| “ | I'm applying for a new villain loan. Go by the name of Vector. It's a mathematical term, a quantity represented by an arrow, with both direction and magnitude. Vector! That's me, 'cause I'm committing crimes with both direction and magnitude. Oh, yeah! | „ |
| ~ Vector introducing himself to Gru. |
| “ | Oh, poop. | „ |
| ~ Vector |
Vector, real name Victor Perkins, is the main antagonist of Illumination's 1st feature film Despicable Me, the first installment of the Despicable Me film series.
He is an aspiring supervillain and the son of Mr. Perkins, the president of the Bank of Evil and Felonious Gru's first major enemy and the first villain he ever fought. He is also the reason why Gru became a hero and adopted Margo, Edith and Agnes.
He was voiced by Jason Segel. In the videogame adaptation of the film, he was voiced by Jason Harris Katz.
Biography
When Felonious Gru first encounters Vector at the Bank of Evil, he does not seem like the type of guy who would be competent enough to steal an ice cream cone, let alone the Great Pyramid of Giza, as his boasts only irritate, and his latest invention - the Piranha Gun - falls flat. Even when the bank manager, Mr. Perkins, confirms it, Gru only reacts with disbelief and plans to steal the moon to mend his broken pride. However, with the right tools, though, Vector proves to be a significant threat to his own plans to steal the moon.
When Gru first steals a shrink ray from an East Asian facility, Vector steals it from him in turn, evades all his efforts to shoot him down, and to add insult to injury, uses the shrink ray to shrink Gru's aircraft, leaving him and his two Minions to putter home in defeat.
When Gru tries to infiltrate his fortress, Vector defeats him several times over, all with the push of a button. However, when he lets Margo, Edith, and Agnes to order cookies from them, he unwittingly inspires Gru to adopt the girls and use them to get the shrink ray back. When they deliver Vector's cookies, Nefario's cookie robots shut down his security, allowing Gru and his Minions to steal it back from under his nose.
Later, after learning from Mr. Perkins (revealed to be his father) that the shrink ray is currently in Gru's custody, Vector tries to hitch a ride on Gru's rocket with his Squid Launcher, only to be thrown off when Gru electrifies its exterior before proceeding to successfully shrink the moon.
Undeterred, Vector infiltrates the girls' dance recital and abducts them, intending to ransom them for the moon. When Gru discovers the ransom note from Vector, he heads over to Vector's fortress and turns over the moon as promised. However, Vector procrastinates on the deal (likely out of spite against Gru), instead attempts to kill Gru with missiles, and flees in his escape pod with both the moon and the girls after Gru knocks out his pet shark and makes short work of his security, as Gru launches a rescue with the help from Nefario and the Minions in their aircraft (which has grown back to its original size).
Nefario reveals that the shrink ray's effects are temporary and that the object will return to its original size based on its mass, making Gru realize that the moon will grow back to its original size. As such, the moon begins growing, and Vector soon loses control of the ship due to the heavy mass while Gru manages to rescue the girls. As the moon rolls around, it hits the button for a backup propulsion system, launching the ship into space before it explodes, leaving Vector stranded on the surface as the moon returns to its normal size and orbit. Despite being horrified to learn that he is now stuck in the moon's surface forever, Vector (with an elastic space helmet) is last seen dancing to "You Should Be Dancin'", only to be joined by a Minion who floated away from the Earth after drinking some antigravity serum earlier.
It is unknown if Vector survived on the moon. According to an AVL document in Despicable Me 3, Vector is still stranded on the moon; at night, if viewed through a telescope, he is visible as an orange dot, implying that his body is still there.
Personality
Despite being a genius regarding mechanics, strategy, and inventing, Vector is socially awkward and mischievous. He is arrogant and boastful, and often takes time to congratulate himself and revel in his achievements. Vector can be quite deceitful as well, as he procrastinates on safely returning the girls when Gru simply surrenders the moon as promised.
Vector gets along well with his father, as both are seen having fun in a picture together when Vector was a kid. As an adult, he still maintains a good status with him, as his father boasts about his talents but was harsh on him for losing the shrink ray to Gru.
Initially, he was friendly to Gru, despite being a villain. However, he developed a grudge against him for freezing his head and stopped at nothing to humiliate his newfound rival. To that end, he stole the shrink ray from, put Gru through an ordeal with his traps, and kidnapped the girls Gru came to love as his own.
He also can be sadistic when needed, laughing and cheering at his evil-doings or when he thinks that he has been outsmarting someone.
Trivia
- Vector is Jason Segel's first villainous role.
- Jimmy Fallon, Nathan Lane, John Shea, Jack Coleman, David Boreanaz, Ken Watanabe, Sean Hayes, and Jason Lee were all considered for the role of Vector before Jason Segel was cast.
- Some fans think Vector is the secondary antagonist of the movie, with his father as the main antagonist. But he has more screen time than his father.
- Vector is similar to Cliff Vandercave, the villain of The Flintstones (1994), as they both abduct children in the climax, intending to ransom them for a particular object (the moon and the Dictabird respectively), plus they both also refuse to release the children after the ransom is surrendered. The difference is that Vector procrastinated on his deal, meaning he likely planned to let the girls go at a later time, and Cliff tricked Fred and Barney into giving him the Dictabird to pay for Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's execution at his hands as revenge for exposing his embezzlement scheme.
- Vector is also similar to Scarlet Overkill, the villain of Minions, another film in the Despicable Me franchise, as they both kidnap major characters in the climax, except Vector did not plan to kill the girls like Scarlet planned to do with Stuart and Bob.
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Gru's Family and Servants Villain Con Villains Vicious 6 Bank of Evil Others | ||