I remember watching He-Man (2002) and a new villain was introduced. This was none other than King Hiss. I made a comment that King Hiss was pretty much like Wrath-Amon from the Conan the Adventurer cartoon from 1992. Is it a strange coincidence that He-Man (2002) would be on the 20th anniversary of the Conan the Barbarian (1982) movie? Wrath-Amon was a nasty-tempered boss. Instead, King Hiss was pretty much Thoth-Amon and the Movie Thulsa Doom when dealing with his minions.
Both King Hiss and most versions of Thoth-Amon were focused on the advancement of the Serpent Men. Both of them were the respective high priests of their respective serpent gods. He-Man (2002) reveals that King Hiss seeks to release his god Serpos. Serpos was a character created for He-Man (2002) and it reminded me of Set the serpent god. Marvel Set the Serpent God is represented as a multiple-headed snake, unlike Cartoon Set from Conan the Adventurer. What made King Hiss interesting was that he wasn't really For the Evulz unlike the Evil Warriors or the Evil Horde.
There's the possibility that Movie Thulsa was used as an inspiration as well. The Snakemen have had a nasty habit of eating their enemies in the 2002 cartoon. The Conan (1982) movie did reveal that members of the Cult of Set were engaged in cannibalism. Well, it can't be cannibalism for the serpent men since they're not eating their fellow serpent men. King Hiss, like Movie Thulsa, used more subtle tactics to try and win the battle. It's also implied in the Conan (1982) film that Movie Thulsa belonged to a dying race. Movie Thulsa also became a snake in the movie. King Hiss revealed he can become a five-headed snake working as one mind.
However, if one thing of it most versions of Thulsa Doom LOOK LIKE SKELETOR. I heard that pre-production drawings for the 1982 film supposedly wanted Thulsa Doom to have the bare bone face he had in the comics. As a kid, I always thought Conan was fighting Skeletor in the cover of the comics. Instead, it was the Kull villain Thulsa Doom who'd also become one of Conan's lifelong enemies aside from Thulsa Doom. Thulsa Doom was the first High Priest of Set way before Thoth-Amon came into the picture. So think that the name Thulsa Doom created two characters for He-Man. The literary one helped create Skeletor. The movie version helped create King Hiss.
What should be interesting is that the Snakemen were there before King Hiss was made. Skeletor had Kobra Khan (and there were the Reptons for the 1983 cartoon). Hordak did seldom use both Rattlor and Tang Lashor like Rocksteady and Bebop type villains. The comics did present King Hiss angry that Rattlor and Tang Lashor served the Evil Horde.
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