First look at He-Man in Masters of the Universe live-action movie revealed

The rozzers have caught Prince Adam.

Amazon's Master of the Universe reimagining is set to arrive in June 2026, and now, thanks to some set photos, we've got a good first look at Nicholas Galitzine's turn as He-Man, alongside an insight into how the Power Sword will look.

In the photos, we can see Nicholas Galitzine, who's nailing the frame and stature of He-Man, being arrested by the police whilst one of them confiscates his iconic weapon before popping him in the back of a police vehicle. The sword itself looks excellent, capturing the essence of the original, although everything else seems… out of place.

What will feel immediately jarring at first for any old-school He-Man fans is the modern-day setting and pink dress shirt sported by the titular character, shown off in Deuxmoi's Instagram post -- it's certainly a different look from the signature short shorts and leather vest we've grown accustomed to, even if He-Man’s alter-ego Prince Adam wasn’t averse to a salmon-coloured waistcoat.

Master of the modern-day

In a recent interview, He-Man actor Galitzine explained the modern setting.

"Our version is quite different from the original animation, which we all agree was camp within its own right and worked so well for the time," Galitzine explained. He added "It's exciting to do something that will have a nostalgia element as well as hopefully attract a bunch of new fans."

The choice to go for modern-day is undoubtedly intriguing and a bit of a head-scratcher, but it may be precisely what this storied franchise needs to drag it into the 21st Century. Principal photography for the film begins soon so, hopefully, we can gain even further insight into the project, which the cast and crew are incredibly coy about when describing.

Assuming the image of the sword is anything to go off, this will still be faithful to the original where it needs to be, and some modernisation was necessary, as shown by the considerable improvement to Prince Adam's trim, which is more Kings of Leon and less Baldrick from Blackadder.

If you didn't grow up in the height of He-Man fever during the 80s, chances are it won’t be immediately apparent who He-Man is — it may just look like the Milky Bar kid grew up and joined a PureGym. But thanks to multiple animated shows, a feature film, comics and toys, He-Man was a pretty big deal. The He-Man episode of the Netflix documentary The Toys That Made Us is a helpful touchstone to demonstrate the franchise's influence.

This reboot/reimagining had a difficult start to life after initially being shelved by Netflix, but has since been picked up by Amazon and now features plenty of household names in the cast, including Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Jared Leto as Skeletor, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn and Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress. Travis Knight, the director of Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings, will take the helm on Masters of the Universe.

Masters of the Universe is set to release on June 5th, 2026 and is an Amazon MGM Studios production, meaning it’ll probably land on Amazon Prime Video as its first streaming home.

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