As the superhero genre has grown, so has the litany of projects that either dissect it or poke fun at it — or both, in the case ofThe Boys. FromInvincibleto Netflix’s short-livedJupiter’s Legacyand the upcoming Netflix film based onBOOM! Studios’Irredeemable/Incorruptible, it looks like the superhero genre won’t be running short on superhero deconstruction tales any time soon. ButDreamWorks Animationbeat them all to the punch withMegamind.
Will Ferrellstars as the titular Megamind, an alien genius with bright blue skin and an enlarged cranium that houses a genius-level intellect. Much like a certain Man of Steel, Megamind was launched to Earth to avoid the destruction of his home world. In the film’s first subversion, instead of landing in a loving home Megamind winds up in prison - while his archenemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt) winds up in a wealthy couple’s care and becomes the defender of Metro City. In contrast, the prisoners teach Megamind and his companion Minion (David Cross) about the particulars of the criminal life. This leads to years of strife between Megamind and Metro Man and in true superhero/supervillain fashion, the cobalt criminal usually ends up losing.
However, the film’s biggest subversion comes at the end of the first act. At first glance,Megamindplays out like your usual superhero story: Megamind and Minion kidnap reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey), hoping to lure Metro Man into a trap. But the trap actually works this time, as Metro Man is apparently weakened by copper and the walls of the location Megamind sent him to are lined with the metal. Megamind’s death ray then apparently obliterates the hero, granting Megamind the victory he’d been searching for all his life.
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This was a huge deal, especially since it went against everything superhero fans had been conditioned to believe. Villains never have a definitive victory over the hero. Lex Luthor will never kill Superman, Doctor Doom won’t achieve his lifelong dream of killing Mister Fantastic, etc. By taking the opposite direction,Megamindopens up a new avenue of storytelling and becomes an extremely more interesting story in the process. Even though he’s killed Metro Man, Megamind soon finds that without anyone to stop him, his life has no meaning - which sends him into an existential crisis, and the decision to make a new hero to fight.
And in true Megamind fashion, his choice happens to be the worst one. Megamind manages to infuse Roxanne’s cameraman Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill) with the powers of Metro Man and disguises himself as Hal’s “space dad” (in a clever homage toMarlon Brando’s performance inSuperman) in order to make him into the superhero “Titan”. However, Hal is only interested in trying to romance Roxanne, who turns down his affections. This leads Hal to commit a series of crimes, and when Megamind tries to provoke him into a fight, things take a turn for the worst since Hal is willing to use lethal force. The idea of the “legacy superhero” is a long-running theme in comic books: characters from Miles Morales to Wally West have taken up their mentors' mantles and carried on their legacy. Hal’s name is even a homage to a long-running superhero legacy, as he’s named after Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
However, those characters were generally good people and had the desire to do good, which is necessary for a superhero. Hal has no such compunctions; he even tells Megamind he only became the hero “to get the girl”. And after supposedly driving Megamind from Metro City, he proclaims it “under new management” - even kidnapping Roxanne to try and force Megamind into fighting him again. In the end, Hal’s bark proves to be much worse than his bite, as he flees from the sight of a returning Metro Man (even though it’s Megamind in disguise.) Megamind even puts it best: he’s a villain, “just not a very super one.” Hal even beat other characters to the punch, including Omni-Man fromInvincibleand Homelander fromThe Boys.
Speaking of Metro Man, it turns out that the superhero hadn’t actually died. Much like Megamind, he underwent his own existential crisis and decided to fake his own death to pursue a career in music. This breaks another long-running superhero tradition, as many superheroes aren’t allowed to retire or die. Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman have all either temporarily retired or died; no matter what, they always come back. Given the nature of the comic book medium, as well as said medium giving rise to an avalanche of films and television shows, their adventures will probably continue until the heat death of the universe. In contrast, Metro Man makes a decision to try and break out of the hero vs villain cycle, and voices his belief that Megamind will step up to take his place.
The relationships that Megamind cultivates with Minion and Roxanne also help the film stand out from the usual superhero fare. When planning to blow up a museum celebrating Metro Man, Megamind has to disguise himself as the museum’s curator Bernard (Ben Stiller) and ends up striking a relationship with Roxanne. This doesn’t sit well with Minion, who rightfully points out that Megamind’s romantic attraction to Roxanne is messing up his plan. Unlike other supervillain/henchman relationship, Minion and Megamind have a relatively healthy relationship. There’s no backstabbing in the vein of Starcream and Megatron from theTransformersfranchise - they genuinely seem like friends. It makes their brief seperation all the more painful, but their reunion all the sweeter.
Roxanne also proves to be extremely clever and resourceful, in the vein of her inspiration Lois Lane. Lois has been a crusader for the truth in comics canon, never letting death threats or anything else get in the way of her story. Not only does Roxanne continue to investigate Megamind’s plans, she’s also wise to his tricks. When he sets off an array of death traps, she remains unimpressed and points out how cliche they are. And when she learns Hal is Titan, she points out how bad of a choice he is as a hero; unsurprisingly, this turns out to be prophetic. Most love interests in superhero films often are passive characters in the narrative; Roxanne is one of the few that defies that role.
Though it was one of DreamWorks' lowest-grossing films,Megamindhas gathered a bit of a cult following. Peacock is aiming to tap into that following with a spinoff series titledMegamind’s Guide To Defending Your City. Hopefully, the streamer takes a look at how the original film approached the superhero genre and apply it to this new project.
