Fridge / Megamind

Stuff that occurs to the viewer after one or more watchings of Dreamworks Animation's 2010 Megamind.

Fridge Brilliance

• Megamind had Superman's origin — except he wasn't raised by a kindly couple, but prison inmates. Note his parents are wearing white.
• The film subtly reconstructs why superheroes need a secret identity. If Superman had no Clark Kent, then he might have ended up just as burnt out as Metro Man did.
• Sure, the dark clouds Megamind produces when he makes his grand entrances are intimidating, but they serve a practical purpose, too: without them to block the sunlight, nobody would be able to see Megamind's projections or laser light shows.
• Aside from being Crazy-Prepared, why would Megamind carry his dehydration gun even when wearing pajamas? He made it from his binky.
• When the Warden kept Megamind's gifted watch for himself, was it really just an attempted Kick the Dog (Kick the Son of a Bitch from the Warden's perspective), or was it because he suspected the watch was an Evil Genius device which Megamind mailed to himself but erroneously assumed Megamind needed it inside his cell for it to work?
• It is really subtle, but look at the "warden's" eyes when Megamind has his Heel–Face Turn. They're the wrong color!
  • Even moreso: Metro Man has blue eyes, whereas Megamind has green. Look very closely at "Metro Man's" eyes when he "returns" and saves Roxanne from the bus.
  • Really, the holographic disguise watch can turn the user into anybody else flawlessly, except for one slight detail: The user's eye color remains the same! Except for "Megamind's" eyes when "Metro Man" shows up; they're green. Either the animators forgot, or they wanted to preserve the drama of him being revealed as Minion.
    • Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember that up until that point in the movie, we had only seen one watch, while the climax requires two. At some point Megamind must have made another one, and while he was at it, upgraded it to eliminate the eye color issue. In the battle with Tighten, Minion got the new version, while Megamind kept the old one, thus the discrepancy.
  • It's probably has to do with the "eyes are the window to the soul" theme and/or concept.
  • It could also make it difficult to see if your eyes are completely covered by the hologram.
  • Megamind's and Minion's eyes are in different places, so when Minion is disguised as Megamind, there is no need to leave the eyes free, which is why they stay the same color. Also, Minion has fish eyes, which may be different enough to be able to see through the inside of the hologram, removing the need to not cover the eyes.
• Megamind's sense of style and taste in music would seem an odd fit... until you consider when he landed in that prison. If you say Megamind is in his late 20's and the film is set in 2010, that makes him an 80's baby. Being raised by cons in an 80's prison, any radios would likely have been tuned to hard rock stations (AC/DC, Guns 'n' Roses, George Thorogood & the Destroyers.) Plus, since we see that his cell had a TV in it, he was likely exposed to MTV and VH1, and very likely would have gotten his sense of presentation from the likes of Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and Michael Jackson. Now, the Minnie Ripperton still doesn't fit... until you remember that Minion was controlling the boom box. That was likely his taste in music peeking through, which means when Megamind plays it after Titan bails out of their debut battle, he was wishing Minion was still around.
• Megamind doesn't mind going to jail; it's not just because it's made of cardboard, but because he grew up there. Jail is the closest thing to a home he has! (And the Warden is the closest thing he has to a father; yes, it's as sad as it sounds)
  • And towards the end, he even tells Roxanne, "I'm going home," then walks straight into the jail and turns himself in.
• Let's not forget the foreshadowing done where the magazine used to show Hal as Metro City's new hero is used to show who really becomes a hero and earns Roxanne's affection.
• The Warden didn't misspeak about the "88" life sentences Megamind had; it was Minion in disguise getting the number wrong — but even better? Most of those sentences were for kidnapping Roxanne who is now in love with him, so she has probably dropped all the charges.
  • But that WAS the warden...
    • Actually, the first time the warden mentions the life sentences is when he's reading the card that came with "Metro Man's" gift. Since Minion sent the watch, he wasn't wrong and the warden confirmed it. The second time, the warden was Minion in disguise and says "88". So either Megamind DID earn a few more sentences, and/or he told Minion the right number to put on the card. Or Minion did forget.
    • Megamind might have collected the extra life sentences for his reign of terror on the city.
    • Or racked them up while the watch was in the mail.
• A lot of people think that Megamind got off easy in the end for all his crimes after he has a Heel–Face Turn, but to him, prison was just like a second home and he could break out whenever he felt like it, making jailing him a waste of time and resources. So in reality, him being a hero not only gives the city a new protector, but it also saves the police the trouble of sending him to jail (which did nothing to change him because he felt like it was his place) and saves money for repairing any damage his breakout would cause.
  • Even better? Megamind saving the city from Titan and then repairing all the damage with his bots? The ultimate in community service.
• In his speech to the adoring crowd, Metro Man solemnly tells them, "At the end of each day, I often ask myself: who would I be without you?" On first viewing it seems like just another faux-humble bit of patter from a Smug Super, but then it turns out he really means it. Minutes later, his identity crises comes to a head and he decides to fake his own death so he can find out just what he is without them.
  • Plus, there's his face as he's saying it. If you look carefully, in the second before someone yells "I love you Metro Man!" he has this contemplative look like "No really, who would I be without you?
  • Also, look at what he does at the opening for the museum; juggles babies, walks on water, openly (if subtly) insults his audience ("... the helpless people of Metro City." "And I love you, Random Citizen!") — things that, if his audience wasn't being so fawning, they'd be genuinely and reasonably upset by. He's not just being smug; he's getting so frustrated with being the perfect hero loved by all that he's trying to provoke a rise out of his audience and shake them out of their complacency so that for once he has something different in his life.
    • But the thing of it is: the citizens let him juggle the babies because they know he'd never hurt one. And the citizens of Metro City know that they are really helpless in comparison to Metro Man. So they might've been too subtle as insults to really upset the citizens.
• The jail was Megamind's "home", but Metro Man's "home" is not his parent's home — it's the school house. Remember, Metro Man's parents seemed to be rather indifferent about him, so he probably didn't consider them a reassuring presence.
• The seeds for "Music Man" were sown pretty early on in the film. In the backstory montage, while young Megamind dehydrates/rehydrates Minion, young Metro Man is playing ukulele in the background. When the museum is opened, he behaves very much like a rock star at a concert entertaining his fans. It seems that his whole life, he's wanted to be in the music business, but the superhero powers and the games with Megamind just got in the way.
  • For bonus points, it's something that Metro Man's not automatically superhuman (or necessarily good) at, but he has the potential to improve at. Most superhero portrayals come down to what powers and skills they have and don't have; the possibility of working at something is rarely explored, and it's an experience he probably wanted.
  • This same scene also foreshadows the fact that Minion isn't dead at the end; he tricks Megamind by floating upside down after being dehydrated, only to pull a 'gotcha!' when Young Megamind nervously taps his tank.
• On that point, you might note that during Metro Man Day, Metro Man strums air guitar and generally acts like a rock star... because that's his fantasy. That's the happiest you ever see him in the film.
  • To add another note, Metro Man's costume does resemble something music stars would wear. Specifically, Elvis. The song that's playing during that scene: "A Little Less Conversation"... sung by Elvis.
    • And another layer to that - who inspired Elvis's later wardrobe? DC's Captain Marvel Jr.
    • This one just struck me - Metro Man greeting a citizen while in a Paper-Thin Disguise near the end - that's his way of starting "Elvis Lives" rumors.
• On that note, Metro Man is at best average at music. But that's the appeal to him. For the Instant Expert, he wants something he isn't great at and can try to improve on.
• When "Bernard" points to a door in Megamind's lair and says "This way looks exciting," and Roxanne replies "No, it says exit." "Bernard" comes up with the lame excuse "...which is the abbreviation for exciting right?" He's not making it up. He really thinks "exit" is short for "exciting," which would also explain why a door marked "exit" has an alligator dance party behind it.
  • And he wants Roxanne to see it because it's new and unexpected, when earlier she insulted him by being unsurprised by all his traps.
  • Megamind thinking "exit" is an abbreviation for "exciting" is not because he's socially inept, but because he grew up in a prison. Think about it: the most exciting thing for any prisoner is to step out the Exit Door.
• Megamind's strangely purplish ears are easily explained by the high concentration of his blood vessels through that area. His blood is red. This same color appears on his cheeks, too, in the exact same place that a rosy blush would appear on a regular person.
• Notice how the color of the dresses Roxanne wears change throughout the movie. The first one is red, the second purple, the final one blue. Red for when she's an enemy of Megamind, purple when she's — thanks to her interactions with 'Bernard' (and the effect she's having on him) — a bit more ambivalent towards him, and blue when he's finally managed to win her over.
• It's extremely foggy on the day that Space-Dad takes Titan out for flying lessons. It's easy to miss because they're flying above it. This is, of course, so that nobody gets a preview of the new hero before he's ready.
• Shortly after Megamind creates the infuser gun, he begins a monologue about how now all he has left to do is find someone with sufficiently heroic qualities. Then his (stolen) cellphone goes off.
  • In light of this monologue and who it describes (someone of noble heart and mind, who puts the welfare of others before their own), consider also who's calling him — no one said the perfect candidate had to be a man. Trouble is, Megamind's only known Roxanne as a victim his whole life. He completely overlooks her as a candidate - which is fortunate, because then she would have fought him with her new powers and sent him to jail.
    • At that point in the movie, Megamind is working to restore the status quo, because Victory Is Boring. Yes, Roxanne fits the superhero mentality perfectly—but if he makes Roxanne the hero, he has to stop kidnapping her to lure the hero into his traps! He's trying to make things the way they were before, so she's already designated the damsel in distress in his mind.
    • It is worth noting, however, that when Roxanne and "Bernard" stumble into Megamind's hero workshop, there is a dress form with clear female features wrapped in a sparkly orange fabric with a red undershirt, two of the colors that Megamind eventually works into the Titan costume.
    • What's more, considering what happened to Metro Man? Megamind killed him without really meaning to. Word of God says Megamind was attracted to Roxanne before the events of the movie, as mostly evident by their banter in the beginning, which comes across as very flirtatious on his end. Of course Megamind wouldn't want to risk anything happening to the girl he has a crush on.
• When Titan is terrorizing the city, why doesn't Metro Man stop him? At the very end, we see that he turns up to Megamind's first public appearance as a bona fide hero and whispers "Way to go, little buddy. I knew he had it in him!" He was fully expecting Megamind to rise to the occasion.
  • It is also quite likely that when Metro Man went underground, he blocked out all incoming communication and cut himself off from what was happening in Metro City. In this troper's mind, he probably didn't even know that Titan existed until Megamind and Roxanne showed up and told him.
    • Agreed. He only turned on the TV after they came and called him out.
    • This in itself is Fridge Brilliance: this is the first time he's had to himself in years, where he didn't have to fly to the rescue and save everyone. Of course he cut off communications to the outside world; he's enjoying the freedom of just being able to sit around the house and do nothing for what's probably the first time in his adult life.
    • He also probably knew full well that when it was Megamind in charge, ultimately the city didn't really have anything that serious to worry about; he no doubt knows by now that Megamind is mostly bark without bite and seems pretty confident that Megamind is about to do a Heel–Face Turn in their last conversation, so he's probably assumed that once Megamind gets his rampage out of his system he'll eventually get bored and turn good.
    • Another good reason to sever all communications is to avoid a Chronic Hero Syndrome relapse. If he turned on the TV, he'd see the goings-on in the news and feel compelled to cancel his retirement.
    • But then, why have a TV at all? To play instructional videos on how to play an instrument, and possibly music videos for inspiration.
  • For all we know, Metro Man was saving people during Titan's rampage. Using Super Speed makes him undetectable, remember? MM could've been zipping around in the background, deflecting rubble from bystanders or moving them out of danger, without giving away the fact he was still alive. If the driver of that tossed gas truck suddenly finds himself lying in the road near the blazing wreck of his vehicle, with no memory of how he got out, he's going to assume he was "miraculously flung clear" and knocked out, not rescued by a dead superhero. Metro Man wouldn't want civilians to die so he could retire; he just didn't want the pressure of being the city's only recourse in times of trouble, anymore. Considering just how much damage Megamind and Titan do to the city, yet the happy reactions of the citizens at the end, this is pretty much the only logical explanation as to why there's no Inferred Holocaust.
    • It would also explain why Metro Man is still a fairly bad musician despite supposedly having been able to dedicate his life to practicing music now. He's still been busy being a hero!
• The whole Titan/Tighten name issue makes more sense when you remember that Hal is a bit of an idiot. When Roxanne successfully figures out Megamind's plan, we see it's spelt "Titan", which was (probably) Megamind's intent of how it should be spelt, but when Titan/Tighten is rampaging through the city, he himself spells it "Tighten", probably not knowing about its homophone, seeing as he was only told it verbally. Thus to most citizens it's Titan, but to Hal himself, it's Tighten.
  • Which leads to another piece of fridge logic: When we think of him, we think "Titan", as in, a being of god-like power, and thus, no one questions it when Hal insists on calling himself that. However, he, himself, doesn't know that. He thinks that his new name is Tighten, which is far less impressive. Even so, he is so desperate to be anyone other than nerdy Hal Stewart that he still blindly clings to the name that set him apart, no matter what it is.
  • Further, it makes a lot of sense thematically if you consider that Hal was supposed to be a hero, but that plan went sideways. Just as Tighten is a perversion of what Titan was supposed to be, the same goes for his name.
  • Another note on the name: Titan himself says, after defeating Megamind, that the city is 'under new management', and we see him actively causing destruction, even saying he plans to destroy the entire city, and not even for any real reason. Megamind was debatably pretty bad, but Titan is worse, meaning his reign is 'tighter' than Megamind's was.
  • Also, Titan is also a reference to the pre-Olympian pantheon of gods. Megamind, a man inclined to grandiosity and presentation, would think of it as a fitting name for a superpowered being. Hal, being the uneducated moron he is, wouldn't get the reference.
• Bernard actually has a good reason to think that Megamind's costume needs work. If you look at the Megamind masks and dummy in the film the heads are way smaller than his as it just wouldn't be practical for a mask or dummy's head to be that size. So it's a case of in-universe Reality Is Unrealistic.
  • He also has good reason to think that Megamind's costume needs work because Megamind isn't wearing one of his usual supervillain outfits — he's wearing his pajamas.
• Some were bugged (this writer included) about some of the licensed songs in the film, but there is a reason for it: It's Megamind! The guy uses these songs to pepper up his entrances.
  • And I have no doubt he pays no licensing fees, the cad.
  • Most of the licensed songs are pretty cliche, but since they're all diegetic music being played by Megamind himself, that just shows how predictable he has gotten. When he started using those songs they were probably considered pretty fresh.
• A possibly unintentional example, given Production Lead Time. Megamind relies on his intellect and technology since he doesn't have actual powers, and he's shown to have a fondness for Hard Rock, particularly that of Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Though this is initially used to make him a villainous foil to Metro Man, with the latter's more wholesome image and his preference for Elvis Presley, it can also bring to mind a certain tech-based superhero with the same taste in music.
• Minion is shown preparing a lot of Megamind's look and style - the Black Mamba cape, the Tesla coils in the lab, etc - and what is it that Minion-as-Megamind says separates a villain from a supervillain? "Presentation!"
  • Which emphasizes the importance of sidekicks, minions, and Alfred in the superhero setting. If the hero/villain is the Face of the Band, then the sidekicks and minions are the Roadies, tying together all of the nitty gritty details while their boss works out the big plan.
  • When Roxanne tells "Megamind" that she knew he'd come back, "Megamind" replies that that made one of them. Knowing it's Minion saying that, it's even funnier. Also, "Megamind" said the plan mostly involved not dying, which recalls Minion giving a Flat "What" when Megamind said they were probably going to die.
    • Piggybacking on that last bit, Megamind's almost giddy exclamation that they're going to die. The entire point of the movie is how Victory Is Boring and how Megamind lived not for his stated goals, but for the fight against a hero. The brilliance shows up when you realizes he never expected to win. Megamind - in addition to his determination to stop Titan and save Roxanne and the city or literally die trying - had probably resigned himself years before that he would likely die during on of his schemes and embraced this more familiar idea quicker than Minion.
  • There's also some fridge brilliance in that Minion's plan was literally just not dying. His only role was to get Roxanne (and himself) out of danger, and set the scene for Megamind to scare off Titan.
• Roxanne and Megamind comment that Metro Man was really good at 'last minute escapes'. Given that neither of them seem to be aware of his Super Speed at this time - Megamind doesn't train Titan to use it, Roxanne never brings it up - maybe that's how he'd been escaping the majority of Megamind's traps all these years.
  • Since Megamind didn't know about it, chances are Metro Man never discovered it as a kid, when he would've flaunted it. Besides, he never really needed it, what with the other powers at his disposal. Advertising it by using it to escape when he had so many other options open to him just doesn't make any sense, especially when it's so useful to escape the everyday grind.
• When Metro Man is having his revelation-flashback, a beam of light illuminates him as he has the idea to fake his death. This seems just like a expository effect, contrary to the Megamind-made clouds above Metro Man at that time... until you remember that the Death Ray has just begun charging in orbit, possibly causing a glare to break through clouds. The 'lightbulb' effect for Metro Man's idea was literally produced by the Death Ray he'd use to fake his death.
• If you look closely, when Hal is knocked out on his bed courtesy of the Forget-Me-Stick, there is a book titled: "Best Comic Book Villains Ever".
• Over the course of the film, Roxanne, Metro Man and the Warden are shown to start believing in Megamind. Their eye color? Blue, of course. Roxanne's clothing plays this theme straight - Red, Black of mourning, Purple, and finally Blue for Megamind, though the mayor inverts it for some reason - he spends most appearances wearing a blue suit, only to go brown when Megamind is the city's hero.
• In the opening flashback, when young Megamind is being carted off to prison again for setting off the blue bomb, he clearly looks excited. Then young Metro Man picks up the School House and flies it away - putting the prison outside of its catchment area, probably. The moment before this cuts away, you can see young Megamind's heart break looking at it. He clearly thought he was going to get to 'play' with Metro Man again. A headline of this cuts directly to a headline of their first fight, somewhere in their twenties. This sets up a couple of things: (a) Megamind had no formal education past a certain point, explaining certain speech and object-recognition quirks and (b) When Megamind goes too far, Metro Man runs away with, later to, the School House.
• At first, you kind of wonder if Megamind had a chance at behaving in school, given that he was, you know, raised in a prison. But then you remember that Megamind has an apparently throwaway line about getting to go to school due to 'good behavior'. He actually was trying to improve himself before getting sent back to prison.
• When explaining his decision to fake his death, Metro Man says "Ever since I can remember, I've always had to be what the city wants me to be". It explains the strain and wear he must have been under, but it also implies, if taken literally, that he has a human-level memory, and remembers nothing about bashing Megamind's ship into the prison as a baby, and has only fuzzy memories of early childhood.
• Letting an alien newborn be raised in a prison is sort of ridiculous ... in the real world. In a comic-book universe however, if we take the characters to be in their mid-twenties now, then the ship crashed in the mid-eighties - somewhere in the Bronze Age, even more probably, the Dark Age of Comic books. A comic book universe going through a Dark Age would easily lock up a baby in a prison - that was Bane's origin in the early nineties, after all. Metro Man's early characterization also fits - superhuman jerk fawned over from birth? Dark Age. Small mercy that Megamind seems to have either been educated by Silver Age villains in his prison or had a Modern Age Reconstruction by the time he began his career, turning him into an ineffectual villain.
• A lot of the story is a Silver Age throwback - the ridiculous hero-centric villain Megamind, Metro Man faking his death for a new life, referring to Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, the deliberate good bye to the Silver Age character. Then we have Nineties Hero Titan, becoming Nineties Villain Tighten - gifted with unbelievable powers from a vague cosmic entity seems very Miracleman, particularly when it all turns out to be an illusion. And then a Noughties-style character reconstruction, complimented by an Antihero Heel Face Turn.
• A minor one: Roxanne and Megamind-as-Bernard comment that they've inspired each other a lot. Later, Megamind-as-Space-Dad says that romance is very inspiring.
• Of course Minion-as-Megamind's plan mostly involves not dying. His job is just to get Roxanne to safety and distract Titan while Megamind gets into position!
  • Plus, when breaking Megamind out of prison, Minion doesn't exactly react well to Megamind's claim that they're going to die fighting Tighten.
• Anti-Villain Protagonist Megamind has an army of menacing little brain-bots with the personalities of puppies. As per Rule of Funny, right? But think about it: what's one of the best qualities that dogs and puppies are known for? Unconditional love. His instilling them with such a personality trait is yet another reflection of how starved he is for affection.
  • He also asks the Warden if the gift he's been sent is a puppy.
• Why doesn't the disguise watch cover the eyes? Because you need to see through that "hole" in the disguise! (Well, it's at least a semi-plausible theory.)
  • This is supported by some discussion on why full, personal invisibility is implausible - if the eyes can't reflect light, then they can't detect light either, so anyone who got turned invisible would also be blinded. Someone found that out the hard way when trying to steal a diamond...
• Usually the disguise watch also changes the wearer's voice, but Megamind sounds the same as Bernard. This is because he didn't have time to capture Bernard's voice. It also explains why Megamind asks the warden for the time; to record his voice for future use.
• The kite Metro Man was flying had Metro Man on it.
• Megamind's prison jumpsuit has a collar that turns up, like his supervillain capes do. When Hal goes to prison, his orange outfit doesn't even have a collar, because he's not a supervillain and doesn't rate one.
• Virtually the entire movie is a flashback, ostensibly experienced by Megamind as he's plummeting to his death. An actual fall from such a height would've taken seconds; the flashback takes roughly an hour and a half. Sounds like artistic license, until you consider that Megamind's name is intended to be taken literally: the amount of recollection he fits into those several seconds isn't figurative, it's how fast that giant brain of his works in a pinch!
• Relating to the above, Megamind is also stated to be falling to this death. Even in near-death experiences, most people claim that their lives flash before their eyes. From that point, we literally see Megamind's first few significant memories: his home planet being blown up, his arrival at the prison, his childhood, and his attempts at Metro Man, and finally the events portrayed in the film.
• "Your weakness is copper?! You're kidding, right?" Actually yes, as it turns out, he was. Subtle Foreshadowing.
  • Of course Metro Man has no Kryptonite Factor. His planet now resides inside a black hole. He didn't bring any with him.
  • Though likely unintentional, part of the shock and disbelief in this statement could be a result of the fact that Megamind is a natural-born inventor, and copper is near-universally prevalent in electronics. A weakness to copper never coming up in their long history of rivalry would naturally beggar belief to Megamind.
• This troper always found it weird that "Metro Man," when he saved Roxanne from being crushed by a bus, entered with his fist pointed towards where the bus was, when his heat vision clearly cut it in two. Of course, since it's Megamind replace "heat vision" with "wrist-mounted laser" and it makes perfect sense why he'd be in that pose.
• Minon's flub with the boombox isn't just funny - the unexpected and then rapid switching between AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You" is foreshadowing the plot of the whole movie.
• When fighting Titan, Megamind plays Guns N' Roses's "Welcome to The Jungle". Why did Megamind choose this song? Because it is connected to his plan. He lures Titan into a the mouth of a giant head made out of robots which proceeds to devour the superpowered villain. Welcome to the Jungle was released on the album Appetite for Destruction.
• Didn't anyone in Metro City think it was wise to examine Metro Man's body to make sure that was actually his body and not a living prop, which it was? But, think about it for a moment: Everyone in Metro City heard from Metro Man that copper was his "weakness" and saw Megamind's death ray hit Metro Man. Also, Metro Man is a Human Alien, so his DNA is extremely different from an average human being. Take these into account and you wouldn't blame anyone from thinking Metro Man is dead.
• In the crowd at the press conference after Metro Man's death, Hal can be seen wearing a "Game Over" t-shirt. Could just be a simple gag, or subtle foreshadowing of his indifference toward Metro Man's heroism, that Megamind's game with Metro Man is at an end, and when Hal gets his powers, he won't be playing.
• The reason Victory Is Boring for Megamind is that he never wanted power or wealth or sadistic thrills or any of the usual villainous motivations. What he wanted was to be accepted, and the role of the villain was the only one where he could find any acceptance at all.
• Megamind, Metro Man, and Minion all have names starting with the same letter, which makes the various changing of roles and the Kansas City Shuffle at the end work: Whether it's Minion-as-Megamind, Megamind-as-Metro Man, or Metro Man-changing-careers-and-becoming-Music Man, nobody has to change their initials. And it means Megamind already has an appropriate initial when he is literally Taking Up the Mantle by putting on Metro Man's old cape.
• The role filled by Megamind's invented "Space Dad" mentor, traditionally, is to contribute at least some of the young hero's moral framework and sense of justice. However, even if he's really kind of weak on being a villain, Megamind doesn't actually know much about morality, justice, or what it really means to be a hero. Most of the training is focused simply on using his new powers, with the surface elements he remembers of his battles with Metro Man... and so, we get a powerful, vengeful Hal who doesn't know spit about being a hero (besides violence, and maybe something about getting the girl after rescuing her).
  • In an ironic twist, while Titan became a bi-product of Megamind's evil teachings, the new and improved Megamind becomes a new hero thanks to Roxanne's influence. She unintentionally taught Megamind that being a hero is about doing nice things for good people because it makes them happy, not because you get something in return. He also learned to utilize his abilities for good (cleaning the city for instance), which explains why Megamind is later disgusted by Hal/Titan's blatant abuse of his powers for selfish purposes.
• Megamind and Minion's bitter parting of the ways turning into "Well, good luck on your date!" "I will!" "That doesn't even make any sense!" "I know!" isn't just funny, it's Megamind's driving character trait of going through the motions of a fight.
• Roxanne asks Metro Man how he could give up his hero life, but it’s actually very simple: it’s not heroism if there’s no real danger. Megamind was a flamboyant but goofy villain, his plots only serving to defeat Metro Man and failing every time. Whenever he appeared it was entertainment with no serious threat; people just stood and booed him, and even his frequent hostage Roxanne was joking along. Metro Man described it as "going through the motions", which is probably what it was: any heroism that’s playing along would eventually feel staged and somewhat worthless.
  • He should probably have stepped in when Titan appeared and proved himself a legitimate threat. But then, he had put his faith in Megamind to stop him. Which he did, and thus by proving himself a hero in the face of serious adversity Metro Man knew he could retire in peace.
• This is more like "fridge stupidity" in Hal's case: why in the world does he think the tiny suit meant he had a son when, to his knowledge, he's never even dated a girl? When you think about it, this is the same guy who is convinced that a complete stranger is his "Space Dad" (and that he also has a "Space-Stepmom"). So of course he'd be convinced that out of blue, he has a "Space son".
• In the beginning of the movie, Megamind's ultimatum is that Metro Man either leave Metrocity forever or never see Roxanne Ritchi ever again. During the climax, Megamind (whilst disguised as Metro Man) tells Titan to stay out of Metrocity for good. If anything, this demonstrates Megamind had the makings of a hero all along, he just needed a proper way to channel his potential.
• During the scene where Roxanne and Megamind both visit Metro Man's museum, notice a small detail. Megamind enters from one side of the museum (Evil), Roxanne enters from the opposite side (Good). While she leaves with "Bernard", notice that they exit from where Roxanne came. This is a subtle way of foreshadowing that by the end of the story, Megamind comes to reform and join her "side".
• The three superhumans have traits that resemble their colors:
  • Metro Man is white: a color that represents purity and goodness, but also represents detachment from people. It can represent secrecy too, as no one really knew what Metro Man was like until later on.
  • Hal/Titan is red: a color symbolic of rage and destruction.
  • Megamind is blue: this is the color of water. It’s actually emphasized in him having a fish sidekick and using aqua-styled equipment (squid bots, dehydration equipment. It’s a neutral color, which symbolizes Megamind switching between villainous and heroic roles. Also, the sea is calm and placid but once roused it’s unstoppable, which fits Megamind in the film.
• Metro Man is slicked-up and stylish, a tribute to the term "metrosexual man." When he later appears he is more rugged and natural, showing he has given up his posturing for a more normal lifestyle.
• Megamind uses presentation as a weapon in the film, using Minion as a diversion while he impersonates Metro Man to frighten Titan off. That doesn’t work for too long since Titan can see through it, so he falls back on his more natural ability of using his intellect to secure an advantage against Titan’s strength.
• Megamind's habit of mispronouncing words isn't just an endearing trait. It's something that happens in real life to people who read more than they talk with people, and as a result have a large vocabulary without a real idea of how any of the words are actually pronounced. It's another indication of his solitude.
  • It brings up a Fridge Logic: why didn't Hal recognize Megamind whenever he said "Metrocity" as 'Space Dad'? But then, it occurs that Hal doesn't know yet that they're one and the same. So he just thought that all aliens mispronounce names.
• Hal's choice of "Tighten" as the spelling for his villain name (instead of Titan) makes more sense when one remembers that "tight pants" are a cliché bully technique prevalent in media from the 80's and 90's. Hal is a socially awkward nerd full of resentment and rage, he probably had to meet his fair share of bullies at school. His new powers turn him into an unstoppable juggernaut who doesn't have to answer to anyone and can do whatever he wants, which means he sees himself as the new "top dog" and becomes just as much of a bully as the ones he probably had to deal with.
  • This is reinforced by one of the first things he does with his powers is to give himself a wedgie and comment that it doesn't hurt.
  • When Megamind (disguised as Space Dad) tells Hal that his new name is Titan, he also hands him a small outfit and explains that it stretches. Hal may have thought his hero name referred to him wearing tights.
• Some people may think that Hal was originally a Dogged Nice Guy who was only pushed over the edge after he’s rejected by Roxanne, but throughout the first and second act he’s arguably equally as insensitive, whiny, and cruel as he is when he becomes Titan. He’s very pushy towards asking Roxanne to come over to his apartment and won’t take no for an answer, blames his van when he breaks a finger punching it out of frustration, and treats Roxanne like a Hysterical Woman when she’s trying to talk to Megamind/Bernard because he’s jealous she’s talking to another guy. In other words, Hal was always a terrible entitled person, and getting superpowers simply gave him a means of getting what he’s always wanted.
  • Hal’s claim that Roxanne didn’t even try to get to know him rings somewhat hollow when you realize that he never really tried to get to know her either or tried to accommodate to make her feel comfortable around him. This is sharply contrasted by Megamind fixing up an old park she loved and actually engaging in regular conversation without creepy ulterior motives.
  • It's perfectly summed up when he appears to her in his Titan persona for the first time; he boasts that he knows everything about her... then immediately says he wasn't sure what flowers she'd like the most, perfectly proving how little he actually understands her.
  • Another instance of Hal's lack of genuine care for Roxanne is as follows. In tie-in properties (the simplified book, the comics, ect.) Roxanne is explicitly attracted to intelligence. In the movie proper, Hal's description of Megamind/Bernard as 'some intellectual dweeb' points to disrespect and hostility towards intelligence. Hal is so incompatible with Roxanne, he actively scorns her preferences.
• After multiple viewings of the film, the audience can catch sight of a plot- and character-informing background detail (Easter Egg) during a sequence that (a) follows Hal's accidental infusion and (b) precedes Roxanne encountering the disco ball and alligators on the other side of the EXIT door. Megamind, out-of-disguise, is shown running around a corner and stopping just in time to see Roxanne go through the door. His image is tiny and slightly blurred, to help keep the audience’s attention on Roxanne in the foreground, and the audience could miss his appearance if not for the movement of his cape as he halts.
  • The audience can see (while pausing the movie) that his eyes are wide open as he stops. His eyebrows and mouth are harder to see, making his facial expression up for interpretation; but his follow-up actions on- and off-screen suggest that Megamind worries for Roxanne's safety upon seeing her go through the door.
  • During that point in the plot, Roxanne has already: (1) photographed his create-a-new-hero plans, (2) warned Bernard to run, (3) wrestled with Megamind out-of-disguise, (4) misfired (and abandoned) the DNA gun—and so, in the moment that Megamind sees her walk through the ‘Exit’ door, his purely-as-a-villain motive and focus would’ve technically been to investigate newly-infused Hal even at the cost of disregarding Roxanne. Despite this, he does not.
  • Because of this background element reveal, the audience can assume a particular sequence of necessary events that occur off-screen: that Megamind runs to the door, does so while activating his disguise generator to appear like Bernard again, and stops at the open doorway. On-screen, the audience is provided Megamind-as-Bernard's voice calling Roxanne's name, and a blurred image (to convey speed) of Megamind-as-Bernard's arm taking Roxanne's and pulling her to safety.
  • Even the tiny image of Megamind in the background, catching sight of Roxanne's mistake, leaves room for the audience to consider Megamind's feeling towards Roxanne (even this early in their characters' plot development) and how it motivates his actions. He doesn’t ignore her, but runs to her aid, and even takes a second to restore his Bernard disguise (instead of keeping it off) in time for her to hear and see him. (It's possible that he does so out of awareness that: Roxanne would accept Megamind-as-Bernard’s helping hand but reject Megamind’s out-of-disguise offer to help.)
• Why isn't Roxanne afraid of Megamind when he kidnaps her? As she points out, his plans never work, but in retrospect it's also subtle foreshadowing that for all of Megamind's talk of evil and frequent kidnapping of Roxanne, he's evidently never actually hurt her.
• The camera always fixes on Roxanne when Megamind says he has to find a person with the best characteristics to be a superhero. She should have been the recipient.
• How come Hal was immediately corrupted by power, while Metro Man was good from the beginning? Simple: Metro Man was rewarded for being good when he was young. He was given gold star stickers for good behaviour in school, which evidently stuck with him all his life considering his various adult costumes have gold stars embedded into the design. Hal, on the other hand, was already a bit creepy and selfish, so when he got powers he had no motivation to actually use them for good. He just saw it as his chance to get what he always wanted.
• Why did Metro Man locate his secret lair underneath the old schoolhouse? Because he wanted it in a place where his lifelong foe would never find it. And he figured the schoolhouse would be the one place that Megamind would avoid because it's the source of many painful childhood memories.
  • Metro Man also moved the entire school when he was a kid, so Megamind likely wouldn't know where it was in the first place.
• Roxanne twice tries to talk Titan/Hal down from his rampage, insisting that there is still good in him. Why would an otherwise smart person think such a childish thing would work? Because it worked on Megamind without her even knowing it. Also, she might still think Hal is just a dork in over his head.
• At different points in the movie, both Megamind and Metro Man refer to good and bad as yin and yang. Apart from the more well-known idea that two seemingly opposite or contradictory forces actually need each other to exist in harmony, there is a second layer of brilliance. In contrast to the 'light good, dark bad' mentality common to western movie goers, Yin, the black of the symbol, represents positive qualities while Yang, the white symbol, represents the negative. In other words, Dark Is Not Evil and Light Is Not Good.
• At major moments in the film, whenever someone's seen in a reflection, it's as something terrible is happening:
  • Megamind changes himself to Bernard. Minion had broken up with him, but it also has to do with him being confused and conflicted over being a supervillain and being close to Roxanne.
  • Titan/Hal sees Roxanne having dinner with Bernard.
  • Megamind and Roxanne see Titan destroying the city. This moment for Megamind symbolizes that as villainous has he has acted, he never sought to devastate his home town.
  • Metro Man sees his suit in the glass case during Titan's rampage, with his had reflected on it. This symbolizes him fearing he'll get trapped into the hero's job once more.
• It can be interpreted that Megamind is to blame for Metro Man quitting, not just in providing the opportunity to retire but also in his rivalry completely disillusioning Metro Man. In contrasting the two, Metro Man has been a responsible and just character while Megamind has been a Manchild and childhood rival who at his worst just pestered the city and could be easily contained in jail, which was where he grew up. It's not hard to be mature with a villain like that... but it's also not hard to be disenchanted with a villain like that. No meaningful good can come from dealing with such a playful villain, it demeans the law-keeping job to the level of a nanny. So Metro Man quitting could be interpreted as partially Megamind's responsibility.
  • And what was Metro Man being brought back for? To fight Titan, who is just another Megamind character type but angrier and more selfish. Coming back to fight the same villain isn't a change at all.
  • However, since Metro Man left to pursue a new life with new opportunities, his nominating Megamind to be his successor is an invitation for him to try the same. Since he got one chance at something new, he tries to present him with a similar chance.
• Hal snapping and going on a rampage can be chalked up as an unstable loser going mad with power and lashing out over romantic rejection, but the catalyst for this monstrous rage was Megamind's deception and goading him into a fight.
  • Hal was convinced that he had some special destiny from his Space Dad, and he did genuinely enjoy training with the disguised Megamind. While Hal takes his anger to an inexcusable level, it is easy to see why he was so pissed: he genuinely thought he had a great destiny and somebody who believed in him, but instead it was a lie cooked up by a supervillain who only wanted to use him.
  • Hal is shown to be a person without much in the way of social life and has probably endured ridicule and bullying in the past. Megamind's deception was the thing that finally brought out years of pent-up rage. Granted, this doesn't excuse him, but Megamind shouldn't have played with a person's emotions like that.
• During his attack on Megamind, one of the things that Hal calls Megamind out for is "stealing his girlfriend". This "accusation" is one more example of Hal's obsessive nature toward Roxanne: if Hal cared for Roxanne as a human being, he would be upset at Megamind, a criminal supervillain, for going near his co-worker and threatening her. In his fight, he treats Roxanne as a toy to be fought over and is mad at Megamind for stealing his toy.
• Fridge Tearjerker: Megamind is even more depressed after his meeting with Metro Man. He'd just learned that his greatest achievement of defeating his rival - though it turned out to be an awful mistake - was never his achievement, Metro Man had simply quit on him. Not just that, but in all their years of combat, Metro Man had been holding back and was simply treating him gently. So if he couldn't beat an enemy who exercised restraint, how is he supposed to beat an enemy with no restraint?
• Despite his idiocy, Hal realizing that the "Metro Man" chasing after him was actually Megamind isn't that farfetched:
  • Having been a cameraman who filmed their fights, Hal probably knows the mannerisms of Metro Man and Megamind like the back of his hand, so it makes sense he could catch Megamind's slip of the tongue.
  • Megamind also showed Hal his impersonation technology in order to goad Hal into a fight. Hal, after hearing "Metro Man" say the wrong thing, would put two and two together.
  • This ties into the idea that supposedly "dumb" people are often just lacking in drive. Hal may not be a good person, but he's as capable as any other person if he puts his mind to things. He does have experience in one field, camera work, and under the right motivation, he actually uses that knowledge and experience to his benefit.
• Megamind managing to walk away from his crimes seems farfetched. But...
  • As has been discussed above, Megamind has likely never killed a person, despite his destructive ways. Considering Roxanne or Metro Man's lack of fear toward him, this implies he hasn't actually killed someone.
  • Megamind manages to break out of prison so many times, he treats jail like a game of tag. Eventually, the judicial system might give up on locking up someone who can escape all the time.
  • Megamind is shown using his tech to rebuild Metro City. It is possible he gained a pardon from the government in exchange for sharing his technology with them. The U.S. welcomed and pardon Nazi and Imperial Japanese scientists in exchange for their research, so letting a publically reformed supervillain off th hook isn't too much of a stretch.
• Hal and Roxanne's first scene together foreshadows their poor relationship: Hal more or less mocks Roxanne's glowing speech about Metro Man, only to feebly backtrack to save face. Hal has no appreciation for the things Roxanne likes, and his attempts to impress her reek of desperation.
• Social connection seems to play a role in how each of the main characters developed.
  • Metro Man was extremely popular in school and always had a ton of emotional support his entire life. Hence why he became a genuinely good guy.
  • Megamind apparently grew up in a prison and didn't have too many friends, which could explain why he became a villain. Despite this, he always had Minion at his side. Minion did go along with Megamind's villainy but managed to keep him grounded. Having one loyal friend probably kept Megamind from going off the deep end.
  • We don't know much about Hal's social life, but it is implied to be non-existent. He doesn't seem to have any friends or family to speak of. This implies that he's had a deeply lonely life, which is why he became a maniac who would terrorize an entire city.
• While having dinner with Roxanne, Megamind-as-Bernard asks her if she would still like him if he was bald. Roxanne responds with the "actions are more important than looks" moral. As we see, Roxanne is sincere.
  • The real Bernard is a prickly git who doesn't attract anyone. But when Megamind takes on Bernard's appearance, starts sharing some interests with Roxanne, and starts becoming genuinely kind and sensitive, Roxanne falls for him. Bernard became attractive because his attitude changed for the better. Roxanne only rejects him in the end because she found out Megamind was really Bernard and was upset that he had lied to her about his identity.
  • Meanwhile, Hal failed to attract Roxanne, powers or no powers, because his personality gets worse over time. The normal Hal isn't that ugly, his repulsive attitude is what puts off a lot of people. Hal is initially celebrated by the residents of Metro City when he drives off Megamind before blowing all that goodwill in a fit of malicious insanity. The fact that Hal only interacts with Roxanne at work rather than sharing any interests or seeking to improve himself outside of it just shows how inexperienced he is with dating or how much self-awareness he lacks. While finding relationships in the workplace is hardly uncommon, it's not what Roxanne is there for and she was just trying to keep a professional relationship with Hal.
• Whenever Roxanne wants to address Hal as, well, Hal, and not Tighten, he flips out. Doubly so when she describes him as someone who loved "being a cameraman and eating dip and being a nerd". Of course he would flip out, he hated all these things. He hated being fat, boring, unattractive Hal. "It's Tighten, not Hal" perfectly sums that up.
• The difference between Hal and Megamind is illustrated by their reaction to Roxanne's rejection of them.
  • Megamind tries to beg for forgiveness but accepts Roxanne is mad at him and leaves her be. If someone is mad at you, giving that space is the most sincere sign of remorse. Megamind actually acknowledges Roxanne's feelings with empathy.
  • Hal, meanwhile, shows no real remorse or contrition over his creepy advances toward Roxanne. He straight up tosses Roxanne into the air like a ragdoll and still has no self-awareness about dangerous that is, showing how stupid and heartless he really is.
• A news report mentions that thousands of people fled Metro City once Titan took over. This is notable considering that Megamind's earlier takeover apparently wasn't scary enough to convince them to do the same. Even if it's only subconsciously, the citizens can recognize on some level that Megamind means them no real harm. Hal on the other hand...
• On the surface, Megamind and Metroman's relationship seems to be the typical hero vs. villain relationship. In reality, the relationship was more "bullying victim lashing out at bully."
  • In school, Megamind was treated as an unlikeable loser who everyone looked down on. Metroman, meanwhile, was the cool kid who was cheered, even when he put Megamind down and made him feel worthless. Megamind's goal was less "kill" Metroman and more "prove to him and everyone I'm not a loser." Unfortunately, nobody seemed to step in, causing the cycle to continue and escalate into full-on citywide brawls.
  • Metroman quitting seems to stem from the fact that he realized that his whole life had been defined by an idiotic rivalry. When Metroman and Megamind meet, the former has clearly lost a lot of his arrogance and is trying to encourage Megamind to be the hero, implying that he realizes that Megamind just needed bit of positive reinforcement.
• It seems weird that Megamind was treated like a delinquent almost from childhood when he ended up on Earth. But then you remember his appearance is unusually alien, compared to Metroman who looks pretty human. It is possible the government, fearing Megamind could be a potential harbinger of Alien Invasion, deliberately treated him like a prisoner out of paranoia. As a counterpoint to Roxanne saying she doesn't care about looks, it seems Megamind was judged for his appearance over any of his actual behavior from the time he landed on Earth.

Fridge Horror

• The Brain-bot with the biting problem is covered in red splotches, probably blood. But if that wasn't bad enough, consider the fact that Megamind probably has blue blood given his coloration and Minion's body is robotic. So who does that blood belong to...?
  • Actually, since Megamind is shown to have pinkish/purplish ears and cheeks - as well as a red/pink mouth - it might still be his blood. However, we never see Megamind bleed so there is no confirmation and Fridge Horror might still apply.
    • It's lipstick. Concept art has there be one female brainbot. It has lipstick.
  • The splotches look more pink than red. This Troper assumed that Megamind had marked that particular Brain-Bot so he could tell it apart from the others.
    • Maybe because it's the one that keeps biting him?
    • The biting bot is NOT the one marked with the bright pink lipstick.
• At the beginning Megamind is serving 88 life sentences. Looks like folks actually died during some of the conflicts...
  • Although in a less horrific interpretation, in certain American jurisdictions kidnapping can receive up to a life sentence depending on the severity of the crime and whether federal authorities get involved; we certainly know that he's kidnapped Roxanne a lot (maybe eighty-eight times?). It's also probable that Megamind has long-since fallen foul of any three-strikes laws in operation in Metro City (essentially; someone who commits three serious offenses receives an automatic life-sentence on the third offence). Kidnapping and bank robbery amongst others would probably count here.
  • Don't forget the attempted murder charges: The only way to defeat Metro Man was to kill him, so Megamind's been trying to kill him. Also, typically a repeat offender - especially one that is unrepentant - will get a stronger punishment. (Ironically, this line of logic leads the conclusion that Megamind can't have killed anyone: The worst they can do to him is keep piling on life sentences, so he's never done anything that could justify an execution. Actually killing someone would count, so those 88 life sentences actually reinforce how harmless he is as a villain.)
    • But Megamind did (as far as everyone knew) commit first-degree murder in the movie itself. Though he received no immediate punishment for it due to his overthrow of the city, he did turn himself in of his own free will later. Did he go back with full realization that he now faced the death penalty? It was Minion, not the Warden, who mentioned his sentencing later (to which Megamind seemed a little confused), so it's quite possible he was now on death row.
  • And there is another crime he keep committing: breaking out of prison. Given how many times he seems to have been captured...
  • The orbital shots (and Word of God, partially) indicate Metro City is in Michigan; we haven't had the death penalty for over a century and a half, thank you.
    • You haven't had a Super Villain, either.
    • Yet...
• Does nobody else wonder what happened to the original Bernard that Megamind dehydrated in order to use his identity? He isn't seen again for the rest of the movie.
  • He shows up during the credits. Megamind forgets to empty his pockets and Bernard is re-hydrated in the washing machine, then Minion whacks him with the Forget-Me-Stick.
    • Let's hope the same thing happened to Carlos the doorman...
• Remember when Megamind says, "Imagine the most horrible, terrifying, evil thing you can possibly think of... and multiply it... by six!" The most horrible, terrifying, evil thing I can think of is child abuse. So Megamind is bringing child abuse times 6? Aw...crap.
  • I wouldn't go that far. Megamind's idea of 'evil', even before his Heel–Face Turn, is clearly more along the lines of the melodramatic Card-Carrying Villain who twirls his evil mustache and laughs his Evil Laugh as he uses his evil rope to tie the Distressed Damsel to the evil train-tracks, all of which conveniently takes long enough for the good guy to swoop in and save the day — the sort of villain who makes a lot of noise about being a villain but once you look beyond the surface is actually more-or-less harmless. He's clearly bluffing because he's got no idea what he's doing and has never imagined a day where he'd ever have to think this far ahead.
  • I always saw it as Nothing Is Scarier. He hadn't thought of a method of villainous torment for the city folk because, well, he never really thought he'd have to. So he tells them to think of something horrible because nothing he could say would match the power of human imagination. It made sense, since the citizens didn't appear too fazed by Megamind's presence later in the film, such as when he's wearing his new mecha suit and they're all just standing around awkwardly. They only became truly frightened when a real villain showed up.
  • Honestly, if child abuse is the worst thing you can imagine, then you have no imagination. Just reading a bit of history can show far worse things. Yes, child abuse is bad, but there are worse things.
  • I interpreted that as Megamind not actually knowing what evil was. He pretty much found his role in society by accepting what others stuck on him. He seems to have defined "Evil" as "one who fights Good," rather than placing any actual morality into the equation. So, he's a supervillain really only in the sense that he fights Metro Man, the city's superhero, whom everyone had decided was "Good." Since he based his identity off his rivalry with Metro Man, winning caused him to lose what had been a massive part of himself. This also explains why Hal's Face–Heel Turn surprised and confused him - Hal is genuinely evil, whereas Megamind, despite his supervillainy, doesn't seem to even understand the term.
  • Megamind was raised from infancy, inside a prison. Prison inmates, as a subculture, loathe other inmates who've committed crimes against children. It's unlikely that the ones who raised him would've ever even let him hear the words "child abuse", let alone meet someone convicted for such an act, so he may not even realize that such a crime exists.
• Consider Hal for a moment. Prior to receiving powers he was described as ordinary with no criminal record, and then he becomes completely corrupted when he gets his powers. Showing that anyone unassuming and crime free could/would be corrupted by getting those powers. This includes someone like the viewer.
  • "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
  • The irony is that Hal could have been a hero if he chose to be. Hal started out as your average loser with a crush on his co-worker, like any other guy. But then you see that he's self-entitled, he's lazy and when he comes to look for Roxy, it's not with the expectation of facing any danger. He's got a LOT of character flaws. Then he gets that power, and suddenly all those flaws go up to eleven. Roxanne had no idea that Hal would go totally off the rails, but she was smart enough to know that some people just can't handle awesome power.
    • Roxanne knew Hal would go off the rails. She said outright to Megamind that Hal was the worst possible person you could pick for superpowers.
• Better hope no one was in that building that Titan threw at Megamind. Or the buildings that got hit by that building...
  • There was a scene very shortly before that establishing that there's been a mass exodus of people from the city in conjunction with controlled evacuation efforts. Given that Downtown is the only specifically mentioned no-go area and there's already been 'hundreds of thousands' of people leave the city, it's reasonable to assume that they've prioritized that area and it's virtually empty now.
  • Plus, it's almost certainly an office building. There's not much chance that the tenant companies would be open for normal business hours when there's a villainous super rampaging around the city.
  • Not just "around the city." That's the building he ties Roxanne to. He's not just in the area, he's literally on the roof. Of course nobody's going to be in there.
• The Brain Bots. They are really cute and fun and... hang on... Where did all the brains come from again??!
  • Given their dog-like behavior, it can be surmised that they're most likely canine brains. Which is still a bit squicky, when you think about it.
  • The reason they're called Brain-Bots is because Brains (as opposed to Brawn) is Megamind's motif. Their "brains" are actually those plasma ball contraptions that form the majority of their bodies. Why they're so large? To make them look more like Megamind, of course.
    • Megamind refers to them as "menacing little cyborgs" in their introductory scene. Though that doesn't specify what organic parts they have, you can infer a lot with that information.
  • The short Megamind: The Button of Doom establishes that Megamind was able to replicate his own personality and (presumably) intelligence into a bot, so it’s plausible he can replicate a dog’s mind without harming the dog.
• What did Megamind do with Metro Man's powers after he took them back from Titan?
  • Probably locked them up somewhere very secure so no one could ever get them again. After all, Megamind didn't need a heroic foil after his Heel–Face Turn, and he definitely didn't want to risk another civilian getting those powers and going on another rampage.
• More like Fridge Sadness, but Megamind has no idea what a window is. Considering he's either in jail or an underground lair...
• If Megamind didn't see Roxanne or Bernard in the museum, they most likely would have died in the explosion.
• As shown during Metro Man's mid-life crisis and subsequent decision to fake his death, his Super Speed is strong enough that he could essentially stop time whenever he wanted. Imagine if Titan ever got enough experience with his powers to realize he could do the same thing: he could kill Megamind, Roxanne, Minion and anyone else who dared get in his way in the blink of an eye, with them being none-the-wiser.

  • Hal isn't depicted as being that smart, so he would never have thought of pulling that stunt. The only stunts he pulls are Super Strength and Eye Beams, since they are the only powers that are simple for him to use (except when he uses his X-ray vision to spy on Roxanne in her apartment).

• We never knew what/who caused the huge blackhole that separates Megamind and Metro Man's parents and their home planets at the beginning of the film.
  • Possibly just a collapsed star. All that is known is that it's a black hole, which are well known to occur on their own. Granted, the utter lack of malicious intent behind it might make it more unsettling because it just happened by itself with no one pulling any strings; it's just a gruesome side effect of big-enough star systems that can't be avoided.
• Hal does have a moment of strategic thought when he realizes Metro Man is actually Megamind in disguise. Hal, despite being a dunderhead, isn't incapable of learning and planning. Which...is actually really bad, since if he had powers long enough, he might've gone from being a dumb psycho to an intelligent psycho.
• Before he became "Tighten", Hal fibbed to Roxanne about his lousy apartment to get her alone with him. What the heck would he have pulled on her if she accepted his offer?

Fridge Logic

• There no mention of or allusions to Megamind ever moving his lair, yet the kidnapping at the start of the film is apparently the first time he's brought Roxanne there? Just seems unlikely.
  • It's more likely he built the fake observatory (on top of his existing laboratory) for that specific plan.
• Megamind tells Roxanne he can't use the same infuser/defuser gun that created Titan 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? 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 Titan rampage, unchecked. It may also require materials he can't easily replace, now that Titan's booted Megamind out of City Hall and he no longer has the entire city's resources to draw upon.
  • And Megamind doesn't have Minion with him either.
• Why doesn't Megamind try shooting Titan 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 Titan with a copper sphere.
  • I'd be willing to bet somewhere in the collection of superpowers Metro Man has is one that makes him (or someone else with his powers) immune to being compltenetely dehydrated. Maybe aliens from his planet look vaguely human but have some kind of amorphous solid putty (or gas) in place of blood. I mean it'd be pretty stupid if Megamind hadn't used his signature weapon against his signature foe in all of their various different show downs... Granted, they could have slipped in a scene showing how Metro Man is immune to being dehydrated back when they were both in school, and maybe there already is a deleted scene to that effect, but either way, that's my two cents...
  • 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 Titan now.
    • The reason for it not working, might be that Metro Man (and Titan) can just sidestep anything thrown at him. While no one may have known the full extent of his Super Speed (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 Flying Brick. 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.
• The opening of the Metro Man Museum was PACKED - the entire area around the lake was wall-to-wall people. Easily well over a hundred thousand. However when Metro Man takes his break to do a little soul searching (during which all those people were watching the events on the big screen), there are plenty of people at the park, the library, and the cafe. I guess there were a few folks who really didn't care much themselves.
  • Maybe they just didn't think that there was much point in going there in person to join the back of a multi-million person crowd to see a speck in the distance.
  • Same reason that even, say, an incredibly popular rock band doesn't get everyone in any given city at their gigs; not everyone could safely fit into the space provided, lots of people probably had other stuff to do at the time, and of course, some people probably just weren't interested anyway.
• Over several dates, why does Roxanne not wonder why "Bernard" never changes his clothes? The closest we get is her wondering why he was power walking in a suit...
  • He looks like - and acts, and Megamind probably insists that - he's the type of guy who buys multiple versions of the same clothes.
• How did Megamind dehydrate Carlos? By that point he'd sacrificed his gun holster for thigh-high boots.
  • He probably had an alternate holster made somewhere else on the costume.
    • Where? The outfit gets progressively stripped down to the point that he's in nothing but the jumpsuit by the end, and there is still no gun visible anywhere on him.
    • Perhaps he took a quick trip back to his lair to get the gun before looking for Roxanne.
  • For that matter, Megamind says a few minutes later that he lost the gun in the invisible car, doesn't he?
    • 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 Titan. 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 Titan rather than the actually skeleton, which would clued him into the fact that Metro Man had faked his death?
  • On the DVD commentary the creators mention this point, saying they were originally going to have the skeleton turn to dust, but couldn't show it and just had to leave it.
  • This troper is willing to bet that Megamind, being an antagonist in mourning, tastefully placed the bones somewhere he'd never have to look at that again so as not to be reminded of the actual act of killing him. Using dandruff, was likely a bit to exploit and revel the weakness of a man who he described very early on as having "great hair".
  • Megamind freaks out when the skeleton lands on him, and his style as a supervillain was never slanted towards a skull-and-bones motif. He probably claimed the cape as a trophy and left the bones (which creeped him out) for Metro Man's admirers to give a proper burial.
• No one wonders why there even is a skeleton after that explosion, why the bones don't look charred at all, or why the cape survived? Megamind clearly knows his biology, and is a general genius, so how did he miss this?
  • He was hit with a death ray powered by THE SUN. Never heard of bleach dried bones? Multiply that by a weaponized scale.
    • The sun is more powerful than a high-grade nuclear weapon, and even low-grade nukes can completely vaporize bone, ergo there shouldn't be a skeleton at all. For that matter, that sort of heat would have bunt to cape to ashes well before bones ever became an issue.
    • Your bones or my bones, sure. A sort-of-Kryptonian alien's bones? Who knows what those would be made of. As for the cape, it's probably Metro Man's indestructible baby blanket.
  • That, and Megamind was clearly freaking out. It might have occurred to him later, if he weren't so distracted by everything else.
• Megamind is a rather... waif-ish man. Minion on the other hand has a bulky, gorilla-shaped body. How the hell did Roxanne not realize that it wasn't Megs by virtue of the fact that his body was bigger?
  • Because the watch somehow alters the physical properties of the user, as demonstrated by the fact that MM could shove cube-Bernard into a coat-pocket despite wearing buttoned pajamas.
• So Minion is fitting Megamind in a basic frame for the Black Mambaaaaaaaaaa right before they have their big falling out. Minion leaves, Megamind goes on his date, gets dumped, comes back... and the cape is now finished. What?
  • What in the world makes everyone think the cape is finished? It... Looks no different - at least to my eyes - and actually it looks as though the collar needs finishing off with more material over the base structure. Honestly, I think Megamind donning the unfinished cape, despite his adherence to 'preparation' is supposed to be what tells us that he means business.
    • 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.
  • This Troper previously considered the same question during a movie re-watch, and thought of one plausible in-universe explanation. First, here is the event shown in the movie: After Minion says he'll just pack up his thing (fish food) and go, right before Megamind leaves for his date, Minion exits the hideout through a door near the garage. Next, here is a possible off-screen event: Before reaching his next location, Minion could've noticed the sound of the invisible car leaving the hideout, the garage door opening and closing. (We aren't shown how far Minion got from the hideout in that time.) Even without that as a reminder to figuratively look back, Minion could've next considered that he did get the cape's measurements but didn't finish the cape (yet). He then could've returned to the hideout, finished the cape, and left again before Megamind's return. (The movie shows that 1. Megamind waited before his date arrived, 2. his date apologized for tardiness, and 3. Megamind got back to the hideout even later—by foot, not by car. It therefore seems, to this Troper, safe to conclude that Minion would have enough time, off-screen, to finish the cape while Megamind was away.) This Troper also found the idea plausible, based on other scenes from the movie that showed Minion taking care of the details for Megamind. One such example, in an earlier scene: Minion replaced and tested Hal's apartment door for function, after Megamind blew it open.
    • In short/TLDR version: Minion could've gone back, completed the cape, and left all while Megamind was out.
• Metro Man claiming Copper as his Kryptonite Factor is all well and good... until one remembers that copper is one of the most widely used metals in modern technology, almost equal to steel (put it like this; every single electrical appliance you have around you at this moment? They all contain copper). It's possible Metro Man didn't pay attention in science class, but how did Megamind, whose superpower is Super Intelligence, not remember that fact and so find it suspicious that it could actually lead to Metro Man's death?
  • This fact doesn't entirely escape Megamind because he actually asks Metro Man "You're kidding right?" about copper as a weakness. If he had taken a little more thought to it, he might've realized something was off, but the death ray fired and well... events from there probably took his mind off to other matters.
  • Presumably it would take a lot of copper to drain Metro Man's powers enough to actually render him helpless, if in fact he did have that weakness. The rather small amounts present in electronic gadgets might reduce his strength slightly, but when you're strong enough to toss skyscrapers around, "slightly" isn't going to be much of a factor.
    • Notice in the observatory, Metro Man is still flying around and leaving massive dents in the dome, implying that he's greatly weakened, but not De Powered.
• 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.
• The infuser/defuser is capable of puncturing Titan's skin enough to let it drain Titan's powers. So...if it's capable of overcoming Titan's invulnerability, why not simply stab him with it?
  • Megamind never punctured Titan's skin, he shoved the gun up his nostril. And even if he could, it would hardly be sporting, would it?
• 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.
• When Megamind and Minion go into their Space Dad/Space Step-Mom disguises, Minion has a Paper-Thin Disguise, presumably because he doesn't have Megamind's hologram watch. But later he is disguised as Megamind while Megamind is disguised as Metro Man. So why didn't Minion have a better Space Step-Mom disguise?
  • At the time there was only one watch. Once they needed two watches, they made a second.
  • It seems kind of dumb that Hal is taken in by 'Space Stepmom', but he's never met Minion. Apart from everything else, how's Hal meant to know that his alien space-father wouldn't marry some kind of hyper-intelligent fish in a robot gorilla suit and wig? Why wouldn't their alien customs seem rather... alien? It's not a high-tech disguise like Mega-Mind's, but it didn't need to be. When it DID need to be a great disguise, he DID get a watch.
• A couple of times, Minion thinks of Roxanne seemingly randomly; once when he is trying to cheer up a depressed Megamind by suggesting a kidnapping, and again when he correctly assesses that Megamind has been seeing her. On the DVD commentary, it's confirmed that Megamind had been attracted to Roxanne since before the proper story (discounting the framing device and the flashbacks) begins. Evidence can be seen in their semi-flirtatious banter in the beginning and his expression at the previously mentioned kidnapping suggestion. It's absolutely no stretch that Minion, being Megamind's right-hand fish, would know full well if the guy had a crush.

Meta

• In the italian dub, Space Dad is called "Il padrino spaziale" (Space Godfather), dubbed with an heavy sicilian accent like Don Corleone's italian dub. One's godfather is sometimes a mentor, but using both the sicilian accent and godfather gives the Marlon Brando vibes. Marlon Brando played Jor-El, Superman's Space Dad in the movies.