Comments
The Masters of the Universe movie included quite the roster of franchise villains, with a lineup that featured Goat Man, Karg, Tri-Klops, Trap-Jaw, Beast Man, Spikor, Evil-Lyn, and the mastermind known as Skeletor. Even with that stacked of a lineup, there are still plenty of villains that didn’t make the cut, and now we’ve got our first look at several of them that went unused for the film.
While they didn’t make an appearance in the final Masters of the Universe movie that hit theaters, at one point in time, the Snake Men were in the film’s villainous lineup, and concept artist and creature designer Jerad S. Marantz recently gave us our first look at their early designs. As you can see in the post below, there are several different looks and types within the group, but due to this being an early version of the film, at some point, they were cut from the story, and now we have a look at what could have been.
View this post on Instagram
On Instagram, Marantz wrote, “I got to do a lot of concept art for an earlier version of the masters of the universe film that came out recently. I was a part of a small concept art team led by my good friend and amazing artist @constantinesekeris. Constantine brought me on board with our mutual friend @lucanemolato. We would work in conjunction with Costume Designer @ann.foley Ann Foley and her incredible team. It really was a dream project. I cannot express how much fun I had working on all of these characters. Here are some early sketches I did for the Snakemen. They were being considered for this earlier draft of the film. A broad range of sketches like these are what I like to do just to get the ball rolling. These open up the conversation for what best serves the story, and budget. I love sketching! Being able to generate a lot of options and communicate ideas quickly in the beginning is so useful!”
Who Are The Snake Men In Masters of the Universe?
The Snake Men were an army of, you guessed it, Snake Men that invaded and captured several worlds at the behest of King Hiss. At one point, Hiss and his army attempted to conquer Eternia, and they were the ones who created Snake Mountain as their home base. The Snake Men couldn’t defeat the Elders of Eternia though, and they were banished to another dimension, and only a few of them were left on Eternia afterwards. That’s why Skeletor and his armies would take over and use Snake Mountain as their headquarters.
Skeletor would then free King Hiss and the Snake Men and team up with them against He-Man and the other heroes, and that’s where Kobra Khan comes in, as he is the liaison between both forces. They would team up several more times, with Skeletor even venturing to the past when they first invaded at one point, but they would always fall to the heroes of Eternia.
When it comes to the cartoon, the Snake Men didn’t play a major role, as only Kobra Khan was featured in a smaller role. Two Snake Men by the names of Rattier and Tung Lasher were also included in She-Ra: Princess of Power, but they existed largely in a vacuum without much in the way of connections to the bigger group.
In animation, the Snake Men wouldn’t get their due until the Masters of the Universe reboot in 2002, and were so prominent that the second season was even titled Masters of the Universe vs The Snake Men. The reboot followed mostly the same story as the mini-comics when it came to how the Snake Men invaded Eternia and were sealed away in another dimension, but there was a big change in terms of their allegiances. Instead of helping Skeletor, the Snake Men were battling Skeletor and his armies as well as He-Man and the other heroes, making it a multi-faction war as opposed to the two against one model before.
If we do end up getting a Masters of the Universe sequel at some point down the line, hopefully some of these designs can be used, because the Snake Men look fantastic, and it would be a shame if we didn’t get to see them make their big-screen debut.
Masters of the Universe is in theaters now, and will be released on digital July 21st.
Masters of the Universe Reveals Awesome New Orko Figure (But He’s Only Available For A Limited Time)
