The “He-Man Sings” meme started its life in 2005 as a music video constructed by a pair of animators at Slackcircus Studios. The video matched animated footage from the Eighties “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” animated sequence with an operatic, barely distorted model of 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 hit single “What’s Up?” This video was titled “Fabulous Secret Powers,” and it started with a really stereotypically queer He-Man giving a lispy rendition of the “Masters of the Universe” opening earlier than breaking into tune. On the time, the web was welcoming “random” humor with open arms, and the video rapidly grew to become very fashionable. It was a success on web sites like One thing Terrible and eBaum’s World (which have been well-liked within the mid-2000s).
“Fabulous Secret Powers” assured that He-Man and “What’s Up?” can be inextricably linked, so it might not shock any readers on the market to be taught that “What’s Up?” is a featured observe in Travis Knight’s 2026 characteristic movie adaptation of “Masters of the Universe.” No, He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine) does not sing an operatic model of the tune within the film, however its presence on the soundtrack shall be sufficient to offer Millennials some nostalgic warm-fuzzies.
After all, that is however one among a number of situations of web memes working their approach again into the franchises that impressed them, or a minimum of into the material of flicks typically. Certainly, the “Fabulous Secret Powers” model of “What’s Up?” was already expertly inserted into the 2023 animated movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” It was blended right into a van chase scene whereby the titular turtles, from the again of a van, power their mutant animal captors to be thrown out. The continuing driving sequence performs the dance remix of “What’s Up?” as loud as life. It will get factors for novelty.
Mutant Mayhem beat Masters of the Universe to utilizing the What’s Up? remix
In “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” the Ninja Turtles are at the back of a van being pushed by different mutant animals that they’re wholly uncomfortable with. (For these , we ranked each mutant in “Mutant Mayhem” right here.) The mutants, led by Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), are prompted to sing, they usually thumb via their music participant, ultimately deciding on the 4 Non Blondes model of “What’s Up?” They then start to sing the “Hey ya” refrain on the high of their mutant lungs. When the turtles handle to halt the van, eject the mutants, and take management, the music shifts into the “Fabulous Secret Powers” remix of “What’s Up?” It is an awesome “pump up” second in a film bursting with enjoyable motion and superb animation.
After all, using the “What’s Up?” remix in “Mutant Mayhem” merely faucets into a well-recognized and strange musical pattern culled from on-line life. Therefore, the tune’s placement in “Masters of the Universe” is likely to be extra acceptable, even when “Mutant Mayhem” makes higher use of the tune. The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie additionally makes use of much more of the tune, with the driving sequence lasting a full two-and-a-half minutes.
Memes, in fact, have develop into a default second language to many Millennials, and plenty of popular culture figures have been remixed via somewhat little bit of enjoyable on-line tradition jamming. One would possibly recall the 2006 meme extrapolated from the 1992 “X-Males” animated sequence the place the character Juggernaut is re-dubbed to scream, “I am the Juggernaut, b***h!” In a weird inventive selection, the Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) even yells that line of dialogue in Brett Ratner’s “X-Males: The Final Stand,” which got here out the identical 12 months.
Masters of the Universe is not the one film to reference a meme
And memes have been creeping into mainstream leisure for some time. For instance, someday in 2011, intelligent web customers discovered a body from the Nineteen Sixties “Spider-Man” animated sequence episode “Double Id” and started spreading it round. The body options two Spider-Males in an identical costumes pointing at one another. Within the episode, a villain is merely impersonating Spider-Man, however the absurdity of the picture made for improbable meme fodder.
As such, throughout an finish credit sequence for the 2018 animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the character Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) jumps right into a parallel universe the place he finds himself within the above-described scene. This makes for a enjoyable tip of the hat to meme lords and individuals who spend an excessive amount of time on-line typically (which, actually, is all of us).
And who might neglect Large Chungus? This one will be traced again to the 1941 Bob Clampett quick “Wabbit Twouble,” by which Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) distorts his personal physique to match the pear-shaped physique of Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q. Bryan). After venturing throughout the trenches of 4Chan and touchdown on Tumblr, this model of Bugs Bunny grew to become related to the phrase “Large Chungus.” And would not you already know it, the Large Chungus meme made its approach right into a scene in 2021’s “House Jam: A New Legacy.”
And on condition that 2026 has seen viral YouTube sequence like “The Backrooms” being tailored into massive display screen hits, the language of memes is probably going the place the way forward for cinema is headed. The “What’s Up?” needle-drop in “Masters of the Universe” is a passing reference, however it alludes to the place a whole era would possibly’ve discovered about He-Man within the first place.
“Masters of the Universe” is now taking part in in theaters.
