Mr. Perkins

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Villainous Benchmark

Old
Young

Full Name

Perkins (first name unknown)

Alias

Mr. Perkins

Perkins
Dad (by Vector)

Origin

Despicable Me

Allies

Victor Perkins (son)

Felonious Gru (formerly)

Powers / Skills

Extraordinary strength

Immense wealth
High intelligence

Goals

Have his son Vector claim the moon for themselves (failed).

MEH or Worst Act

Threatening to kill gru

Ordering Vector to steal the moon, leading to him taking Margo, Edith and Agnes hostage and nearly killing Margo by holding her back so that Gru would fail to rescue her.

Kill Count

4 (indirectly attempted)

Crimes

Conspiracy

Blackmail
Corruption
Money laundering
Attempted murder by proxy
Psychological abuse
Aiding and abetting
Extortion
Coercion
Psychological torture

Type of Villain

Wrathful Businessman

“	Do you have any idea of the capital that this bank has invested in you, Gru? With far too few of your sinister plots actually turning a profit. How can I put it? Let's say this apple is you. If we don't start getting our money back...[crushes the apple] Get the picture?	„
	~ Mr. Perkins threatening Gru by crushing an apple.

“	Oh, is that right? Back at your place? Oh, that's cool. I guess Gru must just have one that looks EXACTLY LIKE IT!	„
	~ Mr. Perkins berating at Victor after the latter let Gru escape with the shrink ray.

Mr. Perkins is the overarching antagonist of Illumination's 1st feature film, Despicable Me, supporting character in its prequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and a minor character in the 2015 film, Minions, and in the 2024 film, Despicable Me 4.

He is Victor Perkins's father and the President of the Bank of Evil, where he supplies loans to villains on their schemes, including his son. At first, he appears to be an ally of Felonious Gru, but later betrays him due to his constant inefficacy.

He was voiced by Will Arnett.

His Evil Ranking[]

His Villainous Deeds[]

At some point in his life, he lost the affability he used to have in the 80s, and became cold and ruthless.
When Gru plans to steal the moon, Perkins warns him that if he does not pay back for the previous loans he used for his past schemes, he will be facing severe consequences. To get his point across, he crushes an apple with his fist, which shocks Gru.
Even when Gru proves that he is willing to steal the moon, he does not approve and instead closes his accounts, as he still believes that Vector should be the one to get the job done.
After calling in Vector to his office, he tells him about Gru's possession of the shrink ray and encourages him to take action so that they can claim the moon for themselves.
He sends Vector to steal the moon, resulting in him holding Margo, Edith and Agnes hostage in front of Gru just to spite him. This also pushed Vector to nearly kill Margo by attempting to restrain Gru from rescuing her in spite of knowing his escape pod was about to explode due to the regrowing moon, and Margo had to cling onto a grappling hook wire to keep herself safe, which caused Gru to endanger himself to save her, and if the Minions didn't save Gru and Margo from falling to their deaths, they both would have died, making Mr. Perkins responsible for the events of the climax and some of his son's villainous actions.
Unlike the other villains in Despicable Me, he is taken seriously and is only funny to the audience, since he actually threatens Gru's life many times.

Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]

Whilst enabling terrorism and other crimes by running the villain bank is enough to pass the baseline, as all he does is threaten Gru without further context and have his son Vector attempt to steal the moon which makes him fail the high heinous standard.
- Plus, him and Vector stealing the moon does not have any unusually bad effects to begin with as when Gru managed to temporarily get his hands on the moon, all that happened was a werewolf's identity being exposed and two surfers getting hurt, but not dying. This means that even if Mr. Perkins and Vector actually managed to steal the moon, nothing terrible would happen.
- This means he holds back on his resources, only ordering crimes that may endanger people when he could do worse.
While El Macho and Scarlet Overkill are not fair comparisons due to possessing higher resources with the former being an army leader and the latter having a league of villains by her side and numerous advanced weapons, he still fails the heinous standards pretty hard to Balthazar Bratt, who shot bubblegum at everyone in Hollywood and attempted to send them into space with little to no resources besides his giant weaponized robot.
- He also fails the individual capability; The fact that he founded Bank of Evil supplies him with resources that enable him to do worse, but he never uses them to their fullest, showing he holds back on his resources a lot.
He seems to genuinely care for his son Victor, When he is talking to Gru he starts to praise and speak well of Vector for stealing the pyramid and he has a photo of Vector when he was a child on his desk and he looks at it with a smile.
He happily dances to the song Gru and Maxime Le Mal perform in prison, even if there's no indication he redeemed himself.
- Furthermore, him showing no animosity towards Gru in prison and willingly dancing while he sings indicates that his hatred for him has subsided over the years.

Trivia[]

Despite being a Villainous Benchmark, he is the complete opposite of his son Vector. He is competent, serious, and formerly a Karma Houdini, while Vector is incompetent, comedic, and ultimately a scapegoat thanks to this.