BW Media Spotlight

Yesterday we had the new Masters Of The Universe trailer. At the same time we got the new Supergirl trailer, set to come out roughly the same time in theaters. Both are about having to save someone, requiring superhuman powers. Both take place off Earth even though it starts there. Both were a target of concern by the fanbase, partly because of Hollywood’s history with certain types of characters and an inability to do a proper adaptation these days due to egos, self-interest, and a reluctance to have heroes being heroic.

However, while the He-Man trailer made me less uneasy but still concerned about the end product, this really hasn’t helped. The big difference is that in the other marketing for Masters Of The Universe, including the first trailer, some inklings of potential was there. The new trailer simply leaned into that for the first time and showed fans (or at least me) a better idea of what I wanted to see as far as intent. For Supergirl, on the other hand, we’ve had every piece of marketing be a cause for concern, including the fact that the story that inspired it was the not-so-heroic Supergirl: World Of Tomorrow by Tom “I love to psychologically break decades old characters because I have issues” King. The tone always seemed closer to James Gunn’s typical concepts of the found family of oddballs brought together by tragedy and bad attitudes, even though he’s not the director. Then there’s the backstage stuff.

The other connection to He-Man’s second movie and Kara’s is that the tone has shifted. The new MOTU trailer leaned more to the dramatic side, and so does this one, focusing more on Kara’s core wound and dramatic action. Again, there’s a difference. Masters Of The Universe didn’t start out trashing another character, it didn’t turn Cringer into a lion instead of a tiger due to someone else’s animal preference, and it hasn’t had the issues Supergirl has had.

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