Netflix’s She-Ra reboot has already received acclaim from fans and critics alike. Now, Adora’s big brother is joining the party. At Power-Con 2019 in Anaheim, California, fans learned that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is getting an animated sequel series on Netflix courtesy of Kevin Smith.
Despite recent forays into horror, Smith is still best known for writing and directing small-scale character-driven comedies like Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy. As such, he seems like an odd fit for He-Man, a sword-wielding hero who lives in a castle and fights mythical and magical creatures.
However, Smith has written a fair number of action stories, too. In the late ’90s, Smith helped Marvel revamp Daredevil and revived Oliver Queen as Green Arrow for DC Comics. Later, he wrote The Green Hornet and The Bionic Man for Dynamite Entertainment. He’s also worked in animation before, most notably by creating Clerks: The Animated Series and helming Marvel’s upcoming Howard the Duck. In light of those efforts, letting Smith loose on He-Man’s kid-friendly take on the sword and sorcery genre doesn’t seem like so much of a stretch.
For his part, Smith seems enthusiastic about spending some time in Eternia. Masters of the Universe: Revelation, an anime-inspired production animated by the same company that does Netflix’s Castlevania, will pick up right where the original ’80s cartoon left off. The series will resolve dangling plot threads from that series, and will build to “what may be the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m Eternia-ly grateful to Mattel TV and Netflix for entrusting me with not only the secrets of Grayskull, but also their entire Universe,” Smith said in a statement. “This is the Masters of the Universe story you always wanted to see as a kid!”
Masters of the Universe: Revelation is just one of many nostalgia-driven animated sequels, at Netflix. In addition to the previously mentioned She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the streaming service recently revived cult favorites Invader Zim and Rocko’s Modern Life.
He-Man was created by Mattel designers Mark Taylor and Roger Sweet in 1980 in an attempt to create a line of action figures to compete with Kenner’s ultra-popular Star Wars toys. The cartoon series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, followed a few years later. While primarily intended to sell toys, the cartoon launched a number of high-profile Hollywood careers, including that of Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.