Characters / Despicable Me – The Gru Family

Despicable Me franchise character index
The Gru Family | The Antagonists | Other Characters

Unmarked spoilers up to Despicable Me 2 and Minions.

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General

A family of strange, but tight-knit characters.

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• Badass Family:
  • Gru was the former number one supervillain before retiring and was recuited by the AVL so he could help them find the Big Bad of Despicable Me 2. He's also a Gadgeteer Genius (since he was eight) who's able to one-punch a shark. And his most of his badass moments come from an enemy threatening his family.
  • The girls may not get a lot of action moments in comparison to their other family members, but they have proven to be tougher than they look and helped defeat the Big Bad of Despicable Me 2.
  • Lucy is an AVL spy who was able one-up and kidnap Gru when they first met. She's a master of four fighting styles and is quite intelligent despite her goofy nature. Also, like her husband, it's best to not mess with her family.
  • Dr. Nefario may be old and hard of hearing, but he's Gru's most trusted ally because he's a genius at inventing.
  • The Minions, despite their goofiness that often make them look like idiots, are quite brilliant at inventing stuff and, thanks to their Bizarre Alien Biology, are able to provide a variety of helpful talents.
  • Dru starts off as an incompetent villain-wannabe...before his nieces were threatened. Then, he Took a Level in Badass and was one of the key deciding factors to stop Bratt.
  • Gru and Dru's parents, Marlena and Robert. They may not be the nicest (especially towards their sons), but the former is a karate practitioner despite her old age and the latter was renowned supervillain in his life.
  • Kyle is the family's pet "dog", and by "dog", he's a half-dog, half-piranha.
• Color-Coded Characters: Most of them have their own color scheme.
  • Gru — Black/Grey.
  • Margo — Green.
  • Edith — Pink.
  • Agnes — Blue.
  • Dr. Nefario, Dru, and Robert — White.
  • Marlena — Purple.
  • Lucy — Turquoise.
  • Minions — Yellow.
  • Kyle — Black.
• Family of Choice: All of them (except the Minions) are not blood-related, but even so, they are family all the same.
• Limited Wardrobe: Unless there is a special occasion, they will usually wear the same outfit.
• Unlikely Hero: No one would expect them to save the day, especially in regards to the more villainous ones.
• Vague Age: Their exact ages can only be hypothesized. Though Gru's birthday is shown to be September 28, 1960 in the first film, which would make him at least 52 in the second film. And Word of God confirms the ages of the girls — Margo is 12, Edith is 9, and Agnes is 6.

Title Character

Felonious Gru

"Life is full of disappointments... for some people. Hmhmhmhmhmhm!"

Voiced by: Steve Carell

Dubbed by: Gad Elmaleh (European French), Florentino Fernández (European Spanish), Andrés Bustamante (Latin American Spanish), Leandro Hassum (Brazilian Portuguese)

"We are going to steal...pause, for effect...THE MOON!!! And once the moon is mine, the world will give me whatever I want to get it back! And I will be the greatest villain of all time!"

The strong, smart, big, hot-tempered, yet reluctant and serious protagonist of the Despicable Me franchise who has a Russian accent. A supervillain whose previous schemes included stealing the Times Square Jumbotron, the Statue of Liberty (actually the Las Vegas one), and the Eiffel Tower (also Vegas). When another villain shows him up by stealing the Pyramid of Giza, he decides to top that by stealing the moon. This will require a shrink ray, and to get his hands on it, he comes up with a plan involving three little orphan girls...

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• Acrofatic: Well, while he's probably more bulky than fat, he can be far more agile than one would think. At the climax of the first movie, he is able to use his acrobatic skills to maneuver around a group of rockets sent his way and when Vector's aircraft is taking off with the girls inside, Gru scales up the entire Pyramid of Giza that is behind the fortress in pretty much no-time to catch a ride.
• Action Dad: Gru eventually becomes a true father figure of Margo, Edith, and Agnes as well as going through action-packed moments in order to accomplish a goal or protect his family.
• Affably Evil: While Gru is a jerkass to anyone he personally doesn't care about, he shows a friendly side to his loved ones.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • Judging from his flashback in the sequel, the children of Gru's elementary school didn't like to be near him. They even said that being near him would give them "Gruties".
  • Gets this treatment in Despicable Me 2 by the AVL agents, except Lucy. Justified given that the organization are a group dedicated to fighting evil, and Gru was a villain.
• Always Identical Twins: He and Dru are near identical, the only differences being in hair color (Gru had black and is now bald while Dru has a full head of blonde hair) and different color wardrobes (Gru is black and grey, Dru is white).
• Amazon Chaser: For Lucy. Initially, Gru was completely annoyed with working with her in the sequel... until she shot Shannon (his obnoxious date) with a moose tranquilizer. Cue his Love Epiphany.
• Ambiguously Evil: He was a villain in the past, and would still be a full-fledged one if it weren't for his Pet the Dog moments with his adopted daughters. In the sequel he's turned his back completely on his villainous ways and has a legitimate business as a jelly maker.
• Animal Motifs: Gru's profile resembles an emperor penguin because emperor penguins (male ones) take very good care of their young.
• Anti-Hero: After turning in his villainous ways, Gru switches to the hero side, but still keeps his negative qualities.
• Anti-Villain: He started off as a villain, but he was still kind to Professor Nefario, the Minions, and eventually, the girls.
• Attention Whore: He especially wants recognition from his mother.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Lucy in the sequel; they were posed this way in one of the sequel's posters.
• Badass Adorable: Child Gru at the end of the Minions film.
• Badass Arm-Fold: He even does it in the movies' logo....and does the arm fold with his body turned sideways.
• Badass Biker:
  • In the sequel, Gru is one of these as she reveals his apparently custom-made motorcycle when he goes to rescue Lucy from Eduardo.
  • In Minions, he was one of these as a child.
• Badass Boast: At the end of Minions.
  Scarlet Overkill: You have no idea who you're messing with! I am the greatest supervillain of all time!
  Young Gru: (Chuckles) Oh! Were you? (Chuckles again)
• Badass Bookworm: Smart enough to build his own rocket as a child. Strong enough to punch a shark with one arm.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Wears a snazzy black suit at his and Lucy's wedding.
• Bad "Bad Acting": When Gru and the two remaining Minions Stuart and Dave sneak into El Macho's base. "Curses! Foiled again! These guys captured me!" While striking exaggeratedly-upset poses and waving his fake handcuffs around.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Gru succeeds in stealing the moon. Subverted in that Gru puts it back into orbit after finding out that shrink ray's effects on the moon are only temporary.
• Bad Liar: Gru doesn't seem to understand how to tell an effective lie. It's like he doesn't put any effort into making them convincing, because he doesn't even know he needs to work at it.
  • In the first film, when the girls first come to his house selling cookies, his attempts to convince them he's not home become steadily less believable.
  • Later, when he goes to adopt the girls for his plan, Gru claims that he wishes to adopt to fill the void left by his deceased wife Debbie. Not only did Gru take a pause when coming up with the name of his "wife," when the orphanage's owner brings her up moments after, he's already forgotten who Debbie is supposed to be.
  • In the ending bedtime scene, Edith notices that the three little kittens in Gru's book look like the girls.
    Gru: What are you talking about? These are kittens! Any resemblance to persons living or dead is completely coincidental.
    Edith: (gives Agnes a sidelong "Yeah, right" look)
  • In the second film, when Director Ramsbottom indicates that the AVL knows that Gru was the one who stole the moon, Gru first claims there's no proof he did that. He then adds that after he did do that, he put the moon back.
  • Later, after El Macho catches Gru spying on him, Gru tries to convince El Macho that he's up for joining the latter's Evil Plan. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
  • Dru clearly shares this part of Gru's personality. When they try to switch places in the third film, neither one is any good at pretending to be the other.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: It is heavily implied that he killed his neighbor's dog and turned its corpse into a pair of binoculars all because it did its business on his lawn.
• Bald of Evil: He's the Villain Protagonist who plans to steal the moon. And it's been repeatedly noted on how bald he is.
• Battle Couple: After he and Lucy marry in the sequel, they have become this as the third movie shows them going on a mission to stop Bratt from stealing an important diamond.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The main reason behind Gru's Love Epiphany is Lucy doing a parody of Rescue Romance (see section below for more details) and after helping return the date home, Lucy comforts him about the disastrous date and then tells him that she personally likes his original appearance (i.e., his bald head) and then giving the guy a kiss on the cheek before leaving for the night.
• Becoming the Mask: Gru as the girls' adoptive father — at first he only adopted them for his plans to steal back the shrinking ray from Vector. However, spending more and more time with the girls allows Gru to come and care for them like a real father to his daughters. Case in point, he gave up the moon for them so Vector would release the girls.
• Benevolent Boss: The Minions adore him... and the feeling is mutual. He knows each of the almost-interchangeable Minions by name, they have holiday weeks and love their work. In the sequel, he was horrified to see the majority of his Minions locked in cages, and acting like a bunch of wild animals, and when he, Dave and Stuart try to infiltrate El Macho's base, he sends them up an antenna to get away from the mutated Minions that are surrounding them even though it meant there was no room for him.
• Berserk Button: Do not outshine him in villainy. It will get your head frozen, just ask Vector.
• Big Brother Instinct: Gains this for Dru — when his younger twin brother is seemingly killed by Bratt, Gru goes into Tranquil Fury to fight and defeat Bratt before frantically searching for his brother.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Gru may act like the usual villain: Egotistical, rude, selfish, dreams of achieving great evil, little empathy, and an all around Jerkass......get to actually know him and your opinion might change.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has thick eyebrows.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Become this in the sequel as he's against Margo having a relationship with a boy.
• Brainy Brunette: It was seen clearly in Gru's flashback in the sequel that he had black hair in his youth. Plus, at only 8 Gru was able to build a prototype rocket with some scraps he managed to find.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Gru definitely counts as a former one when he steals a crown from Scarlet, after freezing her and Herb, and not returning said crown to the Queen.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Gru's mother was extremely abusive to Gru via deliberate neglect, while his father was a non-entity due to Marlena and Robert refusing to allow the other to see the child they got out of the divorce. Gru, however, actively cares for Edith, Agnes, and Margo and willingly humiliates himself for their sakes.
• Break the Cutie:
  • His mother not being emotionally supportive during his childhood.
  • The sequel reveals he was harshly rejected by his crush, who was a part of the rest of mean children who actively shunned the young Gru.
• Broken Ace: Introduced as the number one supervillain in the world, has the command of 10,000 Minions, and is a Gadgeteer Genius. And beneath his arrogant and jerkass nature, Gru has many insecurities that stem from his emotionally neglectful mother and lonely childhood.
• Broken Pedestal: For El Macho. He was inspired by Gru's villainy and tried to persuade him into ruling the world with him. But when El Macho catches on that Gru is not a villain anymore, he wants him dead.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Brooding Boy (anti-social and secretly insecure) to Lucy's Gentle Girl (comforting and energetic).
• Bumbling Dad: Subverted. He's far from an idiot and his initial poor parenting skills of the girls was mainly an attitude of indifference since he was using them in his scheme. After standing up for them at Super Silly Funland, he starts taking his fatherly duties more seriously and turns out to be very good at it.
• Butt-Monkey: Gru gets the most Slapstick inflicted on him out of everybody. No wonder he's so grumpy.
• Cain and Abel: Downplayed. He opposes Dru at the end due to returning to the AVL while his brother becomes a supervillain, but they are still friendly with each other.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In the third movie, Gru calls out his mother for the latter not telling him about his long lost twin brother Dru.
• Calling Your Attacks: Gru has a habit of announcing his Freeze Ray, which Lucy lampshades.
• Cannot Spit It Out: To Lucy. To the point where he gets mad at the phone and burns it with a flamethrower.
• Card-Carrying Villain: In an Establishing Character Moment, he makes a balloon animal for a sad child and then pops it. He lives in a world where card-carrying supervillains are common enough to have their own bank to finance their schemes.
• Celibate Hero: It was revealed in the sequel, that due to a childhood incident, Gru feared rejection and gave up seeking a romantic relationship as a result. Then, he met Lucy Wilde; he became a subversion after they fall in love, date, and marry.
• Character Catchphrase: "Light bulb..." But this only applies to the first movie.
• Character Development: Over the course of two films, he goes from a Jerk with a Hidden Heart of Gold to Heart of Gold with some jerky tendencies.
• Character Tics: He often puts both of his hands behind his back.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: This is one strong man. He can deliver a Offhand Backhand punch to a Shark and crush a glass wih his bare hand, to say nothing of his capabilities as a child. Nothing in any movie establish why Gru has so much strength, suggesting that it's all due to hard training. It could, however, be something he inherited from his mother, who seemed to function the same way judging by how strong she was during her karate training scene in the first movie.
• Child Prodigy: Gru managed to build a working prototype rocket at the age of eight.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: The Minions have been following Gru as their boss when they saw him defeat their former boss, Scarlet, via freezing her (along with Herb) when he was eight.
• Cool Bike: It's like the motorcycle version of the Grumobile.
• Cosmic Motifs: Of the moon, especially in the first movie. His main goal in the movie was to steal the actual moon (which he succeeded) and his childhood dream was to be an astronaut. Furthermore, his freeze ray brings to mind the freezing cold of the moon and he dresses in black, the colour of space surrounding the moon.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed. He was visibly annoyed and angry at his twin brother Dru for charming Lucy while holding her, but doesn't do anything violent.
• Crazy-Prepared: When the fairy princess doesn't show up for Agnes' birthday party in the second movie, Gru fills in for her with his own fairy princess costume. And it fits perfectly, to boot.
• Create Your Own Hero: When Vector stole the shrink ray from him, Gru adopted three orphan girls in order to get back the shrink ray, which led him to his redemption and to become a crime fighting hero.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The trailers of the first film make him out to be an exceptional villain, but in the film, he's fairly low-key and far too nice to be an effective villain. It takes Vector kidnapping the girls for his true potential to show up.
• Cruella to Animals: Implied. The main example is the crocodile couch in his living room.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Manages to set up a surprisingly effective jam-and-jelly manufacturing plant using his old inventions, though there are some teething problems. Turns out that making a jelly out of every known kind of berry doesn't yield a particularly tasty product.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His early life wasn't easy. His father left him after he divorced his mother and his father took his brother away as well; during his childhood his mother was emotionally abusive; all of his peers rejected him; and he at some point turned to villainy.
• Dark Is Evil: Gru wears dark clothing and is evil, or more precisely 'despicable', anyone can get.
• Dark Is Not Evil: What Gru truly is due to his Hidden Heart of Gold. It was finally brought out with the adoption of his three girls.
• Deadpan Snarker: If there's one thing Gru loves to do, it's snarking it up.
• Defrosting Ice King: His basic M.O. on how he gets close to people — He initially acts like a jerk to them, but after a significant turning point he grows to care for them a lot.
  • In the first movie, he initially only takes in the girls as a way to further his scheme of stealing back the shrinking ray from Vector. But after winning Agnes a unicorn toy and bonding with them more, Gru gradually falls in love (platonically) with the trio.
  • In the second movie, his first meeting with Lucy wasn't ideal as he attempted to freeze ray her and he retaliated by using her lipstick taser on him. And even when they working together, he maintained a cold attitude towards her... until Lucy saved him from an obnoxious date and told him she liked his bald head better than the wig. Cue Love Epiphany.
  • In the third movie, Gru has trouble with his younger twin brother, Dru, but then they bond and when Bratt hurts and seemingly kills Dru, Gru's Berserk Button about his loved ones being hurt is pushed and finally gives him the motivation to defeat Bratt. When he sees Dru alive, Gru is overjoyed. At the end of the movie, Dru seems to have moved into Gru's house.
  • The credits in Minions show that he was initially cold towards the Minions but gradually came to love them.
• Determinator: When he wants something, he'll stop at nothing to get it.
• Diabolical Mastermind: Gru's plenty smart, and he comes up with a plan to steal the moon (although has to put it back since the shrink ray was temporary).
• Doting Parent: To all his daughters. He gives them all the love he has.
• Drives Like Crazy: He's extremely aggressive and drives a massive tank of a car.
• Elaborate Underground Base: His lab located underground of his home.
• Embarrassing First Name: It's Felonious. There's a reason he's just Gru to nearly everyone.
• Establishing Character Moment: Gru is shown to be Affably Evil as he makes a balloon for a crying boy only to pop it and when he goes into a coffee shop, he freezes everyone around him so he could be first in line but tips the cashier before he leaves (though he doesn't actually pay for the coffee or muffin).
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The whole reason Gru wanted to steal the moon is to finally impress his mother.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Gru truly cares about his Minions and later begins to truly love the girls. Then, he falls head over heels with Lucy. He grows to love and be very protective of his brother, Dru, in the third movie.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He was appalled that a carnie cheated Agnes out of a stuffed unicorn (that she won legitimately) on a technicality. This, and his smile shortly after are the first signs of him Becoming the Mask.
• Evil Is Petty: Prior to his Heel–Face Turn. Gru hits the cars in front and back of his monstrosity of a vehicle repeatedly while he's parallel parking. Not out of ineptitude, mind you, he parks perfectly; he does it just because it will make two strangers' days a little worse.
• Evil Laugh: Wouldn't be a villain without one. It has even become his Signature Laugh following his Heel–Face Turn.
• Evil Versus Evil: Him vs. Vector in Despicable Me. Both are trying to steal the shrinking ray for their own reasons.
• Expy:
  • Being a Bond Villain parody he takes cues from Ernst Stavros Blofeld, particularly in his visual design and his accent.
  • By proxy of being an Anti-Villain parody of Blofeld who is Laughably Evil, he's also one to Dr. Evil.
• Facepalm: Gru's reaction to Dr. Nefario's "Boogie Robots" and the "Fart Gun".
• Family Man: Gru is considered a "family man" because of his treatment of his Minions, not hesitating to rescue them if they're in trouble (as seen in DM2.) This trope becomes straight when he adopts and later cares about the 3 young orphaned girls who ended up loving him as a real father.
• Fan Disservice: Some may consider the two separate shots of Gru in a swimsuit to be this too.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed. He's not fat, but has a lot of muscular bulk that could be mistaken for fatty tissue. And way back in Despicable Me, he's a jerkass, but is nice to those he cares for, mainly his family, and his Character Development has him become more kinder (albeit, still more to his family).
• A Father to His Men: On top of being a Benevolent Boss, Despicable Me 3 implies that the minions see him as a father-figure, Mel's flashbacks showing him wrapping his wounded leg after crashing his bike, cheering him up with his paper-plane fails and fishing with him by a pier.
• Female Flatfoot and Snarky Guy: The Snarky Guy to Lucy's Female Flatfoot. In Despicable Me 2, Gru is now a retired villain and he's assigned by the AVL to work with the rookie agent Lucy in a mission. While initially not thrilled to work with her, he comes to get along with Lucy and even falls in love with her.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: In Despicable Me 2, Gru's fear of romantic love was a result of his apparent first crush, Lisa, harshly rejecting him before he told her he liked her as she was part of the Kids Are Cruel group who alienated a young Gru.
• Freeze Ray: His main weapon. He has one that he uses on several customers in a coffee shop. As well as Vector at one point.
• Freudian Excuse: He tried to gain his mother's respect ever since he was little, but she never acknowledged his talents. His school life also wasn't great either, because the other kids treated him like he was a walking fatal disease and didn't want to be near him.
• Friendless Background: Before he met Dr. Nefario and the Minions, Gru didn't have any friends, as seen in his flashback in Despicable Me 2.
• Friendly Rivalry: At the end of Despicable Me 3, his brother Dru keeps on with villainy while Gru stays with the AVL, but they show no open hostility towards each other and view their chases as a fun game.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Gru doesn't build most of things in his lab, but he was able to build a prototype rocket and hadn't hit puberty yet.
• Gag Nose: He has a distinctly big pointed nose. During his wedding at the end of the sequel, he and Lucy (who also has a large nose) try to kiss, but they both touch, so they tilt their heads to kiss.
• Genius Bruiser: He's smart enough to build workable rockets out of whatever scrap he can find (or even macaroni when he was a kid), and is strong enough to punch out a shark.
• Good Parents: Gru eventually becomes a caring and devoted father to his three girls.
• Goofy Print Underwear:
  • Gru wears underpants with smileys, as seen in their escape from Vector's fortress.
  • In Despicable Me 3, he is shown wearing a skull printed black boxer shorts.
• Groin Attack: A constant victim of this in each Despicable Me movie.
  • Despicable Me — Twice from a robotic arm when breaking into Vector's lair, once later on, and a fourth one at the end.
  • Despicable Me 2 — Antonio does this to Gru at the Cinco de Mayo party when the latter keeps the former from dancing with Margo.
  • Despicable Me 3 — Gru gets this again from a pig.
• Gun Fu: Shows incredible skill for this in the Despicable Me 2 climax.
• Guns Akimbo: In the second movie's climax, Gru wield two guns with the serum's antidote.
• Happily Married: To Lucy — they work effectively as a Battle Couple, provide comfort to one another during a time of stress, and have a healthy communication with each other.
• Harmless Villain: He doesn't really do anything overly dastardly, at least in the animated film's universe (in Real Life, the consequences of stealing the Moon would be much more horrific). Yes, Gru freezes a few people, but the freezing is implied to be harmless.
• Heartbroken Badass:
  • In Despicable Me, when the girls are taken away by Miss Hattie because Nefario called her. He doesn't clear up the misunderstanding and becomes depressed over his inaction.
  • In Despicable Me 2, Gru began to develop romantic feelings for Lucy after she saved him from a very bad date. The next day? He was practically beaming with joy! Then, the whole case they were working on ends and Silas informs Gru that Lucy will be reassigned to Australia. Despite how he doesn't want her to leave, Gru wishes her all the best; and they say their sad goodbyes. Needless to say, Gru immediately became depressed and heartbroken over the strong possibility of never seeing Lucy again; his conversation with Agnes only made it worse.
• Heel–Face Turn: This is a plot of the first film. It begins when he experiences this at the amusement park. After a Jerkass target shooting booth attendant rips off little Agnes, who hits the target but fails to knock it over, Gru (whom the Jerk Ass also insults, before learning he's been Bullying a Dragon - or, rather, Mugging the Monster, since the schmuck had no idea Gru was a Pistol Packing Evil Genius) growls "My turn!", whips an absolutely freaking GINORMOUS disintegrator pistol out of his Hyperspace Arsenal and not only destroys the target, but also the rest of the booth and most of the smug Attendant's hair, thus winning the prize for Agnes. ("Knocked O-VER!!!") The look on Gru's face as the girls react by showing true affection for him for the very first time is wonderful. Even Margo, the most skeptical one, pays tribute to his Moment of Awesome. When they arrive back home after a Gilligan Cut, Gru is laughing along with the girls and his redemption is complete.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Zigzagged. Gru is initially terrified of Kyle, his pet "dog" (to be honest Gru isn't entirely sure of Kyle's species). Gru also started off as a villain before his Heel–Face Turn.
• Heroic Build: Zigzagged. Gru does have a broad build, but he starts off as a Card-Carrying Villain in the first movie before an official Heel–Face Turn.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Dr. Nefario — Partners in villainy and close friends for a long time. By the end of the third movie, he's implied to have become this with brother, Dru.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Gru spends most of the first film relying on technology to do his dirty work; in almost every case, it doesn't work properly, doesn't work well enough, or isn't what he needed or wanted in the first place. And then he takes on heat seeking missiles, followed by a shark. Bare handed. And doesn't break a sweat.
  • His original dream was to be an astronaut.
  • Him making pancakes in different shapes for the girls and creating a near-identical macaroni design of a space rocket (as a child) shows that Gru is a pretty good artist.
  • He's a pretty good dancer.
• High-Speed Missile Dodge: He pulls this off very impressively. Not only are the missiles in question heat-seeking, but he jumps over them and even runs on top of one.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: The emotional abuse he received from his mother is often Played for Laughs.
• Hopeless Suitor: To his childhood crush, Lisa ^note shown in a flashback in Despicable Me 2. He attempted to ask her out, but she was part of the Kids Are Cruel group who wanted to be as far away from a young Gru as possible.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Huge Guy to Lucy's Tiny Girl. To note, Lucy is taller than Gru because she wears high heels (without her heels she might still be taller than him or just about his height). Gru is still more muscular and bulky than Lucy.
• Husky Russkie: Gru is a big guy with a thick, Russian-like accent.
• Icy Blue Eyes: To represent his aloof, jerkass demeanor.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: His Attention Whore attitude stems from the lack of his mother's emotional support and having zero friends in his childhood.
• Imagine Spot: Twice in the first film and one in the third.
  • The first one in Despicable Me — he imagines the girls carrying out the shrink ray from Vector's house.
  • The second one in Despicable Me — he imagines sending the girls away via in a rollercoaster and then doing a ballet dance in celebration.
  • The only one he had in Despicable Me 3 — he imagines smugly returning the Dupont diamond to Valerie, who is showering Gru with gratitude before he smacks the diamond in her face. Lucy then playfully squishes his face while congratulating before he lifts her in the air surrounded by applause.
• Ink-Suit Actor: At least in the Minions movies, where the black haired young Gru could pass for a caricature of Steve Carell.
• Insecure Love Interest: Towards Lucy. Justified because of a traumatic experience he had dealing with his first crush.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Nefario. This post from Word of God reveals they met in Gru's youth after he created a science fair project that caught Nefario's attention. And they have been close friends well into Gru's fifties and Nefario's seventies/eighties.
• Jerkass: At first. His first on-screen time is committing a number of Kick the Dog moments; he's a Diabolical Mastermind who revels in his status as a Card-Carrying Villain. He adopts three orphaned girls for selfish reasons and initially treats them quite poorly prior to his Character Development.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In Despicable Me 2. He was quite the Boyfriend-Blocking Dad towards Margo when she was dating Antonio, but at one point he mentions that they hardly know each other. And seeing how they literally just met, yet are already making googly-eyes at each other, it's hard to call it true love. That's not even getting into what Antonio does later...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He eventually has a Heel–Face Turn and becomes a true father to the girls he adopts as part of his plan, even going Papa Wolf for them in the end. He's also a Benevolent Boss who treats his minions as individuals rather than Faceless Mooks (though they are used as guinea pigs for experiments).
• Karma Houdini: Gru goes unpunished for all of his crimes he committed before and during the first movie. Silas comments in the sequel that had Gru kept on with his villainy, he would've been the AVL's next target.
• Kick the Dog: This is even Gru's Establishing Character Moment in the first movie — In his first appearance, Gru comforts a child who has dropped an ice-cream cone by... giving him a balloon, after twisting it into some kind of four-legged animal. He then produces a pin and pops said balloon, and walks off contentedly. Cut to a shocked child with bits of balloon stuck to his face. Yes, he's despicable. His jerkness is further established in the car he drives, an ugly polluting rocket shaped monstrosity; in the fact that he bumps other cars out of the way to park, and when he goes in to the cafe to get a coffee he freezes all the other customers with his freeze ray and goes to the front of the line to get his coffee (which probably was meant for someone else). At least he tips well.
• Large and in Charge: A broad-chested man with the loyalty of 10,000 Minions.
• Last-Name Basis: Gru is almost exclusively referred to by his last name. Even his twin brother, who shares his surname, calls him "Gru", and not "Felonious".
• Laughably Evil: Introduced as an exceptional villain and Diabolical Mastermind. Some of his worst schemes include successfully stealing the miniature Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower from Las Vegas.
• Laugh of Love: At their wedding, he and Lucy are laughing while dancing together.
• Legacy Seeker: Gru plots to steal the moon to cement his place as the greatest criminal mastermind ever
• Leitmotif:
  • In the first movie, notice how the James Bond-worthy soundtrack in the initial stages of Gru's villainy turn into something out of Iron Man to mark his Heel–Face Turn.
  • His signature one is "I'm having a bad, bad day".
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In the first film's climax when he raids Vector's base to rescue the girls.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's pretty agile for a guy drawn so top-heavy. Of course, this really only comes into play when he breaks into Vector's compound to rescue the girls.
• Looks Like Orlok: He is bald, has a hooked nose, a hunched back, and a trenchcoat.
• Love at First Punch: More like love at first lipstick taser zap! Courtesy of AVL Agent, Lucy Wilde. It might have been a more subconscious desire for Lucy, but it began there.
• Love Redeems: His love for the girls causes him to pull Heel–Face Turn.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Gru's Villainmobile can do this.
• Made of Iron: While trying to get into Vector's base, Gru gets repeatedly hit with stuff, bitten, and missiled... but suffers no visible damage other than comically blackened skin. The same thing happens when he breaks into El Macho's base in the sequel, with darts being substituted for missiles.
• Mad Scientist: Downplayed. He lets Dr. Nefario do most of the scientific/mechanical work but he is seen helping him from time to time (Gru was able to build a real rocket when he was a child).
• A Match Made in Stockholm: In the second movie, he meets Lucy, who would soon become his wife, when she stuns him with her lipstick taser and kidnaps him.
• May–December Romance: Lucy's age is left ambiguous, but she doesn't look any than older than 20-30. Word of God confirmed Gru to be in his fifties, and they end up marrying each other, so it counts.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Gru grew.
  • You'd expect a villain to be Grusome.
  • He's also a felon named Felonious. Alternatively, "felonious" as a whole English adjective means related to crime.
  • GRU is also the acronym for Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye, the Soviet (and later Russian) military intelligence directorate. Early drafts played the Cold War elements more heavily than the final script, so it may be an Artifact Title.
  • Grus is the genus for Cranes, which have long, pointed beaks, just like Gru.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: After spending the whole first movie trying to steal the moon, Gru eventually manages to succeed in just that. However, he quickly finds that the girls he adopted in the process have made him happier and that they were more important than the moon. Plus, the effects on the shrink ray used for the moon theft wear off overtime, making the moon impossible to keep forever.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: At least in the first film before he has a Heel–Face Turn, the "felon" part of his name is indicative of his criminal identity. The girls he adopts do not understand this part of his name while he's still a villain.
• Nerd Glasses: In the sequel. When the girls are signing up Gru for online dating, they see a picture of him, in his 20s, wearing glasses.
• Nerves of Steel: Combined with Tranquil Fury, and only achieved if someone hurts his loved ones.
• Noble Demon: He is the supervillain who goes out of his way to support a trio of orphans who seem to have become attached to him. And before that, his treatment of his minions.
• Offhand Backhand: Gru does one...to a shark!
• Older Hero Versus Younger Villain: The older hero to Vector's—and later Balthazar Bratt's—younger villain. Inverted with Scarlet Overkill and Belle Bottom. Although Vector's example ends up being retroactively subverted, when in the second minion movie it is revealed that they were in fact almost the same age.
• Older Than He Looks: Although his age isn't specifically known, at first glance Gru may look like he's around his early 40s or mid 30s. Gru is actually in his early 50s; the sequel makes this clear by having another kid mention the Apollo 11 moon landing in Gru's flashback.
• Opposites Attract: The sarcastic, Jerk with a Heart of Gold, (near) Perpetual Frowner Gru fell in love with the bubbly, Nice Girl, (near) Perpetual Smiler Lucy.
• Papa Wolf: Do not mess with Agnes, Edith, or Margo unless you want to suffer. In general, anyone hurting his loved ones is just asking for a death sentence.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • In the beginning of Despicable Me 2 he dresses up as a Fairy Princess for Agnes' birthday. While Agnes, Margo, and Edith were able to see through the disguise, the other kids are easily fooled.
  • He and his brother also pretend to act like one another in the 3rd movie. Nobody buys the disguises.
• Parental Abandonment: Subverted. He attempts to leave the girls at Super Silly Funland after his scheme was successful, but after winning a prize for Agnes, he doesn't go through with it.
• Parental Neglect: To the girls in the first movie. Although he is more of a "ridiculously clueless parent" at that point. He gets better.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: When he obliterates the carny's booth with his plasma cannon after the latter makes fun of Agnes' failed attempt to win her stuffed unicorn.
• Pet the Dog: Gru might be a villain, but he is a boss who knows the names to all of his employees.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Gru is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who only shows his soft side to his family and friends, and wears black and grey, while Dru is a friendly Nice Guy who wears all white.
• Prematurely Bald: It is known that he started balding before the age of 40.
• Psychotic Smirk: Being an ex-villain, he tends toward this expression rather than the Cheshire Cat Grin when he's up to something. It's most noticeable in the first film, when he decides to take out the "Space Killer" game. The sidelong smirk he flashes just before he draws his plasma blaster would set any sane human who saw it running for the hills.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Implied. Despite being fairly talented at being a super villain, it does not take much for him to give up the villain lifestyle. His Kick the Dog moments come across as more signs of his anti-social behavior and a desire to impress his emotionally-distant mother, eventually becoming more open and less cynical when he bonds with his adopted daughters. While Dr. Nefario and the minions miss committing evil acts, even leaving on occasion to explore new opportunities, Gru shows no signs of being tempted back into the lifestyle. When Dru convinces him to stage a heist, he lies about wanting to get back into villainy in order to use his deceased father's resources to get back into the Anti-Villain League's good graces.
• Punny Name: Gru speaks with a Russian accent. The GRU is one of Russia's intelligence services. When the girls find Gru's underground base, he admits that he's not a dentist, but instead a spy. Likewise, Felonious started out as a felon.
• Real Men Wear Pink: In the first film, Gru wears a pink astronaut suit by the time he gets to the moon to shrink it. Of course, the reason it's pink is because he washed it in the same load as the girls' pink tutus, but hey, he still wears it! He also attends his daughters' ballet recitals after some resistance that had more to do with being busy than with not wanting to be seen at a ballet class. In the sequel he dresses up in a pink fairy costume when the woman he hired to come to Agnes' birthday party cancels at the last minute.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The deadpan, blunt blue to Lucy's excitable, Hot-Blooded red.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He may be retired from being a villain, but his villainous tendencies still show occasionally. He can still be an outright Jerkass on a few occasions and is very much still a badass.
• Refusal of the Call: Gru initially refuses to help the AV track down the PX-41 serum, citing that he is now a father and can't get involved in any danger.
• Reformed Criminal: He retires from being a villain after adopting Margo, Edith and Agnes.
• Rescue Romance: His relationship with Lucy started to change after she saved him from an obnoxious date via moose tranquilizer; he returns the favor by saving her from a rocket headed to a volcano.
• Reverse Arm-Fold: Tends to do this often.
• Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The Rude Hero to Lucy's Nice Sidekick. In the sequel, Gru may have retired as a villain, but he's still a jerk to anyone who isn't part of his family. His partner Lucy, on the other hand, is a bubbly Nice Girl who's friendly to everyone.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The sarcastic, aloof Savvy Guy to Lucy's peppy, spunky Energetic Girl.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Gru wears a gray and black striped one.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Dru's sensitive guy.
• Separated at Birth: Not long after Gru and Dru were born, their parents, Robert and Marlena, got divorced. Baby Gru and Baby Dru are crying and reaching their arms out to each other when Marlena (holding Gru) and Robert (holding Dru) permanently go their separate ways. Robert took Dru with him and Gru stayed with Marlena.
• Sibling Rivalry: Gru towards Dru. This happens when Gru immediately sees Dru's blond hair and his wide grin.
• Signature Laugh: "Mm. Mm. Ha ha ha ha ha!"
• Sinister Schnoz: He has a long and pointy nose and starts off as a full-fledged villain. Subverted on the villain part after his Heel–Face Turn.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: This old photo◊ shows Gru used to wear glasses in youth, presumably at the time he was getting into his villain business.
• Solar and Lunar: A subtle one with Lucy and he's the Lunar. He uses a freeze ray (the moon is known for being extremely cold), has a bald head, his Love Epiphany for Lucy was at night, and he mainly wears black clothing (the usual color that surrounds the moon).
• Spell My Name With An S: In the first film, when Gru's profile is shown on Miss Hattie's computer, his first name is spelled as "Felonious," and in the Gru Family Tree, it's spelled as "Felonius."
• Stout Strength: Downplayed. Gru is on the large side (Lucy even called him "fat man"), but it's more broad muscle than actual fat.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Gru once took down a shark in one hit but struggles a lot against a small chicken.
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • If you look closely at his family tree◊, he's the spitting image of his father, Robert Gru, just with no hair on his head or chin.
  • Him and his identical twin brother look almost exactly alike, the only differences are the hair color and the fact that Gru is bald and a different choice in clothing. Justified since they are identical twin brothers.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Gru only acts caring and friendly to those he's closest too, mainly his family. To everyone else, he's indifferent and aloof.
• Super-Strength: He's had this ever since he was young. In Minions: The Rise of Gru, he was able to wield a clock tower's metal arrow to knock out one of the Vicious Six as a Zodiac animal and later throw it into a building far enough so it can hold the combined weight of him and one Minion.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Gru checks all three. Especially in the height department. He looks to well over ten feet tall considering he's about four minions tall and the average minion looks to be 3.5 feet. Officially however, he's only 5'9 according to Illumination Entertainment.
• Took a Level in Badass: He goes from Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain to Papa Wolf who punches out a shark and dodges a Macross Missile Massacre.
• Took a Level in Kindness: His character development has him developing a real bond with the girls and quitting his life as a villain to become a good father for them.
• Tranquil Fury: Gru does lose his temper and can yell, but only for comedic purposes. If someone truly enrages him, he won't even raise his voice, the only real exception in the series being when he learns that Otto traded the Zodiac Stone for a pet rock, and even then, he quickly regains his composure...and tells the Minions that they're fired.
• Tsundere: A male example of a Type A. He acts like quite the uncaring, neglectful jerk to the girls before softening up.
• Twice Shy: With Lucy in Despicable Me 2 — both have feelings for one another, but don't act on them either out of job getting in the way (Lucy being transferred to Australia) or shyness and insecurity (Gru). Thankfully, they both managed to get their feelings across.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The Ugly Guy to Lucy's Hot Wife. A downplayed example: Lucy is pretty average herself, but she's still more attractive than Gru who is bald, big-nosed and weird looking.
• Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain:
  • The Ugly Hero to El Macho's Good Looking Villain. Granted, Gru isn't exactly hideous, but his bald head and pointy nose make him look cartoony, while the second movie has gone to great lengths to show us how attractive El Macho is.
  • Less attention is drawn to it, but Balthazar Bratt is also more traditionally attractive, albeit with 80's preferences in mind.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: His ancestors look surprisingly like him, his brother, and their father.
• The Unfavorite: His mother claims this to be true of Gru, stating she had "second pick" as to which son she got. However it turns out Gru was actually his father's favorite son.
• Unflinching Walk: At the first film's near end, Gru does this while raiding Vector's base to rescue the girls.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Though the "Unsympathetic" part is gone by the time his Heel–Face Turn came around.
• Uptight Loves Wild: The serious, stoic Gru fell for the emotional, energetic Lucy. Bonus points for her last name actually being "Wilde".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Flashbacks in the first and second movie showed he was a nice kid. Unfortunately, his mother and a group of children didn't help him.
• Villainous BSoD: What happens to Gru when Dr. Nefario convinces Gru to give the girls away for becoming too much of a distraction. Or Gru when Vector's No Kill like Overkill missile targeting lasers fix on Gru.
• Villain Protagonist: A literal example, he's the protagonist and proud to be a supervillain. He later has a Heel–Face Turn.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Gender-flipped. In the sequel, to Lucy; when El Macho kidnaps her, he goes to rescue her while under Tranquil Fury.
• Vocal Evolution: Gru's voice becomes slightly gruffer and more gravelly in the second and third Despicable Me films.
• The Voiceless: In some of the Minions shorts, you don't hear his voice in his appearances, likely because Steve Carell costed too much money for them.
• Wanting Is Better Than Having: All his life, Gru fantasized about stealing the moon. This goal ends up clashing with his commitments to the girls. The final shot of the film suggests that Gru has been rewarded with both: the family is silhouetted against the moon, now returned to its place in the sky.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: To his mother. The first movie revolved around him trying to steal the moon so he can finally impress his mother.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: A funny one, clearly. Steve Carell describes Gru's accent as "a cross between Ricardo Montalbán and Bela Lugosi."
• Would Hit a Girl: He shows no qualms about freezing women with his ice ray and he was ready to fight Lucy in hand-to-hand combat when they first met.
• Would Hurt a Child: He uses his freeze ray on Antonio after the young boy was revealed to be Kid A Nova and broke Margo's heart. To be fair, he had coming.
• "You!" Exclamation: Gru said this when he discovers Vector stealing the shrink ray from him.

The Three Girls

General

Gru's three adopted daughters that somehow boss him around and make him act more emotional, caring, & friendly.

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• Action Girl: All of them become this at the sequel's climax. See Girls with Guns.
• Adapted Out: They make no appearance in the video game adaptation of the first movie.
• Animal Motifs: Cats, or more precisely, kittens.
• Ascended Extra: According to one of the writers, the girls will be getting bigger roles in Despicable Me 3 than the ones they had in Despicable Me 2.
• Badass Adorable: On the outside they are very adorable girls, but in the inside, they're quite capable of protecting themselves.
• Badass Arm-Fold: All of them did this in the first movie when Gru initially refused to take them to ballet practice. Agnes takes a little longer to learn it, but she gets it down pretty quickly.
• Ballet: A recital of Swan Lake featuring them is a major plot point of the first film.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Agnes, Margo and Edith. Although all three of them are very lovely, intelligent, and act like tough girls.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Edith, Margo, and Agnes (although she has black hair and a red headband). Later, Edith is the blonde to Lucy's redhead; Margo and Agnes are the brunettes to Lucy's redhead in the sequel.
• Break the Cutie:
  • When Gru gives the girls back to Miss Hattie, thanks to Nefario. Agnes clinging to Gru's leg, begging him to not send them back; Edith is too angry to even speak and doesn't give Gru one last look before leaving; and Margo is obviously heartbroken, but still thanks Gru in a sad voice.
  • In the sequel, Margo's first heartbreak, thanks to Antonio; and Agnes immediately stops smiling after Gru tells her that Lucy is being relocated to Australia.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: While the girls don't refer to Gru or Lucy as "dad" or "mom", it's not out of disrespect, that's just something they're used to.
  • Inverted with Gru as they refer to him by his (and therefore their) last name.
  • Played straight with Lucy. Subverted just once at the end of the third film with Agnes, who says to Lucy, "Love you, Mom", as Lucy is tucking her into bed.
• Children Raise You: In the first movie, the girls' presence allows for Gru to not only become a slightly better person, but also a good father to them. Something similar happens with Margo and Lucy in the third movie.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Margo (green), Edith (pink), and Agnes (blue). It was even lampshaded by Gru at the end of the first movie.
• The Cutie: All three of them are certainly this, but mostly Agnes, as she is the youngest.
• Daddy's Girl: All of them are fond of Gru.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Possibly. In the first film, all three of the girls show extreme enthusiasm for Gru's penchant for destruction, with Agnes even excitedly saying they should destroy more games. In the second film, Edith is actively training to be a ninja and Gru has to remind her not to kill anyone at one point. For what it's worth, Miranda Cosgrove talked in an interview about what she would like to see as a premise for the fourth movie—Gru's daughters becoming supervillains. The proof is here.
• Damsel in Distress: They are kidnapped in the first and third movie, providing a chance for Gru and Lucy to play the Papa Wolf and Mama Bear, respectively.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All three of them were abandoned by their biological parents at one point. And were raised in an Orphanage of Fear by Miss Hattie, their emotionally abusive caretaker who would make them sell cookies (and clean her things) so she could get the money. And should the trio not meet their quota or annoy her, she would put them in the "Box of Shame".
• Deuteragonist: All three of them, but mostly Margo in the first movie.
• Establishing Character Moment: When the girls make their first scene trying to sell Gru cookies in the first movie, their key personality traits come out — Margo keeps on the task of selling cookies and keeping guiding her sisters when they get distracted, and pointing out the clearly obvious lie when Gru claims he's not at home when he's clearly talking; Edith surprises Gru through the door lens and then kicks the area where his knees are when he refuses to buy their cookies; Agnes actually believes that she and her sisters were talking to a talking door and gives a friendly "bye".
• Family of Choice: They aren't blood relatives, and it hasn't been shown how they met and bonded at the orphanage, but it's clear from the start that they consider themselves sisters.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Downplayed. While Margo (responsible) tends to be more level-headed and mature than either Edith or Agnes (foolish), she can be just as silly as them, and the younger sisters aren't as mischievous as they could be.
• Free-Range Children: Deconstructed. The girls go off on their own to sell cookies to earn money for their abusive caretaker.
• Freudian Trio: Margo (Superego - level-headed and acts as the Only Sane Woman), Agnes (Ego - not as mischievous as Edith, but not as realistic as Margo), and Edith (Id - the resident prankster of the trio).
• Girls with Guns: The girls help Gru, Dr. Nefario, and the Minions free and unmutate the Minions that Eduardo and (initially) Dr. Nefario captured to help take over the world. They used guns filled with jellies Gru and the Minions manufactured that was combined with the antidote Dr. Nefario created.
• Happily Adopted: They get it in the end of the first film, naturally.
• Heartwarming Orphan: They're cute and heartwarming enough to propel Gru into a Heel–Face Turn.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: The girls are always seen together and value one another's company.
• Hidden Depths: They each have something more to them then meets the eye.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: The first movie has the trio, especially Agnes, wanting to be adopted by a loving family.
• Kid-Appeal Character: To a lesser extent than the Minions. They are usually helpless in action-packed moments, but have unique personalities and vulnerable moments that make them lovable.
• Leitmotif:
  • More so in the Despicable Me — In any scene involving the girls, you can hear instrumental versions of the chorus of "Prettiest Girls".
  • They gain another one in Despicable Me 3 — "There's Something Special".
• Little Miss Badass: All of them are pre-teens and are tough cookies.
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: The three adorable daughters of evil genius, Gru.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Margo's name is Greek for "pearl" (and the Greek word for pearl is "margarites"), which could allude to the type of glasses she wears are pearl. Added to that, Margo is the eldest of the trio, she acts (or at least tries to) as their leader and guide through the unpleasant life they live until they find their happy home with Gru. Now how are pearls made? By taking something irritating/painful and covering it with a stop measure (Margo's sarcasm and biting wit qualify for this) until it turns into something both beautiful and valuable.
  • Edith's name is from Old English and means "war" which hints her fondness for destruction and love of Gru's weapons.
  • Agnes's name is of Greek descent and translates to "pure", which is perfect given her innocent and childlike nature.
• Mentors: Of Minion Rush, where they walk you through the basics of the game.
• Morality Chain: In Despicable Me 2, Gru mentions that he's given up his villain lifestyle in order to be a better father to them.
• Morality Pet:
  • For Gru, who gradually warms up to them over the course of the first film and becomes fiercely protective of them by the end. They even provide the image page.
  • They bring out the softer side of their grandmother, Marlena, who is far nicer to them than she is to her own son.
  • Kyle becomes a nicer "dog" thanks to their influence, especially Agnes's.
• Mysterious Past: It was never revealed when Margo, Edith, and Agnes arrived at the orphanage.
• Nice Mean And In Between: It's downplayed in that they're all varying degrees of nice but Agnes is by far the most innocent and affectionate, Edith is a mischievous prankster, and Margo is the caring but also cynical and snarky older sibling.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: It's been three movies in the course of seven years and they haven't aged a day. Lampshaded by Gru in the third movie, who says Margo "looks twelve, and will always be twelve."
• Not Blood Siblings: Word of God stated that the girls aren't "technically" related, but they're always together; they do consider each other sisters.
• Out of Focus: After being the main characters along with Gru in the first film, in the sequel they essentially serve as living props in favor of giving the Minions more sequences.
• Parent with New Paramour: When Lucy was first introduced to the girls, Agnes was the first one to ship her with her adoptive father Gru. Later on, when Gru married Lucy, all the girls were certainly happy to have a new mother.
• Pint-Sized Kid: Margo is the oldest and a pre-teen, but only reaches around Gru's waistline. Edith is around Gru's knees or a little lower on his waistline. Agnes, being the youngest, automatically reaches to the lower portion of his legs.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Oh, god, up to the level as the Minions.
• Riddle for the Ages: It is never explained what happened to the girls' biological parents or how they ended up in the orphanage.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Margo is cynical and serious, Edith is trouble-making and sarcastic, and Agnes is innocent and imaginative.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Mildly in the original. While they do act as damsels in distress, they have a calmer attitude when Vector kidnaps them instead of a horrified one like their earlier reaction to Vector pointing a gun at them.
  • In the sequel, they join in the action of returning the Minions to normal.
• Town Girls: Margo as the neither (the oldest, smartest and more level-headed one), Edith as the butch (the middle one who could well be One of the Boys) and Agnes as the femme (the youngest, sickeningly cute one).

Margo Gru

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. We're gonna be really happy here."

Voiced by: Miranda Cosgrove

Oldest, cynical, somewhat bossy, yet the coolest of the three girls Gru adopts. She acts as a guardian to her younger sisters, and as such is slow to trust anyone. She was the most suspicious of Gru when encountering him for the first time, so she took a liking to everything of Gru's possessions the least.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: She's mature and serious, but still a cute little girl.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: In Despicable Me 2, Margo has a Love at First Sight for the suave and bad boyish Antonio. Sadly, Antonio dumps Margo for another random girl, leaving the poor Margo with her first heartbreak. Thankfully, she got over it the next day.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In the third movie. All Margo wanted was for Lucy to be a tougher mother—which gets the former forcefully engaged to a foreign boy she's not interested in.
• Big Sister Instinct: She's pretty protective of Agnes and Edith, especially the latter due to Agnes' naive nature.
• Brainy Brunette: Has brown hair, the most responsible of her sisters, one of the sane member of the Gru family.
• Calling the Old Man Out: She is, understandably, upset with Lucy because the latter accidentally got her engaged.
• Character Tics: Like her adoptive father, Margo often puts both of her hands behind her back.
• Cool Big Sis: To the other two girls, despite them not being actually related. Otherwise, she's always putting their needs and having fun whenever she can with them.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and eyes; she's the only one out of her siblings who fits this trope.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: In Despicable Me 2, Margo develops a crush on Antonio, the son of the said sequel's antagonist, and Gru is less than thrilled. Antonio later dumps Margo to dance with another girl and she's heartbroken. Thankfully, Gru had his Freeze Ray.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's very dry-witted and sarcastic.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Very distrusting of Gru at first, but she warms up to him eventually.
• Deuteragonist: In the first movie, she's the second main focus after Gru.
• Dogged Nice Girl: To Antonio — while she liked him and thought he liked her, it turns out that he is a Kidanova and dumps for the next pretty girl he sees.
• Dude Magnet: In Despicable Me 2, Antonio flirted with her the first second they met, but ended up dumping her in the end. In Despicable Me 3, a boy, Niko, becomes infatuated with Margo just because Margo ate some of his cheese (and only because Lucy asked her to); the boy even later calls Margo a "goddess".
• The Dutiful Daughter: Her bio for Despicable Me 3 states that while she may be going through an angsty, teenager phase she's still the most responsible daughters of her sisters and will always put her family first.
• Hidden Depths:
  • She is quite optimistic despite her difficulty trusting people, telling the girls that they will be happy with Gru eventually.
  • If her shirts are of any indication, she's a fan of Dr. Seuss.
• Knight in Shining Armor: She dresses up as a knight at Agnes's birthday party in Despicable Me 2.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Margo apparently grew up in abusive orphanage with her sisters, resulting in her cynical outlook on life and trust issues.
• Laugh of Love: She giggles nervously when Antonio sweeps her off her feet on their first meeting.
• The Leader: Of the trio, since she's the oldest and gets the most focus in the first movie.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Margo's initial reaction to her break-up mirrors Gru's to the fact that he lost his chance with Lucy. This even includes them both wearing chip hats.
• Little Miss Snarker: Doesn't hesitate to snark, especially to Gru.
• Love at First Sight: For Antonio — the moment she saw him walk across the fountain at the mall she goes awestruck for him. Unfortunately, he didn't feel the same way.
• Nerd Glasses: Downplayed. Her glasses aren't that nerdy, but she can be pretty dorky at times.
• Not So Above It All: She does join in with Edith's antics if it's against someone she doesn't like.
• Only Sane Woman: Of the three girls, she's the most rational and responsible. Justified as she is the oldest of all of them.
• Production Foreshadowing:
  • In the first movie, there is a design of The Lorax on Margo's shirt which hinted at the release of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax in 2012.
  • Averted in Despicable Me 2 being more of a Shout-Out — the Lorax design was replaced by a graphic of Wangan-Kun from the Japanese series Bayside Shakedown.
  • In the third movie, the graphic of Wangan-Kun is replaced by a design of The Grinch, another future Illumination movie, set to be released in 2018.
• Promotion to Parent: Before being adopted by Gru, Margo acted as Team Mom to her younger sisters.
• Reverse Arm-Fold: Like her adoptive father, she tends to do this often.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Downplayed. She wears glasses and is the tallest of her sisters, but is shorter than the adult members of her family.
• Short Teens, Tall Adults: She's around Gru's waistline.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Nerd Glasses + The Spock + Only Sane Woman + Brainy Brunette equals this trope.
• Specs of Awesome: Margo is both badass and downright cute since the first film, the glasses just give it off more.
• The Spock: She's the most intelligent, rational, and controlled of the three, and more than a little cynical.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Especially in the first movie. Margo was cynical and no-nonsense but did have a playful side and was a nice Cool Big Sis. And due to her correct suspicions about Gru, she acted quite snarky and distant.
• Team Mom: To her younger sisters, especially before being adopted by Gru.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Margo keeps her hair in a ponytail.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: She outsmarts Gru several times by threatening to cause him grief or bargaining with him to get her own way, one occasion where he refuses to read to them and she says they will disturb all night long.

Edith Gru

"When we got adopted by a bald guy, I thought this would be more like Annie."

Voiced by: Dana Gaier

Middle, sarcastic, curious, and the tomboy of the three girls Gru adopts. Somewhat disagreeable, though she was the first to take a liking to Gru's weapons, Minions and talent as both father and villain. She likes to scare her siblings, but is easily irritated when Agnes sings.

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• Affection-Hating Kid: In the sequel, we get the clear message that Edith does not like romance. She has the same reaction when she sees Margo and Antonio, and later, Gru and Lucy exchanging affections with each other:
  Edith: "Can I be the first to say: EW!"
• Agent Scully: In the third movie, she is positive unicorns don't exist, even when evidence starts to point to there actually being a unicorn. Downplayed since she was correct the entire time.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Downplayed. While Edith's antics can annoy her older sister, Margo, the two usually get along well.
• The Big Girl: Class 4. Edith is a lot more tougher and violent than she first appears. She also likes gross and dangerous stuff.
• Big Sister Bully: Downplayed. Edith gets along great with Agnes, but she did tease her a little in the first movie about monsters coming to get them.
• Blood Knight: She shows signs of becoming one; in the sequel after she successfully knocked the pinata down, she proceeds to hit it more viciously and even kick it.
• A Bloody Mess: The incident with the iron maiden. Of course, it turns out to be grape juice.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Downplayed. Edith is very cute and nice like her sisters, but can be more annoying than either of them; which is usually not that much.
• Cloudcuckoolander: A quirky little girl who thinks Freaky Is Cool.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Edith sports a black ninja garb in Despicable Me 2 and helps cure the Evil!Minions with the jelly antidote in the climax.
• Does Not Like Spam: In Despicable Me 3, she is seen pushing away the broccoli on her plate.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Her always-present hat covers the top of her eyes, giving her a partially-lidded look fitting with her sarcastic personality and contrasting with wide-eyed Cheerful Child Agnes.
• Gatling Good: Edith uses a Gatling jelly gun in the climax of the sequel to help cure the mutated Minions.
• Gratuitous Ninja: What she becomes in the sequel and is an awesome one at that — Able to perform athletic feats on a whim, carrying a katana, and even being able to play ping-pong with her nun-chucks.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Downplayed. The only blonde member of the Gru family and is an overall good person, but both of her sisters are nicer than her, and she likes violence.
• Hidden Depths: Despite Edith not being the best at ballet like her sisters, she shows a surprising amount of athleticism in the sequel.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Dana Gaier looks a lot like Edith.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Downplayed. Her eyes have been described as "bluish-grey" and they represent her childlike (to an extent) and fun-loving nature.
• Jaw Drop: When she meets Gru for the first time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. She is mostly a Nice Girl, but she does have tendency to be a bit bratty, snarky and she loves messing with her sisters a bit. That said, there's no doubt that she loves her family.
• Katanas Are Just Better: At Agnes' birthday and the Cinco de Mayo Party, Edith is seen with her trusty katana. Whether it's real or fake is up for discussion.
• Like Parent, Like Child: She shares many traits with Gru, being very destructive, tomboyish and sports a macabre sense of humor.
• Little Miss Snarker: She's a very cute and sarcastic Tomboy.
• Loophole Abuse: Used this in the sequel when she was grabbing coins from a wishing fountain and Agnes asked if it was stealing. Edith quipped that it wasn't stealing if she wished for a lot of free coins.
• McNinja: By the sequel Edith is going through her "Ninja Phase". Judging by a few scenes, she would make an excellent ninja!
• Middle Child Syndrome: She got hit with this, particularly in the second film, where she gets the least development of her sisters (fighting the mutated Kevin) at the climax is interrupted by Dr. Nefario using the PX-41 antidote on Kevin at the very last second. She even gets ignored by the marketing team, as the theatrical trailers for the three films don't show any of her speaking parts, instead focusing on Margo and Agnes in the first two, and Agnes in the third.
• Mouthy Kid: Doesn't usually hesitate to speak her mind.
• Nerves of Steel: When Mutated Kevin was sent from El Macho to get of the girls, Edith was prepared to defend her sisters if Mutated Kevin got too close until Dr. Nefario showed up at the right moment.
• Never Bareheaded: Edith is never seen without her sherpa hat. She wears it to her ballet recitals, at her parents' wedding, and while asleep.
• Nightmare Fetishist: "Yes! My pancake's shaped like a dead guy!"
• Out of Focus: Out of the three sisters she's the one who gets the least amount of lines and screen-time, especially in the second film, where she is basically Demoted to Extra. This is rectified in the third film, where her characterization is more fleshed out due to having more of both lines and screen-time that is roughly equal to that of her sisters.
• Pink Means Feminine: Inverted. Despite the pink clothing, she's the tomboy out of the three orphans.
• The Prankster: It's part of her personality. It gets expanded on in Despicable Me 3, as she is mostly seen pulling pranks with the support of Dru.
• The Quiet One: In the first film, Edith was more quiet and reserved than her sisters.
• Signature Headgear: Her pink sherpa hat. It never comes off... not even when she develops an enthusiasm for ninjas and is otherwise dressed in black. Or even when she's asleep.
• Silent Snarker: Her sarcastic facial expressions definitely fall into this trope.
• Small Girl, Big Gun: In the Despicable Me 2 climax, uses a giant gun filled with the jelly containing the antidote to cure the Evil!Minions.
• Token Evil Teammate: Out of the three girls, Edith is the most likely to join in her adoptive father's (former) footsteps as a villain. When introduced to Gru's home in Despicable Me, she is the least disturbed by the macabre atmosphere of the house and even gets excited when Gru makes her a pancake shaped like a “dead guy”. In Despicable Me 2, she takes on a more sinister personality, carrying around ninja weapons, violently beats a piniata after having knocked it down and steals change from the mall’s fountain. In Despicable Me 3, she spends the film tormenting Dru's butler with pranks with Dave and Jerry.
• Tomboy: She is interested in Gru's cool high-tech gadgets, thinks its cool that her bed is a hollowed-out bomb, was excited about Gru shaping her pancakes like a "dead guy", is violent to grown-ups she doesn't like and has a generally gross sense of humor.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She wears pink and, like her sisters, enjoys ballet, but she's the least good at it.
• Young Entrepreneur: In Despicable Me 3, Edith decides that in the unlikely event that Agnes actually finds a real unicorn, Edith will film the unicorn with her phone and get rich.

Agnes Gru

"Oh my gosh! Look at that fluffy unicorn! He's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!"

Voiced by: Elsie Fisher (2010-2013), Nev Scharrel (2017), Madison Polan (2024)

Youngest, most tender, and most joyful of the three girls Gru adopts. She's an oddball who loves unicorns and anything that's fluffy, a lot. Also, the first to take a liking to Gru and Kyle, his "pet dog", rather than seeing them with suspicion.

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• Agent Mulder: In the third movie, she believes there is a unicorn in the forest with very little evidence, and even believes that the goat with a broken horn is a unicorn since it checks off all the boxes.
• All Girls Like Ponies: Unicorns, in her case. She loves her stuffed unicorn, sings about unicorns, and in the third movie she believes that unicorns are real.
• All-Loving Heroine: Justified. She has the innocent personality of a typical child. And all she wants is to be loved and love her family.
• And Call Him "George": Kyle happens to be hugged by her, and ended up being dressed by her and Edith to look like a girl.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Edith, at least, despite them not being actually related. It's Downplayed because the "annoying" part doesn't come up as much and they get along great.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the girls, as well as the youngest member of the Gru family. And she acts like it, and gets treated like it. Nobody can say no to her.
• Badass Biker: Proved to be this in her spotlight short Training Wheels.
• Berserk Button: Remember that stuffed unicorn she won from the first movie? "IT'S SO FLUFFY!" Well in the sequel, Evil Kevin tries to eat her stuffed unicorn, only for her to let out an extended, nails-on-chalkboard shriek which breaks Evil Kevin's goggles, buying Margo and Agnes some time to escape to the underground laboratory.
• Beware the Nice Ones: This child can shatter rock with her screaming. Making her angry is... not a good idea.
• Big Eater: Lampshaded by Gru, "Agnes, easy on the churros!"
• Blue Is Heroic: Her signature blue overalls and being the nicest of the Grus.
• Breakout Character: While not to the Minions' level, Agnes is the most popular of the girls, usually being the one marketed alongside Gru and the Minions. She even got her own spotlight short Training Wheels.
• Breath-Holding Brat: Agnes' prefered tactic to get what she wants, and when it fails, she pretends to faint. When he first sees her do it, even Gru is freaked out by it, and Margo implies she has done this numerous times before.
• Cheerful Child: The most joyful, happy-go-lucky and innocent of the girls. Justified, as she's the youngest.
• Children Are Innocent: The most innocent and naive of her sisters. Which is why Margo is so protective of her.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Justified given her age and innocence. She lives in the real world well enough, but she sees things the way she wishes they were, not the way they really are. And she doesn't yet know how to filter her thoughts, so what she says sometimes comes out sounding a little odd.
  Agnes (to Gru): I know what makes you a boy...Your big, bald head. It's so smooth. Sometimes I look at it and imagine a little chick popping out! Peep, peep, peep.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: When Agnes sees her toy unicorn about to be eaten at the near end of the second movie, she lets out a loud shriek. Said shriek breaks things in the house.
• The Cutie: In every sense. She's sweet, innocent, naive, loving, and lovable. She occasionally shows flashes of being not-as-innocent-as-she-seems, but only flashes. Most of the time she's just what she looks like: a little girl who's so cute that it takes a genuine villain to be mean to her.
• A Day in the Limelight: Stars in her own Minion short, "Training Wheels".
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: Her prayer in the third movie implies this.
  "Um, and please bless that when I find a unicorn, he'll want to come home with me, and sleep in my room, and that I can ride him to school every day. And he'll use his magic powers to help me do math. Amen."
• Facial Profiling: Averted. She definitely looks Asian, but is American. This is most likely due to her young age.
• Fluffy Tamer: "It's so fluffy, I'm gonna DIE!!" She manages to "tame" Kyle so that, while still ill-tempered, he no longer violently attacks Gru and is willing to let Agnes and Edith dress him up like a girl, complete with make-up.
• Genki Girl: The first time Gru meets the girls, Agnes is the one only excited and she starts happily hugging his leg.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Especially if they happen to be unicorns.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Her screams can shatter not only glass but also plaster.
• The Heart: She's been described as being the "heart" of the Gru family.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Out of her sisters, Agnes is the closest to Kyle, their pet "dog".
• Heroic Sacrifice: Non-death example. In the third movie, Agnes was willing to sell her prized stuffed unicorn to make money for Gru and Lucy after they got fired from the AVL.
• Hidden Depths: "Training Wheels" shows Agnes handling a motorcycle fairly well.
• Improbable Hairstyle: How does Agnes's ponytail manage to stand straight up?
• The Ingenue: The most innocent, nice, and naive of her sisters and family, in general.
• Leitmotif: "Unicorns, I love them."
• Love at First Sight: A parent version:
  • Upon meeting Gru, she has about half a second of confusion before delightedly squealing and hugging his leg. Some of the first conflicts between Gru and the girls are based on Agnes not understanding that Gru isn't interested in being an actual father (bed-time stories, good night kisses, etc)
  • In the sequel, Agnes instantly has a connection with Lucy Wilde and ask Gru if he's going to marry Lucy. He denies it, but after coming to realize his feelings for her and after 147 dates, he does marry Lucy.
• Mythical Motifs: Unicorns, given her love for them, and later the stuffed unicorn she carries around.
• Never Say "Die": Averted in the most adorable way possible. "It's so fluffy, I'm gonna DIE!!"
• Nice Girl: Her sisters aren't mean by a long shot, but with Margo being a Deadpan Snarker and Edith having the role of The Prankster and a Bratty Half-Pint (to an extent), Agnes is by far the most kind-hearted and innocent.
• Oblivious Younger Sibling: Didn't suspect or question Gru's adoption of her and her sisters in the first film, although when the tube to Gru's lair was revealed after she stepped on the button to activate it, she did tell Margo that she didn't think Gru was a dentist as he had earlier said he was.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Agnes is shown to be very protective of her beloved stuffed unicorn toy but willingly sells it in the third movie when Gru and Lucy tell her and her sisters about them getting fired.
• Plucky Girl: Goes hand-and-hand with being The Pollyanna. Agnes is full of optimism.
• The Pollyanna: She always looks on the brighter side of things.
• Princess Phase: In Despicable Me 2, at her birthday party, Agnes was wearing a princess costume that had a unicorn "steed" sewn to her dress.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: She's very good at this, as is to be expected given her age and personality.
  • At the amusement park, after the booth attendant refuses to give her the coveted unicorn plushie, she mutely appeals to Gru this way. It would take a much harder heart than his to say no to her huge eyes and quivering lip.
  • She does it again to postpone the start of the Swan Lake recital for a few minutes. Gru misses it anyway.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Relatively pale skin and black hair.
• Red Is Heroic: Agnes's red hairband and the fact she's a good person.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Justified since Agnes is only 6 and therefore has no idea when someone is being sarcastic.
• Shipper on Deck: Ships Lucy with Gru the instance she meets the former.
  Agnes: (To Lucy) Are you single?
• Super-Scream: Seems to have a hyper sonic voice. She's been shown multiple times throughout the series to be capable of shattering large amounts of glass when she screams.
• Sweet Tooth: In the first film, Agnes dug straight into a doggy bowl that Gru filled up with candy. In the second film, she tried eating dozens of churros but Gru intervened. In the third film, Margo pressured Lucy to make Agnes cut down on sweets but Lucy buys more candy for Agnes instead.

Other Family Members

Lucy Wilde

"I'm your new partner! Yay!"

Voiced by: Kristen Wiig

Lucy Wilde is a cunning secret agent who has teamed up with Gru in Despicable Me 2 to hunt down an extremely dangerous super-villain. She loves one-upping Gru with her quirky gadgets and has perfected her own form of martial arts by combining jujitsu, krav maga, Aztec warfare and krumping.

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• Ace Pilot: Shows this skill in Despicable Me 3 when she goes to rescue Gru and Dru in the latter's helicopter all the while dodging missiles from Bratt.
• Action Girl: She knows Jiu-jitsu, Krav Maga, and Aztec Warfare.
• Action Mom: Not only can Lucy kick some serious ass, but she and Gru marry, becoming the butt-kicking mother of the couple's three adorable girls.
• Adoptive Peer Parent: To the girls, after she marries Gru. The oldest, Margo, is 12 and it's left ambiguous of her exact age, but it's presumed to be in between her twenties and thirties.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She admits Gru's work as a villain was "kind of amazing".
• Ascended Fangirl: She was a big fan of Gru's when he was a villain and she ends up marrying him.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Gru in one of the sequel's posters.
• Badass Adorable: She can kick some serious butt, yet she's still awkward and says the sweetest and funniest things.
• Badass Driver: Despicable Me 2 shows Lucy being able to pull off impressive driving feats with her Cool Car.
• Badass Longcoat: A matching turquoise long coat.
• Battle Couple: After she and Gru marry in the sequel, they have become this as the third movie shows them going on a mission to stop Bratt from stealing an important diamond.
• Belated Love Epiphany: After Eduardo pulled a Red Herring on Floyd, Silas ordered Lucy to go to the AVL Branch in Australia. While on the plane, she realizes she is in love with Gru and returns.
• Beware the Nice Ones: A very nice woman, but is a skilled super secret agent nonetheless.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Lucy is an eccentric person who also happens to be trained in three combat styles.
• Blue Is Heroic: Her outfit and overall color theme is turquoises (bluish-green).
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The redhead to Edith's blonde; the redhead to Margo and Agnes' brunettes.
• Bound and Gagged: Briefly in the third movie. Balthazar Bratt managed to get the drop on her offscreen and locks her up bound and gagged and Banging for Help in a closet while he impersonates her.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Gentle Girl (comforting and energetic) to Gru's Brooding Boy (anti-social and secretly insecure).
• Bumbling Dad: Downplayed, justified, and rare gender inverted example. For the first one, Lucy is not a moron, but makes a few mistakes when parenting her daughters due to inexperience. And for the second one, her being inexperienced at motherhood makes sense given her being relatively new to being a mother.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Lucy can be overly talkative and sometimes she borders on being a little crazy, but when it comes to doing her spy job? She's the first person you know you can count on.
• Calling Your Attacks: She announces her weapons after firing them. For instance: "LIPSTICK TASER!!!!"
• Character Development: As Lucy embraces motherhood in Despicable Me 3, Margo tries to advise her on being a "tough" mom. While Lucy does make a few mistakes (see the Nice Job Breaking It, Hero section below), she eventually learns on how to be tough but fair and authoritative but loving.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed. She shows mild irritation at Gru being on a date with Shannon, but doesn't directly interfere. And even when she does it's only because Shannon was about to publicly humiliate Gru.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Case in point, she meets Gru the second time by surprising him through a bowl which surprises him and then surprises her, which causes her to accidentally knock over the cupcakes above her. She manages to beat up the cupcakes in a truly awesome, if bizarre way.
• Combat Stilettos: Lucy's heels are about 6 inches high, but that doesn't stop from getting the job done!
• The Confidant: To Gru by Despicable Me 3, as he opens up to her about his feelings and insecurities the most out of anyone in the franchise.
• Cool Car: It can convert to underwater and flight mode.
• Cool Shades: Briefly wearing them when she first meets Gru. They are the same color of turquoise like her outfit.
• Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: After Lucy gives Gru a business card, she appears to be doing this at him, including possibly looking at him with a flirtful eye, when she turns to leave.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Silly and talkative, but alert and skilled. However, her skilled parts are shown earlier and the silly parts are rather visible later.
• Damsel in Distress: Becomes this in the climax of Despicable Me 2, when El Macho kidnaps her. Also counts as Badass in Distress.
• Dance Battler: Lucy claims that her combat style involves elements of krumping.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Word of God revealed that Lucy's parents were killed by a villain when she was very young. That's the reason why she joined AVL.
• Deuteragonist: In Despicable Me 2, she's the second main focus after Gru.
• Dork Knight: A spy of the AVL...and a complete dorky basket-case.
• Drives Like Crazy: Shown to drive quite aggressively. Justified since both times she drove crazy, her car had the equipment to handle both.
• Dude Magnet: Lucy is quite popular with the opposite sex.
  • While Gru was initially put off with her presence he came to like her after she saved him from an obnoxious date by shooting said date with a moose tranquilizer. Cue Gru's Love Epiphany and Lucy being his First Love.
  • She gets the immediate love from Minions Dave, Stuart, and Jerry, especially Dave.
  • Eduardo also seems to appreciate her good looks when they first meet.
  • She makes a passing mention to Gru that she went on a couple of dates in the past but had to use her lipstick taser on them.
  • In Despicable Me 3, while Dru doesn't flirt with her, he does refer to her as Gru's "beautiful wife".
• Establishing Character Moment: When Lucy goes to recruits to Gru she greets him with a cheery "Hi" and then presents her badge (upside down at first) and then gets serious when saying he has to come with her. And when Gru pulls out his freeze ray on her, she nonchalantly counters it with her flamethrower gun. She then casually walks up to him, tases him with her lipstick taser, while goofily saying "Lipstick taser!". This one scene proves that despite her dorky Nice Girl personality she is a skilled and clever agent.
• Fair Cop: In some points, Lucy is portrayed as attractive and a beautiful person, catching the eyes of Minions including Dave, Stuart and Tom. When Agnes first meets Lucy, it is clear that she notices her beauty and then asks her "Are you single?".
• Female Flatfoot and Snarky Guy: The Female Flatfoot to Gru's Snarky Guy. She's an enthusiastic rookie secret agent trying her best to be professional. She's assigned to work with the grumpy former villain Gru for a mission and she eventually gets on his good side, falling in love with him and marrying him at the end.
• Fiery Redhead: Downplayed. Lucy has orange hair and is an excitable, happy Genki Girl, but otherwise keeps her temper in check.
• Fighting Irish: Implied. Lucy's last name "Wilde" is another name for an Irish restaurant or bar, so she may be of Irish ancestry.
• First Love: To Gru. He did have a crush during his childhood, but she was a part of Kids Are Cruel group who would ostracize a young Gru. After which he gave up on seeking romantic love out of fear of rejection. But after Gru's Love Epiphany (see his section for more details) he began to gain romantic feelings for Lucy, which would develop into love. So, despite his childhood crush, Lucy is Gru's truly first love.
• Friend to All Children: It's heavily implied during her first meeting with the girls. The first second she meets them, she instantly smiles at them while getting down to their level. And while surprised at Agnes's awkward question if she was single, Lucy remains polite and doesn't even get upset. The implication becomes more stronger when Agnes said, "My new mom Lucy is beyond compare" at Gru and Lucy's wedding. The girls and Lucy must have done some real bonding for Agnes to say that.
• Gadget Watches: Her watch can release a liquid that temporarily blinds or freezes someone. It also can shoot darts that have a mild dose of moose tranquilizer.
• Gag Nose: She has a curved nose and it's fairly large in comparison to her face. During her wedding, she and Gru (who has a nice honker to begin with) try to kiss, but they both touch, so they tilt their heads to kiss.
• Genius Ditz: Lucy is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander with mild Womanchild tendencies, but she knows how villains think and is an impressive spy in her field.
• Genki Girl: Lucy, although initially introduced as a serious and stoic woman, is generally very happy, enthusiastic, cheerful, and perky, shown when she exclaims, "Yay!" after telling Gru she is his new partner.
• Girly Bruiser: Lucy is a master of Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, Aztec Warfare, and krumping! She also wears a knee-length cyan dress with heels.
• Good Counterpart: To Miss Hattie. Both are voiced by the same actress and have some relation to Gru and the girls — Miss Hattie was an abusive parental figure to the girls (and thus the girls hated her) and was only wooed by Gru to get what he wanted (i.e., the girls for his scheme); Lucy is a positive mother figure to the girls and while Gru acted cold to her at the start, he developed real and strong romantic feelings for her. In terms of contrasting appearances and personalities — Miss Hattie is a fat jerk who only uses the girls in her care to make money and doesn't really care for any of them, and appears to be quite lazy at her job; Lucy is a thin, extremely nice person who is heavily implied to be a Friend to All Children, and is very pro-active in her work as an AVL agent.
• Good Is Not Dumb: While Lucy is a quirky, Nice Girl she is not stupid — Her easy capture of Gru shows her competency; Making sure there were no infrared lasers at Eduardo's restaurant because of the possibility of there being a booby trap (which there was); and would (correctly) assume that both Gru and Dru were doing something behind her back.
• Good Parents: A few mistakes here and there, but Lucy is dedicated to being a good mother to her daughters and should anyone endanger them...
• Happily Married: To Gru — they work effectively as a Battle Couple, provide comfort to one another during a time of stress, and have a healthy communication with each other.
• Hartman Hips: Lucy is quite thin, but has some curvy hips.
• Heartwarming Orphan: She grew up as an orphan after her parents' deaths and she's a quirky, lovable spy agent that quickly became popular with fans of the franchise.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Word of God reveals that Lucy's parents were killed by a villain when she was a child. Despite that, she isn't antagonistic towards Gru when they first meet even though he is a villain (technically, ex-villain).
  • Despicable Me 3 implies she might have some knowledge over performing card games and/or tricks.
• Hot-Blooded: Always passionate and excited for a mission.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Tiny Girl to Gru's Huge Guy. To be more precise, Lucy is taller than Gru because of her heels; without them she might be around his height or still a little taller than him. Gru, on the other hand, is more bulky and muscular than Lucy.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Lucy doesn't show up until the second movie in the series (and second in the franchise), but has proven to be quite popular nonetheless.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Wears a long, cyan dress on dangerous, action-packed missions.
• Laugh of Love: At their wedding, she and Gru are laughing while dancing together.
• Makeup Weapon: She carries around a Lipstick Taser, which she uses on Gru to demonstrate why one should announce their gadgets after you use them.
• Mama Bear: Lucy becomes this to the girls by Despicable Me 3.
  • She goes One-Woman Army on a bunch of men she thought were harming Agnes and Edith.
  • When a local woman delivers a tirade of insults about Margo with Lucy standing behind her, cue the InYourFace aggression and grabbing the woman's collar. Then the scene is shown from a wide angle and Lucy has lifted the heavyset woman into the air by her collar!
  • And during the climax, she air-dives out of Dru's car-helicopter, jumps/runs on bubble gum buildings, and performing another dive in order to save the girls.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Downplayed. Gru was able to find more meaning in life than villainy when he met the girls in the first movie; Lucy only adds in this trope from a romantic aspect.
• Maternally Challenged: Downplayed. Despicable Me 3 has Lucy step into motherhood with a near obsession. While she's not awful at being a mother to her daughters, she doesn't have any experience with how a mother should act or talk to her children, especially when she has to be a "tough" mother dealing with free spirited daughters.
• May–December Romance: Lucy's age is left ambiguous, but she doesn't look any than older than 20-30. Word of God confirmed Gru to be in his fifties, and they end up marrying each other, so it counts.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Lucy" is an English and French feminine given name derived from Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning as of light (born at dawn or daylight, shiny, or of light complexion)— reflecting either her cheerful, bright personality or skin complexion.
  • Lucy can be quite the wild(e) woman given her excitable nature.
• Mugged for Disguise: In the third movie, Balthazar Bratt impersonates her to kidnap the girls and steal back the diamond. Gru finds the real Lucy Bound and Gagged in a closet.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Skinny as heck, but is strong enough to easily toss the more bulky Gru around with ease.
• Mysterious Past: Her background into her family life or why she became an AVL agent is left a mystery.
• Nerves of Steel: Lucy is very good at keeping cool in dangerous situations, shown when she hijacked Gru, is attacked by Gru whom is using his Freeze Ray. She also remained somewhat cheerful and calm when she is strapped to Eduardo's rocket, although in reality she is freaking out.
• Nice Girl: Lucy is friendly, bubbly, polite, reliable, honest, and hardworking; she's rarely sarcastic or angry..... even with being the subordinate of someone like Silas Ramsbottom or a partner and later wife of Gru.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lucy gets a slight moment of this in the third movie when she applies Margo's "tough love" advice at the wrong time, which ends up with an unwanted admirer showing up at the house to propose to Margo. Margo briefly wonders why she ever listened to Lucy, but fortunately Lucy fixes her mistake: she shoots down the boy's marriage proposal, and then when the boy's mother shows up threatening to curse Margo, Lucy intimidates the woman into backing down. This causes Lucy and Margo to make up.
• No Sense of Personal Space: She often gets into Gru's personal space, much to his chagrin. After the second movie's climax, he now doesn't mind it, which is a given since he grew romantic feelings for her by that time.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently she had to use her lipstick taser for a couple of bad dates.
• Noodle People: She's quite thin.
• Only Friend: Lucy is the only one in the AVL who will work with Gru. Becomes more justified in Despicable Me 3 since she and him are married by then and she is more than willing to stand up for him when the other AVL agents refuse to.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A subtle one, but Lucy usually remains quiet and obedient to her superiors unlike Gru. However, when new AVL boss, Valeria da Vinci, unjustly fires Gru, Lucy stands up for her husband and even threatens to leave.
• Opposites Attract: The bubbly, Nice Girl, and all smiles Lucy fell in love with the sarcastic, Jerk with a Heart of Gold, all frowns Gru.
• Playing with Fire: When Gru attempted to use his Freeze Ray on Lucy, she reacted by using her small flame thrower.
• Plucky Comic Relief: One of the main sources of comedy in Despicable Me 2 due to her friendly, dorky, and odd personality. But don't let her goofy behavior fool you.
• Plucky Girl: Like Gru, she never gives up.
• The Pollyanna: Her unwavering support contrasts Gru's pessimism.
• Prim and Proper Bun: Averted. Lucy sports a bun and is quite tomboyish.
• Pushover Parents: Invoked. When Lucy is reluctant to give Edith and Agnes spending money so the two can indulge in large amounts of candy at a festival, she gives in and allows them. This prompts Margo to inform Lucy that it’s okay for the later to say no to them sometimes.
• Quirky Curls: Her bun contains curls rolled up in it, which is perfect to match her quirky nature.
• Red-Headed Stepchild: Inverted. She's the red-headed stepmother to the girls by the second movie's ending, but is nonetheless loved by Gru, the girls, and the Minions.
• Red Is Heroic: Downplayed. Lucy's main color scheme is turquoise, but both of her fingernails and toenails are painted red and she is an agent of the Anti-Villain League (AVL), a global organization dedicated to fighting crime on a global scale. She also wears red lipstick.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The excitable, Hot-Blooded red to Gru's deadpan, blunt blue.
• Rescue Romance: Her relationship with Gru started to change after she saved him from an obnoxious date via moose tranquilizer; he returns the favor by saving her from a rocket headed to a volcano.
• Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The Nice Sidekick to Gru's Rude Hero. She's Gru's much more friendly and cheerful partner in the sequel.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The peppy, spunky Energetic Girl to Gru's sarcastic, aloof Savvy Guy.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a white scarf with pink polka dots while going on action-packed misions
• She-Fu: She incorporates a lot of flips when she's attacking someone.
• Shoe Phone: "You know, you really should announce your weapons after you fire them, Mr. Gru. For example...(shocks Gru) Lipstick Taser!"
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Orange hair, green eyes, and Gru's Love Interest and eventual wife.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Despite admiring Gru for his villainous reputation, Lucy admired him more for his good parenting to the girls and really started to like him after he became an official good guy.
• Solar and Lunar: A subtle one with Gru and she's the Solar. She uses a flamethrower (the sun is known for being extremely hot), has a head full of fiery and red locks, her Love Epiphany for Gru was at daytime, and she mainly wears light blue clothing (the usual color that surrounds the sun).
• Static Stun Gun: Her Lipstick Taser. She later gives it to Gru to remember her by when she has to go to Australia. But after having a Love Epiphany, she stays, but is captured by El Macho. Gru comes to rescue her and uses the taser to knock out the One-Winged Angel El Macho.
• The Stoic: Subverted. Her first appearance sets her up to be this serious and stoic woman, but not a moment later and it's learned that Lucy is the opposite of stoicism.
• True Blue Femininity: Downplayed. Lucy wears turquoise clothing and is very sweet, but not entirely feminine.
• Twice Shy: With Gru in Despicable Me 2 — both have feelings for one another, but don't act on them either out of job getting in the way (Lucy being transferred to Australia) or shyness and insecurity (Gru). Thankfully, they both managed to get their feelings across.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The Hot Wife to Gru's Ugly Guy. A downplayed example: Lucy is pretty average herself, but she's still more attractive than Gru who is bald, big-nosed and weird looking.
• Villainous Crush: Inverted. She has the crush on the villain, or ex-villain. Eventually, Gru does grow feelings for Lucy.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Wife variant. Valeris firing Gru for not capturing Bratt is what made the usually obedient Lucy vocally call her out.
• Waif-Fu: A relatively small woman with skills that can send larger enemies flying.
• "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: Gender Inverted. According to her bio on the official Despicable Me 3 website, she will most likely become this.
  After losing her job as a super secret agent for standing up for her husband, Gru, Lucy redirects her workaholic energy and becomes obsessed with being the perfect mom to their three girls.
• Womanchild: Sometimes exhibits the mind of a child due to her oddball nature.
• You Killed My Father: The reason Lucy joined the AVL was to find the villain responsible for killing her parents. At this point, it's unknown if Lucy has caught the said villain or not.
• Youthful Freckles: Has a few of them spread on her face to represent her friendly, energetic nature.

Marlena Gru

"I just wanted to congratulate you on stealing the pyramid. That was you, wasn't it? Or was it a villain who's actually successful?"

Voiced by: Julie Andrews

Gru and Dru's mother and Robert's ex-wife. She is the main reason why Gru decided to steal the moon, so he can finally impress her.

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• '60s Hair: Has a different form of her Beehive Hairdo for every movie (even the hair color has changed) with her younger self letting some of her hair go loose.
• Abusive Parents: More on the emotional and mental side than physical side. She is cold towards her son, is a bit disinterested in his achievements, and even mentally scarred him by saying that his father died of disappointment when he was born.
• Action Mom: While she doesn't have any action scenes, she knows karate! And knows how to use it!
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Just once, but Gru isn't happy when he finds her sharing the family album with the girls and showing him in... less than dignified positions.
  Gru: Mom... not cool.
• Beehive Hairdo: Her hair was kept in this style since Gru's childhood.
• Cool Old Lady: Even before she met her granddaughters, she was trained and skilled in karate. She can also dance pretty good, as seen at the end of the first and second movies.
• Deadpan Snarker: Marlena uses witty, dry humor. Usually at Gru's expense.
• December–December Romance: Implied to be this with Dr. Nefario given their flirtatious dancing at end of the first and second movies.
• Demoted to Extra: She only has one silent appearance with Dr. Nefario at the end of the second film. She does get her own scene in the third movie though.
• Dirty Old Woman: In Despicable Me 3, she is seen excitedly training with her young and muscular swimming coaches.
• Doting Grandparent: Implied. The first time she showed her soft, kinder side was when she was spending time with the girls by showing Gru's baby pictures.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her first on-screen interaction with Gru involves her first asking her son if he stole the Pyramids before making a sarcastic remark that it was probably stolen by an actual villain. And before she hangs up, she dryly tells him "good luck" when he states he's planning on something that will make her proud of him.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: In the first movie, Marlena is almost always seen in her purple coat and gives off an air of cold elegance.
• Grandparent Favoritism: Despite her emotional abuse of her son she bonds quickly with her granddaughters, even before they're formally adopted.
• I Want Grandkids: Implied when we see her spending time with her granddaughters, being the first time to show her soft side.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Like mother, like son. She was an atrocious mother figure for Gru during his childhood (and still is in his adulthood), but she does have a tender side (as seen with her grandkids) and even tells her son how proud she is of him for being a better parent than she was. Granted these good sides don't excuse the years of emotional abuse she gave Gru but at least it is enough to make her qualify for this trope.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: She's still at the same height as she was in Gru's childhood.
• Missing Mom: To Dru, since after she and Robert divorced, she took Gru while her ex took Dru and no contact between them was made.
• Never Mess with Granny: Becomes this to the girls before Gru adopts the girls officially. This trope comes from her knowing karate so well that she was able to not only knock out the bag, but her instructor too!
• Parental Neglect: She was quite neglectful of Gru when it came to being emotionally supportive. She also didn't seem to be very concerned with Gru's sudden disappearance when he got kidnappped by Wild Knuckles.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Judging from her relationship with Gru, Marlena might be this trope.
• Ship Tease: Marlena can be seen dancing with Dr. Nefario in a very flirtatious manner in both the endings of the original and sequel. Other than that, they don't interact much.
• Sinister Schnoz: Has a larger nose than her sons and ex-husband, and while it's unknown if she participated in any villainy, she certainly was involved in it (i.e., going to Villain Con in Minions).
• So Proud of You: At the end of the first movie, she gives Gru what he's always wanted from her: praise.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Marlena is (initially) cold towards Gru, but quickly warms up to the girls.

Dru Gru

"Brother...teach me the art of villainy!"

Voiced by: Steve Carell

Dru is Gru's long-lost identical twin brother. The two brothers look exactly alike, but with the following differences: Dru has a full head of blond hair, wears all-white clothing, and presents a good-humored and sociable personality. He lives in the small country of Freedonia and works as a pig farmer. He wants to start taking part in his family's tradition of villainy, and persuades Gru to participate in a heist with him. Dru is in the film Despicable Me 3.

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• Affably Evil: While he wants to follow in his family's footsteps by becoming a supervillain and ultimately does at the very end he's otherwise a pretty nice guy.
• Always Identical Twins: Aside from the head full of hair and different clothing, Dru looks exactly like Gru.
• Animal Motif: Pigs. He seems to love them as much as Agnes loves unicorns. Almost every decoration in his mansion is pig-themed, and he's got tons of them waddling all over his private island.
• Anti-Villain: Dru aspires to follow in his family's villainous tradition, but is an ultimate Nice Guy who genuinely loves his family.
• Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. Dru's the younger brother, but during the climax, he destroys Bratt's giant robot to save Gru from getting burned alive.
• Big Fun: Aspiring to be a villain or not, Dru is a fun guy who has the same body type as his brother.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Like his brother, Dru has some thick eyebrows.
• Cain and Abel: Downplayed. He opposes Gru at the end due to becoming a supervillain while his brother returns to the AVL, but they are still friendly with each other.
• The Charmer: The second he meets Lucy, he flirts with her, much to Gru's displeasure.
  Dru: You must be the beautiful wife!
  Lucy: Oh, stop it! Sweet talker.
• Cool Shades: Dru puts them on just before showing off his collection of many red vehicles and one helicopter.
• Cool Uncle: Upon formally meeting his nieces, Dru is nothing but friendly to all of them. In fact, them being in danger causes Dru to immediately drop his anger at Gru and help him and Lucy rescue the girls.
• Deuteragonist: In Despicable Me 3, he's the second main focus after Gru.
• Disney Death: When Bratt is about to kill Gru with his robot's laser, Dru breaks into the giant robot and destroys the generator, causing it to collapse, seemingly sacrificing his life for his brother. After defeating Bratt, Gru desperately searches through the robot's wreckage for his brother... only for Dru to pop out from behind him and hug him from behind his back, to Gru's extreme joy.
• Eccentric Millionaire: Dru lives in a mansion on a private island and owns a lot of vehicles.
• Face–Heel Turn: From Nice Guy pork magnate to world-class supervillain. This being the franchise it is, though, this ends up being a largely positive piece of Character Development that earns him the friendship and respect of his long-lost brother, with the trivial fact that they're on opposite sides of the law at the end only adding to the fun.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his ambitions to become a supervillain, Dru cares very much for his family.
• Follow in My Footsteps: His bio on the official Despicable Me 3 website has him wanting to follow in his family's villainous reputation.
• Friendly Enemy: While Gru and Lucy are reinstated with the AVL, Dru decides to continue being a supervillain, meaning they'll be enemies from now on. Aside from that though, it's clear they'll still be getting along, with both brothers appearing to be looking forward to their new cat-and-mouse game. Gru also gives him a five-minute headstart before going after him.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: He desperately wants to be a villain like his father and brother, but his lack of skill (and habit of falling to pieces when things go south) severely undermine this dream.
• Keet: He's quite peppy and excitable.
• The Klutz: If the scene where he and Gru attempt to break into Balthazar's lair is any indication, Dru is a bit clumsier than his brother at times.
• Light Is Not Good: He wears white and has golden hair, but wants to be every bit a villain Gru used to be.
• Long-Lost Relative: Dru is Gru's long-lost twin brother.
• Manchild: He is a very ecstatic man with an enthusiasm towards being evil that mirrors that of a child being excited to play a game.
• The Millstone: Gru does not steal the diamond from Bratt "with" him. He steals it in spite of him. He gets better during the final battle.
• Older Than They Look: As the twin of Gru, Dru is in his fifties, but due to a lack of grey hair, looks considerably younger.
• Papa Wolf: To his nieces. Hearing from Gru and Lucy that they were kidnapped by Bratt made him immediately stop being angry at Gru so the three could go and rescue them.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Dru is a friendly, happy, seemingly Nice Guy who wears all white, while Gru is a grumpy Jerk with a Heart of Gold who only shows his soft side to his family and friends, and wears black and grey.
• Rhyming Names: Unlike his twin, Dru's given name is just one letter away from being a Repetitive Name from his surname, Gru.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Dru wears a white scarf.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Gru's manly man.
• Separated at Birth: Not long after Dru and Gru were born, their parents, Robert and Marlena, got divorced. Baby Dru and Baby Gru are crying and reaching their arms out to each other when Robert (holding Dru) and Marlena (holding Gru) permanently go their separate ways. Robert took Dru with him and Gru stayed with Marlena.
• Sinister Schnoz: The same nose as his twin nose who is an Affably Evil supervillain-wannabe.
• The Social Expert: Unlike the anti-social Gru, Dru is very approachable, being able to read and acclimate with Lucy, Margo, Edith and Agnes the instant he meets them, something that took Gru two whole movies to do.
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • Just like his brother, Dru strongly resembles their father. Perhaps even more so as he and his father both have the same blond hair.
  • Him and his identical twin brother look almost exactly alike, the only differences are the hair color and the fact that Gru is bald and a different choice in clothing. Justified since they are identical twin brothers.
• Took a Level in Badass: He goes from being The Millstone during his and Gru's heist to recover the diamond from Bratt to singlehandedly destroying Bratt's giant robot when it nearly ends up killing his brother.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: His ancestors look surprisingly like him, his brother, and their father.
• The Unfavorite: His father was really proud of Gru becoming a villain like him, making Dru the unfavorite due to his absolute ineptitude at villainy.

Robert Gru

Voiced by: N/A

Gru and Dru's father and Marlena's ex-husband.

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• Abusive Parents: Implied. A few statements that he made in his life implies he was emotionally abusive to Dru, like Marlena was to Gru. However, Dru does tell Gru that Robert was So Proud of You for his work as a villain, which makes Gru smile.
• Action Dad: He was a renowned supervillain and a father of two.
• Bald of Evil: Downplayed. A portrait of Robert in Despicable Me 3 showed him having a bald spot but still with most of hair left. And Dru reveals to Gru that their father was a famous supervillain.
• Disappeared Dad: To Gru; he divorced Marlena when their sons were only infants and dies before Gru and Dru reunite as adults, which is why we never see him except in his portrait.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The family tree from Despicable Me shows him with black hair. His portrait in Despicable Me 3 has him with blond hair.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His death is what kicks off most of the plot in Despicable Me 3.
• Posthumous Character: In Despicable Me 3, Dru's butler informs Gru that Robert recently died.
• Red Baron: During his career, he became known to many as "The Bald Terror." Rather fitting considering his appearance, as shown in his portrait above.
• Sinister Schnoz: His sons inherited his long, pointed nose shape and Robert was a renowned supervillain.
• Strong Family Resemblance: His twin sons take after him physically, especially Dru given they share the same hair color.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: His ancestors look surprisingly like him and his two sons.

Gru Jr.

Gru and Lucy's newborn baby son introduced in 4.

Honorary Family Members

The Minions

"Boss!"

Pictured are the three leading minions of the film, Minions (from left-to-right): Stuart, Kevin, and Bob

Voiced by: Pierre Coffin (Stuart, Kevin, Bob, most others), Chris Renaud (Dave), Jemaine Clement (Jerry)

An army of small, yellow, cute, loyal, and childish begoggled humanoids in overalls who do the grunt work for Gru. When meeting the girls for the first time, they immediately form a big-hearted relationship with them. They're often classified as the scene-stealers of the film because of their remarkable humor. They adore their boss, who surprisingly enough returns the affection. This doesn't mean they're all that effective sometimes...

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• Adaptational Villainy: Through being retconned — Word of God explained their origin by being genetically engineered corn kernels. However, in their own spin-off/prequel movie, their main goal is to find and serve under an evil boss.
• Adorable Evil Minions: The modern Trope Codifier.
• Affably Evil: Despite being workers of a Diabolical Mastermind, all of them are pretty upbeat, fun-loving, Nice Guys.
• Affectionate Nickname: Called "munchkins" by Lucy.
• The Ageless: The Minions have shown absolutely no signs of aging in spite of having existed before humans even did.
• Ambiguous Gender: While they are referred to using male pronouns and have male names (Jerry, Norbert, Bob, Dave, etc.), their Barbie Doll Anatomy and androgynous voices make it difficult to tell if they really are male or if they're just called that because "It" Is Dehumanizing. Word of God is that they are all male.
• Amusing Injuries: At least in this trailer.
• Ascended Extra: Stuart was just one of the crowd during the first two Despicable Me movies. Both Minions films made him part of the main cast alongside Kevin and Bob.
• Anti-Hero: Kevin, Stuart and Bob, the three main minions from the prequel Minions, are the examples to this trope, in a way. Although they intend to find their sinister master for them to serve, they perform acts of goodness, such as looking out for each other, as well as (unintentionally) save England from Scarlett's influence.
• Anti-Villain: They may want to serve under an evil boss, but "evil" isn't a word to describe them.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In the first film, when Gru is about to announce what they're going to steal, several minions in the crowd pull out various weapons including an axe, a missile launcher (Dave), a sword, a meat cleaver, a spiked mace, a scythe, and an eggbeater.
• Art Evolution: The Minions look a bit different in the first movie, looking off- model sometimes. They get redesigned in the second film, which sticks.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The minions are driven to serve the baddest villain they can find.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Things that are shiny... or tasty... or mysterious... or look like they could be fun... in short, most things distract the minions.
• Badass Adorable: They're a lot tougher than you might think.
• Badass Army: 10,400 strong. Their own film, however, only focuses on three of them.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: None of them have any nipples or genitalia.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: At the end of the first movie, it's revealed that minions can survive in low Earth orbit, and even in the vacuum of space. Although it's pretty boring up there.
• Been There, Shaped History: Minions shows that they've been around even longer than humans, and have served (and accidentally killed) many of history's most notorious evil masterminds. Their previous masters include a T. rex, Dracula, and Napoléon Bonaparte. The downfall of all three can be directly attributed to the Minions' incompetence.
• Bilingual Bonus: Sometimes their gibberish is somewhat intelligible.
  • When a minion hands the makeshift unicorn to Agnes he says, "Para tú!" which is Spanish/Portuguese for "For you!"
  • They also call ice cream "gelato", wich is the italian word for, well... ice cream.
  • In the sequel, minions making a toast say "Kampai!" (the Japanese equivalent of "Cheers!")
  • When shown a picture of the then Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, one of them says "Uh... la cucaracha?"
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Loyal, adorable, and can be shaken and used as a glowstick, or plugged headfirst into a socket for a makeshift lightbulb. They can also breathe in space and survive being hit on the head with a hammer.
• Breakout Mook Character: They have starred in several of their own shorts and even got their own feature film.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: What happens after they are injected with the PX-41. Suffice to say, they aren't the same adorable little guys we all know and love.
• But Not Too Evil: Their goal of serving the most despicable master they could find was fun and games up until the twentieth century, which saw the rise of a certain fellow with a toothbrush mustache, and if the logical conclusion was followed, any likability the Minions had would be torpedoed to a negative value. Hence, the writers had them retreat to and isolate themselves in an ice cave after running afoul of Napoléon Bonaparte's army until after WWII ended.
• Butt-Monkey: They are the go-to test subjects for new weapons and serums.
• Chain of People: One of their basic skills.
• Character Catchphrase: In Illumination's logos today, the Minions tend to shout the studio's name.
• Chekhov's Skill: The aforementioned skill is what helps them save Gru and Margo during the climax of the first film.
• Complete Immortality: The Minions appear to be physically invincible and immortal. Not only have they existed since the beginning of time, but they show no ill effects to any of the injuries they've sustained in all films they appeared.
• Conflict Killer: In this commercial for the Xfinity X1 Voice Remote, Stuart, Kevin and several other minions fight over whether to watch soccer or Top Chef before Bob shows up and changes the channel to disco, which makes everyone happy.
• Cool Big Bro: The Minions collectively all take up this role toward The Girls almost immediately after Gru adopts them in the first film, especially toward Agnes.
• Creator Cameo: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud voice almost all the minions.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: They're a lot tougher than you might think. When most of them end up in prison in the third film, they're able to bully all of the other prisoners into submission through numbers and willpower.
• The Cutie: Just like Agnes, Bob is portrayed as this in the Minions movie, being the "baby brother" with a childlike personality and even a Teddy Bear named Tim. If he and Agnes met, they'd bond like magnets and metal!
• Cyclops: Some of the Minions only have one eye.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Played for Laughs. Minions showed them losing one boss after another due to accidental incompetence on their part. And when they had no master all of them went into a depressed-like state.
• Desperately Needs Orders: From the very beginning, the Minions were driven by the overriding need to serve the baddest boss they could find. In Minions, they're forced to spend years without anyone to work for, and collectively fall into depression and listlessness.
• Dope Slap: They do this to each other a lot. Retaliation usually degrades into a Wimp Fight.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Otto, the newest and one the most prominent minions in Rise of Gru, actually made his first appearance half a year earlier in the Illumination logo for Sing 2.
  • And also, Mel from Despicable Me 3: did this in the logo for the first installment.
  • Bob is first seen during the credits for the Despicable Me 2 (fittingly, as part of "auditions" for the first Minions movie).
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Kevin was a short, one-eyed minion in the original movie.
• Evil Costume Switch: As Purple Minions, their uniform is black.
• Evil Minions: Literally in the second film after being injected with PX-41 serum. Only a few do not get subjected to it. Luckily, Nefario had prepared an antidote so they could all be returned to normal.
• Extreme Omnivore: A result of their mutations in the sequel.
• Eye Color Change: When dosed with the PX-14, their eyes turn purple.
• Failure Is the Only Option: One scene involves three of them fighting over a banana. None of them get it. And they start chasing an apple instead.
• Gadgeteer Genius: They build all of Gru's gadgets, ships and weapons, and they all work perfectly. This reaches ridiculous levels in "Training Wheels", when they build Agnes a rocket bike, and a bike that can break apart and form into a Powered Armor.
• Genius Ditz: They're destructive in their bumbling but also capable of great feats of science and engineering. For example, in the first movie, they're able to hack a computer and develop a fake profile for Gru on the fly, but can't come up with a reasonable backstory so end up giving him accomplishments both outlandish and painfully mundane (having received knighthood, the Medal of Honor, and being able to hold his breath for 30 seconds).
• Goggles Do Nothing: Both one- and two-eyed Minions wear pairs of goggles at all times. The prequel even shows them emerging from the sea wearing primitive goggles made from leaves.
• Hammerspace: Comes standard for the Minions, who all have one huge weapon (or two) and possibly a crude disguise each.
• Heh Heh, You Said "X": They laughed at Mr. Ramsbottom's name in the second movie. He isn't amused in the slightest.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: In the Vitriolic Best Buds sense. Despite the occasional infighting, the Minions truly love one another.
• Hidden Depths: According to this commercial, when it comes to TV preferences, Stuart likes soccer, Kevin likes Top Chef, and Bob likes disco.
• Impossible Shadow Puppets: During the credits of the first film, one of the Minions makes a perfect shadow puppet of Gru.
  "Hello! I am Gru! Back to work! Back to work!"
• Iron Butt Monkey: They take a lot of abuse, which is always Played for Laughs. The Minions themselves will often laugh at the other's misfortunes, and most of them will usually suffer it shortly afterwards as well.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Of the Clown variety. They're annoying, they're hilarious, they're yellow and they make Illumination millions.
• Lethally Stupid:
  • Before they came under Gru's service, they had dozens of other masters, all of whom they accidentally killed.
  • Only their extreme resilience keeps them from accidentally killing each other, or themselves.
• The Load: In the "Stars are Brighter!" short, one Minion continually laughs at the others as they try to change a fizzled lightbulb, and then accidentally drops and breaks the replacement lightbulb. He ends up getting plugged into the socket himself.
• Mascot Mook: Not just for their own movie, but for Illumination Entertainment as a whole. And boy, does it show. They're on cereal boxes, balloons, toys, school supplies, books, shirts, and pretty much everything else that can be merchandised, up to and including their own film.
• Minion with an F in Evil: They seem compelled to do the bidding of bad people, but they're not malevolent. Or particularly effective. They also happily adapt to pretty much any situation. One of the DVD mini-movies features some new Minions watching an introductory video to working at Gru's "company" which proclaims, among other things, great opportunities for evil. The picture on the screen shows several Minions arguing with and slapping each other.
• Mister Seahorse: In Minions: The Rise of Gru, when transformed into a Minion-chicken hybrid by the Vicious Five, Stuart hatches an egg as a projectile against Nun-chuk, and from the egg comes a chick, which he takes care of for the rest of the film.
• Mooks: Totally defied. Despite their barely-variable appearances, and their inborn desire to serve the cruelest master in the land, they are treated as neither interchangeable nor expendable.
• Morality Pets: The first sign that showed Gru wasn't an evil guy was him being a Benevolent Boss to the Minions.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Some supplementary material for the first movie claims that they're genetically engineered corn kernels, but the Minions movie retcons this to say that they originated from the sea and have existed since the formation of Earth, latching on to various bad guys in order to serve them.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: The only reason they manage to survive their own Lethally Stupid nature. They can survive anything from blunt force trauma to freezing to even being outside Earth's atmosphere unaided.
• Not So Above It All: In one early commercial for the first film, one Minion non-verbally scolds another for playing with a mooing cow can, then walks offscreen to play with it himself.
• One-Gender Race: Okay, it's unclear exactly what gender they are — assuming they even have one at all — but from the looks of it, there isn't a single minion that has any sort of female attributes (the occasional crossdressing notwithstanding). Allegedly, Word of God once stated that, because the minions are so incredibly stupid, they didn't want female minions.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are at least two Minions named Jerry and another two are both named Kevin (though Minions reveals that the taller one is technically Sir Kevin).
• Only Sane Man: In the second movie, Stuart (the minion dressed as Lucy) calmly extinguishes Gru's flaming telephone while the others are running around with axes and fire hoses and screaming, "BEE-DO BEE-DO BEE-DO..."
• Papa Wolf: In Minions, Giant!Kevin doesn't actually attack Scarlet until she tries to kill the Minion tribe, when he smacks her through a couple buildings and into a third.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Whenever out amongst people, they generally wear a wig (beard optional), clothes (may or may not include a hat of some kind), and nothing else to hide the fact they're tiny yellow three-fingered creatures, or that some of them clearly have only one eye in the center of their "face". No human has ever noticed.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Serving the most powerful villains is their sole purpose in life.
• Rebel Leader: A Minion named Mel who convinces other Minions to revolt against Gru.
• Remember the New Guy?: Later films introduce new Minions, with distinctive appearances (Bob, Mel and Otto), yet they are all treated like they were always there.
• Silent Snarker: A few of them fit The Unintelligible variation.
• Similar Squad: The main minions in Minions are this to the girls.
  • Kevin and Margo: The eldest, tallest, snarkiest, protective over the youngest/smallest, The Leader of the group.
  • Stuart and Edith: The middle child, enjoy destruction, the impulsive one of the trio, sometimes gets annoyed with the youngest, The Lancer of the group.
  • Bob and Agnes: The youngest/smallest, has a stuffed animal companion, the most naive and kind-hearted of the trio, The Heart of the group.
• Speaking Simlish: But with a little Bilingual Bonus thrown in. Also, they get a few English lines, like "banana", "Despicable Me", "oh poop", "boss", "stuffed crust", "fight", and "July 2010". A bit of Russian thrown in, like "da" (yes). And some Japanese at least once; two minions say "kampai" (cheers) and then toast (with bananas, of course). They also count in Korean. And in the credits, one speaks intelligibly while mimicking Gru as a shadow puppet.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Stuart is the only minion named to appear in all 3 movies, though isn't named in 3. Although some fans think that the minion playing the guitar in the airship is him in 3. There was a Kevin in the first movie, but his appearance was totally different from his looks in 2 and the Minion movie.
  • Dave appears in the 3 Despicable Me movies and, according to the script, is the minion in Minions to take over leading the minion tribe to England, eventually.
• Sycophantic Servant: They all adore their villain boss Gru. Their movie shows they will worship any bad guy they encounter, but they tend to bring their bosses more troubles than anything due to their incompetence.
• Tattooed Crook: They are seen in a lineup getting their own tattoos from Mel when they are in prison.
• Time Abyss: The Minions have been around since the beginnings of life itself, 3.8 billion years ago. Though they only reached their present form in the Cretaceous Period.
• Those Two Guys: Jerry and Stuart, the Minions who are tasked with watching over the girls, thus have the most screentime. Both appear in the sequel, but eventually Dave takes Jerry's place.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • BANANAAAA!
  • In the sequel, coming in a strong second: GELATOOO! (Italian for "ice cream").
• True Companions: To each other, Gru, and his family.
• Undying Loyalty: Faithful to Gru, except when he gives up villainy. And then they come back later on.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They argue, hit, punch, kick and slap each other all the time, but when working together they're unstoppable.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Bob is nowhere to be seen in the Despicable Me trilogy, and nobody ever speaks of him.

Dr. Joseph Albert Nefario

"In my eyes, you will always be one of the greats."

Voiced by: Russell Brand

Gru's hearing-impaired gadget man and Mad Scientist friend, builder of the devices he uses in his schemes.

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• '60s Hair/'70s Hair: Wore long muttonchops in 1968 and 1976, of course for the latter he teased his hair into something resembling a punk rock mohawk and a pompadour.
• Absent-Minded Professor: He's very old, which makes him quite hearing impaired.
• All There in the Manual: This concept poster◊ confirms his full name to be Joseph Albert Nefario.
• An Ice Person: He invented Gru's Freeze Ray.
• Anti-Hero: Dr. Nefario can be seen as this in the sequel, showing he's loyal to Gru and his family. However, he's also the family's Token Evil Teammate.
• Bearer of Bad News: His first scene in the franchise is telling Gru about the pyramid heist and that it makes other supervillain plots look lame, prompting Gru to start the moon heist.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • When Gru falls off of Vector's ship, Dr. Nefario flies Gru's own - newly unshrunk - ship to rescue him and give him the tools he needs to rescue the girls.
  • Does this twice in Despicable Me 2. First by making an antidote to the PX-41 serum and saving the girls from a mutated Kevin, then by showing up in Gru's ship with tons of said antidote to save Gru from El Macho's army of mutated Minions.
• Brainy Brunette: His cameo in Minions shows he had black hair in his younger years. It also shows him demonstrating his invention of the freeze ray.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Dr. Nefario lampshades this quite a few times.
• December–December Romance: Implied to be this with Marlena given their flirtatious dancing at end of the first and second movies.
• The Dragon: Gru's right hand man in villainy.
• Easily Forgiven: Seriously, he's responsible for everything going wrong in the third acts of both films; even if he's immediately repentant, we never see him get called out for any of it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely cares for Gru, the Minions, and eventually, the girls. It's what made him turn on El Macho in Despicable Me 2.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Building an army for El Macho and attempting to take over the world? Not a problem. Hurting Gru and the rest of his "family"? All bets are off.
• Evil Brit: Has a thick English accent and has been in the villain game for a long time.
• Expy: Doctor Nefario resembles another animated elderly Mad Scientist: Professor Farnsworth in Futurama.
• For Your Own Good: His excuse for having the kids taken back to the orphanage so they stop distracting Gru from his evil plan. Though then again, the least he could've done was tell Gru about it.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Built most of the inventions that Gru uses and was able to create PX-47, the antidote for the Minions that were mutated by PX-41.
• Goggles Do Nothing: It's a mystery of what his real eyes look like in the present day. As a young man he simply wore blue-tinted glasses which did not hide his eyes.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Goes through this during the second movie. He quits working for Gru, and goes to work for Eduardo, injecting Gru's Minions with a serum that makes them go nuts (more nuts than normal) but later comes back to Gru's side and saves Edith from a Minion.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Gru — they've been partners in villainy and close friends for a long time.
• Human Popsicle: In Despicable Me 3, he is accidentally frozen in carbonite.
• I Did What I Had to Do: He believes that Gru's affection for the girls is holding back from the moon theft (which they've been working towards for years) and felt he had no choice but to call up the orphanage to have Miss Hattie pick up the girls.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Gru. This post from Word of God reveals they met in Gru's youth after he created a science fair project that caught Nefario's attention. And they have been close friends well into Gru's fifties and Nefario's seventies/eighties.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dr. Nefario is Gru's closest and most loyal friend coming to his rescue when Gru fell off Vectors ship and helping him rescue Agnes, Edith, and Margo even though he didn't seem to like them much and sent them back to Miss Hattie when he felt that Gru is not putting enough effort into their plot to steal the moon. In time, he came to accept the girls being a prominent facet of Gru's life.
• Karma Houdini:
  • In Despicable Me, he called up Miss Hattie to take back the girls without informing Gru? The protagonist just agrees with Nefario's reasoning.
  • In Despicable Me 2, he kidnapped the Minions to turn them into Brainwashed and Crazy monsters for El Macho to rule the world? The only comeuppance he gets is a very mild call out from Gru... who later forgives him, along with the Minions, and the girls.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In Despicable Me 3 he spends the entirety of the film frozen in carbonite.
• Last-Name Basis: We only know his title and last name.
• Mad Scientist: Nefario is a scientific genius and invented "the Nefario principle" when he explained that the larger an object or person's mass is, the quicker the effects of the Shrink Ray that they stole wear off.
• Meaningful Name: Dr. Nefario loves to do evil, nefarious deeds.
• Mentors: He walks you through the controls in the first movie's video game adaptation.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: The most amoral and truly villainous one in Gru's family. In the sequel he explicitly says that he enjoys being evil and he misses their old villainous days.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Not really. He's rather absent minded.
• Only Sane Man: The only person who notices that the girls' continued presence is causing Gru to neglect his career and lifelong dream.
• Out of Focus: In Despicable Me 3. He accidentally froze himself in carbonite at some point before the start of the movie. His frozen form is seen a couple of times, and his unfrozen self only briefly appears in a Flashback.
• Papa Wolf: Becomes one in the sequel. When El Macho tries to take over the world with an army of Brainwashed and Crazy Minions, the good doctor, who helped him with the plan, develops an antidote when the villain decides to attack Margo, Edith, and Agnes. A quote after the fact sums up this trope:

  Dr. Nefario: I mean, I'm happy with creating an evil army to destroy the world...but nobody messes with my family.

• Retcon: Expanded Universe materials for the first movie stated that Dr. Nefario first met Gru in the closing days of his own criminal career (when they robbed the same place), and offered his services to Gru upon realizing he was the future of villainy. Minions: The Rise of Gru instead has him and Gru first meeting when both are in their youth.
• Science Hero: "Hero" is debatable, but Dr. Nefario is a genius when it comes to science and inventing.
• Ship Tease: He was dancing in a flirtatious manner with Gru's mother, Marlena, in both of the endings of the original and sequel. Other than that, the audience hardly sees them interact at all.
• Sinister Schnoz: His nose isn't as long or pointy as Gru's, but it's bigger than the average nose and he loves to commit villainous acts.
• The Smart Guy: Dr. Nefario is Gru's gadgeteer residing in his underground lair and laboratories, who builds and designs most of Gru's machines.
• Token Evil Teammate: In Despicable Me 2, he helps with El Macho's plan for world conquest by kidnapping the Minions and brainwashed them. But, he does help Gru in the end and makes an antidote... yet, he still wants a life in evil. So, Nefario probably qualifies.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Dr. Nefario didn't seem to like the girls in the first movie because he saw them as a distraction to Gru. Although, he does help in saving them from Vector. Come the sequel, he considers them as part of his family.
• What You Are in the Dark: In Despicable Me 2, Dr. Nefario—who, unlike Gru, hasn't pulled a Heel–Face Turn—goes to work for El Macho and develops a Psycho Serum that transforms Minions into nigh-unstoppable monsters. El Macho plans to launch the Minions all over the planet to conquer it, which is what Dr. Nefario has always wanted, and he's perfectly willing to go along with the plan. But just before the launch, El Macho orders the Evil!Minions to go after Margo, Edith, and Agnes. Ultimately, Nefario can't go through with seeing them hurt and chooses to develop an antidote, save the girls, and launch an all-out attack on El Macho's compound, giving up on the one chance he has to truly Take Over the World. And why? Because, in his own words, "nobody messes with my family."

Kyle

Voiced by: N/A

Gru's pet. Gru calls him a dog, but he doesn't look much like one. For that matter, he doesn't look much like any known animal.

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• And Call Him "George": Agnes has this attitude the moment she sees him.
• Beware of Vicious Dog: A savage snarling beast that attacks even Gru... at first.
• Cartoon Dog Breed: He barely looks like a dog, with long skinny ears, a prominent underbite, and strange puffy gray-black fur. He turns out to be half-dog, half-piranha, which is definitely unlike any real-world dog breeds.
• Character Development: While he's still an aggressive "dog", he at least doesn't attack Gru or any of the girls on sight after the first movie.
• Dark Is Evil: What he starts off as. He's a black "dog" who often tries and does bite Gru. Character Development gets rid of this.
• Establishing Character Moment: Upon being introduced, Kyle terrifies Gru — the man who just a few moments ago casually freeze-rayed a group of people to get a bagel and then, with equal casualness, implied he killed his neighbor Fred's dog.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Kyle is rather vicious toward Gru, even going so far as to bite his arm! Then he meets the girls and becomes a much more gentler, but still ill-tempered dog.
• Long-Lived: The prequels confirm he's been around since Gru was eight. In other words, he's at least 42 years old, way older than any dog in history; few dogs reach 20, and even the oldest dog on record is only 31.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Strongly implied from the start, since Gru doesn't know what kind of dog he is, and he doesn't really look like a dog at all. It's strongly implied again in the sequel, in which one of Lucy's gadgets couldn't figure out what kind of species Kyle was. Word of God finally confirmed Kyle to be half-dog, half-piranha.
• Silent Snarker: Kyle makes a lot of irritated huffs and eye rolls to show his annoyance.
• Team Pet: He is the 'pet dog' of the Gru family.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Kyle is first introduced as being foul-tempered and nasty toward everyone, even his master Gru. By the end of the first film, though, he's acting like a good family dog: playing with the girls, wagging his tail, and sleeping on Agnes's bed.
• Uncatty Resemblance: He's basically like his owner, Gru. From the open hostility to others, initial dislike of the girls that eventually transforms into genuine love, main color scheme is black, and so on.

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