The Involvement of the Minions in World War 2, and the Near Extinction of the Minion Species.
Introduction:
It is a widely debated subject in the Despicable Me community that the Minions served Hitler between 1933 to 1945, with some claiming that such events could not have taken place given that the Minions were trapped in an ice cave for a long duration of time. However, some evidence in the Despicable Me universe points toward a possibility that the Minions not only served Hitler and Stalin, but engaged in a brutal civil war that nearly wiped out the species as a whole.
Evidence No. 1: The Minions trapped in the ice cave are NOT the only Minions in the world.
Proof:
In the Despicable Me and Minions films, we see the Minions interacting with Human society on a rather normal scale. Whether it be going on vacation, joining the French Military, hitch hiking to the villainy convention, wandering through TV studios, getting ice cream and going out in public no one seems to bat an eye to the existence of the Minions. Given that the Minions have been around before the Dinosaurs, its not impossible to assume that there were millions, if not billions of Minions alive on earth given the time they had to spread across the globe. Some possible evidence that there were millions to billions of Minions is how little people react to them in society.
No one seems to bat an eye to the Minions, implying they've been abundant and around long enough to be completely normalized by Human society. In fact the Minions may have well been completely integrated into human society instead of being viewed as a different species. In our universe, if a few hundred 3 foot half naked lemon Tic-Tacs speaking gibberish appeared in the middle of Times Square, not only would people immediately bat an eye, but all of the nation's three letter organizations would be swiftly mobilized to New York. This isn't the case in the Despicable Me universe.
Evidence No. 2: The Minion species, while very resilient, is NOT immortal due to a severe weakness to biological and chemical attacks.
Proof:
In the starting paragraph, I mention that the Minions nearly went extinct from a brutal Minion Civil War. While this point may be contradicted by the Minions being able to survive explosions, torture devices, bullets, kinetic impact and many other lethal threats, the Minions are not very resilient to biological and chemical attacks. In Despicable Me 2, we see the Minions become mutated by the PX-41 Mutagen. Rapidly altering the effected Minion's DNA and causing drastic changes regarding:
Tooth and mouth structure
Abnormal hair growth
Eye color
Skin pigment
Physical structure
Personality and behavior
Later in Despicable Me 2, we see Dr. Nefario cure the Minions using an antidote mixed with the Jelly from earlier in the film. The PX-41 Mutagen, and its respective cure are solid evidence that the Minions are not entirely immortal and possess a severe and potentially lethal vulnerability to biological and chemical attacks. While some may argue that the PX-41 Mutagen and its antidote did not kill the Minions, a disease or toxic gas could prove fatal showing they can be drastically effected by chemical and biological substances.
Evidence No. 3: Stalin and Hitler both attracted Minions in large quantities to both sides of the Eastern Front, which would result in the gruesome Minion Civil War.
Proof:
Stalin and Hitler were both evil tyrants who would be seen as nothing more than soulless monsters to any human, but for the Minions, saying they were gods amongst Minion would be an understatement. With Stalin's gulags and Hitler's concentration camps, the two of them would be the greatest villians Minion kind had witnessed. With World War 2 beginning in the 1930s, the Minions suffered a brutal split in their society and culture, now voluntarily choosing sides of the Second World War between the two tyrants of the Eastern Front. Because of this, the Minions would engage in a brutal war to end the disagreement of whether Stalin or Hitler would be more deserving of Minion service and worship.
Given their vulnerability to chemical agents, both Human and Minion soldiers of the Eastern Front would release chemical agents such as Chlorine, Phosgene and Mustard Gas across the front lines to attack the other side's Minion forces. Given the sheer bloodiness of the Eastern Front, its likely that the majority of the Minions would be killed in the Second World War. Only a few isolated pockets of Minions would survive following the Second World War, with a primary example being the Minions in the ice cave, having emerged following the World Wars with no knowledge of Stalin Or Hitler and the near extinction of their race.
Evidence of a Minion Civil War occurring and being possible can be found at the end of Despicable Me 3, in which a sizable chunk of Gru's Minions defect to Dru, having deemed Dru more evil and more worth their service, along with the remaining chunk of Minions choosing to remain with Gru.
Closure:
It is unclear what happens after Gru gives chase to Dru at the end of Despicable Me 3, however it can be safely assumed that Despicable Me 4 will cover the complete extinction of the last remaining Minions as they battle it out through various means of chemical warfare over whether Gru or Dru is more evil.
Despicable Me 5 will potentially cover Dru and Gru putting their differences aside from their battle in Despicable Me 4 and the two will begin tampering in the realm of genetic engineering in an attempt to revive the Minion species. However the Minions created via Gru and Dru's genetic engineering research would go wrong, and the new Minions would resemble the Post-Humans from All Tomorrows. Leaked script details suggest that the Post-Minions would follow Kevin becoming a female Temptor, Bob getting turned into a Colonial and Stuart being morphed into a Hedonist. It is currently unknown what other All Tomorrows species will appear in the 5th Despicable Me film.
Overall, It is very likely that the minions did serve Hitler to some capacity, and nearly went extinct following World War 2. The tale of the Minion is nothing short but a tragic one. A culturally rich and intelligent race, which had been around before the Dinosaurs, choosing the path of annihilating themselves over two questions with no answer. Today they are a reminder, that Humanity must avoid the same fate as their Minion brothers. The Minions of the World Wars are to today's Humans as a grim teaching, telling us we must be careful with how we treat the choices of conflict and geopolitics, otherwise, we will hear the rhymes of the history books once more.
Works Cited:
1. Renaud, Chris and Pierre Coffin, directors. Despicable Me 2. Illumination Entertainment, 2013.
2. Healy, Janet, et al. Minions. Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment , 2015.
3. Meledandri, Chris, et al. Despicable Me 3. Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment , 2017.
4. 2020 Oregon Measure 110. Oregon Hosue of Reps. November 3rd, 2020
