History Headscratchers / Megamind

[[folder: No Child Protective Services]]

[[folder: Roxanne and Bernard]]

[[folder: Breaking and entering]]

[[folder: Dehydration gun and Titan]]

[[folder: Superspeed]]

[[folder: Faking death]]

[[folder: Dotting the i]]

[[folder: Exit door]]

[[folder: Ocean inside a bigger ocean]]

[[folder: Hal and the cell]]

[[folder: Prison and Technology]]

[[folder: Frequent kidnapping card]]

[[folder: Spikes]]

[[folder: Government, part II]]

[[folder: Hal's accomplishments]]

[[folder: Different Megaminds]]

[[folder: Scanning Metro Man]]

[[folder: Metro Man's death]]

[[folder: Copying powers]]

[[folder: Hal a bad guy]]

[[folder: Metro Man's dream]]

[[folder: Megamind the murderer]]

[[folder: Prison inmates]]

[[folder: Metro Man's adoptive parents and his plan]]

[[folder: The morality of Megamind's species]]

[[folder: Rivalry pt. 2]]

[[folder: Roxanne getting off the tower]]

[[folder: Superspeed, part II]]

[[folder: Hal's superhero name]]

* If you look carefully during the scene where the death ray is firing at Metro Man, you can tell that Metro City is in Michigan. Before automobiles moved in, copper mining was Michigan's biggest industry. Metro Man's weakness is copper. Weaksauce Weakness indeed (if he hadn't been making that up). Probably just a neat little coincidence, but cool if it was intentional.

* When Megamind points out to Roxanne that ice cubes are what happens when water gets cold, he may not be trying to be deliberately sarcastic or snide, or even be oblivious. The issue is that he's so intelligent in relation to most people that her pointing out how to make ice sounds just as simple a statement to him as the full explanation of how he made a Metro Man infusion gun. Megamind liked her at that point so he was just being polite about it and explaining something to her.

** According to the newspaper article in the movie, Megamind was "They (sic) child has been isolated from the general population for the protection of the adults." And the Warden strongly believed in keeping him locked up. [[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5o9F-yMsSUA]]

[[folder:Evil Tighten]]

Was Tighten evil or more ChaoticStupid? While he did turn into a Jerkass, one with powers that made him dangerous, he was a victim of circumstances- he got powers by accident, was told he could be a hero, and that it would get him the girl once he saves her a few times. He does so (wildly misunderstanding what it means, admittedly); she rejected him and dated a dork instead (from his POV) and his "mentor" turned out to be a villain who mocked him to his face about it- such stuff would drive anyone mad.
* Sadly, Tighten ''was'' evil. In a way, this is his StartOfEvil story. Hal was an immature, dishonest, self-entitled, lazy guy who suddenly got superpowers. All he wanted was to be a hero in the limelight and get all the attention. Despite how much he enjoyed the adulation and limelight, Metro Man worked for his status as a hero and showed self-restraint. Recall the scene where they're doing the training with the Megamind training dummy. He melts the dummy's head into goo with a big grin on his face; Hal had none of his restraint or empathy for others. He didn't exactly have the best mentor, either, with Megamind teaching him how to be a comic-book hero and not a responsible hero.
* Hal had the right to be unhappy that Roxanne rejected him, but he clearly [[NotGoodWithRejection refused to accept it and respect that she didn't like him that way,]] and his immediate response to her rejecting him was to drop any pretense of being a good guy at all and offer to team up with the villain who'd taken over the city (it's telling that one of Tighten's first villainous acts was using his super-powers to steal random things he wanted, and this was ''before'' he was taunted by Megamind).

[[folder: Dehydration gun and Tighten]]

With as much exposure Megamind's dehydration gun got throughout the movie, to the point that he called his use of it an "old habit", why did he never even consider using it on Tighten? He's still made of water, isn't he?
* It's highly likely -- almost certain, in fact -- that Megamind has tried the Dehydration Gun on Metro Man at some point in the past and for whatever reason (perhaps mentioned above, perhaps different) it didn't work. And if it didn't work on Metro Man then, it's not gonna work on Tighten now.

Does Megamind believe in God? When he's provoking Tighten into fighting him, he says something "Oh God, how I've missed this!" Does his planet have religions like Earth or what?

How did Roxanne manage to arrange all those little bits of paper just like that in her apartment so they lined up the way they did? That's ridiculous for two reasons: 1) She would've had to get every single scrap of paper from Megamind's lair, which she obviously didn't, and 2) Megamind created Tighten by accident. "Titan" as a name was an afterthought, it seemed...

As for the "accidentally creating Tighten" part, Megamind might have given the powers to ''Hal'' by accident, but it was always his plan to create a new superhero; he came up with the 'Titan' identity before he decided who he was going to give the powers to.

When flying above the city and writing his name with his laser vision, Tighten takes special care to dot the second 'i' in 'Tightenville'--but the first 'i' remains undotted.

[[folder:Defeating Tighten]]

Why in the world would the city want Megamind to defeat Tighten? Sure, Tighten's evil, but they haven't seen Megamind's FaceHeelTurn; there is absolutely nothing to cheer about when Megamind defeats Tighten. All they know is they're just back under the thumb of a far more intelligent tyrant.
* From everything we can gather, while Megamind robbed banks, kidnapped a journalist every so often, and apparently killed the city's previous hero, Tighten was going to ''destroy the entire city'', something which Megamind had shown no desire or interest in doing. Put simply, the former was definitely being a dick, but the latter was worse by far (''ref.'' the first news report on Tighten, "the city has never seen this level of destruction").
* When Megamind takes over the city, what does he say? He makes a big theatrical display, proclaims his future reign of informed evil, and then tells everyone to "carry on with the dreary, normal things, normal people do." When Tighten takes over the city, what does he do? "Oh, I wouldn't say free. More like under new management." Then he ''flicks'' the mayor across the road. When Megamind is in control, the city carries on with a little bit more paint and some money floating around the downtown corridor; when Tighten is in control, the city ''evacuates''; all those people fleeing the city at the end of the film are people who didn't bother to go anywhere when it was just Megamind they had to worry about, because Megamind just makes a show about being evil, whereas Tighten actually ''is.''

Where did the infuser/defuser gun go after Megamind used it to remove Tighten's powers? Megamind holds it in his right hand immediately after using it. His hands are not visible while talking to Minion, but then he uses both hands to flip Minion into the pool. There is a wide shot after that, and the gun is neither strapped to Megamind nor anywhere he could have put it down nearby (the depowered Hal is also oddly not there).

Megamind was serving multiple life sentences. He's an escaped fugitive. He booted out the duly-elected government of Metro City to impose his own reign. He '''created''' the very Tighten problem he eventually had to solve. So why, when the dust settled at the end, were the citizens of Metro City so quick to lionize him as a hero and let him go unpunished?
* What are they going to do? Megamind has pretty much proven that, except for Metro Man, no one else can do anything against him. Even going to jail is more of a voluntary thing ("I'm going home") than a real punishment (Not to mention he can get out any time he wants). The citizens cheering for him right after Tighten is defeated is likely more happiness that, well, Tighten is defeated rather than it being for Megamind in particular.

* Consider also, Megamind had ''expected to die'' when he confronted Tighten and was willing to do so. For all Metro Man's popularity, ''he'' was never actually in danger when performing his past feats of heroism; realizing that the guy who'd made a career out of getting his butt kicked was ''still'' willing to stand up to a genuinely-lethal opponent may have made a lot of folks reassess their opinion of him.

Tighten is pretty dumb, but shouldn't he have recognized his Space-Stepmom? Hal had to know who/what Minion was - after all Minion marched on up to City Hall and fumbled with a boombox in front of everyone as Megamind took over the city. Hal was on hand filming this. It seems to me that a wig and an apron wouldn't be enough to hide a fish driving a robotic gorilla suit - even from Hal.

* Tighten used both hands while ripping off the door.

Was Hal really a bad guy before gaining superpowers? Before he became Tighten, he seemed to be a bumbling idiot who just wanted a girl's affection. A lot of guys who try way too hard to impress girls, but they aren't psychopaths or nutcases. Sure they unintentionally come off creepy just like Hal, but they are still nice guys, they're just lousy at picking up women. Also, why doesn't Roxanne take the blame for him turning evil? Sure she doesn't love him, but it was stated she treated him like a nobody. Heck, she gave the real Bernard, the one who was summarily dehydrated, more attention. She doesn't feel guilty at all?

[[folder:Defeating Tighten]]

* Doing that backfired ''spectacularly'' the first time. And Tighten is still invincible. At best you'd have a stalemate.
* When first making Tighten, Megamind says "We only have one shot at this". So apparently he'd already used up all the DNA he had available (or he ran out of some other resource).

How does Roxanne get off the tower that Tighten abandons her on? It doesn't seem to have a ladder or any means for a human to climb down.
* There actually ''is'' a ladder; it can be seen in front of Roxanne when Tighten first sets her down on the tower. It's a bit blink-and-you-miss-it and can't be seen in subsequent shots due to character movement and camera angles, but it's there.

Who was filming Roxanne while Hal was training to be Tighten? If it was Hal, Roxanne would've been suspicious of Hal's sudden growth spurt.

* Megamind tells Roxanne he can't use the same infuser/defuser gun that created Tighten because he left it in the back of the invisible car when she dumped him, and (he was so distraught over being dumped) that he walked away and forgot where he parked it. Why didn't Megamind ''just build another infuser/defuser gun''? [[FridgeBrilliance Because]] he was also so distraught over losing Roxanne that it simply didn't occur to him. And then, he was so eager to salve his wounded pride that he went and picked a fight, which backfired in his face, and that's what drove him to go find Roxanne to seek out Metro Man's hideout.
** Possibly it takes longer to build a new infuser/defuser gun than either of them expect they can afford to let Tighten rampage, unchecked. It may also require materials he can't easily replace, now that Tighten's booted Megamind out of City Hall and he no longer has the entire city's resources to draw upon.

* Why doesn't Megamind try shooting Tighten with his dehydration gun? He has it with him all the time in the last battle (and presumably all the previous battles, as he even carries it when wearing pajamas), and it sure is not nearly as hard to do as trapping Tighten with a copper sphere.

** Megamind's had the Dehydrate Gun since childhood. Presumably in one of his many (many many) battles with Metro Man since then, he's tried it out and long-since learnt it didn't work. And since it didn't work with Metro Man, it's not going to work with Tighten now.
*** The reason for it not working, might be that Metro Man (and Tighten) can just sidestep anything thrown at him. While no one may have known the full extent of his SuperSpeed (several minutes worth of living back in a few milliseconds), it might have been known that he was faster than a bullet, as that would be a standard power for a FlyingBrick. When Megamind first grabs the Defuser Gun, he is so close to Tighten that he might think he has a chance of shooting him regardless... And when he actually uses the Gun, he shoves it up Hal's nostril, making avoiding it nigh-impossible.

*** There are two guns, the multipurpose one which he likes to use for dehydration and the single purpose one that is only used to empower/depower Tighten. The first one was with him, the second one was left in the car.
* Why did Megamind use Metro Man's dandruff to get DNA to create Tighten rather than the actually skeleton, which would clued him into the fact that Metro Man had faked his death?

*** No, it's finished. When Minion is talking about altering it, you can see a wire frame that reaches up behind Megamind's head, and when Megamind puts it on to fight Tighten, the frame is covered by a dramatic sort of cobra-hood-esque piece of cloth. Maybe the Brain Bots finished it.

* The infuser/defuser is capable of puncturing Tighten's skin enough to let it drain Tighten's powers. So...if it's capable of overcoming Tighten's invulnerability, why not simply stab him with it?
** Megamind never punctured Tighten's skin, he shoved the gun up his nostril. And even if he could, it would hardly be sporting, would it?

* Hal might not have been an out-and-out psychopath (though he's definitely psychopath''ic''), but he was basically a selfish brat who pretended to be a nicer person than he was, which is why when he gets superpowers the first thing he does is start robbing stuff. Like [[Franchise/TheIncredibles Syndrome]], his idea of what a hero is revolves around having amazing powers and getting to do whatever you want, and he thinks that they only save people because [[EvilCannotComprehendGood they love the adulation that comes with it]]; unlike Syndrome, Hal doesn't give a damn about the adulation (except [[StalkerWithACrush from Roxanne]]), so he has even ''less'' reason to pretend to be a hero.

* Hal isn't exactly the smartest or most careful of men; chances are he doesn't really care. He's not even smart enough to spell Tighten correctly. Although he might have been about to do the first one when Roxanne distracted him.

[[folder:Evil Titan]]

Was Titan evil or more ChaoticStupid? While he did turn into a Jerkass, one with powers that made him dangerous, he was a victim of circumstances- he got powers by accident, was told he could be a hero, and that it would get him the girl once he saves her a few times. He does so (wildly misunderstanding what it means, admittedly); she rejected him and dated a dork instead (from his POV) and his "mentor" turned out to be a villain who mocked him to his face about it- such stuff would drive anyone mad.
* Sadly, Titan ''was'' evil. In a way, this is his StartOfEvil story. Hal was an immature, dishonest, self-entitled, lazy guy who suddenly got superpowers. All he wanted was to be a hero in the limelight and get all the attention. Despite how much he enjoyed the adulation and limelight, Metro Man worked for his status as a hero and showed self-restraint. Recall the scene where they're doing the training with the Megamind training dummy. He melts the dummy's head into goo with a big grin on his face; Hal had none of his restraint or empathy for others. He didn't exactly have the best mentor, either, with Megamind teaching him how to be a comic-book hero and not a responsible hero.
* Hal had the right to be unhappy that Roxanne rejected him, but he clearly [[NotGoodWithRejection refused to accept it and respect that she didn't like him that way,]] and his immediate response to her rejecting him was to drop any pretense of being a good guy at all and offer to team up with the villain who'd taken over the city (it's telling that one of Titan's first villainous acts was using his super-powers to steal random things he wanted, and this was ''before'' he was taunted by Megamind).

[[folder: Dehydration gun and Titan]]

With as much exposure Megamind's dehydration gun got throughout the movie, to the point that he called his use of it an "old habit", why did he never even consider using it on Titan? He's still made of water, isn't he?
* It's highly likely -- almost certain, in fact -- that Megamind has tried the Dehydration Gun on Metro Man at some point in the past and for whatever reason (perhaps mentioned above, perhaps different) it didn't work. And if it didn't work on Metro Man then, it's not gonna work on Titan now.

Does Megamind believe in God? When he's provoking Titan into fighting him, he says something "Oh God, how I've missed this!" Does his planet have religions like Earth or what?

How did Roxanne manage to arrange all those little bits of paper just like that in her apartment so they lined up the way they did? That's ridiculous for two reasons: 1) She would've had to get every single scrap of paper from Megamind's lair, which she obviously didn't, and 2) Megamind created Titan by accident. "Tighten" as a name was an afterthought, it seemed...

When flying above the city and writing his name with his laser vision, Titan takes special care to dot the second 'i' in 'Tightenville'--but the first 'i' remains undotted.
* Hal isn't exactly the smartest or most careful of men; chances are he doesn't really care. He's not even smart enough to spell Titan correctly. Although he might have been about to do the first one when Roxanne distracted him.

[[folder:Defeating Titan]]

Why in the world would the city want Megamind to defeat Titan? Sure, Titan's evil, but they haven't seen Megamind's FaceHeelTurn; there is absolutely nothing to cheer about when Megamind defeats Titan. All they know is they're just back under the thumb of a far more intelligent tyrant.
* From everything we can gather, while Megamind robbed banks, kidnapped a journalist every so often, and apparently killed the city's previous hero, Titan was going to ''destroy the entire city'', something which Megamind had shown no desire or interest in doing. Put simply, the former was definitely being a dick, but the latter was worse by far (''ref.'' the first news report on Titan, "the city has never seen this level of destruction").
* When Megamind takes over the city, what does he say? He makes a big theatrical display, proclaims his future reign of informed evil, and then tells everyone to "carry on with the dreary, normal things, normal people do." When Titan takes over the city, what does he do? "Oh, I wouldn't say free. More like under new management." Then he ''flicks'' the mayor across the road. When Megamind is in control, the city carries on with a little bit more paint and some money floating around the downtown corridor; when Titan is in control, the city ''evacuates''; all those people fleeing the city at the end of the film are people who didn't bother to go anywhere when it was just Megamind they had to worry about, because Megamind just makes a show about being evil, whereas Titan actually ''is.''

Where did the infuser/defuser gun go after Megamind used it to remove Titan's powers? Megamind holds it in his right hand immediately after using it. His hands are not visible while talking to Minion, but then he uses both hands to flip Minion into the pool. There is a wide shot after that, and the gun is neither strapped to Megamind nor anywhere he could have put it down nearby (the depowered Hal is also oddly not there).

Megamind was serving multiple life sentences. He's an escaped fugitive. He booted out the duly-elected government of Metro City to impose his own reign. He '''created''' the very Titan problem he eventually had to solve. So why, when the dust settled at the end, were the citizens of Metro City so quick to lionize him as a hero and let him go unpunished?
* What are they going to do? Megamind has pretty much proven that, except for Metro Man, no one else can do anything against him. Even going to jail is more of a voluntary thing ("I'm going home") than a real punishment (Not to mention he can get out any time he wants). The citizens cheering for him right after Titan is defeated is likely more happiness that, well, Titan is defeated rather than it being for Megamind in particular.

* Consider also, Megamind had ''expected to die'' when he confronted Titan and was willing to do so. For all Metro Man's popularity, ''he'' was never actually in danger when performing his past feats of heroism; realizing that the guy who'd made a career out of getting his butt kicked was ''still'' willing to stand up to a genuinely-lethal opponent may have made a lot of folks reassess their opinion of him.

Titan is pretty dumb, but shouldn't he have recognized his Space-Stepmom? Hal had to know who/what Minion was - after all Minion marched on up to City Hall and fumbled with a boombox in front of everyone as Megamind took over the city. Hal was on hand filming this. It seems to me that a wig and an apron wouldn't be enough to hide a fish driving a robotic gorilla suit - even from Hal.

* Titan used both hands while ripping off the door.

Was Hal really a bad guy before gaining superpowers? Before he became Titan, he seemed to be a bumbling idiot who just wanted a girl's affection. A lot of guys who try way too hard to impress girls, but they aren't psychopaths or nutcases. Sure they unintentionally come off creepy just like Hal, but they are still nice guys, they're just lousy at picking up women. Also, why doesn't Roxanne take the blame for him turning evil? Sure she doesn't love him, but it was stated she treated him like a nobody. Heck, she gave the real Bernard, the one who was summarily dehydrated, more attention. She doesn't feel guilty at all?

[[folder:Defeating Titan]]

* Doing that backfired ''spectacularly'' the first time. And Titan is still invincible. At best you'd have a stalemate.
* When first making Titan, Megamind says "We only have one shot at this". So apparently he'd already used up all the DNA he had available (or he ran out of some other resource).

How does Roxanne get off the tower that Titan abandons her on? It doesn't seem to have a ladder or any means for a human to climb down.
* There actually ''is'' a ladder; it can be seen in front of Roxanne when Titan first sets her down on the tower. It's a bit blink-and-you-miss-it and can't be seen in subsequent shots due to character movement and camera angles, but it's there.

Who was filming Roxanne while Hal was training to be Titan? If it was Hal, Roxanne would've been suspicious of Hal's sudden growth spurt.

* Hal might not have been an out-and-out psychopath (though he's definitely psychopath''ic''), but he was basically a selfish brat who pretended to be a nicer person than he was, which is why when he gets superpowers the first thing he does is start robbing stuff. Like [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Syndrome]], his idea of what a hero is revolves around having amazing powers and getting to do whatever you want, and he thinks that they only save people because [[EvilCannotComprehendGood they love the adulation that comes with it]]; unlike Syndrome, Hal doesn't give a damn about the adulation (except [[StalkerWithACrush from Roxanne]]), so he has even ''less'' reason to pretend to be a hero.