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Zodac is an enigmatic cosmic enforcer in the Masters of the Universe mythos. In general, the character is portrayed as being neutral in the battle between good and evil. However, he has also been presented as an evil warrior, and sometimes a hero in various forms of the continuity, and stages of his character development.
Although the original toy was labeled "Zodac," the spelling of the character's name has varied between "Zodac" and "Zodak." When the character was redesigned in 2002, he was remodeled as a black man to add more racial diversity to the Masters of the Universe brand, and the spelling "Zodak" was settled upon. In the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line, the two designs were recognized as separate, distinct characters, with Zodak adopting the name in honor of his colleague, the original Zodac.
Character History[]
Pre-cartoon era[]
Zodac was one of the early characters invented by Mark Taylor, the original creator of the He-Man concept. Originally called "Sensor" in his sketches for Mattel, he was intended by Taylor to be a heroic warrior, who had switched sides from the evil Skeletor, to help He-Man.
Zodac was released in the first wave of Masters of the Universe toys, by Mattel in May 1982. His action figure, despite being human, is given claw-like feet, a standard trait of the line's evil characters. However, Zodac does not appear in any of the toys' accompanying minicomics, leaving many buyers unsure of the exact nature of his character or what role he plays in the story. The early minicomics were drawn and written at a stage before Zodac had been added to the concept line.
He first appeared in Mattel's 1981 Licencing kit, described as a "Cosmic enforcer" and "bounty hunter". He was possibly added to the toy line at this pre-release date in order to replace the "Sorceress" character which had been combined with Teela into just one female toy, thus leaving a space for a fourth heroic character. Incidentally, this same Licencing kit describes Stratos as an evil character, something which was switched during the minicomic production. It seems possible that Zodac was switched in the opposite direction, to be an evil warrior, at the same time, thus keeping the sides balanced at four toys each, but this has never been confirmed by Mattel.
None of the original eight characters were listed with either Evil or Heroic factions at the first toy release. The first wave of cardbacks just lists names and basic descriptions. Later, in 1983 the twelve figure cardbacks, the second wave of cardbacks (listing twelve of the thirteen total characters at the time) do label them as Heroic or Evil. [1] Most of these cardbacks don't list Zodac, but the few that did, have him listed as one of the Evil Warriors, and described as an "Evil Cosmic Enforcer". All the characters were shown with their definitions of Heroic or Evil, and some artwork and a description linked to the character.
The description on the back of Zodac's new toy card reads "Zodac attacks the Heroic Warriors with all the evil power at his command", which one can interpret as signifying either a generic Evil Warrior, or a universal enforcer of evil who somehow epitomized all evil power. But if Mattel's approach to the character seemed vague, the mystery surrounding Zodac is heavily exacerbated by his use in the DC Comics, which features him acting as a neutral character who seemingly oversees the whole conflict and serves to maintain balance between the two sides of good and evil, ensuring when he can, that both sides get their way, and helping either side when they need it. As a watcher of the universe, he naturally knows that Prince Adam is He-Man.
- Main article: Zodac (DC Comics)
Although he does not appear in any of the regular minicomics, he appears in the book and record that comes with the Point Dread & Talon Fighter playset, which also presents him in such a neutral role. However, as this playset was less commonly owned than the standard figures, many fans never saw this appearance and thus were still confused. It's unknown whether or not this "neutral" role was Mattel's original concept behind Zodac, or if it was invented by Paul Kupperberg, the writer of the DC comics, and Mattel wanted him to be evil from the start, as Mattel has never confirmed this.
Filmation Series[]
- Main article: Zodac (Filmation)
In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Filmation, Zodac appears in three episodes of the show's first season: Quest for He-Man, The Search and Golden Disks of Knowledge. The show's portrayal of the character is generally in-keeping with that of the DC Comics, although it is clear in the cartoon that he leans more towards the side of good and serves essentially to help maintain peace within the universe. As the cartoon never shows him acting on the side of evil, he never shares any scenes with Skeletor, many viewers of the show perceive him as one of the good guys, even though this is not entirely true. It is his portrayal on the cartoon that heightened the confusion over the character, as viewers of the show who saw him as a good guy were perplexed when they went out to buy his figure.
In the cartoon he is clearly an all-powerful character who sees and understands all. The most important of his three episodes is The Search, in which he sends He-Man out on a quest to prevent Skeletor reaching the Starseed, a powerful object that will give him control over the whole universe. A twist ending reveals that Zodac set up the whole affair, telling Skeletor of the Star Seed and sending He-Man to defend it, in a test of He-Man's ability to resist the temptation of using the Star Seed's power for himself.
The episode "Golden Disks of Knowledge", meanwhile, reveals that Zodac is the last remaining member of the Council of the Wise, (often referred to as "The Council of Elders") a universal council of knowledge and wisdom-keepers. It is revealed that Skeletor achieved most of his power after he stole the Golden Disks of Knowledge from the Council of the Wise after corrupting another of its members, Zanthor, into selling them to him. The end of the episode features the reformed Zanthor donning a uniform like Zodac's and leaving for the stars together with him to watch over the universe.
The series bible delves more into the history of Zodac, telling us that not only was Zodac a member of the Council of Elders, he was also the leader, and the only member to retain his human form after the Council became the spirit of Grayskull. He then vowed to sail the universe, keeping watch over Eternia but not interfering in the natural course of events.
Other Media[]
Other media to produce Masters of the Universe stories throughout the 1980s took radically differing approaches to the character of Zodac. Some storybooks, most notably the UK Ladybird Books, portray him as a wholly evil character in servitude to Skeletor. In this storybook series he is portrayed as just another of Skeletor's bumbling henchmen; the complete opposite of the noble deity-like figure of the cartoon series.
Several other books and comic series portray him as a fully heroic character, while others are more in-keeping with the DC Comics and Filmation's portrayals. Given that many fans in the 1980s purchased a wide range of these books and comics alongside the toys and cartoon, it is not surprising how so many people became confused over the true nature of Zodac's character.
Other Notes[]
- Zodac has the distinction of being one of only three characters not named in either series' opening credits to know the identity of He-Man (and presumably She-Ra), the others being Broom and Loo-Kee.
- The writer of the 1980s minicomic Slave City created a villain for the story whose name was Zodak, unaware that there was already a character in the toy line with that name. When asked by Mattel why the character in his comic did not resemble the toy, he realized that there was an existing character with the name of Zodac, and therefore changed his villain's name to 'Lodar'. Since the comics had already been printed, the text had to be physically altered, removing part of the "Z" to make an "L", and making the "K" into an "R".
- In the 1980s cartoon, Zodac hosts the moral/closing segment for two of the episodes he appears in: Quest for He-Man and The Search. Being a duty normally reserved only for the "good" characters, this reinforces the notion of Zodac's default alignment being benevolent. However the evil character Flogg also hosted the moral segment of an episode, in The New Adventures of He-Man episode Quest for the Crystals.
- Zodac is the first character to wield a gun. Unlike the other characters, who have medieval-style mêlée weapons, Zodac carries a laser pistol. It is assumed this is due to his "cosmic" technological advancement. However, the Battle Ram toy of the same era also had guns.
Appearances[]
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe[]
Season One