Sir Austin Danger Powers, played by Mike Myers (Tom Cruise also plays him briefly in the 3rd film in the series), is the title character of a series of parodies of 1960s spy films, primarily James Bond, Derek Flint, Harry Palmer, and Matt Helm, and incorporates myriad other elements of popular culture.

The satiric elements of the suave male super-spy cliché arise from Powers' lack of physical beauty – his bad teeth, for example, are mocked in several scenes. (This is a reflection of an American stereotype of British people, who are said to have poor dental hygiene.) There are a total of three movies so far.

Characters

• Alotta Fagina -Fabiana Udenio- She is Number 2's Italian Secretary. Alotta is based mostly on James Bond characters. Her name is quite similar to that of the Bond girl in "Goldfinger", Pussy Galore. She also has a resemblance to Ursula Andress' character in "Dr. No", Honey Ryder. Austin Powers explores her apartment, looking for clues about the plans of Dr. Evil, and he ends up seducing her, which is typical James Bond behavior. (On the television version, her characters name was changed to Allota Cleavage.)
• Austin Powers -Mike Myers- A secret agent frozen in the 1960s and defrosted in the 1990s in order to battle his arch enemy, Dr. Evil. Austin embodies all that is groovy in 1960's Britain and is irresistable to women, even when he experiences culture shock after being tossed into the 1990's, and even when he loses his 'mojo' (the mystical libido-enhancing secret to Powers' sexual success) in the second film.
• Basil Exposition -Michael York- One of Austin's allies, Basil is in charge of most of the secret agents, Austin, and his various female partners included. Basil comes up with all kinds of gadgets to help Austin complete the mission. This might also be a parody of the Q and M (James Bond) from the Bond-series.
• Dr. Evil -Mike Myers- Austin's archnemesis, a satirical parody of Donald Pleasence's Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the main villain in the James Bond films. Dr. Evil shares many physical similarities to this version of Blofeld, including a long scar on his face that runs from a bit above his right eye to his chin. They also wear Nehru jackets, and possess white Angora cats, although Dr. Evil's cat loses it's hair due to cryogenic freezing.
• Fat Bastard -Mike Myers- A Scottish henchman of Dr. Evil. In the second movie, he steals Austin's "mojo". But his greatest accomplishment is becoming a famous sumo wrestler in Tokyo, aside from infiltrating the defense-department as a pipe-blower for entertaining.
• Felicity Shagwell -Heather Graham- Austin's lascivious sidekick in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. She meets Austin back in the 1960s and helps him to save the world from being zapped by Dr. Evil's "Laser" on his "Death Star". In the name of duty, she betrays Austin by bedding Fat Bastard, but he later forgives her.
• Foxxy Cleopatra -Beyoncé Knowles- Austin's partner from Austin Powers in Goldmember. She works undercover for the gold-lusting Goldmember and awaits Austin's call for her help back in the 1970s.
• Frau Farbissina -Mindy Sterling- Dr. Evil's German advisor and head of the Militant Wing of the Salvation Army. In the first film, it is said that their master plan is to create the ultimate evil child together, but for business purposes. However, it's revealed in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me that they came together purely in passion, as a result of Dr. Evil having Austin Power's stolen 'mojo'. She bears a physical resemblence to Rosa Klebb from the James Bond film From Russia With Love.
• Ivana Humpalot -Kristen Johnston - A stereotypical Russian woman. She meets Austin during a photo shoot, then plays a seductive game of chess with him.
• Johann van der Smut, or Goldmember -Mike Myers- A parody of Bond villain Auric Goldfinger, he has a fetish for gold and is almost always surrounded by it. He got his nickname after losing his genitalia in an unfortunate smelting accident. He tries to help Dr. Evil drive a gold meteor into the Earth. The Dr. himself finds Goldmember's strange habits disturbing: Goldmember is obsessed eating his own flaking skin. Van der Smut is a stereotypical Dutchman, often mispronuncing words of the English language, most notably when he tries to say "father," but pronounces it as "fahza,"
• Mini-Me -Verne Troyer- Dr. Evil's pint-sized clone who first appears in the second film. The silent Mini-Me is always there for Dr. Evil through the roughest times, except when he takes Austin's side later in the trilogy. The little clone has frequent conflicts with Scott Evil, but loves chocolate and Mini Mr. Bigglesworth (The mini clone of Dr. Evil's cat).
• Mr. Bigglesworth - Mr. Bigglesworth used to be Dr. Evil's white Angora cat, but after some defrosting errors by assasin Mustafa, all his fur came off, turning the cat into a Sphynx (cat) and leaving him shiny-headed like his owner. Mr. Bigglesworth is a similar cat to the feline pet of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, also a white Angora cat.
• Mustafa -Will Ferrell- An ex-assasin of Dr. Evil, appearing in the first and second movies. Played by Will Ferrell and is recognizable by his red fez.
• Nigel Powers -Michael Caine- Austin's and Dr. Evil's father, portrayed by Michael Caine in Austin Powers in Goldmember. There are only two things he can't stand in this world; People who are intolerant of other people's cultures; and the Dutch.
• Number 2 -Robert Wagner- Dr. Evil's most trusted ally. Number 2 is a parody of Emilio Largo, Ernst Stavro Blofeld's right-hand man. They share a distinctive eyepatch, and are both called mostly by their codename "Number 2", which they share. A younger Number 2 is also portrayed by Rob Lowe in the second film in the series.
• Robin Swallows (Maiden name, Spitz) -Gia Carides- An employee of Dr. Evil, who encounters Austin in his apartment during a party.
• Scott Evil -Seth Green- Dr. Evil and Frau Farbissina's love child. Scott is the result of an implied difficult childhood, and is constantly shown as an immature young adult.
• Vanessa Kensington -Elizabeth Hurley- Austin's partner and bride in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. In the second movie, she is revealed to be one of Dr. Evil's Fembots and explodes.

Box Office

The first film in the series, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery cost $16.5 million, opened in 1997, and made a modest impact, grossing US$53 million in its North American release. The film was not a major success in theatres, but became a hit and cult classic on the home video market. In June 1999, the film spawned a sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This, however, was a huge box office hit, the third highest grossing film of the summer (Behind only Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and The Sixth Sense), earning US$206 million in its North American release. In its North American opening weekend it earned US$55 million (Then the third biggest debut in box office history), and became the first movie sequel to outearn the original after only its first weekend. The 282% increase in total box office gross from the original to sequel in a feat matched only by Terminator 2: Judgment Day's 434% increase. A third film, Austin Powers in Goldmember, was released in 2002 to similar fanfare, earning US$213 million. The Austin Powers trilogy is one of the few movie series in which every sequel has outearned the film that preceded it, along with The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Desperado series. As of 2005, a fourth installment in the series is in limbo.

Original sources

Power's flamboyant appearance and overt flirtation is probably based on the early 1970s TV character Jason King, who originally appeared in the ITC Entertainment Programme Department S and, later, in his own spin-off show. The name Austin Powers may be inspired by the British Austin-Healey sports cars which were popular in the 1960s. He could also possibly be named after actor Austin Pendleton, who has crooked teeth and wears glasses similar to Powers in What's Up, Doc?.

Powers' "cover persona" (to hide his hide job as a international agent) is a fashion photographer, which provides an opportunity in the first two films to satirize Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up as well as Dean Martin's "Matt Helm" character. The signature eye glasses hail from the Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) films (and perhaps also Peter Sellers in Casino Royale). Appropriately, Caine played Austin's father, Nigel Powers, in Goldmember.

Another major source of humour derives from Powers' having been Cryogenically frozen in the 1960's and revived in the late 1990's (Roughly parodying the 1966 spy- serie's Adam Adamant Lives! about an Edwardian secret agent who was frozen) without having any sense whatsoever of changes that have occurred in society the intervening years...

"...but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!" - Austin Powers.

Powers's nemesis is Dr. Evil, a character based on Blofeld of the Bond films, and Saturday Night Live's creator Lorne Michaels. Other Bond inspired villains include Frau Farbissina, most probably based on From Russia With Love's Rosa Klebb; Dr. Evil's right hand man, Number 2, probably inspired by Thunderball's Emilio Largo and Referring also to Number 2 in The Prisoner; Alotta Vagina, a pun on Goldfinger's Pussy Galore; and Random Task, again a pun, this time on Goldfinger's Oddjob. The figure "Goldmember" in the 2002-film (Also the name of the film) might himself be a stand-alone referral to the "Goldfinger" in general.

Michael York's character Basil Exposition is named such because Basil literally provides the audience with the Exposition of the plot. The name is a parody of the scenes in the Bond movies where M- or some other high ranking official- made use of highly sophisticated audio visual devices and explained the "plot" and "characters" to Bond. These scenes were written to make sure the audience "got" the story (Hence Myers' parody.) The Bond screenwriters were often aware how clunky these expositionary scenes could be. They made them more entertaining by having Bond briefed in exotic locations (Such as a hidden cave in the Egyptian desert in The Spy Who Loved Me) - (Hence the Austin-Power's movie, "The Spy Who Shagged Me!".) Or by having having Bond show that he knew more than M about the subject at hand.

As for the female lead characters, from "International Man of Mystery", Mrs. Kensington & her daughter Vanessa (And the tight-fitting leather catsuit's they wear) are based on the female partners of John Steed from The Avengers (Especially Diana Rigg's "Emma Peel" character).

Felicity Shagwell in "The Spy Who Shagged Me" is based on three characters: The stereotypical "hippie chick" from the 1960s, the name is based on the double-entendre inspired names of several female James Bond characters such as "Pussy Galore" and "Xenia Onatopp". She could also be an American version of "Modesty Blaise".

Foxxy Cleopatra in "Goldmember" is clearly based on female characters from 1970's "Blaxploitation" or "Soul Cinema" motion pictures, especially those featuring Pam Grier. The name itself is highly certainly based on "Foxy Brown" (Since she's played by Pam Grier) and "Cleopatra Jones" (Played by Tamara Dobson).

A few other 1960's films that seem to have been source material for the satirical blend of the characters:

• You Only Live Twice (1967, the Blofeld/Dr. Evil appearance.)
• Casino Royale (1967, many elements, itself a spoof of the Bond films.)
• Blow-Up (1966, the virile fashion photographer.)
• Our Man Flint and In Like Flint (1966 and 1967, many elements. Austin, in 'The Spy Who Shagged Me,' says the latter title is his favorite movie.)
• The Ipcress File (1965, Harry Palmer's glasses.)

Trivia

• The Austin Powers Theme (Soul Bossa Nova) by Quincy Jones and Produced by DJ Green Lantern was sampled in Ludacris's 2004 Single, "#1 Spot," which was on his album entitled The Red Light District. The song was featured in the 1964 movie, The Pawnbroker and also formed the basis for the hit 1991 rap song "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" by the Dream Warriors. Also, it was used as the theme to a 1970's Canadian television game show called Definition; Myers is known for inserting references to his native Canada into his films, and the use of the "Definition" theme is considered one of these references (the Dream Warriors recording also makes this connection).

• Austin's glasses are usually meant to be a reference to the glasses Michael Caine wore in The Ipcress File. When Caine was cast as Austin Powers' father, Nigel, in Austin Powers in Goldmember, he wore the actual pair of Harry Palmer-glasses.

• In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted the Austin Powers movies (collectively) the 12th greatest comedy film of all time.

Video Games

• Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (Gameboy Color)
• Austin Powers: Welcome to my Underground Lair! (Gameboy Color)
• Austin Powers in Operation Trivia (PC and Macintosh)