Why the hell is Skeletor so hard to write for?
Skeletor is one of, if not the easiest villains in fiction to get right. He’s evil. That’s it. His original toy’s card lists him as “lord of destruction”. He wants to conquer Eternia. He’s a jerk to everybody. He’s a villain from a kids show based on a kids toyline. Nobody needed to give him any further backstory like being Randor’s brother (which goes against the original lore seen above from the old illustrated booklets the minicomics supposedly were based on), he doesn’t need to be Loki with a racism twist, and we don’t need to know about his skull-shaped family back home. Other villains evolved with stronger histories. Even Cobra Commander did back in the 1980s with his origin story in G.I. Joe: The Movie because I’m ignoring the “used car salesman” backstory from the comics. Skeletor does not need it.
The original cartoon bible suggested that Skeletor was one of the other astronauts with Marlena from Earth that crashed on Eternia. This would not be used in the final product and we’re better off for it. 2003’s reimagine just had Keldor as someone who wanted the power of the Elders, got acid on his face that he meant for Randor, went to Hordak and became the Skeletor we know…and he still wasn’t sympathetic. (That version of Evil-Lyn was because she loved Keldor while Skeletor was kind of nuts.) He brought it upon himself and suffered for it. Easy, simple, done, now let’s watch him scheme to take over Castle Grayskull. Between DC Comics and Netflix this wasn’t enough, even though it was just fine for decades. It seems every writer these days needs every minor detail explained. Why is Skeletor evil? Why does he hate Randor? What is his favorite brand of toothpaste? Who cares?
So now we have a new live-action movie that is partly set on Eternia (ugh) and will bring back Skeletor. The movie is directed by Travis Knight, who made the GOOD Transformers live-action movie, Bumblebee. Of course, that’s good by comparison. The movie still had flaws, like playing up how The 80s it was. Still, I want to trust him after seeing the end result. In a recent interview with Empire, of which a snippet is available online, Knight discusses his approach to Skeletor and the Masters Of The Universe movie in general. There are some good things and one line that in our modern times has fans understandably concerned.
“Skeletor was a really interesting villain,” Knight tells Empire of the original cartoon incarnation. “He looked cool. He was scary. He was funny. He was insecure. And then of course he had this distinctive voice.” All of which offered plenty for Jared Leto to work from, as the performer anchoring the role in Knight’s Masters Of The Universe. “I wanted someone to craft their own version of that,” the director explains. “Jared approached us, because he loves Skeletor and has his own history with the character. He wanted to swing for the fences. And ultimately we landed on something that I’m really happy with. Skeletor’s kind of the embodiment of toxic masculinity.”
“Toxic masculinity”. That’s become a term for any form of masculinity. It’s been used against He-Man simply because he has big muscles and fights people…usually evil people unless he’s tricked or under magical influence. Skeletor doesn’t need to embody “toxic masculinity”, he’s supposed to embody evil…and before you tell me “same thing”, no it isn’t. The term is used for any kind of masculine trait, even positive ones. He-Man can fight a monster one moment and joke with his friends the next, and then give advice to a child. (Playing is more in Adam’s wheelhouse.) He carries a sword and has slain monsters but doesn’t go around chopping dudes’ heads off even when their evil. Skeletor wouldn’t think twice about it, but just killing someone isn’t evil enough. He likes to torture, break, and force others to submit to his rule. Skeletor is not a very deep person. Like Alfred said in The Dark Knight, some people just wants to watch the world burn. Skeletor wants to set that fire.
The other part of the snippet does show Knight does know what he’s doing otherwise, though.
It wasn’t always going to be this way. A Masters Of The Universe reboot has been in the running for years, and previous iterations of the screenplay had Skeletor’s visage as a golden skull mask. “I said, ‘F@#$% that s@#$%. Skeletor has a skull face,’” Knight declares. “That’s just the way it is. It’s a living, talking, emoting skull, and that’s that.” Don’t mess with perfection.
The article starts by stating Knight was “playing it straight” with a “faithful recreation”. That should mean that he isn’t going to spend time making fun of the cartoon or kid elements. Frank Langella wore a mask but I think that was supposed to be his face, just hampered by the limited budget that movie was given. The trailer I’ve seen does have an impressive makeup job (unless that’s actually CG, which would be both understandable and lame), but leaning into the skull head shouldn’t be them being goofy. Even in the 1980s cartoon, which was pretty light in tone compared to other versions of this “Conan for kids with vehicles” concept even at the time, it was just his head. He’s an evil magic user. He comes from another dimension in some versions. He’s an alien being regardless. Why not have a skull head? It’s supposed to highlight just how evil a threat he is.
I chose that for the thumbnail so I hope they don’t change it. Race swapped Man-At-Arms aside (and he still otherwise looks the part, like Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin in the 2003 Daredevil movie) everyone looks right. The costumes weren’t left cartoonish, but the designs are done in a way that invokes the look of the source material (which should be the toys) while making it look like it could exist in our world. He did the same thing with the Transformer redesigns for Bumblebee, moving away from the Bay designs and to something that looked more like the toys in a form that works in live-action. Even Man-At-Arms’ outfit looks right. The Power Sword looks right, even having those divisions that were on the action figure version but not in other toys like the role-play toy or artwork in the minicomics and books, but still looks cool. They probably leaned more towards the Filmation design, which will be the Power Sword to most everyone, but still being a good replica of the action figure version. I’m okay with this.
I’m just hoping that Knight remembers this was Conan for kids (until we got the actual Conan cartoons) and keeps this family friendly, which has become a dying art in Hollywood as they try to separate kids entertainment from adult entertainment. This should be nostalgic adults bringing kids and grandkids to see this movie as family bonding. I don’t want a body count. I don’t want swearing and blood and I don’t need to see Teela’s teets. (The outfit is still “updated” for “modern audiences” compared to her original look, so it’s not perfect.) I don’t want this to be some mock-stalgia nonsense and I don’t want it to be for adults who can’t handle kids properties being enjoyable. I just want a good all-ages science fantasy adventure where Adam becomes He-Man, fights the villains, and saves Eternia. (Or I guess Earth since I have no @$#%$# choice.) And I want my Skeletor to be entertainingly evil without compromise, not insulting kids intelligence or scaring kids to do so.
I’ve seen it done. I know it can be done. I hope it’s done here, and there’s evidence both ways. I just have issues trusting modern Hollywood to care about what they’re doing these days.
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