20 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Minions

While it seems impossible to believe now, the Minions weren't always a part of the Despicable franchise. At first, Gru's henchmen were just that, henchmen, loyal humans and muscular if simple-minded. Animating that many different humans, though, on top of everything else the first film needed to accomplish, was just too much for the young studio, so Coffin and Renaud created the Minions, simpler creatures with only a few hairstyles and body types.

Even then, early models of the Minions were brutish. But the animators found that the more incompetent they made Gru's help, the more likable he got, so the Minions became around 3-4 feet tall. Gru's kindness to these small dependents, despite their bumbling, foreshadows the kind of father he later becomes.