toy company to miss out on Star Wars. Mego, another one of Lucas’s first choices, also rejected him. While Star Wars was a massive loss for both companies, they would respond to the loss very differently. Mego never found its next hit after rejecting Star Wars, and eventually filed for bankruptcy. Mattel, though, turned its mistake into something else entirely.
Mattel’s Star Wars Blunder Inspired He-Man
With Star Wars out of the picture, Mattel had a conundrum on its hands. Although its Barbie line was thriving, the company struggled to put out a toy line that resonated with its target audience of young boys. Toys inspired by sci-fi and fantasy shows and movies, such as Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Flash Gordon (1980), failed due to competition from Star Wars, safety concerns, and a lack of sustained market interest. Established franchises had repeatedly failed to deliver long-lasting toy ventures for Mattel, leading the company to consider creating its own intellectual property.
Mattel began researching its market and settled on three potential themes for boys' toys: space, army, or barbarian. G.I. Joe and Star Wars were already dominating the army and space themes, so Mattel went with the barbarian theme. Toy designer Roger Sweet began creating prototypes for the figure that would eventually become known as “He-Man.” He was the epitome of boys’ warrior fantasies with his barbarian aura, muscular physique, and striking blond bob.
Initially, “He-Man” was just the toy’s placeholder name, but Marketing VP Joe Morrison envisioned it as more than that. He told GeekTyrant, “So it was just this placeholder that nobody wanted. But I did, I knew it was right. And when I was a little boy, my uncles used to call me He-Man all the time, so I just yessed everybody to death.” As a result, He-Man was born.
Mattel recognized that He-Man needed more than just action figures to succeed. It slowly began to build the He-Man universe, constructing more character designs, investing in minicomics, and commissioning a cartoon. Before long, it had created its own multi-media franchise to ignite children’s imaginations.
How ‘Masters of the Universe’ Embraces Its Weird History
Mattel has come a long way since making prototypes of He-Man to offset the loss of Star Wars. Today, its big-budget Masters of the Universe is playing in theatres alongside the latest Star Wars blockbuster, The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), the franchises are going head-to-head at the box office and IMAX theaters.
In a way, though, I feel that Masters of the Universe effectively acknowledges its strange history. The graphics are great, and the movie's spirited, hopeful tone evokes nostalgia. However, there’s also a good dose of camp and comedy. The film has a bit of self-awareness about its campy, rather silly origins as a toy line to rival Star Wars and, as a result, embraces its weird history and doesn’t take itself too seriously, making it easily one of the funnest and most entertaining movies to hit theaters this summer.
