| “ | 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 goals to Gru. |
| “ | Somebody's going to die tonight... | „ |
| ~ Eduardo Perez. |
Eduardo Perez, or also better known by his supervillain name El Macho, is the main antagonist of Illumination's 4th feature film Despicable Me 2. He is Gru's nemesis who kidnapped the latter's minions, brainwashing them by converting them into purple minions that serve El Macho so that they could help him conquer the world.
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
Before Despicable Me 2
Backstory
| “ | From about twenty years ago. He was ruthless... he was dangerous... and as the name implies very macho! He had the reputation of committing heists using only his bare hands! 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! | „ |
| ~ Gru explaining El Macho's story |
In reality, El Macho had faked his death and gone into hiding. He moved to America, married, had a son named Antonio, and later opened a very successful Mexican restaurant named "Salsa & Salsa".
Eduardo's wife apparently died at some point. As he told Gru, he also suffered from a broken heart and spent many nights trying to drown his sorrows in guacamole which has contributed to his overweight appearance.
Despicable Me 2
20 years later, a secret laboratory near the Arctic Circle is stolen by a mysterious vehicle using a giant magnet. The Anti-Villain League (AVL) recruits the former supervillain, Felonious Gru, now a kind jelly manufacturer, to find out which evil person is about to start using the mutagen PX-41 to produce everlasting and indestructible monsters. Gru and undercover-Anti-Villain League-agent Lucy Wilde (Gru's love interest and partner in the film) must search the Paradise Shopping Mall, where they are given a bakery as their headquarters.
During their first day, Gru and Lucy meet Eduardo. After an introduction and a brief chat, Gru suddenly recognizes El Macho and compares it to Eduardo and thinks that Eduardo is really El Macho, not dead and the mastermind behind all of this. After Eduardo leaves, he tells this to Lucy and they decide to break into his restaurant that night. That night after breaking in, they are spotted by Eduardo's pet chicken El Pollito, who happens to be Eduardo's security guard.
The chicken attacks them but Lucy manages to shake him off Gru and then freezes him with a substance. They break into the cooking place, but they find nothing to compare Eduardo to El Macho nor any evidence that he is the mastermind behind all of this and they escape after nearly being caught by Eduardo. Most of Gru's minions have also been mysteriously disappearing recently because of Eduardo.
The next day, Eduardo meets up again with Gru and his girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes in his restaurant. Margo has also developed a crush on Eduardo's son, Antonio and Eduardo invites the family to his party at his place. At the party, Eduardo again meets up with Gru and asks him why he is looking so sad (Gru is sad because Lucy is moving away to Australia, but he doesn't tell Eduardo that). Eduardo tells him that he once felt a sadness once but stated that "they are survivors" and that "there's much more to us than meets the eye". Eduardo leaves but Gru follows him to his secret lair inside the place.
After following him, he loses sight of Eduardo but when Gru enters the lair, Eduardo (transformed in his El Macho self) appears and Gru realizes that he was right about everything about Eduardo and El Macho tells him that he faked his death, but he is now "making a spectacular return to evil". He then reveals that Gru's elderly assistant Dr. Nefario is now working for him and kidnapping all the Minions that disappeared recently and using the PX-41 mutation formula to turn them into mutated, indestructible, mindless, eating, killing minions with purple fuzzy hair that serve El Macho. El Macho reveals that he has an army of them.
He tells Gru that he will soon unleash them on the world and they will conquer the world while he rules the world. He offers Gru a chance to join him, saying that he has admired his work as a villain for years. However, Gru makes his excuses and leaves. He gathers the girls and leaves with them. Margo has also broken up with Antonio because of his interest in another girl, so Gru freezes Antonio with his freeze-ray gun as a result.
After they leave, Lucy has arrived because she has decided to stay with Gru. She enters the party and encounters Eduardo's chicken, El Pollito. El Pollito charges at her but picks up her purse and shows it to Eduardo. Eduardo now knows that Lucy and Gru have both been working for the Anti-Villain League and he holds Lucy hostage. He ties her to a rocket and hides it along with her away in an opening a closing water fountain. Dr. Nefario changes his mind about joining El Macho and sides back with Gru and tells him this after the party is over.
Dr. Nefario then creates an antidote for the minions to turn them back as they were originally and puts it in the jelly and puts the jelly into all of their guns and when Gru, the doctor, the girls and the rest of the minions travel back to El Macho's lair, they use it to fire it at all of the mutated minions and they are all restored back to normal. Gru confronts El Macho on the top balcony and demands to know where Lucy is. He reveals where she is and the fountain opens and the rockets slowly pops out. El Macho is then holding a remote with one large button on it and reveals that one push of the button would send the rocket straight into the same volcano where El Macho faked his death.
Final Showdown and Defeat
El Macho as a mutated purple monster.
| “ | We could've ruled the world together, Gru. But now, you're going to die. | „ |
| ~ El Macho to Gru. |
A minion takes the remote away and throws it to the ground (in the process managing not to press the button in the process). El Macho says that they could have ruled the world together, but instead Gru would die and El Macho takes out the last of the PX-41 mutation formula, drank it all, and it turns him into a giant mutated, ogre-like monster. After a short showdown, Gru then gains the upper hand and uses Lucy's lipstick taser (which she had given to him earlier) to subdue El Macho.
| “ | I am not afraid... of your jelly guns. (Nefario: Oh, this ain't a jelly gun, sunshine.) | „ |
| ~ El Macho's last words. |
He is surrounded by the Minions and scoffs "I am not afraid of your jelly guns." Dr. Nefario then finishes El Macho off by replying "Oh, this ain't a jelly gun, sunshine", stunning him by shooting the fart gun at him. It is unknown what happens to him next, but it is probable that he gets arrested by the AVL. So whether he ever 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 and 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 |
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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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