Tighten (real name Hal Stewart) is the main antagonist of DreamWorks Animation's 2010 feature film Megamind. First, he was the nerdy cameraman of Roxanne Ritchi, who had an unrequited crush on her, but the former had no interests in him. This time, Hal becomes a vengeful, traitorous, and destructive supervillain when he gets hit by the power serum of the titular character in hopes of turning him into Metro City's newest superhero after "destroying" Metro Man and took over the city, which led Megamind into redeeming himself and stop his new foe once and for all.

Background

Personality

As his former self Hal, he tends to be somewhat civil and sophisticated towards Roxanne, having a crush on her and would try to woo her, though she feels uncomfortable by his attempts. One example being were he invites her over to his place for a party where it's just going to be the two of them with a wedding photographer and a bouncy castle there. He also tends to be quite childish, immature (as when he throws a tantrum after accidentally slamming his hand on his news van), lazy, nadir and incompatible (as he criticized Roxanne’s sentimental news script on Metro Man, unknowing that she had in fact written the script herself).

After being equipped with Metro Man's powers, Hal (going by the name Tighten) became more determined to use his powers to win Roxanne's heart much like how Metro Man stuck with being a hero in order to gain adoration, but his recklessness caused Roxanne to reject him, much to Hal's distress and anger and leading him down into a dark path, where he starts abusing his powers for nefarious and diabolical purposes, something that even Megamind is disgusted to learn about. After learning that Megamind was the one who gave him the powers and was dating Roxanne at that time, Tighten became hell-bent on destroying Megamind for "stealing his girlfriend" and later causes havoc on Metro City with his powers, much to his pleasure and everyone's dismay and horror (including Megamind).

As such, Tighten is more evil than Megamind ever was. While Megamind acted as a villain to get attention and balance out of his former rival Metro Man, Tighten acted purely out of spite, caused so much destruction for his amusement and has shown no signs of sympathy or remorse for it. He also has proven to be in denial; retorting to Roxanne that he didn't have any good in himself and blaming Megamind for making a fool out of him (though Megamind rightfully points out that Tighten is making a fool out of himself by squandering his powers for his gain).

Tighten also proved to be quite cowardly and overwrought, as when Metro Man (who was Megamind in disguise) arrived to confront him for his rampage, Tighten panicked and tried to fly away, though he later learnt the truth and fought Megamind for it.

One of his most notable traits is his complete lack of intelligence, as he fell for all of Megamind's lies, still believed Megamind's lie about his "Space Step-Mom" (which in fact was Minion in disguise), even after Megamind admitted his deceit (which may actually be his sole redeeming quality and a suggestion that he has standards against cheating) and later told Roxanne that fictional characters weren't real by using the Queen of England as an "example", apparently unaware of this fact. However, there are moments where Tighten does have intelligence as he was able to deduce Megamind was disguised as Metro Man after he had mispronounced Metro City as "Metrocity".

Tighten himself is shown to be very short tempered, sadistic, irate, violent, unstable, vengeful, rude, destructive, and wrathful when Megamind fooled him into thinking he was his Space Dad.

Physical appearances

Hal is a short and overweight young man with short ginger hair and brown eyes. He usually wears a light vest and a black t-shirt with emoticons on it. After gaining Metro Man's powers, Hal also gains his height and body shape, his hair is long and curly, and his face and eyes are the same. He also wears a red and white suit with flames on it and is capable of stretching. After getting his powers taken away by Megamind, Hal gains his short hair and overweight body again, but he still wears his suit. When he is arrested and sent to jail, Hal wears an orange jumpsuit, and he still has his short hair and overweight body. After obtaining Metro Man and Megamind's DNAs, Hal not only regains his body shape and his suit, but his skin also turns blue, just like Megamind's.

Powers and Abilities

• Megamind's Serum (formerly): After being accidentally infused with Metro Man's DNA, Hal gained Metro Man's powers and abilities, making him significantly more powerful than an average person. It was later taken away by Megamind in their final battle.
• Near-Invulnerability: Tighten is highly resistant to pain and can survive huge explosions. He can also withstand the weight of a skyscraper as he lifts it over his head without any part of his body breaking, and is extremely resistant to his own strength. When he flies and lands suddenly, when he sends Megamind several meters into the sky or when he uses all his strength to lift a gigantic building, rip the door off a car and smash through a reinforced copper wall, Tighten doesn't get hurt.
• Superhuman Strength: After gaining Metro Man's powers, Hal gains significant strength. He can pick up and throw objects with extreme force. His strength is so vast that he is able to lift a Skyscraper and throw it against Megamind with precision.
• Superhuman Stamina: Hal is able to keep up with a long fight against Megamind without being slightly or not at all tired or out of breath, as well as a day of mass destruction in the city, all while remaining perfectly athletic.
• Superhuman Endurance: After receiving Metro Man's powers, Hal also inherited the latter's Endurance, having spent an entire week wreaking havoc all over the city.
• Superhuman Senses: After being enhanced with Megamind's super-serum, Tighten's senses have been significantly developed to enable him to detect anything at great distances, while retaining astounding sensitivity.
  • Superhuman Hearing: Although not all of Hal's senses (as Tighten) were shown, he does have super-hearing, able to hear Roxanne Ritchie from miles away while flying.
  • Telescopic Vision: Like Metro Man, Hal gains supervision after obtaining his powers. He is able to see his targets clearly from afar.
• Accelerated Perception: Titan’s perception has a superhuman perception, especially when it flies and explodes a sound boom, he is able to perceive the world around him. However, he was completely disoriented when Metro Man (Megamind in disguise) appeared and he began to make mistakes, while losing his head, he stopped and fled when Metro Man grabbed him by his shirt.
• Flight/Levitation: He has the ability to fly and levitate from the ground. Although he was somehow unable to fully manoeuvre it first-hand, he got used to it afterward. As Tighten, he has incredible speed, he can easily catch on Megamind as the latter attempts to flee from him. Under the influence of the fear of being stopped by Metro Man, he even manages to break the Sound Barrier and cause a Sonic Boom.
  • Aerial Adaptation: Tighten is able to survive and adapt to extremely high or low air pressure (not becoming disoriented or deprived of normal breathing capacity), and high wind friction, which is accompanied by innate immunity to vertigo and/or fear of heights.
  • Acceleration Immunity: Tighten is immune to the various effects of rapid acceleration, including air resistance, inability to breathe, dynamic shock resulting from contact with objects at high speed, breaking the sound barrier, etc.
• Heat Vision: Powerful cherry red laser beams generated by Tighten's absorption of ambient heat are powerful enough to vaporize any material.
• X-Ray Vision: Given that Tighten has all the powers of Metro Man, he also has an X-Ray Vision, although it remains less powerful and accurate than Metro Man’s, it would not be surprising that it is limited to seeing through lead.

Skills

• Intimidation: At first, Hal wasn't very intimidating at all, but once transformed into Tighten, everyone dreaded him, because unlike Megamind, who did the "crime" to "have fun" with Metro Man and everything was just a big act, Hal acted with fury and never tried to do anything good, destroying everything in his path out of sheer fury.

Appearances

Megamind

Hal was first seen during the grand opening of the Metro Man Museum on Metro Man Day filming Roxanne while she was reporting live, from the dedication of the Metro Man Museum, and later inadvertently insults the report Roxanne written herself, telling her that the stuff they make her read on the air, and finds it crazy, until Roxanne reprimands him that she wrote it herself, while Hal revealed he couldn't believe that in their modern society they let like actual art get onto the news, and tells Roxanne that they should just get some coffee, but Roxanne stated that it was time to get into the Metro Man day spirit. However, Hal was not interested in joining the celebration in honoring Metro Man, telling Roxanne that if he were Metro Man, he wouldn't let Megamind kidnap her, and be watching her, like a dingo who was watching a human baby, which makes Roxanne disturbed by Hal's creepy advances toward her. But while Hal kept telling Roxanne that he'd keep watching her and nearly tells her that he loves her, without admitting that they are in love with each other, and was uploading his camera, Roxanne was but in a coma by Megamind's sidekick, Minion, who was riding in the invisible car, and kidnapped Roxanne to pick up Megamind before his escape from prison. Hal didn't notice this, and got confused when Roxanne went missing.

After Megamind "defeats" Metro Man by blowing him up with his death ray in outer space and took over Metro City, Hal was present with Roxanne and the other press filming Megamind who was giving a speech to the public before Roxanne tries stands up to him, demanding to know what he'll do with everyone and the city, and Hal looked excited to figure out what Megamind was going to do next. One night, Hal filmed Roxanne who gives a live report on Metro Man's "death", and said they should rap that up and give it to a child un Christmas when they were done tonight. While Hal looked happy, Roxanne was only depressed after this, while mourning Metro Man, so Hal stated that he's having a party at his house and invites her to come, even telling her that he hired a DJ, rented a bouncy house and made a gallon of dip, but Roxanne didn't feel like to be around a bunch of people, but Hal said it'll be only the two of them, which makes Roxanne well uncomfortable when Hal was trying to charm her. Hal even said he hired a wedding photographer, which was just in case if something would happen to them, and they would wanna picture of it like a memory, and wonders if Roxanne was soft on Thursday, but Roxanne politely declines his invitation. After this, Hal becomes very emotional and had breakdown after Roxanne rejects his proposal and for him renting a bouncy house, knowing that women are inserted in clowns rather than bouncy houses and drives away.

One day, when Roxanne befriends Bernard who was actually Megamind in a disguise who inspired Roxanne to figure out Megamind's evil plans for the city and stop it, only for the latter who was inspired by Roxanne to create a new superhero for Metro City, after learning that heroes aren't born, they are made, she brought Hal along with her who carried his video camera, and seeing her disappearing again, not knowing that she entered the evil lair through secret entrance. While Hal trying to look for Roxanne, he heard a noise coming from the pipes, wondering if it was Roxanne, until the Metro Man's DNA ejects into his nose. When Roxanne takes Hal home, Megamind and Minion who have been following them, break into Hal's apartment and knock him out with the Forget Me Stick after they ran out of knock out spray. Once Hal becomes tall and muscular with Metro Man's powers, Megamind who disguises himself as his Space Dad with Minion disguising himself as his Space Stepmom, tell him that they came to guide him on his path to become the new Superhero of Metro City and battle Megamind. They train Hal pretty bad, but it ended up becoming a success, and Hal is gifted with his supersuit, and takes on the name "Titan", which he misspells as "Tighten". When "Space Dad" asks Hal if he has someone special in his life, Hal told him that it was this really good looking one he got eyes on currently, so "Space Dad" tells him that romance was inspiring, and all Hal had to do was saving her, and she'll accept him.

One night, Hal now in his supersuit appears flying right behind Roxanne's back at her balcony when she wonders what Tighten means. Roxanne was pretty shock to witness Tighten behind her, and was not really flirted by him and had no reply of accepting flowers from him. When Roxanne asks what he wants, Tighten thought about taking her flying around town to get to know each other a little bit. When Tighten takes Roxanne flying through the city and decided to save her few times before they get all romantic. Recklessly, Tighten drops Roxanne few times, even throws her in the air before passing through a giant building and grabs Roxanne. When they arrived at Metro Tower, Roxanne asked who Tighten really was, so Tighten revealed himself as Hal, much to Roxanne's shock and did not find it great to see Hal as a superhero. When Hal believed they were fighting about something, he believed it was so them and that they were like an old married couple, but Roxanne backs away from him and says that there is no them and there will never be any of them, stating that neither Hal or Tighten is her type, like Metro Man was never really her type. Hal tried to state that his power and cape, and that he was the good guy, but has a breakdown when Roxanne said that they need to find out why he was chosen to become the new hero, only for the latter to nearly accept that Roxanne was actually rejecting him and told her that she was supposed to be with him. But when Roxanne called him by real name, Hal told that he was Tighten, not Hal, and flies away in fury, leaving her at Metro Tower. Hal even witnessed Roxanne on a date with "Bernard", heartbroken and slowly flies away without being witnessed by Roxanne.

When Megamind was ready to battle the new hero, Tighten fails to show up, and Megamind's been waiting for an hour in his gigantic robot. Feeling embarrassed and ignored, Megamind goes to confront Tighten in his apartment, and becomes shocks to see all the loot Tighten has stolen. Tighten said being a hero was a workaholic waste of time, and told Megamind that he only did this to get the girl and it turns out Roxanne doesn't want anything to do with him. This horrifies Megamind to discover that Tighten was actually in love with Roxanne Ritchi and saw her having dinner with Bernard who was actually Megamind. Tighten said he and Megamind should team up and rule the city with each others' abilities, and drew a new costume design. Megamind berates Tighten for using his powers for his own personal gain, and even reveals to him that he was the one who made him a hero and been disguising himself as Tighten's Space Dad and Bernard to trick him. Tighten becomes furious and battles Megamind. Tossing his giant robot into the air and pushing it to the ground, Megamind believed Tighten was doing his heroic things, and said he can take him to jail now. But Tighten now in a murderous rage plans to either sent Megamind to the morgue by killing Megamind. Megamind escapes with the help of his brainbots until a giant truck blows up and he collapse on the ground with Tighten approaching, ready to finish him off, but was trapped under a giant hole made of the same copper that was from the observatory that Metro Man "died" in. Thought he was powerless against it, Tighten easily breaks out of it, and throws it at Megamind, saying that he should stop comparing him to Metro Man. When the Mayor and the citizen of Metro City believed Tighten to be the new hero and freed them, Tighten said he was more like under new management and flicks the mayor away.

Once Tighten begin to take over the city, Megamind asks help from Roxanne to figure out Tighten's weakness before he destroys the whole city. They go to Metro Man's old hideout to discover that he was actually alive and faked his death to retire as the hero of Metro City to chase his dream for music. Megamind desperately asked Metro Man's help to stop Tighten, but Metro Man couldn't bring himself into coming out of retirement or explain everything to the public like how he explain it to Megamind and Roxanne. Hopelessly, Megamind knew he could never defeat Tighten for being the bad guy and returns to prison. Guilty for hurting Tighten's feelings, Roxanne decided to reason with Hal, telling him that they've worked together for a long time and that he knows him. Tighten who have renamed Metro City into Tightenville, believed Roxanne came to her senses after seeing how awesome he was. But Tighten was over her, meaning that he was no longer in love with Roxanne, and tells her that she never took the time to know him since they begin working together. When they were hanging out socially on the time when Tighten was going to destroy the city, Roxanne wanted to talk to the real Hal, the guy who loved being a cameraman, eating dip and being a nerd, and not as scary as the Tighten-Hal. But it was no use to reason with Tighten who kidnaps Roxanne and restrains her on Metro Tower calling to Megamind on TV, threatening to kill Roxanne if he will waste time of showing up like he Tighten did.

Seeing this on TV, Megamind is freed by Minion out of prison and they go off confronting Tighten and save Roxanne. Tighten was filming Roxanne at Metro Tower, telling the audience that she ferociously ripped out his heart for rejecting him, and that he hates reminders. After waiting for an hour, Tighten believed that Megamind wasn't gonna show up and was about to push the tower to the ground with Roxanne meeting her demise. She calls to Hal, begging him not to do this, and knew there was still good inside Hal. But Hal knew that Roxanne had always been so naive for seeing good in everybody even when it's not there, telling her that she was living a fantasy and that an Easter Bunny, or a Tooth Fairy and Queen of England doesn't exists, which make Roxanne see that Hal has no more good in him or anymore redeeming qualities. When Hal tells Roxanne that this was the real world and she needed to wake up, he hears the song "Welcome to the Jungle" playing, and that Megamind has arrived to challenge him in order rescue Roxanne from being killed. When Tighten said that this town wasn't big enough for two supervillains, Megamind tells him that he was a villain, but not a super one. When Tighten asked what the difference were, Megamind revealed himself and tells him it was a presentation. Tighten engages to attack Megamind, but he was swallowed by the brainbots who were a shape of Megamind, but blows them all up with his laser eyes and sees Megamind escaping with Roxanne, so Tighten lifts Metro Tower aiming at the right direction and throws to them.

When Megamind lost control of his flying bike, he threw Roxanne to safety and kind injured himself once the tower stopped moving. Seeing Megamind unconscious, Roxanne goes on to check on him, but Tighten lands on the ground saying it was easy to defeat Megamind and that there was only one loose end now and pushes giant bus in attempt to kill Roxanne, but it was shredded in two peaces by Metro Man who tells him that they should have a respect for a public transports. Tighten was shocked to see Metro Man alive, and thought he was actually dead, Metro Man told him that his death was greatly exaggerated. When Metro Man knew Tighten was the punk he heard about and was ready to fight him, Tighten became fearful of Metro Man and flew away with Metro Man on his tail. When Roxanne checks on Megamind, she learns that it was actually Minion who saved her from the tower by disguising himself as Megamind and told her that Metro Man who was actually Megamind in a disguise was the real hero. While Megamind possessing as Metro Man chased down Tighten, asking if he was going somewhere besides jail. Tighten believed he finally lost the sight of "Metro Man", only to be grabbed by him who threatens to punch him in the face and begged him not to do it. "Metro Man" told Tighten was good for him, and orders him to leave and stay out of Metrosity. So Tighten flies away from the city, believing that he was finally defeated after being spared by "Metro Man".

However, Tighten knew there was only one guy who called the town Metrosity, Megamind. Megamind tries to punch Tighten in the face, but he was too strong and felt pain in his hand while laughing. Tighten then throws Megamind away and uses his laser eyes to kill him. But when Roxanne witnesses the Invisible Car and knew Megamind's diffuser gun to take away Tighten's power was in there. Megamind couldn't do that earlier after losing both things in the rain when Roxanne dumped him after discovering that Bernard was Megamind, so now Megamind that the chance to remove Tighten's power by looking back at his car, cause he then found out that Roxanne did look back at him when she walked away from him. Tighten then damaged Megamind's jetpack and punched to a wall where he managed to get into the Invisible Car and turns on the diffuser gun to take away Tighten's powers. Tighten than rips car door off to find Megamind inside the car and sent him flying to the air. Tighten slowly follows her to a fountain and was ready to finish her off with his laser eyes. But when Megamind's De-Gun falls into the water after Megamind turns himself into an ice cube and it falls to the water with Megamind appearing and catching the diffuser gun. When Tighten witnessed this in a shock, he fails to use his laser eyes when Megamind puts the gun into his nose and takes away his powers. Now with Tighten defeated, Hal was arrested and sent to prison where remains at Megamind's old prison cell while Megamind is hailed as the new hero of Metro City.

Video games

Megamind: Ultimate Showdown

Megamind: Mega Team Unite

Gallery

Universal Studios Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Tighten.

Trivia

• Hal's name is a combination of the names Hal Jordan and John Stewart, two of the Green Lanterns. His name may also be a reference to a character from the short lived series, Masked Rider, a spin-off of Power Rangers.
• He was played by Jonah Hill who also voiced Snotlout Jorgenson from How to Train Your Dragon and would later portray a villain version of himself in This is the End.
• Following Queen Elizabeth II's death on September 8th, 2022, many people on the internet post Tighten's famous quote: "There is no Queen of England".
• Tighten is considered one of the most popular DreamWorks villains, alongside many other DreamWorks villains before and after him.
• Hal Stewart (Tighten) in Megamind is similar Syndrome in The Incredibles. Both were regular individuals who idolized a certain person in their life (Mr. Incredible for Syndrome and Roxanne Ritchie for Tighten) and ended up becoming the villain because they were rudely rejected by them. In certain aspect both spite the protagonists when they're at their lowest, have red/orange hair and both are easily short-sighted. The main difference is that Syndrome's abilities came directly from him while Tighten's powers were given to him by accident.