Anti-Villain League (abbreviated to AVL) are the overarching protagonists of the Despicable Me franchise.
It is a top-secret organization that is dedicated to combating super-villain activity. In Despicable Me 2, the director is Silas Ramsbottom, though in Despicable Me 3, he was replaced by the current director, Valerie Da Vinci. The only known employees of the organization are the relatively new agent Lucy Wilde and Felonious Gru.
Operations[]
Because not much is revealed about the AVL, not much is known about the Anti-Villain League. What is known is that the AVL has at least two bases.
One of the bases is a large submarine, where Silas Ramsbottom and Lucy work. Unlike a regular military submarine, the AVL's base is modified with a "landing strip" of sorts and a secret door. The submarine also has a boat tethered to it. Many agents are hard at work inside the base. In the middle of the base, there is a conference table where Ramsbottom works and a digital projector screen. The AVL's other base is located in or near Australia.
The agents of the AVL, with the exception of Lucy, typically dress in black and white, and wear matching black sunglasses.
Plot[]
Despicable Me 2[]
The AVL had been tracking the theft of the Arctic PX-41 laboratory for at least three weeks when Ramsbottom is forced to call Felonious Gru in. Lucy Wilde, one of the agents of the AVL, is dispatched to escort the ex-supervillain to the submarine. Though there is some resistance from the reformed villain, Lucy managed to bring Gru in. Ramsbottom attempted to utilize Gru's skill of identifying villains in order to capture the PX-41 thief, but Gru refused. Thanks to Lucy (and some other factors like Dr. Nefario's departure), Gru changed his mind.
The AVL, in order to assist the duo, gave them specialized tools such as a belt buckle that could detect traces of PX-41. Later, when the shop Eagle Hair Club is discovered to be contaminated with PX-41, the owner of the shop, Floyd Eaglesan, is arrested by the AVL. Declaring the case closed, Ramsbottom transferred Lucy to the AVL's Australian branch, though she went AWOL when she realized she loved Gru.
The AVL did not realize it was El Macho who was the true perpetrator, but luckily Gru figured this out and incapacitated the culprit.
Despicable Me 3[]
In Despicable Me 3, Ramsbottom is replaced by Valerie Da Vinci, who quickly fires Gru for failing to stop Balthazar Bratt. When Lucy protests, she simply fires her as well, throwing them both off the blimp.
Minions: Rise of Gru[]
In Minions: Rise of Gru, the Anti-Villain League is led by Ramsbottom into the conflict with the Vicious 6. After a young Gru defeats the supervillain team by transforming them into rats, the Anti-Villain League captures them in a cage and transport them to jail.
Despicable Me 4[]
The AVL appears again in the next installment of the franchise. Gru (as shown in the beginning) and Lucy (when alerting the AVL) have presumably been rehired following the defeat of Balthazar Bratt. The Minions are shown working there, as Silas Ramsbottom, who was called out of retirement to track Maxime Le Mal, mentioned that he had big plans for the then. The Minions are later seen as employees of the organization for the rest of the movie.
Villain Con: Minion Blast[]
When Vector returned to Earth, the AVL captured him and he was taken to prison. The same thing goes to Wingman when he crashed into an ATM.
Trivia[]
- The organization's name may be a pun on "anti-villain", which refers to someone whose questionable actions do not necessarily define their overall inherent character (which is what Gru technically was before when he was still a self-proclaimed villain).
