She-Ra
Adora, known by her alter ego She-Ra, is a superheroine in the Masters of the Universe franchise. She is introduced as the protagonist of the 1985 Filmation series She-Ra: Princess of Power, which reveals her to be the long lost twin sister of He-Man. She-Ra again appears in the 2018 reboot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. A series of toys under her name was produced by Mattel in 1984. She has also appeared in a number of Masters of the Universe comic books, most notably in DC Comics' 2012–2018 MOTU comic series, a roughly 1,000 page single story arc, collected in the 2019 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Omnibus hardcover release. In these comics and in the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline, she also has an evil persona called Despara. As Despara, she makes an appearance at the end of Rob David and Kevin Smith's 2024 Netflix release Masters of the Universe: Revolution, the third installment of the 2021 Masters of the Universe animated series. She's also featured in multiple story books, mainly Golden Books and Ladybird books, and in some MOTU games.
Her first published appearance was in the 1984 minicomic "The Story of She-Ra", which, like the subsequent He-Man and She-Ra animated feature film, introduced her as He-Man's twin sister, Princess Adora, kidnapped by Hordak in her infancy. That minicomic, which features He-Man, the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, and Castle Grayskull itself, also features one of the first published appearances of both Hordak and Catra. The minicomic was shipped with the 1985 released original She-Ra action-figure/doll.
In the 1985 series, She-Ra was intended to extend the appeal of the Masters of the Universe setting by being of interest to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys. Filmation writers Larry DiTillio and J. Michael Straczynski created the backstory for the property. She-Ra was introduced in the movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora of the Horde ruling Etheria, but turned out to be Princess Adora, the long-lost twin sister of He-Man, Prince Adam. The 2018 series features a younger She-Ra and is set in a different universe, with only limited connections to Masters of the Universe.
In ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' (1985)
Fictional character biography
and Queen Marlena from planet Eternia had twins, a boy and a girl named Adam and Adora. Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, kidnapped Adora and escaped to Etheria, where Adora was raised as a mind-controlled Force Captain of The Horde. Adora's uniform – which she continued to wear throughout the series, even after defecting to the Rebels – consisted of a red leotard with long white sleeves, red boots with matching gauntlets, and a black belt.The Sorceress sent Adam and Cringer to the planet Etheria to find the Sword of Protection's rightful owner. The Sorceress, through the jewel in the Sword of Protection, reveals to Adora that she was kidnapped by The Horde when she was a baby and that she had a twin brother in, which she instantly believed. Through her newfound love for her brother and seeing him in trouble, Adora breaks the spell that was making her serve the Horde and transformed into the heroine She-Ra. She then releases a captured He-Man and jumps from a window, crashing into the Horde stables, where she lands atop her personal mount Spirit, who is transformed into Swift Wind, a talking winged unicorn. They fly ahead to warn The Rebellion. He-Man and She-Ra return to Eternia, but she decides she must return to Etheria so that she can help free the planet from the Horde oppression.
Adora, having been trained by the Horde her entire life, assumes leadership of the Great Rebellion. The epic battle to free Etheria from the grip of the Evil Horde rages on, spreading across the corners of the planet. Through this war, She-Ra calls upon her allies across the globe and the Universe, using their special talents to battle against Horde creations. It is implied in several episodes that she has romantic feelings towards the rebel pirate Captain Sea Hawk, who is attracted to her in her guise of Adora, as opposed to She-Ra. In the extended MOTU/POP Universe they get married and have children who aid them in battle on Etheria, Eternia and across the Galaxies. Whether or not She-Ra, He-Man and their friends were ever successful in defeating the Horde or the Forces of Evil was never revealed, as both series were cancelled before any definite resolutions could be reached. However, it was shown that, little-by-little, the citizens and kingdoms all over Etheria were rising up against the Horde and pushing back against their tyranny. Unlike Adam, who often feigned laziness and a carefree attitude to deflect any suspicion that he may be He-Man, Adora never acted against her nature and was always seen as brave and selfless, willing to help others in need at a moment's notice.
When Adora transforms to She-Ra, two castles are shown in the background. The first is Castle Grayskull; the second, Crystal Castle, is located atop Skydancer Mountain and is overseen by an entity called Light Hope, who advises She-Ra in times of crisis. In the Princess of Power toyline, the castle is also protected by two winged crystal horses, Moonbeam and Sun Dancer. The Crystal Castle's location is known only to Ahgo, She-Ra and her allies who know of her secret, and He-Man and his allies who know of his secret. She-Ra has sworn to keep its location secret, thus earning the title of "Defender of the Crystal Castle." In the extended MOTU/POP universe, She-Ra travels alongside Sea Hawk in his new version of the Solar Sailor ship, which can now fly in both space and air, ride the sea on water, and submerge in its depths. She also journeys the Universe alongside He Man in his Starship Eternia as a member of the Galaxy Defenders.
Powers and abilities
She-Ra is known for her incredible feats and charisma. She has been shown multiple times to be able to lift not only full-grown men and robots, but also mountain-like rocks and buildings. She is depicted as being extremely fast and acrobatic. Her speed allows her to easily deflect multiple incoming energy blasts with her sword. She-Ra demonstrated a series of other abilities which appear to be more nurturing in nature such as empathic understanding, mental communication with animals, and healing. Whether there is a limit to the length of time she can remain in her heroic form before she reverts to her original form of Adora is unknown. There have been occasions where she is forcibly transformed back into Adora, implying that her powers do have limits to them.She-Ra's primary weapon is her Sword of Protection. It appears almost indestructible and able to deflect bolts of energy, both magical and technological, as well as project beams of energy from the stone in its center. The stone is also used to turn Spirit into Swift Wind, as the power beam needed to perform the transformation comes from it.
In one episode, the stone in She-Ra's sword becomes damaged, causing her to be unable to transform into She-Ra. Another potential weakness is that the sword requires vocal command: in an episode in which Shadow Weaver captured Adora's voice, Adora was then unable to transform into She-Ra as she was unable to speak her words of transformation to the sword.
The sword also had transmutation abilities – upon command it would change shape into whatever She-Ra required at the time, for example a shield, parachute, helmet, rope with grappling hook, and a boomerang. She-Ra is largely non-violent and engages in combat only as a last resort.
Reception
She-Ra is mostly considered a positive role model for women, although some have criticized her for being a poor female counterpart to He-Man.In ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' (2018–2020)
On December 12, 2017, DreamWorks Animation and Netflix announced a reboot series based on She-Ra. The series was executively produced by author ND Stevenson. The cast was revealed on May 18, 2018, alongside a poster and the official series title: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It premiered on November 13, 2018, on Netflix. Unlike the original series, He-Man has no presence in the reboot storyline and is not portrayed to be related or connected in any way, last appearing in a 2002 series. The reboot is a reimagining of the 1980s version and is not part of the Masters of the Universe storyline.Fictional character biography
Adora grew up in the rigid structure of the Horde, taught from infancy to see the Rebellion as oppressors. She embraced that life wholeheartedly—because she only knew that life—until she discovered its lies and chose to rebel. She was raised to believe that the princesses are evil and oppress Etheria. She was brought up in the rigorous military environment alongside Catra under their mentor/mother-figure Shadow Weaver, who took Adora in after Hordak found her as a baby years prior. When Adora is promoted to Force Captain, her world view greatly changed when she finds the Sword of Protection one day after sneaking out of the Horde base. She is soon captured by two rebels, Princess Glimmer and her best friend Bow, learning the truth that the Horde are the real oppressors. Upon the revelation and gaining the ability to become She-Ra, Adora joins the rebellion, winning over its hesitant members while struggling in mastering her powers. But Adora's defection causes a rift between her and Catra, whose initial feelings of abandonment become resentment towards her closest friend, with Adora eventually seeing Catra as an enemy when she nearly destroyed Etheria out of spite. Catra regains her friendship with Adora and helps in defeating the Horde.Adora later learns that she is a descendant of the First Ones, a colonizer race that weaponized Etheria to harvest its magic in their Heart of Etheria project, revealed to have been brought to Etheria by Light Hope to fulfill her mission. This forces Adora to destroy the Sword of Protection to prevent Etheria's destruction, but leaves it open to invasion by Horde Prime. But while leaving Etheria to save Glimmer and Catra, Adora regains her ability to become She-Ra. Adora later learns that only she can restore the magic to Etheria with the risk of dying in the process, but is saved by Catra as the two finally express their romantic feelings for each other.