| “ | Listen close, you little punk! When I get in there, you are in for a WORLD OF PAIN! | „ |
| ~ Gru to Vector
|
Felonious Gru Sr., or simply Gru, is the main protagonist from Despicable Me quadrilogy, a minor character in Minions and the main protagonist in Minions: The Rise of Gru often referred to by his surname Gru, was formerly a supervillain and jelly manufacturer and a consultant for the Anti-Villain League.
He is voiced by Steve Carell, who also voiced his twin brother Dru, Hammy from Over the Hedge and Mayor Ned McDodd from Horton Hears a Who.
History[]
Gru was born in April, 1964, alngside with Dru to Marlena and Robert Gru (The Bad Terror). He comes from a long lineage of villains as show by the dozens of statues of his ancestors in Dru's hideout. Although his hometown is unknown, in an interview with Ellie DeGeneres on her TV show, he claimed he was from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Although born with his twin brother, Dru Gru, he was separated from his brother since birth and stayed with his mother Marlena Gru.
As a child in 1969, he had always dreamed of going to the moon after seeing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong's 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing. He once made a "prototype" rocket out of macaroni and an actual working prototype rocket. For most of his childhood he was neglected by his mother. Robert Gru, Gru'father, athough never in contact with his son prior to the former's death, was quite proud of his son's archievements.
Gru was also constantly bullied by other students and one of these events made him afraid of ever asking a girl for a date, leaving him traumatized. This trauma is probably the reason that made him evil eventually.
At some point in 1968, Gru and his mother visited Villain-Con and met Dr. Joseph Albert Nefario. Attracted to the scientist's contraptions, he would later employ Nefario in 1976, as well as a group of yellow pill-shaped creatures called the Minions, whom he met shortly afterwards. The Minions and Nefario would eventually become his only friends and, unlike the usual villain, he treated them like friends and appreciated every effort they made instead of treating them like slaves.
Personality[]
At the start of the film, Gru was a sneaky and somewhat cold-hearted man, who was determined to become the greatest villain in the world. He showed a dislike of children, as he was easily irritated by Agnes, Edith and Margo.
He was selfish and at first, he only adopted Agnes, Edith and Margo so that he could get shrine ray from Vector Perkins, considering they were able to get past his highly secured property with little trouble as they were delivering cookies and had no intentions of talking anything from him, which he intended to use to shrink the moon so that he could steal it. He was also rather indifferent to their needs and welfare; when Edith was trapped in a spike filled confinano briefly presumed dead, he indifferently said that his plan could work with two children.
Gru was also rather rude and even sadistic at first, shown when he enjoyed using his Freeze Ray (his signature weapon) just to freeze people for the sake of it. Near the beginning of the movie, he made a balloon animal for a boy who'd dropped his ice cream and then popped the balloon just for fun. When Vector kidnapped his adopted daughters, he furiously told him that he was in for a world of pain. However, this was not a sign of his sadism; instead, it was a sign of how much he cared for the trhee girls.
Despite these traits, Gru was shown to be good friends with Dr. Nefario and also treated his Minions quite well, interacting with them and calling each one of them by name instead of just treating them like saves, despite a few moments where he can be occasionally graffi with them. However, he also said that he had no intention of giving his Minions a raise. He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother, who hadn't been a particularly good parent, but he was determined to make her proud.
As time went on, Gru started to enjoy spending time with his three adopted daughters and in the end, he grew to genuinely love them, putting aside his dream of stealing the moon and risking his life to rescue them from Vector. However, Dr. Nefario disapproved of Gru's warmer side starting to reveal itself and sent the girls back to the orphanage. Hattie from taling them, he was clearly upset about them leaving and later said that giving them up was the worst mistake he'd ever made. He also did his best to get to their dance performance after stealing the moon and was upset when he discovered he was too late.
Gru also had a tendency to say "lightbulb" whenever he had an idea. He spoke in an unusual accent which was described as 'a mix of Ricard Mintalban and Bela Lugosi'.
Appearance[]
Gru is a tall and bald man with a longnose broad, powerful physique, (unlike Vector) and dress in a light grey sweater underneath a black collared coat along with a striped scarf, black trousers, and shoes. He is very strong and athletic, being capable of dodging and leaping off several heat-seeking missiles, backhanding Vector's shark with a single punch (without even looking at it), and smashing his fist into Vector's monitor, easily cracking the screen without doing any damage to his hand. It is even shown in the sequel that he can break a Mexican drink glass into pieces without cutting himself, especially when he was horrified to see a romantic relationship between Margo and Antonio blooming.
Apart from his remarkable agility and strength, Gru is also considerably intelligent. For example, as a child he built a real rocket. However since becoming a mega-villain he seems to let Dr. Nefario handle most of the mechanical work though he was seen helping Nefario from time to time. Gru was also capable of forming Cleveland plans such as his plan to steal the shrink ray from Vector.