Saurod was a reptilian mercenary in the service of Skeletor. He was one of several Evil Warriors created for the 1987 film Masters of the Universe. To promote the movie, Mattel produced an action figure of Saurod in the Masters of the Universe toy line. The toy had a sparking feature that allowed Saurod to fire "lasers" from his mouth, although this ability was not featured in the film.
Character History[]
Masters of the Universe Film (1987)[]
Saurod fires at He-Man.
Saurod was a serpent-like marksman, armed with a laser gun and a set of retractable razor-sharp claws. Saurod worked as a mercenary for Skeletor, and was summoned by Evil-Lyn to pursue He-Man and his allies to Earth and recover the Cosmic Key. Alongside Blade, Karg, and Beast Man, he attacked Julia Winston, having tracked the key to her location. The group were bested by He-Man, and retreated back to Eternia to report to Skeletor.
Skeletor, however, was not in a forgiving mood and decided to show the consequences of failure by incinerating Saurod with a blast of lightening from his hand.
Star Comics (1986)[]
Saurod in the Star Comics.
Saurod was an evil warrior in the service of Skeletor, who possessed the ability to shoot deadly sparks from his mouth. Saurod seemingly used his sparks to put Man-At-Arms into a state of suspended animation, and claimed there was no cure for his condition. He-Man and Teela were eventually able to heal Man-At-Arms, but only by going on a quest to find the healing gem of Helios. In reality, this was all a ruse, and Saurod had replaced Man-At-Arms with a robotic duplicate, while the real Man-At-Arms languished in a cell at Snake Mountain.
In an alternate future in which Skeletor had seized Grayskull and conquered Eternia, Saurod continued to serve as one of his warriors.
In the comic book adaptation of the film, Saurod was oddly depicted without a tail. He also spoke in several scenes, and was described as an expert tracker, something shown in a scene where he sniffed out Julie Winston hiding in the school library and demanded to know the location of the Cosmic Key. One of the biggest differences between the film and the comic is that Saurod was not killed by Skeletor. The scene in which the mercenaries returned to Eternia was not present, and Saurod appeared a few more times elsewhere in the comic, including the scene where the villains ransacked Julie's house and interrogated Kevin.
Minicomics[]
Saurod attacks He-Man in the Minicomics.
When the Evil Cloud tasked Skeletor with finding Gwildor and the Cosmic Key, it provided him with two new henchmen; Saurod and Blade, to help him with the mission. Saurod was capable of shooting lasers from his mouth.
Skeletor was impressed with his new warriors, whom he dubbed his "duo of doom", and both Saurod and Blade put up a good fight against He-Man, with Saurod using his laser sparks to hold He-Man at bay. In the end, Saurod and Blade were ultimately defeated.
Though He-Man banished the Evil Cloud from Eternia, Saurod and Blade retreated with Skeletor and remained in his service.
Masters of the Universe Revelation (2021)[]
- Main article: Saurod (Revelation)
Saurod briefly appears in the Dark Horse Comics comic book series that serves as a prequel to Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
Behind the scenes[]
- Saurod makes a bizarre appearance in issue #10 of the Marvel Comics series. For the first five pages, Blade and Saurod are ambushing the Heroic Warriors, but on page 6 Saurod is referred to as Kobra Khan and Blade is suddenly replaced with Webstor.
- The Masters of the Universe Classics toy line stated that Saurod's species was the Klybian Lizard Men. Because his kind was used in the experiments to create the Snake Men, Saurod held a disdain toward them.