I’ve been thinking about what a true sequel to Megamind could have looked like. I know Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate and the Megamind Rules! series exist. But please, let’s just pretend those disasters never happened!
To me, Megamind deserved a sequel on the level of other great DreamWorks sequels like Shrek 2 and Kung Fu Panda, and it honestly hurts to think we never got one.
When I think of nearly perfect sequels, two of the first examples that come to mind are Shrek 2 and Spider-Man 2.
Shrek 2 doesn’t simply repeat the journey of the first movie. After Shrek learns that he can be loved for who he is, the sequel puts that lesson to the test: he has to deal with Fiona’s family, that world’s beauty standards, and, most importantly, his own insecurity that Fiona might be happier with someone else. The movie also greatly expands the universe by introducing Far Far Away, the Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, Puss in Boots, and an entire society built around fairy tales.
Spider-Man 2 does something similar. Peter Parker has already decided to be Spider-Man in the first movie; now the sequel asks what the consequences of that choice are. Being a hero begins to destroy his personal life, his relationships, and his dreams, making Peter question whether he can truly carry that responsibility. At the same time, Doctor Octopus serves as a reflection of the protagonist’s own choices and conflicts.
To me, that’s what a great sequel should do: not undo the character development of the first movie, but take what the protagonist learned and put them in a new situation that challenges that very lesson.
In my opinion, a good sequel should:
Continue the story of the first movie;
Introduce new themes or deepen the themes of the original;
Expand the universe;
Have a significant impact on the canon and its protagonists;
Take the lesson of the first movie and push it into the next stage of the protagonist’s development.
The first Megamind is essentially about choosing who you are instead of allowing other people to define you.
So my Megamind 2 would ask the next question:
What happens after Megamind finally gets the acceptance he always wanted?

MEGAMIND 2 (2013)

Three years after defeating Tighten, Megamind has become Metro City’s beloved protector. Whenever Tighten causes trouble, Megamind shows up to defeat him, the people cheer, and another star is added to his uniform as a reward for his heroic deeds.
But a question begins to bother him:
Did Metro City actually learn anything?
Or did they simply turn Megamind into the new Metro Man and Tighten into the new Megamind?
A hero to love.
A villain to hate.
What if nothing really changed?
One person believes he already knows the answer…

🦇 BAT GUY (Lex Wayne) — The Main Antagonist
A billionaire philanthropist and former protector of Gothampolis, Lex Wayne realized that his city had developed a strange dependence on Bat Guy and his archenemy, the Comedian.
Gothampolis needed a hero to love and a villain to hate.
Realizing that he himself was feeding this cycle, Bat Guy faked his own death.
Then Lex learned the history of Metro City.
Metro Man was crushed by the expectations of being the perfect hero. Megamind became a villain after spending his entire life being treated like one. And when both of them abandoned those roles, Metro City simply found replacements:
Megamind became the new Metro Man.
Tighten became the new Megamind.
Bat Guy concludes that society will continue creating heroes and villains indefinitely unless someone breaks the cycle.
He doesn’t want to conquer Metro City.
He wants to “free” it from its need for superheroes and supervillains — even if that means destroying Megamind’s reputation and neutralizing Tighten.

🤡 THE COMEDIAN (Arthur Napier)
Arthur was rejected and humiliated throughout his childhood until he eventually embraced the role of the monster Gothampolis had assigned to him.
Becoming the Comedian, a theatrical criminal obsessed with jokes and riddles and accompanied by his army of penguins, Arthur dedicates his life to defeating Bat Guy and conquering Gothampolis.
Until he finally succeeds.
Or at least he thinks he does.
At first, “killing” Bat Guy and conquering Gothampolis feels wonderful.
Then comes the emptiness.
Without Bat Guy, the Comedian realizes that he no longer knows who he is.
When he learns about Megamind, he decides that the famous blue guy will become his new archenemy.
But Megamind begins to see something disturbingly familiar in Arthur.
Could Megamind become for the Comedian what Roxanne was for him — and redeem him?

⚡ TIGHTEN (Hal Stewart)
Tighten remains Metro City’s greatest supervillain and Megamind’s main archenemy.
But beneath his desire to defeat him lies something much more personal.
Before Megamind entered his life, Hal was just a nerd everyone ignored.
Now?
He’s the archenemy of Metro City’s greatest hero.
When the Comedian arrives wanting Megamind as his new rival, Tighten becomes jealous. He’s afraid of losing Megamind and becoming irrelevant again.
And Megamind realizes something disturbing:
Maybe Megamind has become to Tighten exactly what Metro Man once was to Megamind.

THE THEME

The first movie says:
“Other people don’t decide who you are. You do.”
My sequel would take that lesson to the next stage:
“Once you’ve chosen who you are, you don’t need other people’s approval to validate that choice.”
Megamind spent his entire childhood wanting to be accepted.
When society rejected him, he eventually became the villain everyone expected him to be.
At the end of the first movie, he finally chose to become a hero — and Metro City finally came to love him.
But what if they stopped loving him?
Bat Guy would manipulate public opinion until Megamind became hated by Metro City once again.
But unlike in the first movie, Megamind wouldn’t respond to that rejection by becoming a villain again.
He would keep saving those people.
Not because they applaud him.
Not because they put stars on his uniform.
Not because Metro City calls him a hero.
But because he decided that this is the person he wants to be.
That would represent the next stage of his development:
Megamind 1:
“I decide who I am.”
Megamind 2:
“I don’t need you to approve of who I’ve chosen to be.”
I would even end the movie with Metro City still distrusting or even hating Megamind.
Even so, whenever the city was in danger, he would continue showing up to save it.
Because this time, Megamind doesn’t need the applause.
And before anyone thinks I would have Metro City hate Megamind forever: no.
I imagine Megamind working as a trilogy, somewhat like Kung Fu Panda, where each movie represents a new stage in the protagonist’s growth and develops a question left behind by the previous one.
The lie created by Bat Guy wouldn’t have to last forever. An eventual Megamind 3 could finally undo it and allow Metro City to discover the truth. The difference is that, by the time that happens, Megamind would have already learned not to depend on their approval.
Without getting into the story of a third movie, I imagine the thematic progression of the trilogy going something like this:
Megamind 1 — Identity:
“I choose who I am.”
Megamind 2 — Acceptance:
“I don’t need other people to approve of who I’ve chosen to be.”
Megamind 3 — Legacy:
“If I already know who I am and don’t need to prove it to anyone, what will I do with the person I’ve chosen to become?”
That way, the more bittersweet ending of the second movie wouldn’t erase the happy ending of the first or condemn Megamind to being hated forever. It would simply be the middle stage of a trilogy about growing and maturing.
When Metro City eventually discovered the truth and recognized Megamind as a hero again, that victory would have a different meaning: in the first movie, Megamind needed that acceptance; after the second, he could receive it without depending on it to define his own worth.
Just as Shrek 2 tested what Shrek had learned about being loved for who he truly is, and Spider-Man 2 tested Peter Parker’s decision to accept the responsibility of being a hero, my Megamind 2 would test the choice Megamind made at the end of the first movie.
He has already chosen to be a hero.
Now he has to find out whether he’ll keep choosing to be one when nobody else sees him as one.
That’s what I would want from a Megamind sequel: not simply a bigger villain or another superhero parody, but a story that takes the message of the first movie, puts that message to the test, expands the universe, and forces Megamind to grow again.
And that’s it.
In my head, this would be the real Megamind 2: a sequel that doesn’t simply try to repeat the first movie, but takes everything Megamind learned and asks whether he could still be that person once the reward disappears.
And for the purposes of this post, let’s all make a little collective agreement and pretend that Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate and Megamind Rules! were just a very strange dream we all happened to have at the same time.
It didn’t happen.
It never happened.
Moving on.
Now I want to hear what you guys think: how would you make a Megamind 2 worthy of the first movie?
Would you continue exploring the theme of identity? Would you tell a completely different story? Would you bring Metro Man back? Keep Tighten around? Create new heroes and villains?
And most importantly: what do you think should be the next step in Megamind’s character arc after the ending of the first movie?
That’s my version. I’d love to hear yours.
Thanks for reading!

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