Austin Powers (character)

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Austin Powers character
Mike Myers as Austin Powers
Name	Austin Powers
First appearance	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Last appearance	Austin Powers in Goldmember
Information
Gender	Male
Nationality	England
Role	Member of the British Secret Service
Father	Nigel Powers
Relationships	Vanessa Kensington
Film count	3
Portrayed by	Mike Myers

Sir Austin Danger Powers, KBE, is a fictional character portrayed by Mike Myers in a series of 1960s spy films parodies, known as the Austin Powers series.

Contents 1 Character Biography 2 Personal characteristics

[edit] Character Biography

The character known as Austin Powers was presumably born in 1939 or early 1940: in a 1958 flashback in Goldmember he is clearly in his late teens. His parents' holiday in Belgium during his infancy would have predated the German invasion on May 10, 1940. He is the son of Nigel Powers, a respected Ministry of Defence agent (played by Michael Caine), and the twin brother of Dougie Powers, otherwise known as Doctor Evil. While attending boarding school, he was awarded the title of "International Man of Mystery" - much to the dismay of his brother, who believed he himself was more deserving. This would play a prominent role in their future relationship, having turned Dr. Evil against Austin.

Following his schooling, Powers joined the Ministry of Defence and, partnered with Mrs. Kensington, faithfully protected Queen and country from Dr. Evil and his diabolical schemes while working under the cover of a fashion photographer. To avoid capture, Dr. Evil cryogenically froze himself in 1967; Powers had himself frozen in turn, to be brought back should the world ever require protection from Dr. Evil again. They were subsequently unfrozen in 1997, and continued their adversarial relationship while attempting to acclimate to the culture shock of losing 30 years' worth of time.

Powers has been married once, to Vanessa Kensington (daughter of Mrs. Kensington). The marriage ended in Vanessa's combustion, when she was revealed to be a Fembot programmed by Dr. Evil to assassinate Austin.

[edit] Personal characteristics

Apart from being a satire of James Bond, Austin Powers also represents the archetypal 1960s hippie, with his constant advocacy for free love, his use of obscure expressions and his outrageously out-of-date clothes, though the womanizing side of him could be said to neatly combine his 1960s side with his James Bond template in itself. With his flamboyant ways and never-changing dress-sense, he is deliberately made to stick out from his surroundings (though invariably escaping detection when disguised)- particularly when he talks about things that would have had no place in the 1990s, or when he tries to play a CD on a record player. At the same time, a running joke alongside the fact that women are always around him is that he has very few redeeming features whatsoever.

Apart from his large teeth, unkempt hair and glasses, when he takes off his clothes he is revealed to have a very hairy body (perhaps an exaggerated version of Sean Connery's as seen in his shirtless scenes) and—although we never see it—it is implied that he has a small penis. This in turn could be interpreted as exaggerating what many see as the stupidity of the James Bond girls' being in many cases besotted with a secret agent even though he will invariably vanish after the ceremonious "warming up of bodies" that is detected when most of the Bond-films come to an end. Austin similarly reflected Bond's lack of reflection with regard to the loss of a girl when Vanessa exploded.