Wild Knuckles and Gru have a special connection in Minions: Rise of Gru, suggesting that the leader of the Vicious 6 and the budding supervillain might be related. Despite being just a boy, Gru is determined to his favorite supervillain team and seek guidance from Wild Knuckles, and while his initial interview proves disastrous, he does form a strong bond with his hero through unconventional means. When the group throws Wild Knuckles out for being too old, he kidnaps Gru for information about a mystical artifact that will help him return to form, and the two end up forming an unlikely alliance in the end.
For most of Minions 2, Gru is separated from his minions, but they mount a rescue mission to get to him before the rest of the Vicious 6. Unlike the other Despicable Me movies, the minions have to prove their loyalty and their worth before Gru will consider them legitimate lackeys. Despite being his prisoner, Gru learns a lot from his captor, and in return, Wild Knuckles gains some insight from him. In the end, both Wild Knuckles and Gru understand that even supervillains need friends they can rely on, and their relationship implies a deeper meaning.
Wild Knuckles Could Be Related To Gru
Looking at his physical appearance and personality, it seems like Wild Knuckles could be related to Gru in some capacity. Along with loving evil, both characters have notably long noses that might indicate a similar genetic trait. While of his family all seem to have long hooked noses, Felonius Gru's grandparents don't look anything like Wild Knuckles, though the difference in their appearance could be attributed to how he's aged.
By the end of the Despicable Me prequel, there's a dramatic change to the relationship between Wild Knuckles and Gru after Gru saves his life, suggesting that they could be related despite the holes in their lineage. Wild Knuckles goes from treating Gru like an insignificant peon to a surrogate grandson in a relatively short amount of time, which would make more sense with an undercurrent of familial bonding. It's entirely possible that this sets up a twist that will be revealed later on in the franchise that neither of the characters is aware of.
Why Wild Knuckles Is (Probably) Not Part Of Gru's Family
Despite their intense friendship in Rise of Gru, there are a few elements from the Minions and Despicable Me timeline that dispel the theory that Wild Knuckles could be related to Gru or his family. According to Despicable Me 3, when Marlena divorced Gru's father Robert and made a pact to take Gru as her "second choice," she never told him about his twin brother Dru, and Dru grew up under the tutelage of a supervillain, much to Gru's chagrin. If anything, Wild Knuckles seems related more to Robert's side of the family, given their legendary proclivity for evil.
Robert changes appearance from a picture Gru has in Despicable Me to a portrait in his villain lair in Despicable Me 3 as the narrative necessitates. He transforms from having short curly black hair with sideburns to having straight blond hair with sideburns, setting a precedent for certain familial changes in later films. While it's unlikely that Wild Knuckles is a part of Gru's family, Despicable Me 4 or Minions 3 could decide to change the story given how much the franchise has already retconned Gru's father in the past.
