A blink-and-you-miss-it joke in the new Masters of the Universe trailer has sparked an outsized conservative backlash online.
After Amazon MGM Studios dropped the first look at the upcoming He-Man reboot, some right-wing viewers fixated on a brief office gag involving the hero's name, interpreting it as a "woke" political statement rather than the obvious pun it was meant to be.
In Masters of the Universe, Nicholas Galitzine stars as Adam Glenn, a regular guy on Earth who later reclaims the Sword of Power and becomes the superhero He-Man.
Jared Leto appears as Skeletor, the classic villain waiting on the other end, whom He-Man and other Eternian warriors must battle.
The pronoun gag conservatives took literally
About 37 seconds into the trailer, Adam can be seen sitting at a desk job on Earth. The camera panned to reveal a nameplate reading, "Adam Glenn, he/him."
The joke landed plainly for most viewers as a tongue-in-cheek reference to He-Man's hilariously awful name.
However, conservative commenters on X treated the nameplate's inclusion as ideological sabotage. Some critics declared the movie "woke garbage" and complained about "forced diversity."
One self-described Christian author, @jondelarroz, wrote, "Now they’re making a Masters of the Universe and giving He-man pronouns. These people won’t stop until they ruin everything."
The transphobic account @GenderReceipts accused the film of "promoting gender/trans ideology."
Others escalated the tone. @BennettProduct tweeted, "God dam [sic] woke mind virus is ruining everything....You just f*cked up my childhood memory.... @He_Man_movie what the f*ck? He-Man is not a he/him.....you dumb f*ckers. He is a bad a** skeleton fighting son of a b*tch that knows he is a man. F*ck..... Now I have to make a better one...."
The internet explains the joke, slowly and loudly
Thankfully, many users pointed out the joke with more than a bit of patience and sarcasm. "They’re giving He-Man pronouns," @wyattyhalpert replied dryly.
@FreddyInSpace wrote, "He-Man. His name is He-Man. They’re not giving him pronouns in 2026. He literally is a sword-wielding pronoun."
Then @danielwinvw asked, "What’s next?! She/Ra?"
Others pointed out that He-Man and She-Ra have always been, as the conservatives said, "woke," like with a 1983 PSA about inappropriate touching.
Meanwhile, jokes piled on. @nxd1979 tweeted, "i can’t stop thinking about 'they’re giving he-man pronouns.'"
@WickedReina617 said, "Aside from it being an obvious joke, the fact that they're sooooo upset by it is so embarrassing." @Questergirl replied, saying, "Right? They're essentially objecting to Pronoun-Man having pronouns under his name. LOL."
Masters of the Universe is scheduled for release on June 5, 2026.
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