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Facts established by Minions lore has led to questions about who they've served over the years
As the franchise of the Minions continues to grow, so does the lore surrounding it. The internet, as it so often does, has taken the speculation about Minions lore in an extreme direction.
The Minions are a fascinating cultural phenomenon. They’re inherently absurd — slapstick comedy performed by tiny yellow creatures that speak a goofy foreign language — but also ingeniously ironic. Who could forget the Gentleminions trend from 2022, which saw Gen Z audiences arrive to movie theaters in full suits to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru as if it were Taxi Driver being premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
The latest film in the franchise, Minions & Monsters is the perfect epitome of this dichotomy, as it’s being hailed as a heartfelt ode to Old Hollywood and features homages to the likes of Citizen Kane and many other classic films.
“The Minions bring their penchant for mayhem to Hollywood history in this affectionate and charming sendup of moviemaking magic, turning out the franchise’s most roundly enjoyable entry yet,” Rotten Tomatoes says in its review summary of the film.
First look at a ‘CITIZEN KANE’ homage in ‘MINIONS & MONSTERS’. pic.twitter.com/iTHIda4dJ9
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 29, 2026
Minions creator Pierre Coffin has to answer questions about whether the Minions worked for Hitler due to their nature of “serving the most despicable master they can find”
With a sense of irony propelling a portion of the franchise’s popularity with adults, and it being established Minions canon that they have existed on Earth since prehistoric times and “share the same goal of serving the most despicable master they can find,” the internet has long been asking whether or not the Minions were part of the Third Reich.
Specifically, in the first spin-off film from 2015, its established that the Minions worked for the likes of Dracula, an Egyptian pharaoh, and even Napoleon Bonaparte. So, when Hitler became the most evil man in the world in the early 1900s, where were the Minions?
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The film, however, did try to account for this question by stating that the Minions hid out in an ice cave from 1812 until 1968 (this comes after a beef with Napoleon, forcing them to flee and hide in the cave). As Polygon points out, however, “Minions & Monsters establishes that there are multiple tribes of Minions, and, aside from James, they still seek out the most evil boss they can.” Thus, the outlet posed the question to creator Pierre Coffin: where were the Minions in the 1930s and 1940s?
“’I knew you were going to ask me that question. Shame on you,’ Coffin laughs. Then he goes on to say, ‘I think they were in that cave.'”
When pressed on the fact that the latest movie “establishes that there are multiple tribes of Minions,” Coffe replied:
“I was trying to avoid the answer… So the Minions that we know from Minions 1 were stuck in the cave. These ones, I don’t know where they were, but they were not part of the Big History,” says Coffin.
I think the minions should’ve been gru’s creations because making them an prehistoric race that works for evil creates a lot of unfortunate implications https://t.co/LhdptPt4u3
— Fandom enemy #1 (@junegrits) July 1, 2026
Minions & Monsters was released in theaters on Wednesday, July 1. In addition to Coffin, who voices the Minions, the film features voice work from Trey Parker (yes, the South Park co-creator), Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, and Phil LaMarr.