Megamind was such a good movie I remember as a kid being a captivated by the idea of a villain protagonist who actually comes out on top and defeats the hero (or seemingly defeats him). its a profound movie and speaks on multiple issues. In the first act we get a taste of nature v.s. nurture. Megamind, the underdog anti hero is raised in a prison by convicted felons, this is an issue for our protagonist because our first sense of right and wrong comes from those who raise us and obviously these criminals aren’t going to have strong moral fiber like the “hero” metro man’s parents. Megamind is then bullied by other children at school and his self esteem drops so low that he believes that “being bad is the one thing I’m good at”. It may not seem like it but I believe Megamind suffers from severe depression, behind his witty humor and seemingly confident attitude, Megamind’s tale is crushingly dark, he believes he is defined by his rivalry with metro man who constantly defeats and embarrasses him. Once he kills metro man (which causes him extreme guilt) he feels lost and without purpose, realizing that his rivalry and his hatred was the only thing that gave meaning to his life. He then creates a new nemesis who turns evil causing Megamind even more guilt, believing himself to be at heart only capable of evil. On top of this he is outcast and shunned by all of society only further reinforcing his idea that he is “the baddest boy of them all” no one in the movie is seen ever reaching out to Megamind nobody once gives him the love and support he desperately needs aside from his faithful minion of course, it reminds me of the quote by mark twain
“But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most, our one fellow and brother who most needed a friend yet had not a single one, the one sinner among us all who had the highest and clearest right to every Christian's daily and nightly prayers, for the plain and unassailable reason that his was the first and greatest need, he being among sinners the supremest?”
He is feared by all and he has come to accept that fear is the only for of respect which he deserves. He is so despised that when he makes an attempt to connect with someone he feels the need to disguise himself so that they are not automatically repulsed by him. This belief is reaffirmed by the fact that as soon as Roxanne discovers his true identity she too abandons him. Megamind is stuck in what is referred to as a self fulfilling prophecy, his actions towards others impact other’s beliefs about him which impact their actions towards him which reinforce his beliefs about himself which influence his actions towards others and so on. Megamind is seen as evil in part because he is so firmly stuck in the belief that that’s all he will ever be. in fact after he is defeated by Hal (who represents the vile incel community, further speaking on modern day issues), he discoveres that his old nemesis, metro man still lives. Metro man tells Megamind that he needs to be the hero but megamind is so firmly stuck in the belief that he can never be anything more than a villain that he instead decides to imprison himself, only stepping up to face Hal when he realizes that the woman he loves is in danger (cliche I know but this movie gets a pass) this is all well and good except Megamind’s confidence in still so low that he feels he must disguise himself as metro man in order to save the day, believing that this is the only way he will have the support of the people and be able to intimidate Hal. To Megamind’s horror Hal realizes his true identity and Megamind is forced to fight Hal as himself, overcoming his fear Megamind defeats hal by embracing who he is telling Hal “you’re a villain all right, just not a super one.” After this to his surprise Megamind is accepted by the people but more importantly he has come to be accepted by himself, fully completing his redemption arc. “Megamind” is a dark tale of emptiness, defeat, rejection, and redemption. Megamind teaches us that we are not defined by what others think of us we always have a choice to be better no matter how dark things may seem.
TL;DR: Megamind is a profound film about a man (or alien) who is severely depressed which drives him to do unspeakable things but he overcomes this in the end and redeems himself in the eyes of society, showing us that we are not defined by what others think of us and we always have a choice to be better.