| “ | I have admired your work for years, amigo! Stealing the moon? Are you kidding?! We would be unstoppable. Men like you, men like me. We should be ruling the world! | „ |
| ~ El Macho revealing his intentions to Gru. |
Eduardo Perez (better known by his supervillain name El Macho) is a major antagonist in the Despicable Me franchise.
He is the main antagonist of Illumination's 4th feature film Despicable Me 2, the secondary antagonist of the 2014 mobile game, Minion Rush and a minor antagonist in the 2020 video game Despicable Forces. He is a retired supervillain who kidnaps Gru's minions and turns them into feral killing machines so that they can help him conquer the world. He is also Gru's arch-rival.
He was voiced by Benjamin Bratt, who also played Ernesto de la Cruz in Coco, Antonio Pope in Ride Along 2, and El Topo in Snitch.
Biography
Past
| “ | He was ruthless... he was dangerous... and as the name implies, very macho! He had a reputation for pulling off heists using only his bare hands! Ah, but sadly, like all the greats, El Macho was gone too soon. He died in the most macho way possible: riding a shark with 250 pounds of dynamite strapped to his chest into the mouth of an active volcano! It was glorious. | „ |
| ~ Gru explaining El Macho's backstory. |
What no one knew was that El Macho had actually faked his death and gone into hiding. He moved to America, got married, had a son named Antonio, and later opened a very successful Mexican restaurant named "Salsa y Salsa."
Despicable Me 2
In the present day, a highly powerful mutagen known as PX-41 is stolen (alongside the secret laboratory where it is being developed) by a mysterious aircraft using a giant magnet. The Anti-Villain League recruits the former supervillain Felonious Gru (now a jelly manufacturer) to seek out the culprit along with undercover agent Lucy Wilde. They are assigned to infiltrate the Paradise Shopping Mall and find out who it is.
During their first day on the job, Gru and Lucy meet Eduardo Perez and he tells them about his Cinco de Mayo party. Just as he is leaving, Gru recognizes him as El Macho and decides to break into his restaurant with Lucy to see if they can find anything suspicious. That night after breaking in, they are spotted by Eduardo's pet chicken El Pollito, who happens to be the restaurant security guard. After Lucy subdues the chicken, they break into the kitchen but find nothing. Eduaro soon returns and they barely manage to escape.
The next day, Eduardo meets up with Gru and his daughters at Salsa y Salsa. Eduaro notices that Margo has developed a crush on his son Antonio and so he invites the family to the big Cinco de Mayo party at his mansion. At the party, he notices that Gru is quite sad (the reason for this because Lucy has been relocated to Australia). Eduardo sympathizes with him and tells him that he has also gone through some tough times, reasoning that "there's much more to us than meets the eye." After he leaves, Gru decides to follow him and see what he is really up to.
Gru eventually reaches a secret room hidden deep inside the house and runs into Eduardo dressed in his El Macho regalia, leading him to realize that El Macho truly is alive. El Macho announces that he is "making a spectacular return to evil" and brings in Gru's elderly assistant Dr. Nefario, who is now working for him. Dr. Nefario reveals that he has been kidnapping Gru's Minions and using the PX-41 mutation formula to turn them into an army of indestructible killing machines with purple fuzzy hair. El Macho proclaims that he will use the minions to conquer the world.
He offers Gru a chance to join forces with him, saying that he has admired his work as a villain for years. However, a disgusted Gru turns down the offer and leaves with his daughters. Antonio has also left Margo for another girl, so Gru freezes him with his freeze ray.
After they leave, Lucy arrives at the party because she has developed feelings for Gru. Upon entering, she is ambushed by El Pollito who gets a hold of her purse and shows it to El Macho, inadvertedly revealing that they both work for the Anti-Villain League. As a result, he tracks Lucy down and holds her captive. After the party is over, Dr. Nefario changes his mind about working with El Macho and sides back with Gru.
At Gru's house, Dr. Nefario creates an antidote for the PX-41 formula and puts it into the jelly they were making earlier. They later return to El Macho's lair and restore all the Minions back to normal by firing the antidote at them with guns. Gru confronts El Macho on the top balcony and demands to know where Lucy is. He shows Lucy tied to an enormous rocket and tells Gru that he intends to send the rocket straight into the same volcano where he faked his death.
El Macho as a mutated purple monster.
| “ | We could've ruled the world together, Gru. But now you're gonna die! | „ |
| ~ El Macho to Gru. |
Just as El Macho is about to launch the rocket, one of Gru's minions steals the remote control. As a last resort, El Macho drinks an entire test tube of the PX-41 formula, turning him into a giant, ogre-like monster. The monster tries to kill Gru, but he quickly gains the upper hand and uses Lucy's lipstick taser (which she had given to him earlier) to subdue El Macho. Dr. Nefario then finishes El Macho off by shooting the fart gun at him, knocking him unconscious.
It is unknown what happens to El Macho afterwards, but it is most likely that he gets arrested and taken into custody by the AVL. Whether or not he returns to normal is currently unknown.
Appearance
Eduardo is a very short, heavyset Mexican man with long black hair that reaches his shoulders. According to Felonius Gru's flashbacks, twenty years ago, Eduardo was taller and more muscular than he is in the present day, and had longer black hair. In the present day, Eduardo only stands at 5'4,[1] which is about Gru's shoulder height.
Personality
Despite being one of the greediest, most ruthless and most dangerous villains in his prime, after faking his own death and retiring from a life of crime El Macho has become a more friendlier, acquiescent, and good-natured personality. He remains a very sociable, gregarious, and interactive owner of Salsa y Salsa and has shown a degree of love for both his son Antonio and pet chicken, Pollito. Behind his complaisant and polite facade, El Macho is in possession of a deadly and destructive ambition and is more than willing to do whatever it takes to return to his lost fame.
However, underneath his confidence and calamity, El Macho also carried something of a sad and despondent side. Presumably having been forced to retire from his villainy, he had a very straightforward and genuine conversation with Gru claiming he knew the "look of the broken heart" and contemplated that he had once attempted to "drown his sorrows in guacamole".
He also has a degree of patriotism for his home country, Mexico. He reveals that he has a tattoo of the Mexican flag across his chest and while exploring his lair, it is decorated very Aztec-like. El Macho's dress style is also very reminiscent of that of a Mexican super wrestler.
Quotes
| “ | One push of this button, and I send that rocket straight into the same volcano where I faked my death! Only this time, it's for real. | „ |
| ~ El Macho to Gru |
| “ | We could have ruled the world together, Gru. But now, you're gonna die. | „ |
| ~ El Macho |
| “ | I have you now! | „ |
| ~ El Macho |
| “ | You know what? I am not so convinced that he is in. | „ |
| ~ El Macho |
Gallery
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Trivia
- Eduardo was originally supposed to be voiced by Al Pacino, who is known for the roles of Tony Montana from Scarface, Michael Corleone from The Godfather, and Willy Bank from Ocean's Thirteen. This somewhat explains Eduardo's physical similarities with Pacino. However, Pacino was dropped out during last-minute changes for an unknown reason and replaced with Benjamin Bratt. Pacino's name still appears on some of the trailers.
- El Macho's home and lair has a lot of Aztec style decorations, almost sort of a motif for his splendiferous extravagance.
- The only known way to get into El Macho's lair is by dance-stepping on musical tile buttons a la' Dance Dance Revolution and Simon Says sounding the musical notes of the iconic Mexican song La Cucaracha. If the wrong button is stepped on, Indiana Jones-esque booby traps are set off to kill intruders of any sort.
- El Macho also appears as a boss in the IOS game Despicable Me: Minion Rush.
- He did not seem to be aware of Antonio being frozen by Gru, as he was not seen later in the film.
- El Macho is the only character affected by PX-41 to retain his sentience while mutated.
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