Silas Ramsbottom, director of the Anti-Villain League (AVL), sends agent Lucy Wilde to recruit former supervillain Gru, who is forcibly brought to their headquarters and asked to help them track down the culprit and recover the mutagen.

Gru immediately suspects that Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Pérez might be "El Macho", a supervillain who was presumed dead after riding a shark into an active volcano with two hundred fifty pounds of dynamite strapped to his chest.

Despite holding Eduardo as his prime suspect, Gru agrees to pursue other leads, including the shop of wig merchant Floyd Eaglesan, where Lucy discovers traces of the mutagen.

Despite Floyd's protest of being framed, Ramsbottom then closes the investigation and reassigns Lucy to Australia, leaving Gru heartbroken.

Having faked his death and with Nefario as his assistant, El Macho has kidnapped most of Gru's Minions and used the mutagen to mutate them into purple mindless and indestructible monsters, intent on using them to conquer the world.

Gru attempts to free Lucy from the rocket she is tied to, but El Macho's pet chicken, Pollito, activates it.

[19] Other cast members include Chris Renaud as additional Minions[18] and an Italian waiter,[18] Vanessa Bayer as a flight attendant,[18] and Nickolai Stoilov as the Arctic lab guards.

[26] In April 2012, producers confirmed that Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher were returning to reprise their roles.

[28] Chris Renaud, co-director of the film, commented on Pacino's departure: "So we don't want an unhappy actor, and we want something that is well realized on all sides.

One of the biggest challenges for the animation team was creating visual effects (such as water and jelly), which led to the crashing and replacement of some of the studio's drives.

It was accompanied by a 24-hour music video upon release, a first for any film,[35] which received a viral response, contributing to the song's global success.

[51] In the United States, the film's premiere took place on June 22, at the Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles,[52][53] and was released in theaters on July 3.

"[59] In December 2013, a few weeks after the Universal Pictures' announcement that it would open a Beijing office, it was reported that Despicable Me 2 would be theatrically released in China on January 10, 2014.

[58] Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Despicable Me 2 for digital download on November 26, 2013, and on Blu-ray and DVD on December 10.

[63] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $394.5 million, placing it third on their list of 2013's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

[65] In the United States and Canada, Despicable Me 2 was released with The Lone Ranger on July 3, 2013,[66] leading into the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Its critical consensus reads, "Despicable Me 2 offers plenty of eye-popping visual inventiveness and a number of big laughs.

"[84] Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[69] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "Steve Carell's Slavic inflections as Gru do the trick, as before.

"[86] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "The new edition doesn't quite catch that inspired spark.

"[8] Stephen Whitty of The Star-Ledger gave the film three stars out of four, saying "Not only a fun cartoon but—that rare thing—a sequel which actually improves on the original.

"[88] Stephen Holden of The New York Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying "It is consistently diverting and so cute you'll want to pet it.

"[89] Tirdad Derakhshani of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying "If you're looking for quality prepackaged, predigested Hollywood family fun this summer, you could do a lot worse than Despicable Me 2.

"[90] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a negative review, saying "The minions are still wacky scene-stealers—and once again, we don't get nearly enough of them—but Gru and his daughters have been blanded down to bad-sitcom level.

"[91] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two stars out of four, saying "With its predecessor having made a whopping $540 million globally, it's no wonder that Universal saw fit to order a sequel.

"[92] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a 'C' grade, saying "By the end, every child in the audience will want his or her own monster-minion toy.

"[93] Tom Russo of The Boston Globe gave the film a positive review, saying "The scope of the 'toon espionage-adventure goings-on is surprisingly limited.

"[94] Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post gave the film three stars out of four, saying "The animation is beguiling, particularly when Lucy drives her car into the ocean, transforming it into a submarine that scoots around sharks and fish.

"[95] Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "While not quite as charming or unique as the original, Despicable Me 2 comes awfully close, extending co-directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin's delightfully silly sensibility to a bit larger universe.

"[97] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three stars out of four, saying "Co-directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, who do Minion voices expertly, never let up on the laughs.