WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Season 2 of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, now streaming on Netflix.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is how the show embraced the LGBTQ+ movement. It wasn’t just with She-Ra and Catra falling in love and getting a happy ending, though; it also occurred with Bow’s dads and even Netossa and Spinnerella.
This was so well-handled, it made the Masters of the Universe: Revelation walk-back of Teela liking Andra and moving towards Prince Adam stand out as a very bad move that felt like the show was afraid of backlash from bigots. Interestingly, Season 2 of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe may have made its own stand for equality and representation by making a major character gay.
There seemed to be a tease in the season finale, “The Fifth Nemesis,” after the heroes defeated Skeletor. They combined powers, smashed his Havoc Staff and disintegrated the villain to save Eternia. It led to a parade in Eternos, with Duncan/Man-at-Arms as shy and awkward as ever. With the crowd cheering him on, some young women were swooning and gawking over the handsome lad, but Duncan didn’t seem fazed. However, when the camera brought another guy into focus next to the ladies, Duncan blushed while his smile got more anxious.
He quickly closed his visor before the camera cut back to the parade, making it a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-moment. Admittedly, if Duncan is indeed gay, the show should have leaned into it. Nonetheless, if it foreshadows a queer arc, that’d be a massive step towards diversity on yet another He-Man show filled with testosterone, macho jerks and a lot of overcompensating.
This would fit Duncan’s arc perfectly, explaining why he hid away from the world, diving into mechanics, engineering and contraptions. He could have seen science as his outlet, ergo why he didn’t mind trying to find a family with Kronis in Season 1 before Skeletor converted the latter to Trap-Jaw. What also suggests Duncan is LGBTQ+ is when he got stuck with the famed Castle Grayskull in cosmic purgatory. Skeletor got trapped too, but rather than fight or use a wish stone to kill the villain, Duncan tried to embrace him and make him feel welcomed.
He kept mentioning acceptance and family, empathizing and showing compassion to the mage formerly known as Keldor. Duncan seemed to think Skeletor was a tragic, sympathetic figure, made an outsider just as Duncan himself was the black sheep for most of his life. Thus, he didn’t want “Skellie” to feel alienated or misunderstood, which is why he baked a cake and threw a party.
Deep down, it was a peace offering for possible redemption, showing the tyrant’s toxic masculinity wasn’t in his character before they went their separate ways. It further explains why Duncan was adamant to keep the Masters together when Krass fell out with Adam, because he’d finally found a sense of home with this tribe after feeling lonely for so long. Ultimately, it remains to be seen if the series will pull this trigger in a potential third season, but it should. Given how iconic he is in pop culture, Man-at-Arms identifying as LGBTQ+ would make him an even more inspirational hero to both new and existing fans.
See the hints about Duncan’s sexuality in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, now available on Netflix.
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