Minion in Minions & Monsters and image of Adolf Hitler
Explained Despicable Me Film Minions Now Showing Theory

Erm, did the Minions work for HITLER? Minions & Monsters director explains bizarre theory

His comments have sparked an unexpected new twist on the theory

Daisy Phillipson
3rd July 2026, 12:05
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Minions & Monsters and… Adolf Hitler?! The filmmaker behind the new Despicable Me movie has officially given his verdict on the bizarre theory, but his comments open up a whole new problem. 

As the seventh instalment in the hugely successful Despicable Me franchise and the third Minions spinoff, Minions & Monsters landed in cinemas on July 1st. 

Set in 1920s Hollywood, the film follows the yellow troublemakers as they attempt to make their own monster movie, only to unleash real creatures that threaten to plunge the world into chaos.

Given the historical setting, it’s reignited discussion about the bonkers theory that circulated after the first Minions movie in 2015, which delved further into their origin. 

The film confirmed the small, yellow creatures have existed since the beginning of time and served Napoleon in the 19th century, only to accidentally fire a cannon at the French emperor, forcing them into exile. 

They retreated and started a new life in a cave, sparking questions about what they were up to in World War II. 

Since they typically tend to serve villains, it’s not completely unreasonable that fans speculated whether they worked for Hitler and the Nazis during the Third Reich – and they may have been the reason for his downfall in this timeline (after all, their actions always lead to chaos). 

It’d be easy to explain that they were hiding in the cave throughout this time, but the latest spinoff confirms there are various tribes of Minions – and they always seek out the biggest bads as their masters. 

The Minions we know didn’t serve Hitler

Minions in Minions & Monsters
Credit: Universal Pictures

As much as you may believe this theory, Minions & Monsters co-writer and director Pierre Coffin has put the rumours to bed in a conversation with Polygon… kind of. 

“I knew you were going to ask me that question. Shame on you,” he joked, before confirming, “I think they were in that cave.”

That said, the interviewer pointed out the fact that Minions & Monsters establishes “multiple tribes” of the little troublemakers, and so Coffin at the very least confirms that the Minions in this timeline didn’t work for Hitler. 

“I was trying to avoid the answer,” he admitted, adding, “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.”

Minions & Monsters accidentally complicates the theory

Coffin may have settled the debate about these Minions, but as said, Minions & Monsters arguably creates a brand new continuity debate. 

While the original Minions movie explained that Kevin, Stuart and Bob spent decades hiding in a cave after abandoning Napoleon, the new film reveals there were multiple tribes of Minions living around the world at the same time.

That inevitably raises the question fans have been asking for more than a decade: if other Minions weren’t trapped in the cave, where exactly were they during the 1930s and 1940s?

Coffin insists they “were not part of the Big History,” but beyond that, the franchise still leaves one of its weirdest fan theories without a definitive in-universe explanation.

Taking to X, one fan wrote that this new detail “means the franchise has accidentally reopened the one question it spent years trying to avoid: What were the Minions doing during World War II?”

“The original Minions movie conveniently locked Gru’s group inside a cave from 1812 until 1968. Very convenient dates,” they added.

“But if other Minion tribes were still out there looking for the most evil boss available, then somebody has to explain where they ended up during the 1930s and ’40s. 

“Pierre Coffin was asked about it and basically said, ‘They were in the cave.’ Except now we know that wasn’t all of them.

“Were they working for Hitler? Did they accidentally sabotage him from the inside because they’re incapable of following basic instructions? Did one of them destroy his paintings and set the entire timeline into motion?

“Nobody at Illumination should ever answer this. But they absolutely created the question.”

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Featured image credit: Universal Pictures/Public Domain