Despicable Me and Minions Viewing Order (Release and Chronological)

For anyone wanting to catch up with Gru and his legion of yellow minion sidekicks, there are two ways to watch the Despicable me Movies in order. The first Despicable me was received positively by both critics and fans alike and grossed more than $540 million worldwide. (via Box Office Mojo)Spawning two direct sequels, the Minion movies, and several short films, TV specials, video games, and even a theme park attraction at multiple Universal Studios locations. They even picked up an Oscar nomination, two Golden Globe nominations and two BAFTA wins.

The Despicable me Movies follow the story of super villain-turned-father Felonious Gru, his adopted daughters, Margo, Edith and Agnes, and his eventual wife, Lucy Wilde. While the strange yellow minions of the franchise are presented as Gru’s faithful henchmen throughout the Despicable me Movies, the popularity of the little creatures saw them get their own prequel in 2015. Minions Became the first entry in the series to earn over $1 billion at the global box office, and Minions: The Rise of Gru Beat that. This also opened up two ways to watch the movies – in release order and chronologically.

Despicable Me and Minions movies in release order

The Minions movies break up the four Despicable Me entries

The Despicable me Viewing order It’s not released in a perfectly straight line, but it’s still pretty straightforward. The first animated film was released in 2010 while the massive surge in popularity for the Minions characters led to the release of the Minions Prequel between the second and third films in the core trilogy.

Minions: The Rise of Gru Followed as a sequel to the Minions Movies, but still took place before the events of Gru’s attempt at the moon Despicable me. The popular franchise now continues by going back to its main franchise with the release of Despicable Me 4. The Despicable me Viewing order by release date is as follows:

Despicable Me and Minions movies in chronological order

The Minions movies act like prequels

The Despicable me Viewing order chronologically is as follows:

Minions (2015)

The first Minions Movie in order starts its story in 3.8 billion BC when the minions show up when the earth was formed. However, the movie then moves into the future where they work for dinosaurs, Egyptian pharaohs and even vampires. While wild and unpredictable, these minions are all dedicated henchmen at heart. Kevin, Stuart and Bob attempt to find a supervillain to serve, and The main plot of Minions Takes place in 1968 When they meet Scarlett Overkill and find their next villain to follow.

Despite the story kicking off at the dawn of time, once the movie settles into its 1968 setting, not much time passes. The story simply focuses on the charming henchman’s attempt to help their new leader while inadvertently saving the day. However, the movie ends by teasing where the franchise will go from here Kevin, Stuart and Bob meet Young Gru.

Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

After the brief introduction of the young Gru in the previous movie, the minions have The story takes place Minions: The Rise of Gru in 1976. The movie centers around Gru at 11 years old as he strives to become a full-fledged supervillain and wants to join the supervillain team Felonious Five. However, when Gru is captured by the team’s former leader, Wild Knuckles, it’s up to the minions to save him.

The film reveals the first days of Gru’s partnership with the minions, showing that he did not initially agree with them as a butler. However, the bond grows stronger as the story unfolds in a matter of days. While the movie doesn’t push the timeline forward very much, it does leave a lot of room if the franchise decides to make another Minions prequel featuring Gru. The post-credits scene takes place a little later with Gru and the minions hiring Dr. Nefario.

Despicable Me (2010)

Taking place after the events of the prequels, Despicable me Jumps the franchise timeline forward to the 2010s With the focus on Gru now as an adult and an established evil genius, still working with the minions. The movie follows Gru’s rivalry with fellow villain, Vector. In an attempt to defeat his rival, Gru’s plan involves adopting a trio of orphaned girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes. However, despite himself, Gru begins to form a connection and truly becomes a father to them in the end.

Much like Gru’s relationship with the minions in Minions: The Rise of GruIt doesn’t take long for the relationship between Gru and the girls to grow, showing that the character really has a big heart. Early in the movie, the girls mention their upcoming ballet recital which ends up playing a role in the climax, Meaning it takes place over the course of a few weeks or a couple of months at most.

Despicable Me 2 is set in the present dayTakes place just one year after the first movie and shows how Gru is settling into his new life as a father. It turns out that in this short time, Gru mostly devoted himself to fatherhood and abandoned his career as a villain. However, he is pulled back into the world when a spy agency recruits him to stop a new threat. During the mission, he begins to fall for secret agent Lucy Wilde with the two marrying at the end of the story.

Like the other movies, The majority of the story takes place in a relatively short period of time With Gru bonding quickly with Lucy during their mission together. However, this is not to say the courtship is rushed. The epilogue of the movie, which takes place at Gru and Lucy’s wedding, is Revealed to take place 147 days after their mission was completed.

Despicable Me 3 (2017)

The third film in the main franchise, Despicable Me 3Takes place four years after the wedding, However, this is where the timeline of the movie can get a little confusing, as Gru’s daughters are not of age at the time. The movie details Gru and Lucy living their exciting lives as secret agents only to be fired for failing to capture the eccentric former child star and current supervillain, Balthazar Bratt. This leads to Gru meeting his long-lost brother, Drew, who has his own ambitions to be a supervillain.

The movie is another fairly straightforward story in terms of its timeline, with the entire film taking place over the course of several days. Although there are moments that show Bratt’s days as a TV star in the 1980s, they are simply viewed as clips in the present day, so do not cause any changes to the timeline.

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

The last one Despicable me movie, Despicable Me 4Makes it a little more challenging to decide when it takes place. The film picks up with Gru and Lucy now new parents to their son, Gru Jr. However, even with the baby shown in his early days, their three daughters continue to age. Simply put, at the age of Gru Jr., it’s probably the movie Takes place one year after the events of Despicable Me 3.

The movie finds Gru juggling life with a new kid he can’t seem to connect with and his showdown with a rival from his past. Like the others Despicable me Adventures, the third movie covers a short time with Gru’s battle against Maxime Le Mal. However, the movie also features flashbacks to the 1980s when Gru and Maxime were classmates.

How the Minions timeline cleverly avoided WW2 and other modern atrocities

They were inactive during that time

It has been confirmed that the minions exist in the same universe as some dictators and other real-life villains from history, thanks to the minions’ Opening scene — a theme that the Despicable me Movies have been cleverly avoided. The Minions Opening scene is all fun and games when they are able to poke fun at dictators like Napoleon, but It gets much darker when you consider something like the atrocities of World War II.

Like these Minion Kino transcends this dark moment in history by making the Minions inactive during World War II and then bringing the Minions into the 21st century to be with Gru. This helps the series avoid the question of what the minions would have been working for at the time since their main purpose is chaos and destruction.

Making the minions inactive during this time also takes on the subject’s ethical ramifications. This is like these Despicable me Franchise was able to avoid tackling complex issues of history that would have directly or indirectly involved their villain.

The future of the Despicable Me franchise

With the last entry of Despicable me Arriving in 2024, there are already fans waiting for news on where the franchise will go from there. As was the case recently, the latter Despicable me Sequel will be followed by a new installment in the Minions Prequel series. Minions 3 is already set for releaseAnd while this will no doubt please fans, they’re in for a long wait because it won’t arrive until the summer of 2027.

Minions: The Rise of Gru Made Young Gru a core part of the story, though the minions still get to share the spotlight. It will be interesting to see if the third film will continue to include the future world genius in its origin story or if it will go back to being a standalone adventure for the minions. In terms of Gru returning in his own movies, Despicable Me 5 Is not announced yet, but with Despicable me Earning just under $1 billion at the worldwide box office (by Box Office Mojo), it seems like a sequel won’t be far behind.

With the continued popularity of the franchise, It also wouldn’t be surprising if the possibility of other spinoffs could be explored. One interesting direction coming from the latest entry is a possible spinoff with Will Ferrell’s Maxime Le Mal, the villain of Despicable Me 4. Regardless of what else is to come, the Despicable me Movies remain as popular as ever and show no signs of slowing down.