Austin Powers Characters: Who Is Who in All Three Films

The Austin Powers characters are a flamboyant British spy, a scheming supervillain and a large supporting ensemble across three films, and Mike Myers plays four of the biggest roles himself. The saga began with Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), directed by Jay Roach, and continued with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), both also directed by Roach. If you are new to the series, the table gives each main character, the actor and the years they appear, and the sections after it explain who each one is. For the full billing list, see the Austin Powers cast page.

Mike Myers plays four characters across the series: Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard and Goldmember. The first film credits him as Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, which sets up a central rivalry between a hero and a villain who share a face. Fat Bastard joins his credit in The Spy Who Shagged Me, so the middle film lists three roles. Goldmember arrives in the third film, where the billing reads Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Goldmember and Fat Bastard in one line.

Austin Powers is the British spy at the center of every film, and his hook is simple: in 1967 he beats Dr. Evil, then has himself frozen so he can face the villain again once Dr. Evil returns. He is thawed in 1997, and the Ministry of Defense pairs him with Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley), the daughter of his former partner, who helps him adjust to a changed world. In the second film Vanessa turns out to be a fembot built by Dr. Evil, so Austin needs a new partner, and he finds one in 1969 in the CIA agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham). In Goldmember he travels to 1975 and teams up with Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyoncé), a disco era agent and a former flame.

The support staff matter too. Basil Exposition (Michael York) is credited in all three films, and Michael Caine plays Nigel Powers, the spy father whose kidnapping drives the third film. For the lead's full story, go to the Austin Powers character page, and each ally has a page of their own: Vanessa Kensington, Felicity Shagwell and Foxxy Cleopatra.

Dr. Evil is the series villain, and his plans drive the plot of each film. In the first film he is revived in 1997, discovers that several of his schemes have already happened without him, and demands $100 billion from the world under threat of nuclear weapons. When Austin and the British forces close in, he triggers the self-destruct and escapes in a rocket. The Dr. Evil page covers him in full.

His circle is large. Number Two (Robert Wagner) is the lieutenant who turned Virtucon into a legitimate corporation, Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling) is credited in all three films, and Mustafa (Will Ferrell) is credited in the first two. Scott Evil (Seth Green) is the teenage son who wants nothing to do with his father, and he appears in all three films, which you can follow on the Scott Evil page. Random Task is the henchman who captures Austin and Vanessa at Virtucon headquarters and attacks them again on their honeymoon. In the second film Fat Bastard makes one more failed attempt on Austin, covered on the Fat Bastard page. In the third, Goldmember is a Dutch villain obsessed with gold who plans to pull a meteor toward Earth with a tractor beam alongside Dr. Evil.

The movie with Mini-Me is Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and he returns in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). Verne Troyer plays him, and he is introduced as a miniature clone that Dr. Evil acquires after his long stay in space. At the Moon base in the second film, Austin beats Mini-Me before he faces Dr. Evil himself. The Mini-Me page covers his full arc, and the Spy Who Shagged Me film page covers the plot.

Dr. Evil is the series' answer to the supervillains of the James Bond films, since the whole saga is a spoof of that spy genre. The giveaways are the lair, the rocket escape, the self-destruct countdown and the demand for ransom under threat of nuclear weapons, all of which are staples of the James Bond series. The sheet does not tie him to one named Bond villain, so I would call him a composite. The joke is built into the set up: Austin and Dr. Evil are played by the same actor, so the hero and the villain are two halves of one comic idea.

In my opinion, the character list tells the story of the budgets. The first film cost $16.5 million, and its cast is lean: Austin, Dr. Evil, Vanessa, Number Two and the henchmen. Roach has said in interviews that Myers improvised as Dr. Evil, and it is easy to see why the villain got more room afterward. The second film, on a $33 million budget, adds Mini-Me, Fat Bastard and Felicity, and it is the one where the sidekick becomes a set piece in his own right, as in the Moon base fight. The third, with a $63 million budget, brings in Michael Caine as Nigel Powers and Beyoncé as Foxxy Cleopatra, and it takes Austin to 1975 and Tokyo. It could be argued that this is the same escalation Bond films go through, which is part of the joke. MGM and Danjaq even objected to the Goldmember title, according to UPI, which tells you how close to the source the series was willing to play. Perhaps the best proof of the ensemble is that Basil Exposition, Number Two and Frau Farbissina hold their places for all three films while the leading women change each time.

To meet these characters in the right sequence, follow the Austin Powers movies in order guide, then use the Austin Powers movies hub for the full film list. For how the series plays with spy films, see the Austin Powers Bond parody page. The where to watch Austin Powers page tracks the streaming options by country.