Skeletor (/ˈskɛlətɔːr/) is a fictional supervillain and the main antagonist of the Masters of the Universe franchise created by Mattel, serving as the archenemy of He-Man and usually depicted as a skull-faced, blue-skinned sorcerer.

He-Man was depicted as the champion of a tribe of stone-age jungle-dwellers, and there was no royal court of Eternia, King Randor, Queen Marlena, or Prince Adam.

When Hordak invaded Eternia and kidnapped the baby Princess Adora from the palace, Man-At-Arms and the Royal Guard captured his apprentice, Skeletor, and forced him to divulge the whereabouts of his master, who had retreated to his base of operations, Snake Mountain.

According to King Randor, Keldor disappeared years ago after, in his pursuit to master magic, an experiment went wrong and transported him to another dimension.

In the film, Skeletor captures Castle Grayskull and imprisons the Sorceress after Evil-Lyn tricks an Earth girl named Julie into giving her the Cosmic Key.

He later absorbs the power of the Great Eye and transforms into a golden demonic god, but He-Man throws him off a cliff into a vat.

In the series, Skeletor (voiced by Campbell Lane) tricks the Galactic Guardians, Hydron and Flipshot, into believing that he is the force of good they need to save their home planet, Primus, when they come looking for He-Man.

Skeletor agrees, and is able to manipulate and control Flogg from behind the scenes, while making himself a force to be reckoned with among Primans and Mutants alike.

[10] Skeletor's portrayal in the series differs from the Filmation cartoon, as he possesses a sarcastic sense of humor and takes his failures better.

[11] The first toys for the "New Adventures" line gave a different explanation for how He-Man and Skeletor ended up in the future and how he gained his cybernetics through a mini-comic included with various figures.

However, it needed the Corodite Crystal as a power source; after Mer-Man retrieved it, Skeletor destroyed the Mystic Wall and returned to menacing Eternia.

[12] Unlike previous portrayals, Skeletor is initially not concerned with Castle Grayskull until a giant fish-monster swallowes the remnants of the Corodite Crystal and he begins to seek power.

In the first season finale, Skeletor directly attacks with his Council of Evil until King Hiss and the Snake Men are freed from the Void.

He is also shown power-hungry and harbors hatred towards King Randor for his part in destroying his face and making him what he is now, also blaming Evil-Lyn for saving him.

However, when this new design was then translated into animated form, MYP's artists usually gave him a voluminous cape, which neither the new toy or the original incarnation of the character wore.

After she reveals that she hid in plain sight within a pleasant memory that he rarely visits, he kills her and resolves to get Grayskull's power himself.

[19] After discovering that Castle Grayskull is a shell that serves to guard the Orb of Power, Skeletor uses the Shaping Staff to disguise himself as Spikor and Evil-Lyn as Clawful, who pretends to have been captured by He-Man, but is in reality the robot Faker.

In the Eternian afterlife, Preternia, they reunite with Adam, who gave up his everlasting reward to return to the land of the living and restore magic to the universe with the power of Grayskull.

Ten years prior to the events of the series, Keldor kidnapped Adam and attempted to gain the power of the Havoc Staff before being cursed by its energy and transformed into a skeleton.

[21] As a sorcerer, Skeletor possesses various dark magical powers and can perform remote viewing through a crystal ball; as a master of the occult arts, he is privy to secret knowledge about the universe.

[28][29] He also makes a cameo appearance alongside He-Man in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, with Alan Oppenheimer reprising his role.