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Austin Powers (character)

Fictional character

Summary

Fictional character

Field	Value
name	Austin Powers
series	Austin Powers
image	Mike-Myers-Austin-Powers-1-.jpg
caption	Mike Myers as Austin Powers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
first	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
last	Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
creator	Mike Myers
based_on	James Bond
portrayer	Mike Myers
Aaron Himelstein (young)
Tom Cruise (in Austinpussy)
alias	Richie Cunningham
occupation	Spy for the Ministry of Defence
significant_others	Felicity Shagwell
Foxxy Cleopatra
spouse	Vanessa Kensington (deceased)
family	Nigel Powers (father)
Douglas Powers (twin-brother)
relatives	Mini-Me (nephew)
Scott Evil (nephew)
Frau Farbissina (sister-in-law)
Helga Powers (grandmother)
Kyle (great-nephew)
nationality	British
full_name	Austin Danger Powers

Aaron Himelstein (young) Tom Cruise (in Austinpussy) Foxxy Cleopatra Douglas Powers (twin-brother) Scott Evil (nephew) Frau Farbissina (sister-in-law) Helga Powers (grandmother) Kyle (great-nephew) Sir Austin Danger Powers is a fictional character from the Austin Powers series of films, and is created and portrayed by Mike Myers. He is the protagonist of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

He is a womanizing, hard-partying British spy embodying the Swinging London mod and hippie culture of the 1960s. Along with his nemesis Dr. Evil, he was frozen in a cryonics experiment, then unfrozen years later. The series' humor follows his attempts to adjust to the modern world as he continues to try to save it from terrorism.

Personality

The character of Austin Powers was primarily a spoof of secret agents in 1960s spy films and spy spoof films, being influenced by Sean Connery's James Bond, Peter Sellers's Evelyn Tremble in Casino Royale (1967), Matt Helm in Dean Martin's films, James Coburn's Derek Flint in Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967), and Michael Caine's Harry Palmer in films such as The Ipcress File (1965) and Funeral in Berlin (1966), especially his thick horn-rimmed glasses. Myers was also influenced by the flamboyant dress sense of Jason King, played by Peter Wyngarde.

The character of Austin Powers represents an archetype of 1960s Swinging London, with his advocacy for free love, his use of obscure expressions and his clothing style (including crushed velvet suits and Beatle boots).

Development

Myers, Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs formed the faux British 1960s band Ming Tea after Myers's Saturday Night Live stint in the early 1990s. The band members all performed under pseudonyms with 1960s' personas. Myers adopted the pseudonym and character of Austin Powers.

This group made a number of live club and television performances in character. Myers's then wife, Robin Ruzan, encouraged him to write a film based on Austin Powers. Obituaries of Simon Dee (1935–2009), the radio and BBC television presenter, stated that his "Sixties grooviness" made him the inspiration for the character.

Heavily influenced by British pop culture growing up, Myers has claimed that his British-born father was the inspiration behind Austin Powers.

Other media

HBO purchased the rights to produce an animated series based on the Austin Powers films in May 1999. Despite announcing plans for a thirteen-episode season, HBO ultimately shelved the project.
Austin Powers has been used for advertising numerous products and endorsements, such as Pepsi Cola.
He also appears in the music videos for Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger", Beyoncé's "Work It Out" and Britney Spears' "Boys".
Powers appears in all video games based on the film series, including Austin Powers Pinball, Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair!, Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!, and Austin Powers Operation: Trivia.
Powers is featured in an episode of the web show Epic Rap Battles of History, where he is pitted against James Bond. He is performed by the series co-creator Peter Shukoff.

In popular culture

The May 2010 game Red Dead Redemption features an achievement called Austin Overpowered, requiring players to clear out hideouts in the New Austin region of the game.

In November 2010, he was voted #23 in Entertainment Weeklys list "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years."

References

Delbyck, Cole. (2017-05-02). "10 'Austin Powers' Moments That Are Totally Shagadelic 20 Years Later".
(1999-06-14). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Big marketers are betting on 'Austin Powers' to endear them to young people.". The New York Times.
(28 November 2003). "Myers is funny, but he's no Peter Sellers". [[Deseret News]] (Salt Lake City).
"Mike Myers On The Inspiration Behind "Austin Powers"". Conan O'Brien, YouTube.
"Michael Caine: Austin Powers in Goldmember".
(July 7, 2019). "Obituary - Peter Wyngarde, flamboyant actor known for Jason King and Flash Gordon". [[The Herald (Glasgow).
John Storey (2010). "Culture and Power in Cultural Studies: The Politics of Signification". p. 60. Edinburgh University Press
Digital Hit. (1997–2012). "Mike Myers". Digital Hit Entertainment/ Multiplex Theatre Properties Inc..
Cherie D. Abbey. (2004). "Biography Today Performing Artists". Omnigraphics.
(May 18, 1997). "This Sort Of Thing Is His Bag, Baby".
(2009-08-30). "TV chat show star Simon Dee dies". BBC.
(2009-08-31). "Dee day for the real Austin Powers". The Age.
(1999-06-14). "Austin Powers has The Force". BBC.
Kaplan, Don. (1999-05-04). "Yeah, Baby! HBO Sinks Teeth Into 'Austin Powers' Cartoon". The New York Post.
Seller, Andy. (1999-06-21). "The spy who won't go away; HBO will animate 'Austin Powers,' and a third movie is expected". USA Today.
Ressner, Jeffrey. (1999-06-21). "Cinema: Austin's Power".
"Freebies Power Austin's Promotional Mojo". Orlando Sentinel.
Llado, Miguel Luis. (August 18, 2023). "Red Dead Redemption PS4 Trophies Revealed". GameRant.
"The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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