| General | Trivia | Gallery | Quotes |
| Marlena Gru | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Full name | Marlena Gru |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | (Despicable Me) 81
(Minions) 41~42 |
| Status | Alive |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Hair color | White (formerly brown) |
| Occupation |
Karate student Diving student (Despicable Me 3 Only) |
| Allies |
Felonius Gru |
| Enemies |
Vicious 6 (except Wild Knuckles) Minions (formerly) |
| Father |
Henry Gru (deceased) |
| Mother |
Madeleine Gru (deceased) |
| Spouse |
Robert Gru (ex-husband) (deceased) |
| Children |
Felonius Gru (son) |
| Appearances |
Despicable Me |
| Voiced by | |
| “ | Good luck with that. | ” |
— Marlena
|
Marlena Gru (also known as Gru's Mom) is a supporting character of the Despicable Me franchise.
She is Felonius Gru and Dru Gru's mother, Lucy Wilde's mother-in-law, Robert Gru's ex-wife, the adoptive paternal grandmother of Margo, Edith and Agnes and the biological paternal grandmother of Gru Jr. She is voiced by Julie Andrews.
Appearance[]
Marlena has a prominent chin and a tall beehive-like hairstyle. Despite her size, she is very strong and skilled in karate, and is capable of kicking a punching bag with so much force that it knocked her karate instructor across a room. She has a long nose that is typically seen throughout the Gru bloodline.
In the Minions movies, she has brown and black hair, which was worn in a beehive-like hairstyle but her clothes change through the eras, from a mod dress to a white collared shirt and patterned bell bottom pants.
Plot[]
Early Life[]
Shortly after the birth of her twin sons, Dru and Felonius, Marlena divorced her husband, Robert. They also made an agreement regarding custody of the twins in case of either of their deaths.
Despicable Me[]
When Gru phoned her as he was driving to the Bank of Evil, he told her that he was planning something very big and that when she heard about it, she would be very proud, to which she cynically responded, "Well, good luck with that." Later, as Gru was building his rocket (and having a fun time with the girls), she came to his house and showed the girls several embarrassing pictures of Gru's childhood, much to his annoyance.
She later attended the girls' ballet dance, where she finally told her son that she was proud of him and that he "turned out to be a great parent, just like me. Maybe even better." At first, Gru was still a little cold towards her because of her previous neglect, but smiled when she stated that he was even better than her. When the music changed to You Should Be Dancing, she, along with everyone else, rushed onstage to dance and ended up dancing together with Dr. Nefario.
Despicable Me 2[]
She also makes a non-speaking appearance near the end of the second film where she is seen attending the wedding of her son. During the wedding first Gru's family and friends (except the Minions) take a photo, then the minions come into the photo.
Minions[]
She also appears in the film Minions; she and her son attended Villain-Con and looked at Dr. Nefario's new invention, the Freeze Ray. In the film's credits, it's shown that she has a portrait that resembles Mona Lisa but it's later vandalized by Minions and her son, which makes her considerably upset.
Despicable Me 3[]
Marlena is seen practicing diving with other young trainers named Vincenzo and Paolo in a fancy pool. When Gru comes to her, asking his mother about his twin Dru, Marlena is first surprised and then admits that he does have an extended family, and she tells him the story, noting that she had "second pick", Gru. She is never seen for the rest of the film.
Minions: The Rise of Gru[]
She appears when Young Gru heard some strange sounds coming from her bedroom, he later investigate on what's going on. And founds out that she was doing yoga with Guru Rick. He was surprised and asked what is he doing here, she says "He's my new guru." Then Kevin, Bob, and Stuart starts making fun of her, which she tells Gru that they better start pulling their weights or she will kick them out. Later in the movie, she was selling tupperware and makes the minions sell her things. Then when the Vicious 6 broke her roof and came to get Gru, (he was at San Francisco) she starts mocking them and tells them to leave. But she got tied up by Nun-Chuck, then the Vicious 6 leaves for San Francisco. She also didn't attend Wild Knuckles 'funeral'.
Despicable Me 4[]
Marlena Gru Gru returns home to Lucy, the girls – Margo, Edith, and Agnes and Gru and Lucy’s new baby, Gru Jr. Compared to Lucy, the baby is not too fond of his father. Silas Ramsbottom shows up at the house to let Gru know that Maxime has escaped from prison and is on his way to get his revenge, and the family is forced to relocate as a result, with everyone being given new identities.
A few days later, Lucy starts her new job as a hair stylist in an affluent neighborhood. Her first client is a lady named Melora, who wants Lucy to dye her hair pink. An inexperienced Lucy fumbles it and accidentally burns Melora’s hair. In her panic, Lucy tosses the burning brush, which hits a lightbulb, causing all others to short circuit, triggering the fire alarm in the ensuing chaos, which allows her to slip away.
When Lucy takes the Agnes and Edith to the supermarket, she sees Melora there. Her attempt to avoid Melora fails, and a vengeful Melora gives chase. Lucy attempts to stall her to no avail, but does manage to delay her by tearing up a stick of butter's wrappings with her teeth before throwing it on the ground, launching Melora in a freezer. While Melora manages to catch up shortly after, Lucy and the girls manage to get through the doors and escape in their car.
Gru and Lucy later join Perry and his wife Patsy at a country club while the girls stay at home with Junior. Ubelschlecht shows up at the house for Lenny, but her asking for Gru is enough to tip the girls off that something is wrong. After Margo texts them, Gru and Lucy run back home just as Ubelschlecht uses her super-wheelchair to try and attack. The family fights her and Lucy manages to briefly disable the wheelchair, but Maxime and Valentina arrive in time to kidnap Junior while the family is distracted.
Lucy stays to handle Ubelschlecht while Gru goes after Maxime with help from Poppy in her mini ship. The villain uses his tools to turn Junior into a human/cockroach hybrid to turn against Gru. While trying to go after Gru in the roach ship, Valentina falls through the roof of the building due to the ship’s weight. Maxime tries to use Junior to finally finish Gru, but his inner love for his father kicks in and overpowers his roach self, allowing Junior to help Gru defeat Maxime. The villain falls to the ground (after hitting several things on the way down), while the Mega Minions arrive with help after Silas decided to send them to help Gru. After bringing Junior home, he finally calls Gru “dada”. Gru also thanks Poppy for her help.
The family returns home, with Dr. Nefario turning Junior back to normal, and Agnes reuniting with Lucky. Gru then says he has one more thing to take care of. He goes to the AVL’s prison to visit Maxime and admit he did steal his victory at the talent show, but he is there to make it up for him. Gru and Maxime then put on a performance of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, which is watched by all the previous villains (Vector, Mr. Perkins, El Macho, Scarlet and Herb Overkill, Balthazar Bratt, Belle Bottom, Nun-Chucked, Jean-Clawed, Svengeance, and Stronghold), who join in a dance In Despicable Me 4, Marlena appears in a short at the end, seen in Gru's backyard.
Personality[]
Marlena Gru was rather neglectful of her son and had a tendency to be rather nasty to him. She ignored him in his childhood, though she did seem mildly impressed by the rocket he built. She was unimpressed by most of Gru's accomplishments, but eventually grew proud of him when he showed her what a great parent he was. She was also ignorant of her own lack of skill at parenting, thinking that she was a great parent, though she did admit that she thought Gru might be slightly better.
Despite her neglect towards her own son, Marlena took a liking to his adopted daughters and showed them pictures of Gru as a child because she wanted to. She also never had anyone to talk to for a while.
Exactly the opposite of Robert Gru, she is not interested in villainy and therefore prefers Dru more than Felonius.
Gallery[]
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