MASTER OF HIS UNIVERSE

He-Man Creator Dead at 91

He dreamed up the muscle-bound action figure after bosses missed out on Star Wars rights.

The man who created He-Man has died at the age of 91 after a long battle with dementia, his wife has confirmed. Mattel toy designer Roger Sweet—the brains behind one of the 80s’ biggest pop culture sensations, “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”—was charged with finding Mattel a homegrown smash after the toy giant infamously turned down the chance to manufacture Star Wars merchandise. His death was reported by TMZ, with his wife Marlene telling the celebrity site that her husband died “peacefully” on Tuesday morning at a specialist dementia facility. A GoFundMe page launched to cover his medical bills raised nearly $94,000—smashing its $50,000 target—while Mattel’s foundation chipped in another $5,000. Sweet bulked out an existing Big Jim doll using clay to craft his prototype, with He-Man hitting shelves in 1982, before the animated series launched a year later and ran for 130 episodes. His passing comes ahead of a new live-action “Masters of the Universe” film, starring Nicholas Galitzine, coming to cinemas this summer.