Fate Is The Killer (November, 1982) is a Superman/Masters of the Universe crossover story published by DC Comics, being both a follow-up to previous story "From Eternia— With Death!", and a special preview for the then-upcoming Masters Of The Universe 1982 comic series. The story was written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by Curt Swan and Dave Hunt.
Prince Adam is attending a royal feast when a cosmic being called Zodac teleports into the palace and demands that the champion of Eternia is brought to him in order to take him away forever. Exploiting the ensuing chaos, Adam sneaks out and heads into the Cavern of Power to transform into He-Man. Adam believes the Sorceress is going to talk him about the threat of Zodac, but she informs him that Skeletor is looking for the other half of the Power Sword. He-Man rides off to stop him.
Meanwhile, Skeletor, who has guessed the location of the missing half of the Power Sword, orders Mer-man to lead him to the Black Pit -the deepest and most feared trench on the Dark Sea-, whether he likes or not.
At the same time, Superman is dealing with a strange sea monster in his own Earth when three glowing flying spheres pique his interest. Chasing after the lights, Superman is led into a strange sea vortex, which turns out to be a gate to another world. Superman recognizes the place and guesses he has been summoned to Eternia to help deal with Skeletor again.
For his part, He-Man is heading towards Skeletor's location, when he is halted by Zodac, who is determined to stop him from engaging the dark lord. He-Man engages Zodac, but the latter is a tough adversary even for Eternia's strongest mortal.
While He-Man and Zodac battle, Skeletor teleports himself and his underlyings Beastman and Mer-man to the gates of Castle Grayskull. The Black Pit unexpectedly hid a dimensional portal which led him to Earth, so Skeletor conjured a sea monster to keep Superman occupied as he stole the Power Sword. Now both twin blades are in his possession, and he only needs to fuse them to open the gates of Castle Grayskull and conquer Eternia. However, he needs to await for the proper star alignment in order to perform the merging spell.
Fate is the Killer was published as a backup story in sixteen titles, some of which are: Action Comics #537, All-Star Squadron #15, Batman (1939) #353, Detective Comics #520, DC Comics Presents #51, Justice League of America #208, Legion of Super-Heroes #293, New Adventures of Superboy #35, Superman (1939) #377, Supergirl (1982) #1, The New Teen Titans #25 and Wonder Woman (1942) #297.
Tropes:
- Above Good and Evil: Zodac is a cosmic being who declares himself to be above petty world concerns because he is neither good nor evil.
- Artistic License – History: One narration box states that Eternia looks like a simple world because "their civilization is based on a monarchy", ignoring that pleny modern states are monarchies. Another box informs that Eternia's civilization is a strange mix of feudalism and technology, even though Eternia is NOT a feudal society AT ALL. Feudalism was born when the weakness of the central governments caused masses of peasants to swear fealty to landed nobility, working their lands in exchange for protection against hostile forces, but that is not the case of Eternia: the royal family are the only and undisputed authority figures, and landowning aristocracy appears to be nonexistent. The narrator assumes that "Medieval=Feudalism, ergo technological backwardness", but feudalism is a political system which has nothing to do whatsoever with level of technological development, and it is not synonymous with Middle Ages either (starting as soon as the late Roman period and existing in some form or another as late as the early 20th century).
- Blatant Lies: Adam assures Cringer that he would never drag him along with him if it was not important, a statement which Cringer finds absolutely laugh-worthy.Cringer: "I knew I should've found instead some nice, safe corner of the stables in which to take my rest!"
Adam: "You complain overly much, cat! I wouldn't dream of disturbing your sleep were it not important!"
Cringer: "HA! A likely story, my prince! Sometimes I think you take pleasure in badgering this poor cat with your dangerous escapades!" - Comedic Spanking: Beastman encourages Skeletor to get on with fusing the twin Power Blades as soon as possible to open and take over Castle Grayskull. Beastman then yelps when Skeletor spanks his butt with the flat part of the Power Sword and calls him an idiot for want him to perform the magical ritual before the stars are correctly aligned.
- Crossover: Second Superman/He-Man crossover.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The still-unnamed King and Queen of Eternia are introduced as white-haired elderly folks. A few months later, the cartoon would introduce them as brown-haired middle-aged people, which has been their default depiction since.
- Ignored Expert: Prince Adam tries to respectfully dissuade Teela and the royal guard from engaging Zodac, since their weapons will be useless, but Teela "respectfully" suggests him to shut up and go away.
- A Lady on Each Arm: Prince Adam walks into the royal hall, arms hugging two beautiful, scantily-clad women, and jokingly saying he couldn't be expect to show up "without suitable companionship".
- Mundane Utility: When a shipping line's container breaks up offshore, Superman flies the goods to Metropolis Bay personally.
- Mutual Kill: Subverted. When He-Man comes face to face with Skeletor, the former throws his sword as the latter shoots a spell. Both hit each other and appear to die (Skeletor being consumed by the power of the magical sword plunged through his chest and He-Man killed by his enemy's magic). However, the Power Sword's magic revives He-Man, and Skeletor later reappears to wreak havoc through Eternia again.
- No-Sell: He-Man punches Zodac in the jaw, but his enemy barely flinches. He-Man gapes in awe because nobody had previously tanked one of his blows without even batting an eyelid.
- Poor Communication Kills: Zodac foresees Skeletor killing He-Man, so he travels to Eternia to take the latter away to a safe place. However, Zodac bursts into a royal feast uninvited, and instead of explaining his motives clearly, threatens to unleash his power upon Eternia if the world's greatest champion is brought to him to be taken away forever, making everybody believe he intends to kill someone. Later, Zodac meets and engages He-Man in combat instead of telling him about his vision, with the result that He-Man is nearly killed by his nemesis.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: This story together with "From Eternia— With Death!" introduced the world of Eternia from the Masters of the Universe. The first Masters of the Universe comic was published a few months later, being followed by the premiere of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) original cartoon.
- Portal Pool: Superman dives into the sea, chasing after three glowing spheres, and gets dragged into an underwater vortex which throws him into the world of Eternia.
- Psychic Strangle: When Mer-man says he would rather not go to the Black Pit because he quite likes living, Skeletor gestures and the sea-dweller feels something invisible choking him.
- Reluctant Ruler: At one feast, Prince Adam proposes a toast to his father, wishing the king a long, healthy life, and a succesful, long rule...lest he is forced to take the throne and stop behaving irresponsibly.
- Sea Monster: Superman runs into an huge Eternian sea monster. Its vaguely humanoid head presents one horn protruding from its yellow moustache growing between its buied eyestalks and its fanged mouth, and its gelatinous pink body is armed with six suckerless tentacles and a muscular, sinuous tail.
- Secret Identity Change Trick: When Zodac appears and Teela suggests Adam to get out and leave the fighting to the royal guards, the prince pretends to agree, and leaves to transform into He-Man.
- Spanner in the Works: Skeletor uses a dimensional gate to Earth to retrieve one half of the Power Sword (which he needs to enter Castle Grayskull and take over his world). However, Superman is drawn into the portal, and realizing that he has been drawn to Eternia to deal with Skeletor again, he heads towards Castle Grayskull, wrenches both Swords away from Skeletor and hurls them far away before the villain can perform the proper merging ritual.
- Thinking Up Portals: Zodac can create interespacial and interdimensional portals to travel between galaxies and universes.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: When summoning Mer-man to order him to retrieve the Power Sword from "the deepest trench of the Dark Sea", Skeletor points out that he seldom has need of his aquatic soldier's services.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: At the end, He-Man throws his sword and it plunges into Skeletor's chest.
- We Need a Distraction: Since the twin half of the Power Sword is lying on Earth, Skeletor summons a huge sea monster to keep Superman busy and distracted while he makes off with the blade.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Adam is attending a royal feast together with his parents and Man-At-Arms when Zodac bursts into the place. Teela and several guards rush into the scene, and Adam takes advantage of the mayhem to go out of the castle and turn into He-Man. Before He-Man can return, though, he is intercepted by Zodac, and the story does not explain what happened to He-Man's parents, mentor and love interest after he left the place.
- When the Planets Align: Skeletor needs to wait until "the Dark Star does stand poised 'twixt the Eternian Moons" to fuse the twin Power Blades, which will allow him to enter Castle Grayskull and conquer Eternia.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The dialogue of the Eternian characters is peppered with "Aye!", "ye", "thou", "thy", "yonder" "'tis", "nay", "whilst" and the like so that it looks more archaic...regardless proper Early Modern English grammar.Sorceres: "Ye have answered my summons with haste, sweet Prince— as it should be, for thou would not be so called did not the Sorceress have need of thy powers!"
