Syndrome vs Tighten (The Incredibles vs Megamind)
"In superhero comics, pretty much everyone who's called upon to put on the cape is, at heart, emotionally equipped for the job. I reject that premise." - Mark Waid
Syndrome, superhero fanatic turned greatest enemy of The Incredibles Tighten, dweeby cameraman turned superhuman terror from Megamind
Superheroes can come in all shapes and sizes, but the same easily goes for their super villains. These two redheads were initially introduced as unassuming and kind of pathetic, wanting to become great heroes mainly to impress someone they admired. But after this person rejected them, they’d turn to bitterness and use their potential for heroics to become some of the most dangerous super villains of their worlds. They also both are at their core criticisms of toxic mindsets who viewed themselves as entitled to what they were rejected in an extreme, with Syndrome being an obsessive fan and Tighten an obsessive suitor. Despite this, they also couldn’t be further apart in their capabilities. So, in this battle of the 3D animated supervillains, which of the two will triumph when met face to face with another villain?
Before We Begin
Both characters will be drawn from information from everything in their individual franchises, including the films, animated shorts, video games, comics, and anything else that’s consistent. Though this does have the exception of any scaling from other universes in crossovers, so things such as Disney Infinity, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, and DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing will not be on the table.
Background
Syndrome
“Sure it was difficult, but you are worth it. I mean, after all... I am your biggest fan.”
From a young age, Buddy Pines would find himself enamored with the might of superheroes, especially the greatest among them, Mr Incredible. His main goal in life was to become the sidekick to him, Incrediboy, helping him fight crime while using some gadgets he invented to make up for his lack of powers. Unfortunately for him, Mr Incredible did not agree to his plan, shutting down his persistence with increasingly aggressive methods. During one fateful night where Buddy's interference ended with a villain named Bomb Voyage escaping and a train of innocent people injured, Mr Incredible would coldly tell Buddy that he works alone, and later would hand him over to the police for his own safety. However, Buddy didn’t see it this way. He thought that his idol had rejected him purely because of his lack of powers. As such, he’d be filled with resentment and swear revenge on his former idol, losing sense of morality in the process. If he wouldn’t respect and take on Incrediboy as a sidekick, then he’d earn his respect through fear of the supervillain Syndrome.
As he grew into adulthood, he’d find himself in a world where superheroes had been outlawed, after a series of lawsuits from civilians dissatisfied with their rescues. Because of this, he’d begin developing and selling weapons to the highest bidders, building a fortune off the backs of this. He’d develop a secret base hidden within a tropical island, at which he’d start his master plan, which was known as Operation Kronos. Through his agents, he’d end up contacting various retired super heroes, seemingly to deal with a rogue robot. However, this was actually a front to have the robot defeat and kill them and learn about their fighting style, and the few who managed to win were met with an upgraded model specifically designed to defeat them. He’d manage to kill off enough people to get it to version 8, at which point a chance spotting from one of his agents led him to his former idol, now living a boring suburban life as Bob Parr. He’d approach Mr Incredible, and he naturally jumped at the opportunity to go back into hero work, and he managed to defeat the Omnidroid himself. After another round of upgrades, Syndrome lured him back to the island, where he was easily overpowered by the new droid, after which Syndrome revealed himself.
Mr Incredible would manage to escape from Syndrome’s grasp, and snuck into his base, at which he uncovered Syndrome's plan. He’d rebuild the Omnidroid to a bigger form, unleash it on a city unprepared to fight back, and would then stage himself as a hero that saved the city from it, forming himself as the idol Mr Incredible didn’t. After discovering this, Bob would end up getting captured, due to his worried wife, another former superhero named Elastigirl, activating a tracking device hidden in his suit. His wife would attempt to fly a jet over to the island to save him, which had been secretly boarded by the two’s older children Violet and Dash. The plane would end up shot down, stranding the family on the island. They’d do some shenanigans where Dash blatantly kills a bunch of dudes and the whole family would reunite, before Syndrome promptly captured all of them. He’d then explain his ultimate goal: after he’s retired from super heroics, he’d sell his technology to the masses, allowing everyone the chance to become a superhero, and invalidating the need for Supers to exist in the first place. After all, when everyone’s super, no one is.
Syndrome would then fly off to the city where the Omnidroid was attacking, staging a fight where he’d look like the one to defeat it with the use of a remote that controlled its movements. However, he didn’t expect the Omnidroid’s learning algorithms to flag the remote, and as such, himself, as a threat, which led to him getting caught off guard and incapacitated. It fell to the Incredibles, who had managed to pursue him, to save the day and defeat the robot themselves, opening public opinion to allow Supers to be legal once again. Infuriated at his plot being ruined, as well as the Incredible’s reporting on him led to his company’s assets being frozen, he’d go to the Parr’s home and ended up convincing an oddly overworked babysitter that he was a replacement sitter that hadn’t been hired, which he used as a means to attempt to kidnap the Incredibles’ baby son, Jack Jack. He’d almost make his getaway, only to discover mid-flight that the child wasn’t as unprotected as he thought, as Jack Jack had just gained access to a variety of superpowers that he proceeded to use to beat the shit out of Syndrome. Beaten, the supervillain would then attempt to flee, swearing vengeance on the family and promising to kidnap Jack Jack. But Mr Incredible would end up interrupting this by tossing a car at the jet, cutting his escape off. And due to opting for a cape, Syndrome’s own life would end up cut short by his plane’s own jet turbines catching it, leading to the plane exploding with him along with it.
Despite his death, Syndrome had left an undeniable mark on the world. His initial interference with Mr Incredible's fight with Bomb Voyage indirectly had led to superheroes being outlawed in the first place, and in the aftermath of his Omnidroid’s rampage, that outlawing would end up repealed as the world realized it still needed heroes. He may not have ended up the super sidekick he dreamed of becoming as a child, but his cunning and intellect as a supervillain made him gain just as much attention, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
Tighten
“Oh, I wouldn't say "freed." More like, under new management.”
Metro City had long been the site of a battle between the champion of justice Metro Man and the dastardly evil genius Megamind, with reporter Roxanne Ritchi being caught in the middle as a frequent kidnapping victim that Metro Man would always rescue from Megamind’s evil clutches. However, everything would change when one day, Megamind’s machinations actually paid off, with Metro Man seemingly dying amidst an orbital strike due to being trapped in a dome of copper, his apparent weakness. Megamind would then take over the city, causing various chaos, but he’d eventually grow despondent, having no idea what to do with himself without a nemesis to fight. As such, he’d end up forming a plan: He’d take a scrap of Metro Man’s DNA and create a serum which would give someone the late superhero’s powers, and then would secretly train them as the next superhero to fight him and defend the city in Metro Man’s place. Meanwhile, with who everyone assumed to be her boyfriend presumed dead, Roxanne’s cameraman Hal Stewart had been trying to act on his infatuations with her, but wasn’t getting much luck due to acting like a bit of a creep. Roxanne would end up breaking into Megamind’s lair herself with Hal in tow, wanting to find a way to stop whatever his next plans were. And amidst a scuffle with the supervillain, Hal would end up accidentally injected with the super serum. While Megamind’s minion named Minion suggested removing the powers due to Hal not having any sort of impressive records, Megamind was convinced the accident was fate, and as such, the two would disguise themselves as his “space dad and space step mom”, and began training him as the superhero Titan, which Hal misunderstood the spelling of as Tighten (and all official material would refer to him as such, so I’m going to do the same).
Tighten would progress through the training pretty well, managing to gain a good grasp on his powers. But as it turned out, his goals for becoming a hero were far from noble, as he had done it under the belief that Roxanne would fall in love with him, as he felt the only thing Metro Man had that he didn’t was super powers. He’d end up flying over the city, putting her life at risk to claim he “saved” it. However, after learning he really was Hal, Roxanne would definitively reject his advances, causing him to fly off, and later was even more saddened on learning she was on a date with some weird guy. His main motivation for being a hero gone, Tighten would end up going into a life of crime, and when Megamind came to him, he was appalled to learn Hal was squandering his gifts. He’d goad Tighten into a fight by revealing he was really behind Hal’s new powers, along with the fact he was really the weird guy Roxanne was dating. The two would then have a duel which Tighten would win, but instead of taking him to jail like he expected, Tighten would attempt to kill Megamind, who would barely escape with his life. The citizens of Metroville would thank their apparent savior, only for Tighten to establish he intended to take over the city as ruler himself.
After causing destruction, Roxanne would attempt to reason with him, trying to find goodness in him. Tighten would reject this notion, kidnapping her and demanding Megamind come to face him. After some inspiring words from Metro Man, who had faked his death to get out of being a hero, Megamind would do so, using a bike to escape with Roxanne and seemingly dying to a skyscraper’s top stabbing him. Tighten would then try to kill Roxanne, only to be stopped by a surprise showing of the thought to be dead Metro Man, who would intimidate Tighten into leaving. Exactly according to Megamind’s plan, as he had disguised himself as Metro Man and used some tech to appear to be flying while Minion pretended to be him. Too bad Tighten ended up seeing through the disguise, and would return, nearly killing him by tossing him in the air. However, Megamind would end up outsmarting him one last time, managing to take away Tighten’s powers in the process. The now powerless Hal would end up in jail, with Megamind becoming the new protector of Metro City.
Though this isn’t quite where his story ends. In the Megamind: Ultimate Showdown video game, Tighten would end up forming a team of super villains named the Doom Syndicate, who’d steal Metro Man and Megamind’s DNA to give Tighten his power back, along with gaining the blue skin and intelligence of Megamind, becoming the very creatively named Blue Tighten. After this form of him was defeated and depowered, he’d for some reason end up joining Megamind’s side in the next game, Megamind: Mega Team Unite, in which he’d help fight the Doom Syndicate he formed, alongside Megamind, Minion, and a for some reason back to doing hero work Metro Man. I have no idea why he suddenly became a hero or if it’s even canon, but regardless, Tighten is certainly a dangerous threat to the city, and proved it many times that, even if he couldn’t quite measure up to Metro Man’s strength, he can cause as big an impact and showcase just why someone with Superman’s powers and an unstable attachment to women can be feared.
Intelligence & Skill
Syndrome
Syndrome is a certifiable genius. Even at a young age, he had already invented rocket boots and managed to track down Mr Incredible’s movements, and as he grew into adulthood, he’d only invent more technology, building an island base off the back of funds he got from selling these weapons. His genius also falls into the tactical, as whenever a superhero managed to beat his Omnidroids, he was able to design the next one to specifically counter the weaknesses of the hero. He made a plan that was able to manipulate various heroes into their deaths by playing on their want to be heroes, and when one of his subordinates was taken hostage by an imprisoned Mr Incredible, he talked him into letting her go by calling his bluff and goading him into killing her. He was also able to talk Kari into thinking he was a replacement babysitter for Jack Jack, though that may have been more down to her being exhausted from dealing with his powers.
Tighten
When it comes to smarts, Tighten is admittedly no super genius. He got fooled by Megamind several times and didn’t know how his own superhero name was supposed to be spelled. He does still have some moments of competence, such as realizing Metro Man was actually Megamind due to how he pronounced the city’s name, and keeping up with Megamind at all despite the latter’s many years of experience over him still is pretty impressive. He also founded a team of super villains and managed to get a job as a news cameraman, implying he should have at least a high school diploma at least. Megamind did also put him through a decent amount of training to use his powers, and he demonstrates a good grasp on how they work and how to use them.
Equipment
Syndrome
Zero Point Energy Gloves
Syndrome’s main weapon, this creates a continual field of quantum energy, with zero point specifically being the lowest possible energy of a quantum mechanical physical system. He mainly uses it to send out a laser that engulfs anything it hits in an energy field which completely freezes their momentum. He can freely move the object within the field, allowing it to be tossed around with little effort. He can also fire them as short energy blasts, to give him a more standard ranged attack, form it around him to create a shield, or unleash it as a large energy shockwave.
Rocket Boots
Originally invented as a child, these allow him to rocket himself around to fly. Though he does have a bad habit of having them get disrupted by people disabling one of the boots. In the Lego Game, he’s able to use them offensively by creating a small fire ring when going down on the ground.
Miniature I-bomb
A depth charge he used to eliminate Mr Incredible after he jumped off a cliff, which Bob only survived by ducking into an underwater tunnel where he was rocketed to for safety. Unclear if it’s activated by contact or on a timer.
Bio-Probe
This drone is used to remotely scan for lifeforms, though it was able to be fooled by a random skeleton of another guy, so its reliability is questionable.
Omnidroid v.10
This massive robot was used as part of Syndrome’s big plot, in which earlier models were pitted against various retired superheroes who’d die to it, or defeat it, only for it to be rebuilt and upgraded to account for weaknesses. This culminated in this bot, which was built to be stronger than Mr Incredible, the biggest threat to Syndrome’s plans. It mainly attacks using its 6 tentacles, which can be used to attack people by slamming them into them, grabbing and tossing them, or rotating them like deadly fans. They’re also able to be used as rocket boosters, and are retractable, allowing the Omnidroid to turn into a sphere that can roll around for quicker transport. It’s also equipped with laser guns on its head that can fire in bursts or in a large beam that explodes into energy, and an intelligent learning algorithm, which can learn and predict the actions of those it fights as they take them on. Its outer armor is also virtually impregnable to anything besides its own attacks.
Tighten
Super Suit
Given to him by his “space dad”, this is a spandex costume that seems to be very elastic. The “T” was meant to be for “Titan” but Hal misunderstood and thought he was “Tighten” because he is not very smart.
Abilities
Syndrome
Hacking
In the Lego Game, he’s able to approach certain terminals and hack into them to cause things to happen to stuff it’s connected to.
Repair
Also in the Lego Game, he can repair broken bits of machinery by shooting a beam at it. I guess he’s using Zero Point energy to fix the insides or something?
Tighten
Superhuman Physiology
After receiving Metro Man’s powers, he was enhanced with superhuman strength, turning from a fat creep to a very muscular creep. He’s able to punch harder, move faster, and take harder hits than any normal human.
Enhanced Senses
His strength wasn’t the only thing enhanced, as his senses are also far more acute than a normal person. He can hear someone on the ground despite flying above skyscrapers, and can see someone from a significant distance. Also, while neither really demonstrates it, Metro Man implies he has X-Ray vision, and they have the same abilities, so Tighten likely has that as well.
Flight
He’s able to fly through the air. He’s demonstrated a surprising amount of dexterity within the air, is able to fly while carrying someone on his back, and can fly at speeds faster than sound.
Heat Vision
Tighten’s most deadly ability is that he can emit beams of heat from his eyes. They’re hot enough to instantly burn paper, explode cars, and melt asphalt, meaning they’re potentially as hot as 343°F., and the beam is strong enough to pierce and collapse parts of buildings. They’re typically his main weapon when it comes to intimidating and trying to kill people.
Heat Resistance
Both Tighten and Metro Man have demonstrated a good resistance to heat. Tighten regularly goes through explosions without being impeded, while Metro Man was able to suck up fire as a child and was totally fine flying next to a violent explosion.
Feats
Syndrome
Overall
Invented all of his own tech
Tricked many retired superheroes to their deaths during Operation Kronos
Created an Omnidroid that the military was helpless to stop
Defeated The Incredibles
Power
As a kid, was still able to fly despite supporting the weight of Mr Incredible
Briefly supported the weight of Jack Jack turning into metal
Can jump in the air and hit the ground hard enough to create a small shockwave
ZPE could support the weight of a tanker truck and toss around Mr Incredible hard enough to hurt him and send him flying
The Omnidroid
Can casually toss large boulders and cars hard enough to explode
Overpowered Mr Incredible, meaning it should scale to his strength
Was able to move the rudder of a large ship while enduring the forces of it moving very fast
His upgraded super suit was strong enough to survive a jet exploding (0.3 tons of TNT)
Broke Violet’s shield, which can endure explosions that destroyed buildings
Speed
Dodged an arm swing and briefly several laser blasts from the Omnidroid
Catches the Incredibles with his Zero Point Energy, meaning he should scale to their speeds:
Dash, the speedster of the family, is capable of the following
Went to and back from a faraway villain’s base within seconds
Ran in circles fast enough to create a tornado that lifted a small boulder
Moved across classroom fast enough that he only appeared to be moving for about 4 frames on a camera (Mach 0.41)
Could run to the Great Wall of China and back in a short time (Mach 31 - 19052) (See Before the Verdict)
Mr Incredible dodged laser blasts from a helicopter, and later missiles
Frozone & Mr Incredible dodged electric attacks from He-Lectrix
Other characters have reacted to and dodged them as well, which should likely get into a similar ballpark
Durability
Slammed into a wall due to his out of control rocket boots and was only knocked out
Survived being blown back from the explosion of a car tossed at him
Slammed back and forth between walls before getting crushed by a hot dog cart
Beaten up offscreen by Jack Jack to the point of being charred black
The Omnidroid
Earlier model survived a dunk in lava hot enough to make it glow red
Took hits from Mr Incredible strong enough to send it to the ground
Survived crashing into city hard enough to leave a large crater (72 tons of TNT)
Earlier model killed Hypershock, who can create up to Magnitude 6 seismic waves (15 Kilotons) (See Before the Verdict)
Tighten
Overall
Took over Metro City
Caused a lot of property damage
Founded the Doom Syndicate
Defeated Megamind
Had a major glow up from his childhood as Snotty Boy from Back at the Barnyard
Power
Before getting his powers, he could knock into a news van hard enough to shake it
Busted through a wall several times, along with a billboard and a ceiling.
Comparable to casual Metro Man
Toppled top half of a skyscraper, before picking it up and throwing it (78 tons of TNT)
Speed
Caught Roxie after he dropped her from high in the air several times
Physically superior to Megamind, who once went to the Grand Canyon and back within 50 minutes (Mach 6)
Could scale to Metro Man, who had and resolved a midlife crisis in a split second (Mach 279 - Mach 11964) (See Before the Verdict)
Durability
Backhanded by Megamind’s mech hard enough to tunnel under a street
Tanked a fuel truck exploding in a tunnel (some say he might’ve dodged it, but given he was outright charging Megamind and his general mentality when fighting I’m more willing to say he just tanked it)
Comparable to casual Metro Man, who no sold getting smashed with various objects
Physically superior to Megamind, who survived part of his base exploding (1.7 tons of TNT)
Survived being at the center of a bunch of brain bots exploding (19.97 kilotons)
Weaknesses
Syndrome
While Syndrome is packing impressive tech, he’s still a normal human physically speaking, so he’s a bit of a glass cannon. He’s also incredibly cocky and immature, often taking time to go on long monologues and going into emotional outbursts when angered, and he can be a bit cowardly if the situation isn’t in his control. Finally, his Omnidroid is capable of using its learning algorithms to turn on him and wreak havoc indiscriminately, which he was caught off guard by.
Tighten
Tighten’s main weakness is that he’s a bit of an idiot. He completely fell for Megamind’s manipulation of him, doesn’t know the Queen of England exists, and generally doesn’t strategize much when fighting, tending to just go for overwhelming force and aggression. He also seems like a bit of a coward if he’s backed into a corner, as when he believed Metro Man had come back he quickly folded. Finally, it’s possible to drain his powers by utilizing the same gun that gave him them, but it’s obviously gonna be a bit hard for Syndrome to do that anyways.
Before the Verdict
Why include the Lego Game?
Usually for stuff like this, the Lego Games are considered off the table, as they tend to be established as an alternate continuity to what’s displayed in the mainline versions of what it’s adapting. While the same goes for Lego Incredibles, a lot of the other media for the franchise is also fairly questionable in it’s canonicity, as the first batch of comics and the Rise of the Underminer video game were rendered non canon by the release of The Incredibles 2, along with the adaptation games of the first movie being pretty different from the movie plot wise. If you were to stick to just stuff that was definitely canon, you’d be stuck to just the films and shorts, plus the current batch of comics. That, plus the fact that from what I could tell, everything in that game is pretty consistent with the limits of the series in other material and nothing it adds is too game changing to the debate, means I ultimately consider details from it fair game to include. Not to mention it also gives Syndrome more than 12 minutes of screentime to work with which is very helpful
Dash’s dash to China
Now, Dash’s trip to China happened within an advertisement for Yahoo, and it’s likely not meant to be canon, given the presence of the internet in what is meant to be the 60s, about 3 decades before it would be available to consumers and Yahoo as a company would exist. That being said, the speed he demonstrates here would actually be fairly in line with speed feats done in more canonical Incredibles media, so I personally feel it’s also fair game.
Hypershock
While Hypershock’s ability to create seismic waves is pretty powerful, the fact that his fight and defeat to the Omnidroid happened entirely offscreen means it’s hard to say exactly how much of his power he used, as it is specifically noted he can create up to Level 6 waves, so the droid very well could have killed him before he had the chance to go all out or something. Another factor to consider is that the Omnidroid which defeated him was the first one to be equipped with it’s infamous tentacles that pushes it’s main body off the ground, implying his defeat was more to the fact the Omnidroid wasn’t as capable of being hit by his attacks as the previous one. Though again, the fact it was offscreen makes it hard to definitively say one way or the other if it’s usable.
Tighten scaling to Metro Man
Now, on the surface, it would make sense to scale Tighten to Metro Man, as they do literally have the same powerset. However, context is pretty important here. Tighten was given these powers after a life of being a normal human, and while it’s unclear exactly how long he had his powers for in universe, it couldn’t have been longer than a couple weeks to a month. On the other hand, Metro Man is an alien who had these powers from birth, and he had been using them for almost the entirety of his life. This means that Metro Man pretty clearly has far more experience actually utilizing his powers. It’s also implied that Metro Man hadn’t been fully utilizing his full strength during his life, hence why he ultimately felt unfulfilled by hero work. Sure, Megamind did put Tighten through some training, but he was also completely unaware of Metro Man’s split second midlife crisis and was actually surprised at the idea of him managing to kill Metro Man, which implies even he was unaware of the exact limits to his nemesis’s strength, and as such the training was unlikely to bring him up to Metro Man’s level.
Further evidence is seen in the fact that when Tighten thought Metro Man had returned, his first reaction was to run away in fear. Now the two have never really had the chance to fight each other, as in that case it was Megamind pretending to be Metro Man, but the fact this was his reaction implies even Tighten thinks Metro Man would realistically beat the shit out of him. This is aided by the implication that Metro Man could have stopped Tighten if he wanted to, only choosing not to because he was tired of being a hero and felt Megamind could step up to the task of being the city’s new hero. Additionally, this being Megamind’s plan, which he also did after learning of Metro Man’s survival, means he also likely considers Tighten to be nowhere near as powerful as Metro Man.
Ultimately, while I do think Metro Man’s casual displays of strength are fair game to scale Tighten to, as they are fairly consistent with what Tighten himself has displayed, it’s ultimately pretty questionable to scale him to Metro Man’s fastest speeds when he’s actually putting his all into it, as everyone in universe treats Tighten as his inferior, and no one else in the series demonstrates anything close to Metro Man’s level.
Blue Tighten
In the Megamind: Ultimate Showdown video game, Tighten ends up getting repowered with Metro Man’s powers, and also gets powered with Megamind’s DNA to gain his intellect and blue skin. However, not only does he not really demonstrate too much in terms of intellect (such as how he spends a significant portion of the boss fight just floating there posing instead of trying to actually fight back), this form was due to extenuating circumstances involving other people giving him the upgrade by stealing from Megamind, who later removed them. As such, while his physical capabilities in this form carry over to him normally due to him using the same power set from the same source, the intelligence boost would not be applicable.
A Brief Elaboration Regarding Laser Eyes
Now, you might be wondering why I included some speed feats in regards to Jack Jack’s laser eyes, but didn’t use that for Tighten’s laser eyes. This comes down to rules in regards to lasers being treated as beams moving at light speed. Jack Jack’s beams have demonstrated several characteristics that show they can be seen as beams of light, including reflecting through mirrors and burning objects on impact. On the other hand, Tighten’s beams are never seen reflecting off anything, and are seen outright penetrating walls with force. Light does not have any mass, and as such it would be physically impossible for the beams to apply force directly to what they hit. Since these lasers do, and are also never stated to be light-speed in any Megamind media, there’s no reason to assume them to be light-speed.
Additionally, even if they were full beams of light, Hal still couldn’t really be argued to scale to the speed needed to dodge the beams themselves. Megamind only manages to dodge them after they’re fired and while they’re moving side to side, meaning he would only need to be reacting to the speed Tighten was moving his head. The only potential instance of someone in the Megamind universe moving faster than a laser was Metro Man escaping the death ray, but the presentation makes it hard to say how fast he really was going, the fact you see the dome he was in melting behind him implies he only got out because the attack was delayed by needing to melt through the top, and as mentioned, Tighten scaling to Metro Man going all out is very questionable in the first place. On the other hand, there are multiple instances of characters within Incredibles media reacting to Jack Jack’s beams as they are fired and even moving in tandem with them, meaning they would need to react and move in the ballpark of those speeds.
Verdict
Stats
When it comes to pure physical might, there’s really no question Tighten takes this. Syndrome does have some relatively impressive displays on his own from getting slammed around, but he’s still fundamentally a human physically, and if this was just a one on one, then Syndrome would pretty easily get thrashed. However, this is including the Omnidroid, which evens things out quite a bit.
Both easily have the strength to wreck buildings and toss around heavy objects casually, and when comparing the two’s potential peaks, Tighten’s throwing of the skyscraper and the Omnidroid’s survival of it’s crash landing are pretty close to each other in the city block range, but Tighten edges out slightly ahead by about 6 tons of TNT. To be generous, if you were to take the Omnidroid’s defeat of Hypershock at the greatest possible interpretation, then it would be able to survive the equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT, which is well within the range needed to destroy an entire town. And its striking strength should scale to its own durability, as it is capable of piercing its own armor. However, Tighten surviving the brainbot explosion puts him above even this, at nearly 20 kilotons. Meaning he ultimately has the edge here.
As for speed, this is a bit easier to break down. Tighten on his own can easily break the sound barrier, and he should scale to Megamind, who once moved at least 6 times the speed of sound. This is faster than any speeds Syndrome or the Omnidroid have moved, but this pales in comparison to some of the speeds they scale to in reaction time. Syndrome was able to catch Dash while he was running twice, and that kid can casually run to the Great Wall of China, which even at its lowest possible interpretation would clock in at Mach 31, about 5 times greater than Megamind’s trip to the Grand Canyon.
Tighten could potentially get higher thanks to scaling to Metro Man, which I’ll include for the sake of argument. But even the highest possible interpretation of that feat, at about Mach 12000, is still lower than the high end for Dash’s feat at about Mach 19000, which would make Dash about 58% faster than Metro Man’s existential crisis. And unlike this single instance of someone going that fast in Megamind’s world, The Incredibles has several feats that are at and even above this level, such as several characters dodging attacks from Helectric, who fires electricity that could be seen as fast as lightning, though it is admittedly dubious. Most notably, however, several characters have reacted to and dodged Jack Jack’s lasers, which requires reacting at speeds approaching and even surpassing the speed of light. Just using Bob’s feat, this would make him capable of reacting to stuff about 100 times faster than Metro Man at best. And as mentioned, Tighten realistically should be far slower than his predecessor, meaning the gap is potentially far greater.
And yes, I think it’s pretty reasonable to scale Syndrome to these speeds. He managed to catch the family off guard several times with his zero point energy, and other laser reacting feats were done by a civilian babysitter and a wild racoon, neither of whom should logically be faster than the other superhuman superheroes, let alone him. The Omnidroid should definitely scale to these speeds as well, given it was able to keep up with 5 superhumans at once, three of which are later shown to be capable of these speeds. And the fact most of these came after his death doesn’t change that either, since only 3 months passed in universe between his death and the events of the second movie, so I don’t think the family should be significantly stronger or more skilled than they were when fighting him.
So overall, while Tighten is definitely stronger than Syndrome himself and a bit tougher than even the Omnidroid, they are capable of reacting to far faster speeds than what you could give Tighten even with the highest benefit of the doubt.
Arsenal & Abilities
There’s no real question that Syndrome has the more notable arsenal, while Tighten has the greater natural abilities. Now when it comes to comparing them to see who would have the greater versatility, Syndrome does have more options on paper, but most of them wouldn’t really give him a chance to win. Syndrome’s I-bomb is strong but doesn’t really have the power to really hurt Tighten too badly, his drone would be useless as it never demonstrates any combat capabilities on its own, and his hacking would likely not come into play, as Tighten is not known for utilizing robots or machines. His rocket boots also don’t quite grant him the same agility and speed that Tighten has with his flight, and they also are capable of bugging out on him, which Tighten doesn’t need to deal with. And he doesn’t have a counter to Tighten’s enhanced senses, aside from maybe the drone, but it would hardly be reliable in a one on one fight like this.
That being said, when it comes to their main weapons, I feel Syndrome’s Zero Point Energy is a far more useful weapon than Tighten’s Heat Vision. He can fire them as smaller blasts instead of just the standard beam, and if you include the Lego Game, he’s also able to unleash an energy shockwave, repair technology, and use it as a shield, giving him more versatility, a way to potentially fix stuff Tighten smashed, and a solid defense option. But even ignoring that, the main function of the beams would be particularly devastating. The ability to completely freeze Tighten in his tracks whenever possible before tossing him around would be a pretty effective way for him to control the flow of the fight, letting him stop any attempts Tighten would make to get in close before tossing him away. Given it was able to toss Mr Incredible hard enough to hurt him, it probably has some pretty solid weight to the tossing, which would mean it’d definitely be able to hurt Tighten. It also would be a solid counter to Tighten attempting to toss cars or rubble at him, as it would literally be stopped in its tracks.
And then there’s the Omnidroid, which gives Syndrome another pretty solid edge. Its laser cannons also offer more versatility to the heat vision, and given it can survive in lava, which can range from 1,300 to 2,200 °F, it’s unlikely that Tighten would be able to melt through its armor. It also would have solid options for mobility with the jet boots and ball form, the tentacles can toss out enough force to be a threat to Tighten, and its predictive algorithms mean that as the fight goes on, it will be learning Tighten’s movements and adapting accordingly.
So while Tighten offers greater combat versatility with his natural abilities than Syndrome can with most of his gadgets, his Zero Point Energy blasters and the Omnidroid mean Syndrome’s unlikely to be completely overwhelmed.
Tertiary Factors
When it comes down to who’s smarter, there’s not much question that Syndrome comes out on top. Tighten does have a couple moments of intelligence, but even with that he really can’t keep up with a guy who invented a lot of futuristic stuff in the 60s and has been working behind the scenes with his plot for years. And despite Tighten actually having known training, Syndrome has demonstrated he fights smarter than Tighten, as he designed combat systems specifically to counter weaknesses and learn as they fight, whereas Tighten tends to just let his overwhelming strength and powers do the fighting. Though Tighten does likely have an edge in greater experience actually fighting people in a one on one, since Syndrome was implied to have stood off to the sidelines for much of his plot.
When it comes to manipulation, I also feel Syndrome is very capable of outsmarting and tricking Tighten, since he’s demonstrated pretty good cunning in manipulating others, while Tighten spends most of his movie falling for Megamind’s mind games. And while both of them can get cowardly and have emotional outbursts, Tighten is the far less stable one, often letting his emotions be the guiding force in his actions. So I do think it’s pretty possible for Tighten to end up playing right into Syndrome’s hands as the fight goes on. As such, I feel that overall, Syndrome would have the better capability to recognise his strengths and Tighten’s weaknesses before capitalizing on them than Syndrome has doing the same.
Now the Omnidroid complicates this match quite a bit, but it is physically below Tighten’s best display of strength. Him surviving the bot explosion is more impressive than even the earlier Omnidroid potentially surviving an earthquake, though the context of the bot explosion makes it questionable if he scales to that in AP. Though assuming he does, this does mean Tighten could physically outlast the Omnidroid and eventually overpower it. However, that doesn’t mean it’s game over for Syndrome’s chances. For one thing, while he’s stronger, it would only be by about 33%, so it’s not to a significant enough degree that he would just one shot it without any effort. But another issue is that the Omnidroid is significantly faster than his top speeds, so it would certainly be capable of keeping Tighten at bay for a significant time by bashing him around faster than he can react. It can also predict and adjust to Tighten’s fighting actions, and Tighten doesn’t exactly have a lot going on in terms of strategy, so it’d be unlikely for him to deduce the Omnidroid’s weakness to itself. And don’t forget that Syndrome would be fighting alongside it, meaning Tighten would have to deal with attacks from two different angles.
I feel this is a situation that’s likely to eventually overwhelm Tighten. He never is really shown a good amount of adaptability when fighting, and his lower speed means any counter strategies he could think up would be hard to implement. And while they are physically below him, the stat gap is far from high enough that they wouldn’t be able to harm him at all, meaning they could conceivably whittle him down and finish him off. That said, Tighten could conceivably catch Syndrome as they’re doing this to beat him up and take the win that way, and he could likely take Syndrome down pretty easily given Syndrome’s low durability. But I feel the odds are a bit low on this happening, as A) Syndrome’s better reaction speed and ZPE means it’d be hard to close the gap in the first place, and B) Tighten has also shown a tendency to have tunnel vision on whatever’s a bigger threat, which would likely be the massive robot instead of the random nerd flying next to it. In fact, the final fight of Tighten’s own movie had Megamind utilize a similar gambit several times, which he fell for.
Finally, there’s also the chance that the Omnidroid turns on Syndrome and tries to kill both of them, which would definitely throw a wrench in this strategy. But I feel the context of that scene is important, as the Omnidroid turning on him was less out of its own will and more because Syndrome stage fighting it made it flag him as a threat, which is added to by the fact an earlier model had him use the remote in full view of it without it turning on him. So unless Syndrome is fighting in front of a crowd while pretending to be a hero, pretending to fight it as well to try and blindside Tighten, or some other situation like that, I feel the odds of it turning on him when used as help in a one on one fight like this to be low. And even if it does turn on him, it is conceivable for it to still turn out in Syndrome’s favor, as he could slip away while the Omnidroid and Tighten are focused on each other, then swoop in after one of them is defeated to clean up the aftermath.
Conclusion
“And when everyone’s super, no one will be.”
Advantages:
Far faster reaction speeds
Far smarter and more manipulative
Omnidroid can keep up with Tighten…
ZPE would make him very hard to approach
Has the 2nd highest body count of any Pixar villain
If you’re wondering number one is the barracuda from the start of Finding Nemo
Disadvantages:
Weaker and less durable on his own
Lower movement speeds
…though it could hypothetically turn on him
Less experience actually fighting
Most of his gadgets are ultimately not useful against Tighten
Was a toxic stan before the term existed
Has cape
“You see the good in everyone even when it’s not there. You’re living a fantasy.”
Advantages:
Far stronger and more durable that Syndrome, and slightly so for the Omnidroid
Faster movement speeds
More experience fighting
Abilities more useful than most of Syndrome’s gadgets
Predicted the death of the Queen of England
Disadvantages
Slower reaction speeds
Far less intelligent and more gullible
Essentially fighting a 2 v 1
Fighting style very straightforward
Was an incel before the term existed
Has cape (No capes!)
This is a surprisingly close match, as both of the two have a lot of solid advantages over the other. But a good way to sum up how I feel this match would go would be to compare the two to the other’s nemesis. Syndrome is a lot like Megamind, as they both are genius but fairly physically grounded supervillains with a knack for presentation that make up for their own lack of might by utilizing weapons they invented themselves and manipulating foes into traps, so even with less of an arsenal, I feel it’s likely for Syndrome to triumph over Tighten similar to how Megamind did. Meanwhile, Tighten might be a bit stronger and have more abilities than Mr Incredible, another guy mostly associated with his extreme strength, but he lacks Bob’s decades of experience with punching the bad guys (pow pow pow) and his skill in strategy, so it would be a lot harder for him to succeed at managing to defeat Syndrome like how Bob did.
Ultimately, while Tighten’s physical dominance and superpowers would let him easily defeat Syndrome if given the chance, Syndrome’s faster speeds, greater intelligence, and impressive technology would give him everything he needs to come out on top. Looks like Metro City’s new management couldn’t stand up to Syndrome’s Incredible skills.
The winner is Syndrome.
NEXT TIME
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