Of all the movies on the 2026 release calendar, one that I am personally looking forward to is Masters of the Universe. The live-action adaptation of an ‘80s kids cartoon is already going to have a hill to climb when it comes to making a modern live-action movie that gets audiences excited. Those who grew up with the original show are the obvious target audience, but they may not love the changes being made.
In many ways, the Masters of the Universe trailer looks like the cartoon brought to life. He-Man is wearing his traditional outfit. Skelator looks like Skelator, although how Jared Leto’s version of the character will sound remains to be revealed. One character that has received a bit of a makeover, however, is Teela. One might assume the character’s revealing costume was vetoed by the actress who would have to wear it. However, speaking with Empire (via He-Mania.com), Camila Mendes said she was fine with the outfit, but others just didn’t think it made sense. She said…
I was OK with it, but they decided that it would be kind of silly to have this warrior woman trotting around in a swimsuit among all these big, burly men.
To be fair, the outfit that Mendes is seen wearing in the trailer, as well as in images from the set she posted to Instagram, isn’t that different from the Teela costume from the old cartoon, at least from the waist up. It’s still a sleeveless piece of armor with a collar. The big difference is that the movie’s version of the costume has pants.
In the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon show, Teela’s legs were bare, which absolutely gave the outfit a bit of a “swimsuit” vibe. It wasn’t particularly revealing; this was a kid’s show after all, and it was downright modest compared to some of the “armor” you’ll see on female characters in sword and sorcery movies.
While some fans have real issues when elements of the source material are changed, I can’t imagine anybody will be too upset with this particular change. Teela is not defined by her lack of pants. There are far more important things a Masters of the Universe movie will need to get right if it wants to win over the hardcore fans or otherwise just make a great movie. We’ll find out how well it all works when Masters of the Universe arrives later this year.
