Roger Sweet, ‘He-Man’ Creator, Dies at 91
Roger Sweet, the toy designer who created the iconic He-Man character from the Masters of the Universe franchise alongside Mark Taylor, died on Tuesday (April 28). He was 91.
His wife of 40 years, Marlene Sweet, shared that he passed away peacefully in a care facility following a dementia diagnosis.
Marlene launched a GoFundMe campaign earlier this year to help raise funds to pay for her late husband’s costly healthcare costs after Sweet was admitted to a special memory care facility specializing in dementia. The facility cost over $10,000 per month. The campaign, driven by He-Man fans, raised over $93,000.
Sweet entered the care facility following a hospital stay during which doctors discovered two brain bleeds and noted he was at “high risk for falls.” Sweet’s health had been declining steadily for years prior to his passing, and he was diagnosed with dementia in February 2026.
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Sweet worked for Mattel as one of the toy company’s lead designers in their Preliminary Design department for nearly two decades in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally conceived as competition to the booming Star Wars franchise, he reportedly came up with the name of the classic action hero and is responsible for pitching the toy concept and its initial prototype to Mattel in 1980.
Determined to find a fresh idea for a toy line, He-Man was born from Sweet posing a Big Jim action figure into a fighting stance and adding clay to the figure’s body to bulk it up with “muscles.” That concoction became the prototype for the He-Man character and Sweet pitched the creation, along with Taylor’s concept art, to then-Mattel CEO Ray Wagner.
He-Man officially launched in 1982. A year later, in 1983 Mattel and Filmation debuted their popular He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon to promote the toy line. The series ran for 130 episodes between 1983 and 1985, and a live-action movie, Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella, was released in theaters in 1987.
Over the past 40-plus years, the franchise has generated hundreds of millions in toy revenue for Mattel, as well revenue from comics, merchandise, and other media.
Masters of the Universe, a new live-action film starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, and Jared Leto, is out this summer. Ahead of the film’s release, Marlene has asked Amazon MGM Studios to include a dedication to Sweet in the upcoming movie.
Masters of the Universe, is scheduled for release in theaters on June 5, 2026.
