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The 9 Greatest Moments in Minion History
Those little weirdos remain the MVPs of the Despicable Me franchise.
From their first appearances in Despicable Me as the henchman of the super villain Gru (Steve Carell), the Minions have been stealing scenes and charming audiences around the globe. Their gibberish language remains mostly a mystery, but their emotive faces and eagerness to scream how they're feeling in any moment make them pretty easy to understand. By 2015, the Minions were so popular, they earned their own prequel spin-off with Minions (streaming now on Peacock!), and then followed that up with the sequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru.
For those who are not up on their Minion lore, they are an all-male species of creatures who have existed since the dawn of time. They are gifted when it comes to engineering-oriented tasks and are "biologically wired" to seek out and serve the worst villains out there. Over the course of the franchise, Minions of note include Kevin, Stuart, Bob, Mel, Otto, Ken, Mike, Dave, Jerry, Carl, Lance, Tom, Phil, Tim, Mark, Jorge, and Norbert. Despite a lot of lab accidents or villainous adventures, they're kinda like silly-putty... they bounce back from seemingly deadly encounters to just wreak more havoc.
RELATED: Universal Orlando's New Minions Ride Makes You Latest Member of The Vicious 6 Supervillain Group
Because so many of their side adventures in the Despicable Me movies and their own spin-offs are meant to stand out, SYFY WIRE has collected nine of our favorite Minion moments in the movies.
The Greatest Minions Moments of All-Time
9. Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) - Minions Seeking an Evil Boss
In this prequel story, we get to see how the Minions basically found and stalked a young Gru into being their villainous leader. Persistent and delighted by young Gru's potential, they really don't take his "no" for an answer, which seals their life-long master/servant relationship.
8. Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) - Martial Arts Training
Imagine getting kung fu training from Master Chow (aka Michelle Yeoh) and it not having any impact at all? In Minions: The Rise of Gru, we see the little goobers get the very best martial arts instruction in the world and fail miserably in mastering any prowess with their lessons at all. Ok, maybe they ingest a little knowledge, but they mostly remain walking disasters.
7. Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Battling the Purple Minions
In Despicable Me 2, the Minions drink the PX-41 mutagen, which turns them into a mob of angry purple beasts that El Macho plans to unleash upon the world. But in the last act super battle, jelly guns snap the little guys out of their Purple People Eater mode so the Minions can revolt!
6. Minions (2105) - Stealing the Queen
In a hilarious look back at an early Minions attempt to kidnap the Queen of England, the sequence uses just about every Brit cliché as they try to execute their very bad plan. A true cultural nightmare.
5. Despicable Me 3 (2017) - Minion Idol
Can the Minions sing? Despicable Me 3 throws the yellow guys onto a reality singing competition stage where they prove that they have the love of music, but no skills whatsoever.
4. Despicable Me (2010) - Stealing the Shrink Ray
Using the Mission: Impossible movies as its template, this sequence in Despicable Me has Gru and the Minions attempting to steal a shrink ray with barely any of the finesse of Ethan Hunt. A comedy of errors, this was a scene that established how the Minions could help and equally hinder.
3. Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) - Teaser Trailer
In this teaser trailer for Minions: The Rise of Gru, we get the perfect marriage of Mötley Crüe's classic hair-band ballad "Home Sweet Home" and the ridiculous obsessions of the Minions. The trailer is hilarious, as most things with Minions tend to be, but it's also the perfect framing of the creatures to a song that is, frankly, as dramatic as they are.
2. Minions (2015) - Origin of a Minion
Where did the Minions come from? Minions finally answers that question with this amazing sequence that gives them their origin of a species moment, including why they have such a thing for bananas. It explains so much.
1. Minions (2015) - Kevin Saves the Day
The ultimate hero moment for Kevin in Minions, as he goes full Godzilla size to face off against the ultimate villain and save his buddies from extinction.
