Minions (Despicable Me) - Wikipedia

Fictional film characters This article is about the creatures. For the film, see Minions (film). For other uses, see Minion (disambiguation).

Minions
Despicable Me race
Sculpture of a Minion in Brisbane, Australia
First appearance	Despicable Me (2010)
Created by	Éric Guillon Pierre Coffin Chris Renaud
Genre	Comedy
In-universe information
Language	Minionese[1]

Minions (/ˈmɪnjənz/) are a fictional all-male species of yellow capsule-shaped creatures that appear in Illumination's Despicable Me franchise, created by Eric Guillon, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud. Their first appearance was in Despicable Me (2010), where they serve as the henchmen of the film's protagonist, a supervillain named Gru. The Minions are characterized by their comedic behavior and their fictional language named Minionese, which is largely unintelligible.

The Minions play a prominent role in the following three Despicable Me films, additionally starring in their own prequel series, beginning with Minions (2015) and continuing with Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and Minions & Monsters (2026). Although they are similar in appearance, several Minions play major roles in the films, such as Kevin, Stuart and Bob.

As the official mascots for Illumination, they have been promoted as corporate icons for Comcast in the years since its 2013 purchase of Illumination's parent company NBCUniversal, similar to Mickey Mouse for the Walt Disney Company.

Concept and creation

Development

The Minions were not initially in the script of Despicable Me,[2] but during the development, the directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, character designer Eric Guillon and producer Chris Meledandri conceived the Minions to provide comic relief and to help audiences sympathise with Gru, the film's protagonist.[3] Coffin and Renaud were influenced by similar characters, such as the Oompa-Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Jawas in Star Wars, realising that the Minions' short stature made them appealing.[2] Coffin explained that their design morphed from unlikeable, muscular thugs working for Gru to "subterranean mole men-type creatures" wearing goggles and overalls.[4] They were initially designed as human factory workers with a short stature to contrast with Gru's height. This idea evolved into robots to make them more innocent, before the team decided to settle on a robot-human synthesis. Their final design was simplified to create a more child-like form.[5] Coffin provided the characters' dialogue temporarily until a voice actor could be cast, but after test audiences responded positively to his vocals, he continued to voice the Minions through to Despicable Me 4.[3] He likened the Minions' animation to a silent film, having been influenced by Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, as the characters need to convey story, emotion and humor largely without words.[6]

For Despicable Me 2, co-writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul purposefully added more Minions and gave them more screen time due to the positive reaction of audiences.[7] The creative team discussed the idea of giving the Minions superpowers, but instead chose to create mutated, evil purple Minions.[8] Renaud said that Looney Tunes was an inspiration for the evil Minions, citing a cartoon where Tweety Bird drinks a formula that transforms him into a hairy monster. Producer Janet Healy considered the purple Minions to be the ideal antithesis for their cute yellow counterparts, being on the opposite side of the color spectrum and being hairy rather than bald.[9]

During the development of Minions the creative team focused on creating moments of emotional slapstick, drawing from films by Chaplin, particularly The Great Dictator (1940). They also took inspiration from the films of David Lean, such as Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), with the intention of creating epic scenes that emphasise the small size of the characters.[10] The team realised that they needed to shape the Minions as individual characters, thus Kevin was designed as a "big brotherly character", Stuart as an "impertinent, lazy teenager", and Bob as an "innocent kid", but all were defined by their idiocy.[6]

The superhero idea persisted until the fourth film, which introduced the Mega Minions, a group of five Minions named Jerry, Dave, Tim, Mel and Gus, with abilities similar to the Fantastic Four. Renaud said that they wanted to give the Minions some distinction from other superheroes but this was realised in the Minions' comedic nature by their incompetency in using their powers.[8]

Voice actors

The Minions were voiced by Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, and Jemaine Clement in the first film. Coffin voiced Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart,[11] Renaud voiced Dave,[12] and Clement voiced Jerry.[13] Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud later reprised their roles in Despicable Me 2,[14][15] while Coffin assumed sole duties in Minions (2015),[16] Despicable Me 3 (2017),[17] Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022),[18] and Despicable Me 4 (2024).[19] In the 2010 video game, they are voiced by James Arnold Taylor.[20]

Characteristics

The Minions are small, yellow capsule-shaped creatures with round, gray goggles.[21] Their faces feature one eye or two eyes and they typically wear blue overalls.[22] As henchmen, their purpose is to serve a villain, but they are typically incompetent, selfish and easily distracted. They vary in height but are difficult to differentiate, although each Minion has his own name and personality.[23] According to Coffin, all of the Minions are male, although they sometimes dress as female. Coffin stated that he could not imagine them as female because they are often "dumb and stupid".[24] The 2015 animated feature film Minions shows that they have existed since the beginning of life on Earth and evolved from single-celled organisms. Minions are biologically wired to seek out and serve villains, including notable fictional ones such as Count Dracula, and real-life historical figures like Napoleon, although their devotion often accidentally leads to the villain's demise.[25] When they have no "boss" to serve, the Minions become depressed and listless.[26] They have a degree of invulnerability, able to survive being tortured, buried or crushed.[23] A recurring theme in the franchise is that the Minions have an obsession with bananas.[27] Director Kyle Balda commented that although they serve a villain, the Minions are not inherently evil, they are just flawed. They are mischievous but good natured and events usually work out in their favour.[28] He described their relationship with Gru as an "old married couple", defined by a love and need for each other but equally filled with frustrations and complaints.[29]

Language

The Minions speak in a fictional pidgin language, called Minionese, which features a combination of gibberish mixed with words from real languages such as, but not limited to, English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Hindi, Korean, Filipino and Italian.[30][31][32] Although seemingly nonsensical, the English-sounding dialogue is dubbed differently for every country, in order to make the sounds somewhat recognizable.[33] Coffin said that the language is designed to be comprehensible by creating a "particular magical rhythm and melody" using words chosen for their sound, but requires the visuals for it to make sense.[4] The Minions have common English-language names, such as Kevin, Stuart and Bob (the lead trio in Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru), Mel (the leader of the Minions in Despicable Me 3), and Otto (in Minions: The Rise of Gru).[34][35][36]

Origins

The Minions' origin is revealed in the first two Despicable Me films by a poster in Gru's adopted daughters' bedroom, which displays a blueprint of a Minion. An idea was conceived by co-writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio that the Minions were created in the laboratory by Gru's genius inventor Dr. Nefario. Paul said that the Minions were cloned from a mutated strand of DNA but thought that depicting their creation would be "too disturbing". He likened Gru to Saruman from The Lord of the Rings, commenting that creating an army was a "classic villain thing". With the development of Minions, the origin story was retconned by giving the Minions a history dating back to the dawn of time. Paul expressed concerns to the creative team but thought it was fun to show their evolution through history. The team decided that the audience would not mind the change and Paul explained the Minions films as "Gru's bedtime stories that he tells the Minions" and by imagining them as "implanted memories so they don't have to face the fact that they were created in a lab."[37]

Appearances

Despicable Me films

The Minions make their debut in the first Despicable Me film where they inhabit the underground lair beneath the suburban home of a supervillain named Gru. With the help of his evil scientist named Dr. Nefario, Gru plots various villainous schemes to upstage his rival, Vector. After adopting three orphan girls in order to plant cookie robots, Gru and the Minions infiltrate Vector's fortress to steal back a shrink ray.[38]

In Despicable Me 2, Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to uncover a villain named El Macho at a shopping mall. Additionally he struggles with the challenges of being the father of a teenage daughter. The Minions play a major role in the plot when they are transformed into evil versions after being injected by a serum.[39][40]

In the third Despicable Me film, Gru is fired from the Anti-Villain League after failing to stop a villain named Balthazar Bratt. He is abandoned by all but two of his Minions, as they decide to leave in search of another boss to serve. Gru discovers that he has a twin brother named Dru, while the Minions spend time in prison.[41][42]

The plot of Despicable Me 4 focuses on Gru and his family being forced to move to a new town and live under different identities when a villain named Maxime le Mal escapes from prison. A group of Minions are given superpowers by the Anti-Villain League and named the Mega Minions.[43]

Minions spinoff films

The Minions star in their own spinoff film, titled Minions, which charts their evolution through history as they serve various bosses including a t-rex and Napoleon. Three Minions named Kevin, Stuart and Bob embark on a journey to find their next boss and are recruited by Scarlett Overkill, a villain appearing at the 1968 Villain-Con conference, to help her steal the Crown Jewels.[44]

Minions: The Rise of Gru follows on from the previous Minions film. Set in the 1970s, it follows 12-year old Gru and the Minions as he auditions to join a group of villains named the Vicious 6. His ambitions do not go to plan and he instead decides to outsmart them.[45]

The Minions are due to appear in Minions & Monsters, which will be released on July 1, 2026. The film centres on the Minions in 1920s Hollywood as they search for creatures to star in a monster movie.[46]

Reception

Calum Marsh writing for The New York Times charted their onscreen rise from their first appearance in Despicable Me as supporting characters to Gru through to their more prominent role in Despicable Me 2 and their eventual starring role as the lead characters of Minions. He considered their humor, mainly slapstick and physical comedy, to be the reason for the international success of the franchise.[47] Critical reaction to the Minions has been mixed. Jordan Hoffman of Screencrush thought them to be "adorable", commenting that it is "biologically impossible for a human being not to smile".[48] Carlos Aguilar, writing for TheWrap, recognised the Minions' appeal but found them to be "frantic, infantile and irritating".[49] Brian Moylan of Time noted that the Minions have received some criticism for their lack of diversity and female characters. He rejected this, commenting that they have the potential to be anything and are "harmless, funny creations".[50] A study by the Polish Cultural Institute titled "Bello, Exploitation: On Minion Bondage" considers the Minions' servitude to their master to be reflective of labor in modern global capitalism.[51] John Gapper writing for the Financial Times said that although they are always compliant to Gru, the Minions are compelling and universally appealing because they are always happy, which provides audiences with comedy and reassurance.[52]

Cultural impact

Since the release of the Despicable Me films, the Minions' popularity has grown. The Los Angeles Times reported that their cross-generational appeal was fuelled by Facebook memes posted by "online moms" and centred on their humor, cuteness and "blank slate" quality.[53] With the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru, teenage fans following the viral #gentleminions TikTok trend turned up to screenings wearing suits, which resulted in some cinema bans.[54] Wired reported that a #minionscult meme had also gone viral with the aim of taking over TikTok with profile pictures matching the Minions and banana emojis.[55]

They are the official mascots of the Illumination studio.[56] The Minions have been regularly featured in cross-promotions for other Comcast/NBCUniversal properties, including Universal theme parks, NBC primetime TV series, and an Xfinity remote control.[57] From 2022, the Minions featured in adverts for Sky Broadband.[58]

In 2015, the village of Minions, Cornwall in the United Kingdom built a road sign paid for by Universal Studios featuring images of the Minions. In October of that year, they removed it due to safety concerns resulting from people stopping their cars to take photos, although villagers campaigned to get the sign restored.[59][60]

In Brazil, Minions were referenced in a pejorative term for followers of politician Jair Bolsonaro, called "bolsominions".[61] The term has been widely used by the population in Brazilian and international media, across multiple languages, appearing in BBC,[62] The Guardian,[63] and Open Democracy[64] articles.

In 2026, Universal Kids Resort will include a themed land based on the Minions franchise.[65]

In other media

"Minion versions" of the Simpson family appeared at the end of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XXV", which aired on October 19, 2014.[66]

On April Fool's Day 2016, Google created a button on its Gmail service that sent a "mic drop" along with a GIF image of a Minion.[67][68] The feature resulted in a backlash involving people complaining about accidentally sending the image during job searches which resulted in job losses. Google removed the feature, citing a bug that caused the image to be sent after hitting the regular send button.[69][70]

Three statues of Minions appear in Mortal Engines (2018), in which they are assumed to be idols of "ancient deities" from the time before the emergence of traction cities.[71][72]

A brief cameo by the Minions occurred at the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Broadcast viewers saw the characters operate a submarine beneath the Seine while hundreds of competitors passed by.[73]

See also

• List of mascots
• Servbot, a similar type of yellow childlike henchmen in video games developed and published by Capcom.
• Rabbids, a similar group of wild rabbit-like creatures in video games developed and published by Ubisoft.
• Grizzy & the Lemmings, the lemmings, a group of blue lemmings whose most known catchphrase is "Tabodi!"

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minions.

v t e Despicable Me
Films	Main series Despicable Me (2010) Despicable Me 2 (2013) accolades Despicable Me 3 (2017) Despicable Me 4 (2024) Prequel series Minions (2015) Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) Upcoming Minions & Monsters (2026)
Characters	Gru Minions
Music	Despicable Me Despicable Me 2 "Happy" "Just a Cloud Away" Minions Despicable Me 3 "Yo contigo, tú conmigo (The Gong Gong Song)" Minions: The Rise of Gru "Rich Minion" "Turn Up the Sunshine" Despicable Me 4 "Double Life"
Video games	Despicable Me: The Game Minions Paradise
Attractions	Despicable Me Minion Mayhem Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast Universal Kids Resort