Posted by It’s a peculiar question that rises up regularly when a new movie in the Minions universe come out (like Minions: The Rise of Gru released in summer 2022), and there are real reasons why the question makes sense. Because it’s about our world, which is not different by the one where the Minions live, and because it has to do with the most evil villain of present days. The connection is logical: if the Minions are always close to the most evil person in the world, when it comes to beginning 2001, should that be the mind behind the 9/11 attacks to the Twin Towers? In other words: did the Minions help Al-Qaeda in those terroristic attacks? Let’s try to provide the answer in this article.
Do the Minions live in our world?
This is the first condition to be respected in order to answer the first question. And the answer seems to be: yes, the Minions live in our universe. There are several proofs in the movies. Already in the first Minions movie, released in 2015, the Minions go in New York in the end of the 60s and they can see the summer of love, Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign, the first man on the moon and Queen Elizabeth. Therefore, despite there are many fictional characters in the Minions universe (like Gru, or Scarlet Overkill from 2015 movie), there are no doubts: the Minions live in our universe.
Again: did the Minions do 9/11 attacks to the Twin Towers?
Here the reasons why people ask this are:
- Since the dawn of time, The Minions always served the most evil individual in the world: they were even serving the T-rex in prehistory, so this is a fact.
- The Minions were around in 2001, where the 9/11 Twin Towers attack took place: this is also a fact, since they were living in our world from prehistory to present. This is also a fact, and you can check it in this detailed timeline on the Despicable Me Wiki.
- Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden are supposed to be the most evil organization & person in the world in 2001: this is rather subjective, since there is no scientific, universal measure of evil in the world. But it’s a fair guess: historically, the worst world events were linked to minions, from Anubi in the ancient Egypt to Napoleon Bonaparte.
Basing on these reasons, it seems legit to hypothesize that Minions helped the most evil person in 2001 to plan and execute the 9/11 attacks to the Twin Towers. It all depends on the assumption that those attacks could have been executed only by the most evil person in the world.
But is it the right assumption, after all? And How does Gru fit in this scenario? Let’s see the reasons that may prevent this theory to be true.
Who is Gru? Is he Osama Bin Laden?
The next question in this theory is: if Osama Bin Laden is the mind behind 9/11 attacks, therefore the most evil person in 2001 world, and if Minions were actually serving Gru… is Gru actually Osama Bin Laden?
If the plot in the Minions/Despicable Me universe is precise, we should be able to say with enough confidence that Gru cannot be Osama Bin Laden. The ages are similar but not identical (Osama was born in 1957, Gru in 1960) and most important, Gru lives in San Francisco in the early 70s, which is incompatible with Osama Bin Laden’s life. Gru and Osama Bin Laden are two different individuals.
What does that mean? The answers at this point could be many:
- Maybe it wasn’t the most evil person in the world to execute 9/11 attack: in that case, next question is immediate: what did possibly do Gru in 2001, worst than 9/11 attacks? We may discover this soon in next movies.
- Or maybe it wasn’t Osama Bin Laden planning 9/11: here we go in a abstact mix between conspiracy and fictional Minions universe, but it there is still a possibility that in the Minions universe, 9/11 was actually done by Gru, not Osama Bin Laden.
- Or ultimately, Minions universe doesn’t fit perfectly our world: nobody asked them to be fully coherent with all historical facts of our universe, after all.
You have now enough elements to give your own answer to the question: do you like the idea that the Minions gave a hand in the 9/11 attack to the Twin Towers?
