“Minions & Monsters” changes the history of the Minions with new revelations

The film Minions & Monsters is now available and expands the universe of the Despicable Me and Minions franchises, incorporating new narrative structures that modify part of the previous mythology of the yellow characters.

Among the main novelties is the introduction of multiple Minion tribes, which expands the scope of the fictional world and the possibilities for future stories.

Within the plot, it is established that there is not a single group of Minions, but rather several tribes with their own dynamics. This expansion coincides with a shift in the central narrative, in which the character James, described as a Minion with artistic inclinations, moves away from the traditional model of serving villains.

In the story, James decides to dedicate himself to filmmaking and, together with his tribe, gets involved in the film industry during the silent film era in Hollywood.

In “Minions & Monsters” it is revealed that these characters have their own tribes. (Universal Pictures via AP)

These modifications have reactivated recurring questions within the online audience regarding the origin, nature, and behavior of the Minions, many of which have been circulating for over a decade in fan communities.

Among them, questions stand out regarding their reproduction, their possible death, and their role in different historical periods.

In an interview with Polygon, director Pierre Coffin, responsible for several films in the franchise and the voice of the Minions, addressed some of these issues.

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“That is a question that we have all asked ourselves on a very creative level. It came up very high in the discussions and, in the end, we thought we would never answer it. But we hinted at it in the first Minions movie. In the opening credits, they start as small yellow cells,” he said. Pierre Coffin asserted that they never considered answering the origin of the minions.

The director added that, within the creative process, broader ideas about the origin of the characters have been explored.

In particular, he mentioned a proposal that was not included in the final version of the film, where in the opening credits of Minions & Monsters the Big Bang would be seen and from the darkness multiple small yellow dots would emerge.

“Then we would follow those points traveling from planet to planet until we reached a big blue thing that was like separating, so they helped in the separation of the Moon and what would become the Earth,” he explained

And he added: “Then those little yellow dots would arrive on Earth and populate it. Basically, we wanted to say that the origin of all this is actually the Minions. But it was considered slightly off-topic regarding the type of movie we wanted to make. Maybe we’ll do it in another Minions movie in the future”.

Pierre Coffin stated that he considered the possibility that the Big Bang was the direct origin of the Minions.

Another topic addressed was the possibility that the Minions could die within the franchise’s universe. “No. We tried several times, but they seem to come back to life every time for some reason. So I guess they can’t die,” he expressed.

The conversation also included one of the most recurring questions among fans: the role of the Minions during World War II.

In previous installments, it had been established that the characters remained hidden for a long historical period, although the introduction of multiple tribes in Minions & Monsters reopens the debate about their possible activity in other contexts.

“I knew you were going to ask me that question. How embarrassing.” He later added: “I think they were in that cave.” Pierre Coffin avoided talking about the Minions theory regarding World War II. (Universal Pictures via AP)

When the new tribe structure introduced in the film was pointed out to him, the director replied: “I was trying to avoid the answer,” acknowledging that it is a widely discussed issue online.

Finally, Coffin clarified the official position within the franchise’s continuity: “So the Minions we know from Minions 1 were trapped in the cave. These others, I don’t know where they were, but they weren’t part of the big story.”