When looking to give someone a life-changing job, make sure you actually interview them first and test their character, rather than just taking advantage of an accident and hiring the first person available. If Megamind paid attention to Hal or looked up other valid candidates, his first attempt wouldn't have been so disastrous.
Don't rely on a single person to do an important job: have someone waiting in the wings in case that person isn't available. Metro Man being killed or more specifically quitting his post would've left the people of Metro City in a bad position had Megamind turned out to be a genuinely dangerous person. When Hal proves to be a genuinely violent psychopath, the city is helpless to stop him from terrorizing the populace.
Love and romance aren't transactional; just because you find someone attractive doesn't mean they owe it to you to find you attractive. Solely being nice to someone isn't going to convince them to date you, and you can't force them to date you either. If you really want to impress someone, you can start by improving your attitude, dressing smart, and sharing interests with your desired partner. Confidence and genuine kindness are attractive qualities when they are done sincerely and without expecting anything in return.
The opening scene seems to warn against bullying and stigmatizing others. Megamind was shown to have been unfairly ostracized almost from when he started growing up, making him believe that he could be nothing but a villain. Metro Man received praise all his life and thus grew up believing he could be a hero.
Some believe Hal's behavior is symptomatic of some ambiguous disorder. Also, is he lashing out at Megamind for "stealing" Roxanne, or is he angry at Megamind for pretending to be this righteous father figure and then mocking him? And does he see Roxanne as just an object to possess, or does he genuinely like Roxanne but expresses it poorly due to his poor social skills?
Is Metro Man a deconstruction of the Superman paragon — who ultimately is willing to sacrifice everything for his own happiness? Or is he a true paragon of faith who knew that Megamind could rise to the challenge and that plunging the city into darkness was necessary for both their happiness? Also, did he realize that since Megamind is a Poke the Poodle sort of Harmless Villain, being a superhero against him was pointless? Is part of why he fakes his death and lets Megamind fight for his happy ending to atone for how his own actions contributed to how the latter was ostracized and ended up as a villain?
The music that plays during Psycho Delic's boss battle in the video game.
Broken Base: Is Hal's super"hero" alter ego spelled "Titan" or "Tighten"? Some prefer "Titan" because it isn't as ridiculous. In contrast, others prefer "Tighten," due to the symbolism attached to the character as "Tighten" is the name that Hal unintentionally gave the supervillain that he turned himself into. However, unlike most of the examples of this trope, such discussion is rather lighthearted.
Cult Classic: After over a decade, the film still hasn't lost its edge.
Draco in Leather Pants: There are a handful of people who romanticize Hal as a lovable loser who just needed a shot at love. They fail to realize that Hal is a deconstruction of that character type who showed his true nature once he had superpowers, threatening the entire city simply because he got friend-zoned. Some people even say it's not his fault because Roxanne "broke his heart," but they forget that Roxanne has the right as a human being to say no to a man if she isn't attracted to him. Hal seems incapable of taking no for an answer when human, his Never My Fault attitude being a very early symptom that he would be a problem (see him hurting his hand on the van and then blaming the van), and when turned into Titan, he only becomes more entitled.
Psycho Delic from the video games, a Disco Dan skeleton voiced by Keith David with maximum charisma, and has a kickass theme.
Evil Is Sexy: Megamind's wardrobe gets a lot of attention from straight women and gay men. Not to mention his Schumacher-esque suit-up montage.
Fanon: Shortly after the film Ape Entertainment made a four part comic of Megamind. The first issue tackled the Fanfic Fuel idea of Megamind, Minion, Metro Man, and Roxanne all being in high school together.
Fandom Rivalry: While some like both films, Megamind fans are still bitter about Despicable Meupstaging their movie, with the omnipresence of the latter being the most common source of blame for the lukewarm reception that Megamind got.
"Too bad that we didn't go to the same school..." Plenty of people like to speculate what would've happened if Megamind and Roxanne did go to the same school. It usually ends with them being each other's Only Friend, which expectedly blossoms into a Childhood Friend Romance.
What If? Roxanne ended up becoming a superheroine instead of Hal? It goes in both directions; some like to use it as an excuse for Foe Yay Shipping, others explore it in a Dark Fic with Roxanne planning to murder Megamind as revenge.
Like Woah between Megamind and Metro Man: Megamind goes into mourning over Metro Man, bringing flowers to his statue and lamenting about all the battles they'll never have and how it's "not the same" without him.
Megamind is visibly relieved Metro Man isn't dead when he sees his cape flying from the explosion, a long moment before his "Oh, Crap!, he's alive and coming towards me."
There's also the scene where Roxanne takes Megamind to Metro Man's hideout. He's practically squeeing at all of the stuff and even puts on Metro Man's cape. Roxanne seems uncertain how to take his reaction.
Megamind and Roxanne have a little bit of this going on among them, right before Roxanne hugs Megamind. Although Roxanne had no idea that "Bernard" was Megamind in disguise, it foreshadowed Roxanne and Megamind's romance that starts at the end of the movie.
It's worth noting that on the DVD commentary, Word of God pretty much confirms that Megamind had been attracted to Roxanne for some time by the start of the movie, he just kept things professional to avoid upsetting the dynamic.
Genius Bonus: 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).
Harsher in Hindsight: Hal Stewart, who becomes the main villain Tighten, gives unrequited advances towards Roxanne even before he becomes a supervillain, continues to do so when he's the "superhero" Titan, and tries to kill Roxanne simply because Roxanne rejected him. In 2013, three years after this movie was released, the Isla Vista killing happened, with the killer having an eerily similar motive to that of Hal since both Hal and the Isla Vista killer became really dangerous threats to public safety after they were rejected by women.
Hilarious in Hindsight: While the overall character of Titan and his similarity to incels is a more serious matter (see below), it is rather funny how his face remaining chubby despite his now superhero-y physique reflects a popular incel myth: the concept of "gymcel" or the belief that even if an incel hits the gym, they'll still face rejection because of their "ugly" facial features. As with Titan, incels fail to see that the real problem is their personality and attitude.
It Was His Sled: Titan becomes a villain over being rejected by Roxanne. Thanks to the Internet, it's no longer a twist anymore.
Jerkass Woobie: Hal Stewart/Titan/Tighten to an extent. While he is an entitled Psychopathic Manchild who was creepy towards Roxanne and then tried to kill her and Megamind and destroy Metro City because she rejected him, it's hard not to feel bad for him when he sees Roxanne and Megamind disguised as Bernard on their date before slowly flying away. Hell, it's the only time you'll feel sorry for the guy because he looks absolutely crushed.
Love to Hate: Hal Stewart aka Titan is a Psychopathic Manchild who creeps on his coworker Roxanne and flat-out tries to kill her once she makes clear that she isn't interested and tries to stop him. He's a popular character for being both an innovative idea for a Big Bad, his mindset becoming more and more repulsive as time goes on, and the fact that his fake adorkability actually being incredibly creepy is played 100% straight from the very beginning, something which is still not seen all that often.
The scene where Metro Man accidentally reveals himself to be alive behind Megamind and Roxanne is commonly photoshopped where other characters replace all three. It became memetic for Metro Man's funny expression, which pretty much oozesOh, Crap!.
"There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there is no Queen of England!"Explanation People replace the last part with whatever comes to mind, either calling out Flat Earth Atheists or just because it's funny. Gained further popularity after an announcement that the Queen of England was "entering a new stage in life", which carried a light implication that she was about to die.
Unsurprisingly, a screencap of Titan saying this line became popular among anti-monarchists in the months leading up to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and even more so in the direct aftermath of her death.
penis music Explanation A sped-up gif of Hal during the Dance Party Ending captioned "penis music" became a popular meme in late 2019. It became doubly popular in early 2020 once the gif was synced up to Lapfox Trax's Rubber Band, usually done to mock those who complain about how "terrible" newer music is.
"Music Man", Metro Man's revamped identity after he fakes his death is often compared to Markiplier.
"Maybe I don't want to be the bad guy anymore!" Explanation A quote from the film's Villain Protagonist as he goes through his Heel–Face Turn. Often used in situations where someone or something usually considered bad actually does something good for once (such as the mainstream news media releasing an article about how video games DON'T cause violence).
Metro Man farting. Explanation As Metro Man (actually Megamind in disguise) confronts Hal during the climax, there is a shot of him flexing his calves, which are strong enough for the frills on his boots to flare up. People have added fart noises to this scene so that it looks like he's passing powerful gas. Hal visibly recoils immediately afterward, making it even funnier.
Titan's blank stare. Explanation In late 2021, a frame of Hal Stewart/Titan sporting an unnervingly blank, seemingly horrified stare was discovered in the movie. It didn't take long for it to be paired with the recent skinwalker meme, with a black filter put over the image and "Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me" by Akira Yamaoka from the Silent Hill soundtrack being put over. The image is often used in other morbid/strange/terrifying contexts as well.
"NO BITCHES?"◊ Explanation A meme based on a shot of Megamind peeking with the aforementioned caption slapped onto it. It has since been made into a reaction image, because it's pretty much in the same vein of basically saying "You Need to Get Laid". Due to being an image meme, this naturally led to people doing edits or redraws of this meme, with Megamind being replaced by all sorts of characters and the caption being replaced by something appropriate to said character.
"BITCHES?"◊ Explanation An alternate shot from the same scene, subverting the phrase upon facing the opposite conclusion to a presented scenario, or that there is, indeed a chance to "get bitches".
"Unfortunately yes, Megamind. No bitches"◊ Explanation A response to the meme showing a sad Hal. Somewhat fitting because of his infamy as being seen as one of the first animated Incels before Incels became more of a well-known phenomena.
Moe: Young Megamind when he enters school is simply adorable, with his big innocent eyes.
Moral Event Horizon: Titan crosses it when he starts rampaging through Metro City and tries to kill Roxanne, all because the latter wouldn't return his feelings. And that's if you're not completely freaked out by the sight of him kidnapping Roxanne and dropping her from a great height repeatedly so he could "save" her, then demanding she be his girlfriend out of gratitude.
One-Scene Wonder: The real Bernard appears in two scenes. One has him acting cold towards Roxanne and mocking Megamind's "costume" before being dehydrated, and the other has him rehydrated by Minion and getting whacked by his stick.
Periphery Demographic: Given how superficial the trailers made the film seem, the target audience looked to be the 6 to 11-year-old male demographic; the romantic aspects (which weren't advertised at all) led to a large fanbase of women in their 20's, not to mention having a villain that's portrayed as a disturbingly realistic example of Abhorrent Admirer.
Realism-Induced Horror: Hal Stewart/Titan is a shockingly realistic portrayal of people who feel like they're owed romantic affection. He pretends to be nice and flirts with Roxanne with every chance he gets, even when Metro Man supposedly died. When he gets powers, he believes that if he rescues Roxanne, she'll automatically fall in love with him. But when he finds out that's not how real life works, he goes on a temper tantrum and starts destroying Metro City, even trying to murder Roxanne for not returning his feelings.
Rewatch Bonus: When you watch the movie, Hal's descent into villainy doesn't come out of nowhere: he was always an entitled creep. Megamind giving him powers just made him into a dangerous entitled creep.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: As Megamind talks to Minion about who they should make into a hero and how this hero should be "someone of noble heart and mind, who puts the welfare of others above their own," he is interrupted by his mobile ringing. It's Roxanne. She is right outside. Because she tracked him down to stop him. If he'd been given more than a few minutes to dwell on the thought, he almost certainly would've chosen her. Many have pointed out that this would have been part of a great Deconstruction of the tropes and genre by having the damsel become the hero, the villain becomes the damsel, and the hero becomes the villain, as you could still have Hal become the villain later. Instead, it goes for a more cliche "the villain becomes the hero" trope.
Ugly Cute: Minion. He's an alien fish that gets around in a gorilla-like robot suit, but there's something undeniably cute about him. It's made especially clear towards the end of the film when he's outside of his suit, and we see that he really is just a small fish.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: A minor case, but the human characters aren't nearly as stylized as the aliens like Megamind, Metro Man, and Minion. Roxanne's cheekbones are a little bit too high for some people.
Unintentional Period Piece: Everyone including Megamind himself using flip phones instead of smartphones, and Megamind's "No You Can't" posters are a direct parody of Barack Obama's "Hope" poster by Shepard Fairey.
Values Resonance: Hal's Dogged Nice Guy and Entitled to Have You behavior towards Roxanne being portrayed as incredibly creepy and disturbing, up to the point where he becomes a super-villain just because she rejects him, has become extremely relevant in the late 2010s and early 2020s thanks to the rise of the "incel" subculture, in which troubled young men, such as Hal, think they're owed romantic affection and react with violence and/or toxic behavior when they don't get what they want.
Vindicated by History: While it had an okay-to-middling reception upon release, the superhero blockbuster era of the 2010s caused many to look back on superhero movies from before the Genre Turning Point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film then was praised for its strong comedic and narrative writing that manages to both deconstruct and affectionately parody of the superhero genre, as well as its excellent animation. This is compounded by Hal's character, as sexual harassment, unwanted advances, and men feeling entitled to women came strongly into cultural focus in the late 2010s.
The Woobie: Roxanne has been constantly harassed by her co-worker Hal and is absolutely devastated when Metro Man supposedly dies. Then she realizes Megamind tricked her into going out with him as "Bernard" and feels betrayed. If that wasn't enough, she gets kidnapped and almost killed by Hal because she refused to be his girlfriend.
", "Rejection in the Rain
