Despicable Me & Minions Viewing Order (Release & Chronological)

For anyone wanting to catch up with Gru and his legion of yellow Minion sidekicks, there are two ways to binge-watch the Despicable Me movies in order. The first Despicable Me was received positively by both critics and fans alike and went on to gross more than $540 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), spawning two direct sequels, the Minion movies, and several short films, television specials, video games, and even a theme park attraction at multiple Universal Studios locations. They even picked up an Oscar nomination, two Golden Globes 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 franchise’s odd yellow Minions are presented as Gru’s loyal henchmen throughout the Despicable Me movies, the popularity of the little creatures saw them receive their very 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 & Minions Movies In Release Order

The Minions Movies Break Up The Four Despicable Me Entries

The Despicable Me viewing order hasn’t been released in a perfectly straight line, but it’s still fairly 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 prior to the events of Gru’s attempted moon heist in Despicable Me. The popular franchise now continues on 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 & Minions Movies In Chronological Order

The Minions Movies Act As Prequels

The Despicable Me viewing order chronologically is as follows:

Minions (2015)

Minions

A spinoff of the popular Despicable Me film series, Minions is a prequel that focuses on the Minion’s time before they worked for Gru. After serving several notorious evildoers throughout history, they are left without a master and desperately searching for a purpose in life. Three Minions hitchhike their way to Villain-Con, where they meet Scarlett Overkill (Bullock) and begin working for her.

Release Date

July 10, 2015

Director

Pierre Coffin , Kyle Balda

Cast

Michael Keaton , Sandra Bullock , Steve Coogan , Allison Janney , Katy Mixon , John Hamm

Runtime

91minutes

The first Minions movie in order starts its story in 3.8 billion BC when the Minions show up when the Earth itself formed. However, the movie then moves into the future where they work for dinosaurs, Egyptian pharaohs, and even vampires. While wild and unpredictable, the Minions are all dedicated henchmen at their core. Kevin, Stuart, and Bob attempt to find a supervillain to serve, and the central plot of Minions takes place in 1968 when they meet Scarlet 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 adorable henchmen’s attempt to help out their new leader while inadvertently saving the day. However, the movie ends with the tease of where the franchise will go from here as Kevin, Stuart, and Bob meet young Gru.

Minions: The Rise Of Gru (2022)

Minions: The Rise of Gru

Minions: The Rise of Gru is the second Minions film and the fifth movie overall in the Despicable Me franchise. The Minions sequel again stars Steve Carell as an eleven-year-old Gru who wants to become a supervillain. The only problem is that there’s a new group in town called the Vicious 6 that puts a wrench in his plans.

Release Date

July 1, 2022

Director

Brad Ableson , Kyle Balda

Cast

Steve Carr , Pierre Coffin

Runtime

90 Minutes

After the brief introduction of young Gru in the previous movie, the Minions’ story picks up in 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 former leader of the team, Wild Knuckles, it is up to the Minions to save him.

The movie explores the early days of Gru’s partnership with the Minions, showing that he is not altogether impressed with them as henchmen in the beginning. However, that bond grows stronger over the course of the story which only unfolds in a matter of days. While the movie doesn’t push the timeline ahead very much, it leaves plenty of room should the franchise decide to make another Minions prequel with Gru. The post-credit scene takes place a little later with Gru and the Minions hiring Dr. Nefario.

Despicable Me (2010)

Despicable Me (2010)

Despicable Me follows the story of Gru, a supervillain voiced by Steve Carell, who adopts three orphaned girls as part of his grand scheme to steal the moon. As he balances his villainous plans with fatherhood, Gru’s life takes an unexpected turn. The animated film also introduces the popular small, yellow minions. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, it was produced by Illumination Entertainment.

Director

Pierre Coffin , Chris Renaud

Runtime

95 Minutes

Release Date

July 8, 2010

Taking place after the events of the prequels, Despicable Me jumps the franchise timeline ahead 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 having to adopt a trio of orphan 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 Gru, it doesn’t take long for the relationship between Gru and the girls to grow, showing that the character does have 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 several weeks or a couple of months at the most.

Despicable Me 2

Now the father of his three adopted daughters, Gru’s life is about to get a lot more exciting when the Anti-Villain League, or AVL, sends their agent Lucy to recruit him for his help in tracking down a stolen mutagen that threatens the world.

Release Date

June 26, 2013

Director

Pierre Coffin , Chris Renaud

Runtime

98 minutes

Despicable Me 2 is set in the present day, taking place only one year after the first movie and showing how Gru is settling into his new life as a father. It is shown that in the short time, Gru has mostly dedicated himself to fatherhood and left his career as a villain in the past. However, he is pulled back into that 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 over a relatively short period of time with Gru bonding quickly with Lucy throughout their mission together. However, that 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 dates after their mission was completed.

Despicable Me 3 (2017)

Despicable Me 3

Universal’s Despicable Me 3 picks up with Gru, Lucy, and their adorable daughters – Margo, Edith, and Agnes, as they face off with Balthazar Bratt, a former ’80s child star-turned-supervillain. Meanwhile, Gru is united with his long-lost twin brother, Dru. Like its predecessors, Steve Carrell returns as the loveable Gru.

Release Date

June 15, 2017

Director

Pierre Coffin , Kyle Balda , Eric Guillon

Runtime

96minutes

The third movie in the main franchise, Despicable Me 3, takes place four years after the wedding, however, this is where the timeline of the movie can get a little confusing, as Gru’s daughters don’t age at all in that time. The movie details Gru and Lucy living their exciting lives as secret agents only to be fired for failing to apprehend the dastardly former child star and current supervillain, Balthazar Bratt. This leads to Gru meeting his long-lost brother, Dru, who has his own ambitions of being a supervillain.

The movie is another fairly straightforward story in terms of its timeline, with the whole film taking place over the course of several days. While there are moments showing Bratt’s days as a television star in the 1980s, these are simply viewed as clips in the present day, so don’t cause any changes to the timeline.

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4

The infamous (and kind-hearted) not-super villain Gru returns in Despicable Me 4, the fourth entry in the long-running movie series from Illumination Entertainment. The fourth film also sees the return of Gru’s wife, Lucy, portrayed again by Kristin Wiig, and introduces their son.

Director

Chris Renaud , Patrick Delage

Release Date

July 3, 2024

Runtime

95 Minutes

The most recent Despicable Me movie, Despicable Me 4, makes it a little more challenging to determine when it takes place. The film picks up with Gru and Lucy now new parents to their son, Gru Jr. However, even with this baby shown in its early days, their three daughters continue not to age. Simply going on the age of Gru Jr., it is likely the movie takes place one year after the events of Despicable Me 3.

The movie finds Gru juggling life with a new kid who he cannot seem to connect with and his showdown with a rival from his past. Like the other Despicable Me adventures, the third movie covers a short period of 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 & Other Modern Atrocities

They Were Inactive During The Time

It’s been confirmed that the Minions exist in the same universe as several dictators and other real-life villains of history, thanks to the Minions’ opening scene — a topic that the Despicable Me movies have cleverly avoided. The Minions opening scene is all fun and games when they’re able to poke fun at dictators like Napoleon, but it becomes much darker when one considers something like the atrocities of WWII.

How the Minion movies surpass this dark moment in history is by making the Minions inactive during the Second World War and then bringing the Minions into the 21st century to be with Gru. This helps the series avoid tackling the question of just who the Minions would’ve been working for during this time since their main purpose is chaos and destruction.

Making the Minions inactive during this time period also takes the ethical ramifications of said subject away. This is how the Despicable Me franchise was able to avoid tackling complex matters of history that would have directly or indirectly involved their villainy.