It’s been 24 years since the last Austin Powers movie came out in theaters. The film starred Mike Myers as the time-traveling spy Austin Powers, and after 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember, there were talks about a fourth installment, but nothing has been officially confirmed. Will Austin Powers return to the big screen decades later?
Austin Powers is a trilogy of comedic action spy movies starring Austin Powers, who’s tasked with stopping Dr. Evil (also played by Myers) from taking over the world with his evil plans. All three films grossed over $676 million worldwide, with the first two receiving praise but the third installment receiving mixed reception, despite its star-studded cameos from Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Danny DeVito, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Travolta, and Britney Spears.
Plans for a fourth Austin Powers movie were first reported in 2005, and over the years, Myers has claimed he has an idea for what the next installment would be about and that he’s writing a script for it. Recently, during Myers’ appearance on Trevor Noah’s World Cup Watch Party, Myers was asked if fans “will see a fourth Austin Powers movie,” and the actor replied with one word: “Yes.” In addition, Myers reprised his role as Dr. Evil in a new Verizon commercial, accompanied by his henchmen (without Mini-Me, due to the passing of Verne Troyer) and his son, Scott Evil (Seth Green).
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
Rambo
James Bond
Indiana Jones
John McClane
Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Is ‘Austin Powers’ Worth Watching?
Austin Powers is a spy parody franchise inspired by James Bond, and it’s still a cult classic and pop culture phenomenon. While its third movie, Austin Powers in Goldmember got a 52% critics score and a 44% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the first two films, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, were well recieved, with the 1997 film earning a 72% critics score and a 77% audience score, while the second film gained a 54% critics score and a 71% audience score.
Critics praised the franchise for not overstaying its welcome, noting that Austin Powers doesn’t need as many movies as James Bond. Others found it comedic that it would be hard to keep a poker face with all of Austin’s catchphrases and “irrepressible sexual desperation.” One also praised the movie for identifying aspects of spy movies that other creators of spy parodies haven’t noticed.
All three Austin Powers movies are available to stream on Prime Video. Follow Collider for more updates.
