Masters Of The Universe Makes A He-Man Meme Reference, But TMNT Did It Better – SlashFilm

The “He-Man Sings” meme began its life in 2005 as a music video constructed by a pair of animators at Slackcircus Studios. The video matched animated footage from the 1980s “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” animated series with an operatic, slightly distorted version of 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 hit single “What’s Up?” This video was titled “Fabulous Secret Powers,” and it began with a very stereotypically queer He-Man giving a lispy rendition of the “Masters of the Universe” opening before breaking into song. At the time, the internet was welcoming “random” humor with open arms, and the video quickly became very popular. It was a hit on websites like Something Awful and eBaum’s World (which were popular in the mid-2000s).

“Fabulous Secret Powers” assured that He-Man and “What’s Up?” would be inextricably linked, so it may not surprise any readers out there to learn that “What’s Up?” is a featured track in Travis Knight’s 2026 feature film adaptation of “Masters of the Universe.” No, He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine) doesn’t sing an operatic version of the song in the movie, but its presence on the soundtrack will be enough to give Millennials some nostalgic warm-fuzzies. 

Of course, this is but one of several instances of internet memes working their way back into the franchises that inspired them, or at least into the fabric of movies in general. Indeed, the “Fabulous Secret Powers” version of “What’s Up?” was already expertly inserted into the 2023 animated film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” It was mixed into a van chase scene wherein the titular turtles, from the back of a van, force their mutant animal captors to be thrown out. The proceeding driving sequence plays the dance remix of “What’s Up?” as loud as life. It gets points for novelty. 

In “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” the Ninja Turtles are in the back of a van being driven by other mutant animals that they are wholly uncomfortable with. (For those interested, we ranked every mutant in “Mutant Mayhem” here.) The mutants, led by Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), are prompted to sing, and they thumb through their music player, eventually settling on the 4 Non Blondes version of “What’s Up?” They then begin to sing the “Hey ya” chorus at the top of their mutant lungs. When the turtles manage to halt the van, eject the mutants, and take control, the music shifts into the “Fabulous Secret Powers” remix of “What’s Up?” It’s a great “pump up” moment in a movie bursting with fun action and amazing animation.

Of course, the use of the “What’s Up?” remix in “Mutant Mayhem” merely taps into a familiar and unusual musical trend culled from online life. Hence, the song’s placement in “Masters of the Universe” might be more appropriate, even if “Mutant Mayhem” makes better use of the tune. The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film also utilizes a lot more of the song, with the driving sequence lasting a full two-and-a-half minutes. 

Memes, of course, have become a default second language to many Millennials, and a lot of pop culture figures have been remixed through a little bit of fun online culture jamming. One might recall the 2006 meme extrapolated from the 1992 “X-Men” animated series where the character Juggernaut is re-dubbed to scream, “I’m the Juggernaut, b***h!” In a bizarre creative choice, the Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) even yells that line of dialogue in Brett Ratner’s “X-Men: The Last Stand,” which came out the same year.

And memes have been creeping into mainstream entertainment for a while. For example, sometime in 2011, clever internet users found a frame from the 1960s “Spider-Man” animated series episode “Double Identity” and began spreading it around. The frame features two Spider-Men in identical costumes pointing at each other. In the episode, a villain is merely impersonating Spider-Man, but the absurdity of the image made for fantastic meme fodder. 

As such, during an end credits sequence for the 2018 animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the character Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) jumps into a parallel universe where he finds himself in the above-described scene. This makes for a fun tip of the hat to meme lords and people who spend too much time online in general (which, really, is all of us). 

And who could forget Big Chungus? This one can be traced back to the 1941 Bob Clampett short “Wabbit Twouble,” in which Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) distorts his own body to match the pear-shaped physique of Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q. Bryan). After venturing across the trenches of 4Chan and landing on Tumblr, this version of Bugs Bunny became associated with the phrase “Big Chungus.” And wouldn’t you know it, the Big Chungus meme made its way into a scene in 2021’s “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” 

And given that 2026 has seen viral YouTube series like “The Backrooms” being adapted into big screen hits, the language of memes is likely where the future of cinema is headed. The “What’s Up?” needle-drop in “Masters of the Universe” is a passing reference, but it alludes to where an entire generation might’ve learned about He-Man in the first place.

“Masters of the Universe” is now playing in theaters.