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"  At first glance, Megamind might seem like your typical superhero movie. Good-looking protagonist Metro Main (Brad Pitt) must regularly defeat the blue, bulbous-headed villain Megamind (Will Ferrell). But there&amp;#039;s one key difference: This story is told from the point of view of the villain. And after Metro Man retires, Megamind is forced to become the hero when Metro City is faced with a terrible new villain. &amp;quot;Megamind&amp;#039;s skill is brainpower,&amp;quot; says director Tom McGrath. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s brain versus brawn in a way, and it&amp;#039;s a lot of do-it-yourself technology on his side. His lair&amp;#039;s actually in a power plant.&amp;quot; To create the animosity between Megamind and Metro Man, McGrath drew from the real-life rivalry between scientists Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. &amp;quot;Edison was the hero, but he had a dark side,&amp;quot; McGrath says. &amp;quot;Tesla was really the guy who made it all happen, but he was vilified by Edison. It&amp;#039;s kind of the thing I grabbed onto.&amp;quot; And Tesla&amp;#039;s influence extends beyond just the story; the scientist, who invented alternating current electrical systems, even informed Megamind&amp;#039;s look. &amp;quot;Looking at old pictures of Nikola Tesla there are some parallels and little things we did with production design,&amp;quot; McGrath says. &amp;quot;The root power source is that Tesla plasma, which was given to him in a binkie [when he was] a child.&amp;quot; Megamind&amp;#039;s DIY technology is thrown together, with the help of his sidekick, Minion (David Cross), from found objects. The villain&amp;#039;s gadgets range from the conventional\u2014vehicles\u2014to the wildly sci-fi. &amp;quot;He has a disguise generator watch that can scan someone, take their image and then project that image over himself,&amp;quot; McGrath says. He also has a gun that&amp;#039;s capable of destroying, dehydrating and decoupaging. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s able to dehydrate inanimate objects and rehydrate them,&amp;quot; the director explains. &amp;quot;Everything in his world has a look of intimidation, to evoke fear.&amp;quot; McGrath wanted Megamind&amp;#039;s gadgets to have a hint of realism, so he looked at current technology for inspiration. &amp;quot;I love the details of that stuff,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;It has to look like it works. So it isn&amp;#039;t really a cartoony world as much as it is applied science and technology. [We actually built] settling canisters [in the computer], even though they&amp;#039;re repurposed for another one of Megamind&amp;#039;s inventions. The details are as accurate as we can make them.&amp;quot; McGrath, a self-confessed science nerd and DIY guy\u2014&amp;quot;As much as I love to draw and paint, building things has been my best hobby&amp;quot;\u2014believes hands-on people everywhere will find something to relate to in Megamind. &amp;quot;The world, the devices, the thinking that goes into the devices,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;Any kind of garage tinkerer could think of himself as a mad scientist, in a way. And Megamind ends up being the good guy, so do-it-yourself wins.&amp;quot;      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a11677/megamind-inspired-by-edison-tesla-science-and-diy/>