Megamind, perhaps? That was an animated comedy/superhero movie featuring a super-intelligent alien super villain, and is from the right timeframe (released late 2010).
Megamind is an excellent movie, but was overshadowed by Despicable Me, which came out a few months earlier, because they both had as their major theme the villain turning into the good guy.
> Obviously the film, and the poster, were not made by the smartest creatures in the universe, but the poverty of expectations inherent in the juxtaposition of the words and image were depressing.
If it was indeed Megamind, of course he has a blaster: he's a stereotypical alien super villain. The movie is a spoof/twist on the superhero/villain relationship, so starting with a stereotypical villain is quite reasonable.
Understood, and agreed, on plot of Megamind and requirement for stereotypical bad-guy-with-gun origin story, but I think my underlying point survives. Even if this was the movie / poster -- smartest entity in the universe shouldn't require a gun (or at least would be ashamed enough to not be waving it about).
The idea that powerful / influential (regardless of good/bad alignment) people as portrayed in our pop-culture need to be seen to be holding a gun is regrettable. If you haven't already, start taking a note of movie posters and the ratio of guns:no-guns -- obviously ignore the romcoms etc genres.
I think a strong case could be made that the impact of the Western genre from the 50's to the 70's (I was born in the 80's so am just guessing the decades from what I have seen) is still seen in the pop culture of today. Anti heroes who live and die by the gun are common in westerns.
I recall on a recent visit to India that movie posters there now seem to include shots of people looking stern and holding a gun -- previous visits (only a few years ago) tended to just have the stern looks, no gun. Presumably trying to compete for an audience that now likes a bit o' shooting.
Back in 2011-ish I saw a poster for an animated sci-fi movie, I think aimed at kids, but sadly can't remember the name of it. A picture of a vaguely humanoid-looking alien, over-sized head, holding a stylised laser blaster, with the tag line 'This is the smartest creature in the universe'. Obviously the film, and the poster, were not made by the smartest creatures in the universe, but the poverty of expectations inherent in the juxtaposition of the words and image were depressing. An Excession quotes is relevant:
"It could see that - by some criteria - a warship, just by the perfectly articulated purity of its purpose, was the most beautiful single artifact the Culture was capable of producing, and at the same time understand the paucity of moral vision such a judgement implied. To fully appreciate the beauty of a weapon was to admit to a kind of shortsightedness close to blindness, to confess to a sort of stupidity. The weapon was not itself; nothing was solely itself. The weapon, like anything else, could only finally be judged by the effect it had on others, by the consequences it produced in some outside context, by its place in the rest of the universe. By this measure the love, or just the appreciation of weapons was a kind of tragedy."
- Excession, by Iain M Banks