Since when did Queen Marlena know Adam was He-Man in ”Masters of the Universe: Revelation”?

The real identity of He-Man. This secret was the key plot device to our quintessential He-Man, the one depicted in the 1983 Classic Filmation Series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (which was the lore that “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” was built upon.)

Like Clark Kent was to Superman, Adam’s alter ego and transformation into He-Man was unknown to most and entrusted to a select few… a handful of trustworthy names engraved into the minds of young children around the world as He-Man listed them off in every episode’s opening:

“Only three others share this secret. Our friends the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and Orko.”

– “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” Intro

While the knowledge that Prince Adam and He-Man are the same person is definitely known by other powerful beings in the Universe like Zodac (a story from another time), pretty much all of Adam’s friends and loved ones in Eternia were never let in-on this secret in all the episodes of “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (although some often grew suspicious of Adam’s constant disappearances when trouble occurred.)

So some fans were naturally surprised upon returning to this wonderful franchise after so many years, when in the first episode of “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” titled “The Power of Grayskull”, Queen Marlena seemed to know that Adam would be leaving to turn into He-Man after Eternians were being directed towards safety and shelter.

And then later, in the same episode, it outright confirmed Queen Marlena’s knowledge that her son Adam and He-Man were truly the same person, once Man-at-Arms delivered the news to the royal throne room of He-Man’s death.

So how did Queen Marlena know of He-Man’s secret identity? Pondering this question was naturally understandable. There was only one Filmation episode titled “The Rainbow Warrior” that touched upon Marlena possibly knowing Adam’s secret, and returning fans not as heavily addicted to the cartoon series recalling one specific episode from their childhood (among 130 episodes almost 40 years ago) could definitely be a challenging task. But that’s why we’re here!

So in this 1984 episode “The Rainbow Warrior”, Queen Marlena sees King Randor, Man-at-Arms, Teela, Orko and Adam chained by Skeletor. She only has time to free one of them, and clearly freeing the more capable Man-at-Arms or Teela – Captain of the Guard – is the most logical choice… but instead she freed her son Adam (who naturally ran off to transform into He-Man).

Later in the story, Adam asked his mother why she freed him rather than someone else. Adam’s mother coyly responded that “a mother always knows her own son and what he’s capable of doing.” Queen Marlena hinted she “had a feeling” he would know what to do. Check it out:

Maybe it’s a mother’s intuition, or perhaps the Queen secretly spotted Adam calling on the Power of Grayskull and transforming into He-Man one day in the past. (Adam often would transform in the actual halls of the Palace.)

Regardless of how she possibly found out and how she knew Adam was He-Man, the episode was clearly suggesting that Queen Marlena did in fact know her son’s secret. And that exact thread was taken and continued masterfully in “Masters of the Universe: Revelation”.

So there you go! Until next time!