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The Minions from the Despicable Me franchise are among the series' most iconic characters. One iconic facet of their character design is the glasses they all wear. Because they are among the breakout characters from Despicable Me, each aspect of their design has led to numerous fan theories, with the glasses being no exception.
The Minions have been seen wearing glasses throughout all their appearances, with no canon reasoning given. However, theories have popped up to explain this aspect of their design, ranging from simpler answers concerning their poor eyesight to more outlandish theories.
The Minions could just have poor eyesight
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Perhaps the most straightforward answer is correct: They just have poor vision. As one fan noted on Quora, a scene in Despicable Me shows one of them losing his goggles and vision.
Another explanation was that they needed to keep their glasses on to keep their eyes in place. Another user on Quora pointed out that in the 2015 Minions movie, Staurt's eyes would move erratically when he didn't have his glasses on, even going upside-down at one point.
This claim was echoed by another comment on a Reddit thread that asked the same question, with one user succinctly saying:
"To hold their eyes in."
There might also be time travel involved
Other, more outlandish theories suggest that they got their glasses from Gru. One fan on Reddit theorized that Gru had sent them back in time from the future so that they would find him back when he was a child and set him on the right path.
This theory is supported by what was revealed in 2015's Minions movie, where they always had an innate desire to find a master to serve. Prior to meeting Gru, they had worked for other supervillains, such as the female supervillain Scarlett Overkill.
Aside from the obvious and more outlandish explanations for the glasses, many fans pointed out other reasons, such as the glasses giving them a distinct look. Other fans also joked about them needing to comply with OSHA despite working for supervillains who threaten the public's health and safety.
Though the Despicable Me franchise has refrained from providing unambiguous answers to why the characters wear glasses, the fan conversation surrounding them speaks to the distinctiveness of their character design.
With their enduring popularity, each aspect of their design is to be scrutinized and theorized by fans of the long-running Despicable Me franchise. With the films showing no signs of slowing down in release, it remains to be seen if this question will receive any canon answers.
The Despicable Me franchise premiered in 2010 with the film of the same name. Since then, there have been sequels in the form of 2013's Despicable Me 2, 2017's Despicable Me 3, and 2024's Despicable Me 4.
The Minions received their own prequel and spin-off film series starting with 2015's Minions.
This film began a prequel continuity followed by 2017's Minions: Rise of Gru, which came out on July 1, 2022. A third film is currently in production and will be released on June 30, 2027.
