There have been a lot of screenwriters hired to pen a live-action movie adaptation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but none of theme have managed to turn the story of a tan, mostly naked barbarian/bodybuilding enthusiast for modern audiences. But I have high hopes for the newest writer to take it on.


It’s Christopher Yost, who penned Thor: The Dark World and the upcoming Thor: Ragnorak scripts for Marvel. I actually really like The Dark World, but even if you didn’t, Yost is also one of the masterminds behind the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, which was Marvel’s brilliant, shockingly overdue answer to Bruce Timm’s DC animated universe.

If you’ve read my articles here, chances are you know that my passion for Masters of the Universe borders on the insane, and my love for the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon is all-encompassing, so I’m clearly biased here. And it’s possible that Yost will somehow, for some reason, go back to that terrible idea where He-Man and Skeletor are hidden on Earth and Skeletor is a CEO or something, and I will drink myself to death.


However, in A:EMH, Yost proved he has an uncanny ability to take classic comic stories (some of which haven’t aged well at all!) and not only modernize them, but keep them true to the original. That’s what Masters of the Universe needs—someone who can somehow wrangle the innate goofiness of a character that is literally named Third-Person Male Pronoun, and all the other ridiculous heroes and villains (e.g., Buzz-Off, Two-Bad, etc.) and somehow pull them into a captivating story for modern audiences.

Look, maybe he can’t do it. Maybe nobody can. But after living in fear of a live-action Masters of the Universe movie for the last decade and how Hollywood would inevitably destroy my favorite nerdy franchise, for the first time, I’m actually kind of excited and hopeful about it happening.

[Via Variety]



Contact the author at rob@io9.com .