“Academy Award For Slut Of The Year” Is Just One Reaction To Nicholas Galitzine’s He-Man Trailer
There’s a clip going around. You’ve already seen it. Maybe four times if you’ve been on TikTok this week. Nicholas Galitzine, in cinematic slow motion, glances down at his own abs in a Masters of the Universe scene, and the gay internet has stopped functioning.
Masters of the Universe premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on 18 May 2026 and lands in cinemas on 5 June, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Galitzine plays Prince Adam, the former heir to Eternia who’s been hiding out on Earth, before lifting a sword and becoming He-Man, sworn enemy of Skeletor (Jared Leto, gleefully unrecognisable under prosthetics).
The Clip That Did the Damage
If you’ve somehow missed the moment, the choreography goes like this. Adam levitates. His clothes vanish. Muscle builds across his frame as armour wraps around him. The camera circles, finds his face, then drops down for a slow POV pan along his torso. He looks down. We look down. Nobody recovers.
The response was immediate.
One tweet from @notgwendalupe simply read “academy award for slut of the year.”
TikTok edits multiplied so fast the algorithm started gatekeeping itself. Quote-tweets are now their own genre.
academy award for slut of the year pic.twitter.com/nH4asZuML8
— culture (@notgwendalupe) May 19, 2026
Behind the Body, an Actual Ordeal
According to E! News, Galitzine consumed up to 5,000 calories a day on training days, paired with roughly three hours of daily weightlifting, to physically build He-Man. That’s not a meal plan. That’s a part-time job with a payroll.
He’s been frank about how brutal the bulk was, calling the prep “the hardest thing I’ve ever done” in earlier press for the film. He’s also said he experienced body dysmorphia during the change, telling press, “You don’t recognise yourself, you don’t fit in any of your clothes anymore.”
During the cutting phase, he described 18-hour fasts followed by three-hour weight sessions and stunt work back to back. Five thousand calories sounds great in theory until you realise you have to chew all of it, and live in a body you no longer recognise in the mirror.
The Director Was Just as Stunned
Travis Knight, who directed the film (and previously gave us Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings), said the physical change caught even him off guard.
“He had put on so much muscle in such a short period of time,” Knight told press. “Sometimes I’ll look at photos back when I first met him, and it looks like a totally different dude.”
For a director known for visual spectacle, that’s a notable admission. The man wasn’t ready either.
He-Man Has Always Been a Bit Gay
Let’s not pretend. The He-Man canon has been queer-coded since the original Filmation series aired in 1983.
The leather harness. The mini battle skirt. The bob cut. The dramatic poses. There is no straight reading of a cartoon where a man pulls a sword, screams “By the power of Grayskull,” and becomes a more shredded version of himself.
Galitzine clearly understood the brief. He even acknowledged the costume situation in a press interview, telling reporters it was strange wearing “a miniskirt and harness while everyone’s fully dressed in puffer jackets and whatnot.” That’s just a regular Saturday at Mardi Gras for some of us.
The Well-Earned Cheat Meal
The reward at the finish line? Sushi and pizza. At the same time.
“I was so mentally ready to eat something disgusting,” Galitzine told People at the LA premiere. “I want to say I had a combination of sushi and pizza, and I just was like, give it. Give it all to me.”
His next director reportedly told him to ease off the gym and eat whatever he wants for the next role. A win for Galitzine’s digestive system. A blow for fancam editors everywhere.
When You Can Watch the Full Thing
Masters of the Universe opens in Australian cinemas in early June 2026, lining up with the global theatrical rollout from Amazon MGM Studios. The official trailer is below.
Galitzine stars opposite Camila Mendes (Teela), Idris Elba (Duncan / Man-At-Arms), Alison Brie, Kristen Wiig, Morena Baccarin, and James Purefoy. The film carries a reported budget of $170 to $200 million, with Sony Pictures handling the international rollout. Even setting aside the abs of it all, the cast list alone is worth a ticket.
