Balthazar Bratt may technically be the villain of Despicable Me 3, but he also feels like someone emptied an entire box of 1980s pop culture onto the screen. He moonwalks through his schemes, carries a keytar, and surrounds himself with old toys and dresses like his cancelled TV show never actually ended.
The movie introduces Bratt as a former child star who peaked in the ’80s and simply refused to move on when the decade did. His clothes, gadgets, and dance moves are packed with references aimed just as much at the parents in the audience as the kids.
1. Michael Jackson is everywhere in Bratt’s movement
Bratt rarely seems interested in simply walking somewhere when he could dance instead. His moonwalk and other exaggerated moves immediately bring Michael Jackson to mind, and the connection gets even clearer when “Bad” accompanies one of his big entrances.
The joke works because Bratt is not treating any of this as nostalgia. In his mind, the music, moves, and purple wardrobe are still perfectly current. Everyone else has moved on, but he is happily performing like MTV never left the ’80s.
2. His hair comes straight out of ’80s pop fashion
Bratt’s towering hairstyle is almost as recognizable as his purple jumpsuit. The filmmakers pushed the sharp, geometric look associated with ’80s music and fashion until it became something that could only belong to an animated supervillain.
The rest of his outfit follows the same logic. Huge shoulder pads, fingerless gloves, and that dramatic purple color turn Bratt into a walking collection of decade-specific style choices. Even characters in the movie joke about just how dated he looks.
3. His keytar turns an ’80s staple into supervillain gear
Few instruments announce “1980s” as quickly as a keytar, so naturally Bratt carries one. It lets him keep performing even when he is supposed to be concentrating on Gru, which feels completely appropriate for a man who still thinks of himself as a television star.
The movie has even more fun with the music attached to it. Bratt plays riffs tied to staples of the decade, including Van Halen’s “Jump,” turning his confrontations into something halfway between a supervillain scene and an old music video.
4. The Rubik’s Cube becomes another piece of Bratt’s toolkit
The Rubik’s Cube became one of the defining toy crazes of the early ’80s, and Despicable Me 3 makes sure Bratt gets one of those too. Except, predictably, he has found a much more elaborate use for it than trying to line up the colors.
It is a perfect Bratt gag because the reference works even before the cube does anything unusual. The filmmakers could have invented a sleek futuristic device for him, but something that looks like it came straight from an ’80s bedroom fits the character much better. Contemporary coverage of the movie specifically singled out the cube as one of his many retro accessories.
5. Even the bubble gum belongs to his favorite decade
Bratt is almost never far from a huge piece of pink bubble gum. It becomes one of his visual trademarks, but it also fits with the movie’s obsession with childhood trends and advertising from the era.
The bright blocks have been compared to the oversized gum brands that were everywhere during that period, and Despicable Me 3 keeps turning that simple childhood treat into increasingly elaborate cartoon technology. It is exactly the kind of thing Bratt would remember from being a kid on television and decide was still cool decades later.
6. The Bratt Pack is a joke about the actual Brat Pack
When Gru and Dru sneak into Bratt’s lair, he sends a swarm of little Evil Bratt figures after them and calls the group his “Bratt Pack.” For anyone who grew up around ’80s movies, the name should sound very familiar.
The real Brat Pack was the nickname attached to a group of young Hollywood stars associated with films of the decade, including Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Demi Moore. Bratt even references Ringwald elsewhere in the movie, so naming his army of tiny former-child-star replicas the Bratt Pack feels especially appropriate.
7. Clive is a throwback to the decade’s robot craze
Bratt’s little robotic companion Clive could have been designed as sleek future technology. Instead, he has the chunky, friendly look of the robot characters and electronic toys that filled ’80s movies, commercials, and bedrooms.
Production material described Clive as a riff on retro tech characters such as Nintendo’s R.O.B. and Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. It is another small sign that Bratt does not really invent a future for himself. He keeps rebuilding the world he remembers from childhood, right down to the robot sidekick standing beside him.
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