The Point of Muscles

from  A Look Back on Some of the Best Superheroes of the 80's.

He-Man

"By the power of Grayskull...I have the power!". A classic line which brings us back to the land of magic, sorcery, of castles and kingdoms, and once again, good over evil.

No doubt, He-Man is your quintessential alpha-male, complete with bulging muscles, magic sword and unbeatable superpowers. Never mind that he was rather cliché—only big muscled guys get to be heroes—inspiring in skinny little boys (including me) an insecurity that were to surface later in our teenage years. The power of cartoons.

Dolph Lundgren as He-Man

But wait, there's Sheera too, a princess and He-Man's battle partner, not to be confused with some other helpless female character who gets in trouble and needs to be rescued from time to time. At least, there was Sheera to shatter the stereotype. If anything, He-Man was that cartoon that doesn't rely on violence, no matter how perfectly able the lead hero was.

Notably, his most violent act was picking up an enemy and tossing him away as you would a doll. Violence was only used as a last resort, and there we have a bulky superhero racking his brains instead on how to outwit the evil Skeletor. Yehey for that.

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I'm not sure I'm excited to see GraySkull, the new He-Man movie set to be released on 2011, unless it has all the right grit and darkness--the way Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Alfonso Cuaron--and the last one by David Yates--were dark and gritty and still catered to kids. 

The original He-Man movie in 1987, Masters of the Universe, starring Dolph Lundgren, disappointed.  All muscles and no point.