And if I said Megamind is one of the few movies that understands Superman.
And if I said Megamind through its three subversions of Superman shows a deeper understanding that the point of Superman is that he was loved and taught to love by good, present parents, and because of that he is able to return that love to a world even if it doesn't always accept it, and he is not corrupted by his power, than many other films either subverting or playing the superman story straight.
Megamind has three Superman subversions. One is obviously Megamind himself. He was not raised loved by the world, but rather was loved by those hated by the world. Because he was still raised with love, he does care about other people, hence his character development. But because he didn't receive wider love growing up, his own is misplaced at first.
Metro Man was not loved growing up in a way that mattered. His adopted father was clearly very absent, and while we don't know much about his family, their relationship seems superficial. Because of this, his sense of duty to the world is also superficial, hence his boredom.
Hal wasn't raised with power. He gained it and was shown how to use it by a 'space dad' who only taught him power and not love. Hence, he sees it only as a grasping means to an end.
All three of these subversions, in their negative space, create the silhouette of the superhero that they are parodying. That silhouette is of a space child that came to earth and was cared for very deeply by the world, and taught love through his experience of love, and because of that holds fast to his duty to the world. Which is Superman.
I want this person and this person only writing and directing Superman movies for the rest of my life
I think it's also important to note that all three characters genuinely show just how much they are or aren't good people in the very beginning of the movie. Megamind is directly shown, he was rejected by his peers and treated as evil, so he decided that he must be evil. But Metro Man is hamming it up every single time he speaks, and if you really listen, it's pretty clear that he doesn't really want to be there. He has more fun bantering with Megamind than anything else.
And Hal. Hal is selfish in that way that incels are, where he never really matured past the age of four, and he sees Roxie not as a person he respects and admires, but as a goal. He doesn't love her, he loves the idea of being with her because he thinks that he deserves a woman and because Roxie is forced to spend time with him because of her job.
And not just that, but Megamind automatically assumed that an average person who was suddenly given power would inherently decide, independently, to use it ethically. It literally didn't cross that big blue mind of his that Hal couldn't be trusted with immense power.
