All The Tropes
All The Tropes
A movie trilogy about a temporally displaced British Ministry of Defence agent Austin Powers, and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, who is obsessed with bringing The End of the World as We Know It and whose plans Austin consistently foils.
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All The Tropes
A movie trilogy about a temporally displaced British Ministry of Defence agent Austin Powers, and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, who is obsessed with bringing The End of the World as We Know It and whose plans Austin consistently foils.

The three films are parodies of the Spy Drama genre, particularly James Bond, to the point that two of the three movie titles are direct spoofs of James Bond movie titles. (Word of God has also acknowledged Jason King as an influence, but they don't make such a big deal of it because modern audiences are more likely to have heard of James Bond.) Lampshade Hanging is everywhere, and forget Leaning on the Fourth Wall, Austin dances on top of it. The series consists of:

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

A fourth film is planned at some point.

Mike Myers played four major characters: Austin, Dr. Evil, his henchman Fat Bastard, and the third movie's co-villain Goldmember. Other characters include:

Basil Exposition, Austin's literal Mr. Exposition. Played by Michael York, though Eddie Adams played a younger version of the character.

Austin's female sidekicks: Mrs. Kensington, her daughter Vanessa (after Austin travels from 1967 to 1997 by means of cryonic freezing), Felicity Shagwell and Foxxy Cleopatra - parodies of "Bond girls" who usually disappear from the face of the Earth after just one movie. Played respectively by Mimi Rogers, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham, and Beyoncé.

Austin's father, Nigel Powers. He is also Dr. Evil's father, thus making Austin and Dr. Evil brothers, although they're unaware of this until the end of the third movie. Played by Michael Caine.

Dr. Evil's son Scott, played by Seth Green.

Dr. Evil's vertically challenged clone Mini-Me, played by Verne Troyer.

Dr. Evil's henchmen: Number Two, Frau Farbissina, Random Task, Mustafa, and numerous Mooks (who are nonetheless mourned by their friends and relatives after being killed). Number Two was played by Robert Wagner, with Rob Lowe and Evan Farmer playing younger versions. Farbissina was played by Mindy Sterling. Random Task was played by Joe Son. Mustafa was played by Will Ferrell.

Lesser known henchwomen included Alotta Fagina, Ivana Humpalot, Robin Swallows (née Spitz). Played respectively by Fabiana Udenio, Kristen Johnston, and Gia Carides.

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Austin Powers franchise.

For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.

Above the Influence: In the first film, Austin, for all his womanizing, turns down a kiss from Vanessa because she's drunk.

Abusive Parents: Dr. Evil's ridiculously traumatic upbringing.

Academy of Evil: The evil medical school Dr. Evil went to.

Affectionate Parody: The first is mostly, as mentioned below, a parody of James Bond knockoffs and sixties culture in general. This is mostly continued in the second one, with various bits of sci-fi thrown in with all the time travel abuse. The third movie parodies Blaxploitation movies and, well, the Austin Powers franchise itself.

Anachronism Stew: Elvis Costello performed in The Spy Who Shagged Me. But the scene in question took place in 1969, which meant he would've only been fifteen years old (and looked much older than that). Of course, this is played for laughs like everything else.

Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Number Two shows a map of the United States with miniature models of businesses he acquired in the first movie during Dr. Evil's time frozen, he concludes the list with a small factory that makes miniature models... of factories.

While snooping around Alotta Fagina's penthouse in the first movie, Austin discovers a folder with some of Virtucon's Evil Plans listed inside. In between "Human Organ Trafficking" and "Project Vulcan" is... "Carrot Top Movie".

Artistic License Geology: A pretty minor example; Dr. Evil refers to the Earth's core as the "liquid hot magma core." For one thing, the Earth's core is not liquid, but is solidified by the intense pressure around it. Another thing, it's made of iron and nickel, not magma.

The artistic license in this case is most likely on Dr. Evil's part anyway, rather than the writers'. After all it's irrelevant whether he actually hits the core, since the whole point is just to destroy the world, which his plot will do whether the core's liquid and made of magma or not.

Auto Cannibalism: When he isn't collecting it in a box, Goldmember enjoys eating pieces of his own skin.

Bald of Evil: Dr. Evil. In the third movie, as Scott becomes more evil, he loses his hair too.

The Baroness: The Rosa Klebb type is spoofed with Frau Farbissina.

Beleaguered Assistant: Number 2, who, to add to the indignity, was happily running Virtucom as a legitimate multi-billion dollar company before Dr. Evil was unfrozen.

Berserk Button: Apparently, despite having little care for Scott Evil for "not being evil enough", his father does not take it well whenever someone goes so far as to imply that Scott is some sort of freak, as evidenced by his behavior on the Jerry Springer show, where his reaction was apparently not faked.

Big Little Man: Mini-Me's introduction in the second movie.

Big No: Two in International Man of Mystery. A guard while Austin is driving toward him with a steamroller (actually a "STOOOOOOOOOP"), and Austin himself before leaping to push the underground drill's abort button.

The steamroller bit goes into Overly Long Gag territory because the Mook stands there for a full 15 seconds shouting "STOOOOOP!" before the steamroller slowly crushes him.

And again in The Spy Who Shagged Me. When Dr. Evil hits the self-destruct button, then throws the bottle containing Austin's "mojo" into the air, Both Austins do this while they try to catch the jar.

Big Red Button: Two in International Man of Mystery. One aborts the underground drill carrying the nuke, the other activates the base's Self-Destruct Mechanism.

Bland-Name Product: Nigel Powers appears on the cover of PYLABYO magazine in Goldmember.

Bond Girl: In each film.

Bond One-Liner: Spoofed. A lot.

Bond Villain Stupidity: Used and lampshaded, most notably in the scene where Scott asks "Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?"

Borrowed Catchphrase: At the end of Goldmember, Dr. Evil says "Yeah baby!" Everyone stares blankly at him, and he adds: "No? Just trying it on."

Brain Bleach: "Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!"

Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Austin's "Things To Do Before I Die" checklist in the third movie:

Brick Joke: In the first film, Austin claims to hate Carnies (or "circus folk") because they "smell like cabbage". Two films later, his father is ambushed by Mini-Me. His response? "I thought I smelled cabbage."

When the first movie begins Austin has just propositioned a pair of Japanese twins before he's called away to save the world, much to his dismay. Two movies later (again) the list above appears.

In the first movie, Dr. Evil says to Austin that they are 'not so different' (which also doubles as a comedic Actor Allusion). In the third movie it is revealed that they are brothers.

British Royal Guards: The Spy Who Shagged Me has a montage where Austin and Felicity goad a royal guard into participating in a Motionless Makeover.

British English: In Goldmember, there's a scene where Nigel Powers is talking about his sexual exploits and Austin requests that they speak in "English" English in front of the Americans. The proceeding conversation has subtitles.

British Teeth: Austin's teeth are so horrible they crack his car's mirror. Becomes a Brick Joke later when Vanessa tells him to use the toothpaste explosive and he responds "I know, I have bad teeth!"

Bulletproof Human Shield: Robin Swallows, from The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Austin: Why Won't You Die??!

Butt Monkey: Mustafa, Scott Evil.

California Doubling: Lampshaded. "Isn't it amazing how much England looks in no way like southern California?"

Calling Your Attacks: "Judo X!"

Card-Carrying Villain: Dr. Evil is a perfect homage to his trope.

Carnival of Killers: Among the various killers hired by Dr Evil are an Asian man using his shoe to kill people named Random Task and a vaguely Middle-Eastern man who angers Dr Evil but will just not die.

Carpet of Virility: Austin's ridiculously hairy chest, which women improbably seem to love.

The Casanova: Austin, and in a twist, Doctor Evil after drinking Austin's mojo. All for comedy.

Nigel Powers.

Catch Phrase: "Oh, behave!"

"Yeah, baby, yeah!"

"Groovy, baby!"

Goldmember has several, with his most prominent (for which he's also the Phrase Catcher) being "[lost his genitalia in] an unfortunate smelting accident".

Censored Title: The second movie was often advertised in Britain as "The Spy Who...", leaving out the last two words. In Britain, "shag" is a much dirtier word than it is in North America.

Averted Trope or Inverted Trope (depending on whether the new title is considered more offensive than the original) in Norway, however, where the title translated as The Spy Who Spermed Me.

Chekhov's Gun: The Swedish penis pump which belongs to no one in particular and certainly not Austin.

Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Alata Vagina after the first movie and Felicity Shagwell in the third movie

Chivalrous Pervert: As noted above in Above the Influence, for as much of a womanizer he is, Austin won't take advantage of a drunk woman.

Cluster F-Bomb: The Jerry Springer scene during the second movie. All censored, of course.

Contractual Genre Blindness: Dr. Evil.

Convection, Schmonvection: The hollowed-out volcano from The Spy Who Shagged Me, in particular the Lava Pit Death Trap.

Conveyor Belt O' Doom: Goldmember parodies a very similar scene from James Bond with Austin's dad strapped to a device that moves him genitals-first towards a container pouring molten gold.

Cosmopolitan Council: Dr. Evil's Council. The United Nations.

Crazy Memory: Dr. Evil describes his father as this.

Culture Equals Costume: In International Man of Mystery. When Dr. Evil calls up the United Nations Secret Meeting Room to give his ultimatum, many of the occupants are dressed in costumes indicating their native countries (two Japanese are dressed as a geisha and a sumo wrestler, a British representative is wearing a Beefeater costume, a Spaniard is dressed as a matador, etc). One of the characters (presumably an American) is dressed as a cowboy.

When we first see Fat Bastard he's wearing a tam o'shanter and a kilt while bagpipe music plays.

Cut Lex Luthor a Check (spoofed): Dr. Evil keeps pursuing outlandish things instead of going on to the much easier evil-world dealings. Like Starbucks.

This annoys Number Two to no end, since his completely legitimate businesses are hugely successful even as Dr. Evil's plots are always dramatic failures.

Dancing Theme

Death Trap: Parodied, of course!

Deer in the Headlights: Parodied with the guard and the steamroller.

Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: "MOLE!!"

"My God, Vanessa's got a fantastic body. I bet she shags like a minx. How do I tell her that, because of the unfreezing process, I have no inner-monologue? I hope I didn't say that out loud just now."

Don't Explain the Joke: Done a lot.

Double Entendre.

Dressing as the Enemy: Once a movie, and Played for Laughs.

Dude, Not Funny: Said In-Universe by Austin in regards to his father writing off Austin's quite legitimate complaints about his parenting skills with a joke.

Elaborate Underground Base: Dr. Evil in the first movie.

Even Evil Has Standards: The main reason why Number 2 attempted to betray Dr. Evil was because he was nearly ruining his business after he returned.

Similarly, and quite ironically, even Dr. Evil fitted into this trope. He has no qualms with taking over the world or just outright destroying it (at least until the ending of Austin Powers in Goldmember), but when he meets Goldmember, the eponymous villain of the third movie, even he was quite disturbed by him and his actions. Apparently, he also gets quite disturbed when Scott Evil seems to act extremely exhilarated at the death of a minion in the same movie.

It was less Scott's enthusiasm and more that he just let the evil laugh run away with him. Evil has standards, alright... but about not being too weird with your villain laugh, not about the sanctity of life. Same with Goldmember... it's not that he goes too far, it's that he's just too weird (but then, he is from Holland...).

Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: Two words -- English English.

Everything's Even Worse With Frickin' Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams Attatched to Their Frickin' Heads.

Evil Eyebrows: Dr Evil.

Evil Laugh: Spoofed massively. Often causes those trying to emulate Doctor Evil to fail hard.

Evil Plan: Each movie has one naturally, but of note is an earl scene in the first movie. There Dr.Evil lists in detail two possible evil plans only to have Number Two tell him they already happened. So he shrugs and says 'Let's do what we always do: hijack nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage'

Eyepatch of Power: Number 2's eye-patch has X-Ray Vision, which he uses to cheat at blackjack.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Dr. Evil. Though he's not so evil in the end.

Exty Years From Now

Face Heel Turn: Vanessa is a Fembot. Which is revealed at the beginning of the second movie, apropos of nothing but the Rule of Funny. But... hey, now Austin is single again! YEAH, BABY!!!

Face Ship: Dr Evil's sub in Goldmember is modeled after him.

Fake-Out Opening: The third movie opens with a scene from a film within the film about Austin's life.

Fan Disservice: Naked Fat Bastard in the second movie. Send the Brain Bleach!

Fat Bastard: Obvious.

Fat Suit: Did you think Mike Myers was really that fat?

Fetal Position Rebirth: Austin Powers.

Fish Out of Temporal Water: Austin and Dr. Evil, in the first film.

Flanderization: Especially evident in Austinpussy (the movie-within-a-movie in Goldmember).

Flirting Under Fire: In The Spy Who Shagged Me, Austin and Felicity have a tender moment... while standing in a laughably pathetic Death Trap.

Formally-Named Pet: Mr. Bigglesworth.

For The Lulz: While Austin has attempted before, he's taken the hint that Vanessa doesn't want to have sex with him. That doesn't stop him from trying to flirt with her vulgarly for kicks. Which he later assures her when his jokes don't seem to make her laugh. Saying that seemed to get her to smile at least.

Freudian Excuse: Supposedly, one of the mains reasons Dr. Evil became, well, evil was that he was raised in Belgium.

Freudian Slip: In Goldmember, Austin repeatedly saying "dad" or "father" instead of other words.

Frickin' Laser Beams: Trope Namer.

Gag Penis: Aside from everything Nigel says about Mini-Me's endowments, there's the fact that when Mini-Me lowers his pants, there is an audible thump.

Goldmember has a gold...er, member.

Genre Savvy: Scott Evil, who loves mocking his father's unoriginal plans in the first two movies. In the third, he just gives up altogether and pretends to support his father's plan (even though he's still actually making fun of it).

And later, Austin's father.

Get It Off Me!: Seen when Austin gets in a fight with Mini-me. On top of clinging to Austin like white on rice, he even bites Austin the nuts and hangs on for dear life as Austin tries to get him to let go.

Girl of the Week: Every trope that applies to a Bond Girl applies to Austin's women.

Go-Go Enslavement: The goofy futuristic clothes Dr. Evil forces on Austin and Vanessa.

Goofy Print Underwear: Austin's Union Jack underpants. Yeah.

GPS Evidence

Great Escape: Dr. Evil in the third movie.

The Great Politics Mess-Up: Spoofed.

Groin Attack: Mini-Me bites Austin in the junk.

And in the third film, he accidentally sends a model meteor right into Dr. Evil's testicles. Way to go, A-Hole!

Gross Up Close-Up: Number Three's mole.

Groupie Brigade: Austin appearing in public usually tends to attract a screaming whorde.

The Guards Must Be Crazy: Spoofed and lampshaded without mercy.

Hair Reboot

Hazmat Suit: The radiation suit Dr. Evil wears in International Man of Mystery as a parody of the one worn by the title character in Dr. No.

Heel Face Turn: In Goldmember--Mini-Me and Dr. Evil. Fat Bastard, as well. And maybe Frau and Number 2.

High Heel Face Turn: The second film's sexy evil foreigner with a highly suggestive name, Ivana Humpalot, was sent to kill Austin Powers but instead finds him so attractive that she ends up confessing to her agenda and just asks him to make love to her. Apparently she was so attracted to him that she made no move to kill him even after he lost his mojo in the middle of sex.

Highly-Conspicuous Uniform

Human Popsicle: Austin and Dr. Evil.

Hurricane of Puns: Once a movie, Austin will make one about a Mook's death

Hypocritical Humor: There's two things Nigel Powers can't stand: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures...and the Dutch!

I Drank What?: In the second movie, Austin drinks Fat Bastard's stool sample, thinking it is coffee.

Ignore the Disability: Number Three's mole. Around it, everyone feels inclined to unintentionally make stupid puns.

"Why, thank yo-- MOLE!!!"

"Moley, moley, moley, moley, moley!"

I'm a Humanitarian: Fat Bastard once ate a baby. And then he tries to eat Mini-Me.

Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy

Implacable Man

Implausible Deniability: Austin's increasingly desperate insistence that "Swedish-Made Penis Enlarger Pump" weren't his bag, baby, as the evidence continued to mount against him.

Impossible Shadow Puppets: Subverted. A mook believes he is seeing an impossible silhouette of a man with a small arm for a penis, who shakes hands with it and bites it before giving birth. It turns out to be Austin, Mini-Me, some tubing and an apple.

Improbable Aiming Skills: Towards the end of Shagged, Austin manages to fire fewer shots from his handgun than the number of henchmen he hits.

Improbable Weapon User: "Who throws a shoe?!? Honestly?"

Inadequate Inheritor: Scott, who is "replaced" by Mini Me.

Incredibly Lame Pun: From Goldmember:

Inflation Negation: One meeeeeeeee-llion dollar ransom. Memetic Mutation as well.

This was so ubiquitous, even King Hussein of Jordan joked around with it.

Inventor of the Mundane: During a group therapy session Dr. Evil mentions that his father claimed to have invented the question mark (among many other, equally strange declarations).

Iron Butt Monkey: Mustafa, who can withstand quite a bit of punishment before finally dying.

Ironic Echo Cut: Without an actual cut, though.

It's Personal: Both Dr. Evil and Austin say this this in the second movie, in reference to how Dr. Evil's stolen Austin's mojo.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nigel Powers.

Juggling Loaded Guns: Austin can be seen shaking his arms and blinking uncontrollably whenever he fires his gun. Mike Myers notes in the commentary that it was done only half-intentionally, as Mike himself had never fired a gun before.

Just in Time: Played for laughs in the first film. Austin has well over ten seconds to stop Dr. Evil's drill from reaching the Earth's core, but deliberately waits until there's just a second to spare, so that his Big No will look more dramatic.

Kavorka Man

Kukris Are Kool: Mustafa wields one.

Lame Rhyme Dodge: In the first film:

And the TV edited version, which arguably works just as well:

Lampshade Hanging: Ubiquitous.

Latex Perfection

Laughably Evil: Dr. Evil and his minions.

Laugh with Me: Dr. Evil doesn't like to make an Evil Laugh by himself. Parodied in the last scene of the third movie where Scott laughs alone and desperately turns in every direction for someone to join in.

"London, England" Syndrome: The Trope Namer was referring to this film.

Luke, I Am Your Father: Spoofed in the first film.

Gender-swapped in the second film, when Frau Farbissina admits she is Scott's mother.

Played straight in the third film, when it's revealed Austin and Dr. Evil are brothers.

Spoofed in the second with Dr. Evil and Austin.

Made of Iron: Robin Swallows, who survives a barrage of bullets, a rocket, and falling out of a tall building, all while mocking Austin while he uses her as a human shield.

Male Gaze: In IMoM, our first view of Vanessa Kensington via a slow pan up her entire body. Felicity Shagwell is introduced in a similar way.

Marshmallow Hell

Medium Awareness: Austin uses the subtitles to understand Japanese in the third movie. What makes it funny is that the white subtitles are sometimes placed in front of white items, resulting in the subtitles looking entirely lewd.

Meta Guy: Scott is the only one who seems to see through Dr. Evil's ridiculous plans and is well-aware they won't work.

Mood Whiplash: In the extended version of the first film, every time Austin kills a Mooks, the film immediately clips to about 30 seconds worth of the mook's mourning friends and family.

The opening of the first movie may count, too. Dr. Evil kills off his minions who have deceived him... cue Austin dancing to Soul Bossa Nova!

In the second and third films, Fat Bastard gives a heartfelt speech about his weight... then farts.

Mook Chivalry: "Look, here's how it goes, you attack me one at a time and I knock you out with one punch, okay? Go."

Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Evil didn't spend six years at Evil Medical School to be called "Mister", thank you very much.

Morton's Fork: In The Spy Who Shagged Me:

Mr. Exposition: Basil, whose last name IS Exposition.

Ms. Fanservice: Alotta Fagina from the first movie is a pretty straight example. Her only real role (besides acting as a plot device to drive a temporary wedge between Austin and Vanessa) was to look hot.

Naked People Are Funny: The opening credits of The Spy who Shagged Me play over a scene wherein Austin decides to celebrate his new-found singleness by taking a stroll through the hotel in the buff, his naughty parts concealed by various objects.

Never the Selves Shall Meet: Averted in The Spy Who Shagged Me, when Austin not only interacts with a ten-minute-younger version of himself, but the two of them apparently wind up engaging in a three-way with Felicity Shagwell.

"Technically it's not cheating, baby!"

Newspaper-Thin Disguise: Austin attempts to disguise himself with a magazine... with his own face on the cover.

The Nineties: The first two movies. The third one takes place in 2002.

No Celebrities Were Harmed: During the car chase in Japan:

No Fourth Wall: The third film. An obvious example is when Austin and Fat Bastard are fighting and Fat Bastard does "the ultimate wire-fighting maneuver", only for one of his wires to break.

Not to mention the numerous times when Austin looks directly at the camera when saying something. One example is during the Mr. Roboto scene. Austin, after misreading several subtitles for Mr. Roboto's dialogue, is pretty weirded out. Mr. Roboto says "Why don't I just speak English?" This leads to:

In fact, the whole misreading of the subtitles is probably a more blatant example than anything else.

Another camera look occurs when Austin is shot at on the ladder near the end and falls, pulling down Dr. Evil's pants to stop his fall. He says:

Austin's camera-look with "Ah-thankyou" is really a Running Gag in the entire third movie, likely as a parody of the franchise's earlier tendency of heavily lampshading and/or explaining the joke.

No Indoor Voice: "I'm finding it hard to control THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!"

No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Lampshaded and spoofed.

Not So Different: Parodies in the first movie- Dr. Evil tries this, but as he lectures he realizes that he and Austin are actually nothing alike.

Tried again in Goldmember... which also fails.

Although this instance seems to be a subtle foreshadowing of them finding out that they do have something in common - a father - at the end of the movie.

Number Two: Literally, Number Two.

One-Scene Wonder: Nathan Lane in Goldmember.

And Will Ferrell as Mustafa.

Only Sane Man: Scott Evil, to an extent.

Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: There's a point during the overly long evil laughing scene in the first film where Mike Myers reverts to his normal voice.

Overlord, Jr.: Scott Evil and Mini-Me.

Overly Long Gag: The series even lampshades, spoofs, and plays it straight as one of their overlong running gags is interrupted by a cameo from the Osbornes... who then turn out to be the part of it that brings it full circle.

Case in point, Austin's "evacuation" from the first movie.

The near deaths of Mustafa and his crying out for help.

"Shh". "Zippit". "Howboutyadont".

Overly Long Scream:

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH-" *Steam Roller runs him over.*

Papa Wolf:

Let's just say that Dr. Evil did not react well at all to a Klansman calling Scott Evil a freak on Jerry Springer.

Nigel Powers is also this when he stops Austin from shooting his other son, Dr. Evil.

Pet The Dog: Minor one, but in the second one, Fat Bastard was cheering Scott on when the latter tried to attack Mini-Me over his threatening Good-bye Card.

Pixellation: Used on a woman's bare breasts in the "Hard Knock Life" music video in Goldmember.

Playing with a Trope: Arguably one of the entire purposes of the series, as it parodies, spins, exaggerates, lampshades, and puts an odd twist on everything from random dance scenes to celebrity cameos to under-the-credits scenes.

Preemptive Shh

Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Dr. Evil and Mini-Me performing a music video to the tune of It's A Hard Knock Life in Goldmember is all this.

Pretty in Mink: The models in the second movie, and Austin wearing a pimp coat in the third.

Proof I Am Not Bluffing: In The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr Evil blows up the White House to demonstrate his giant moon-based laser... except it was actually just footage from Independence Day.

Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "DO! YOU! WORK! FOR! NUMBER! TWO!??" (original release version, while the current releases use the clip of Austin shouting "Who... does... Number Two... work for?!")

Punny Name: A lot of them, usually mocking James Bond characters.

Let's see, there's Alotta Fagina, Ivana Humpalot, Fook Mi and Fook Yu (the Japanese twins), Dixie Normas, Felicity Shagwell...

Refuge in Vulgarity: Numerous examples, not the least of which was the coffee gag in the second film.

Regional Bonus: A few countries had a cut with deleted scenes, including Christian Slater's cameo and the death of mooks being mourned (which includes a cameo by Rob Lowe).

Rent-A-Zilla

Reverse Mole: Number Three. Try not to think about it too much.

Reverse Polarity: Trying to stop the MIDAS asteroid from crashing into Earth and flooding it.

Right-Hand-Cat: Mr. Bigglesworth.

Rule of Funny: Honestly, the series has a time-traveling car that travels not by accelerating to 88 miles per hour, but by bouncing really hard on its seventies-style tricked out suspension. If you can swallow that but not Vanessa being a fembot, you need to recite the mantra.

Rule of Three: Spoofed in the second film, where one of Dr. Evil's assassins always answers a question truthfully the third time it's asked, because he can't stand being asked the same question three times.

Unless you ask a different question in between (like "Do I really have to ask you two more times?") which resets the counter.

Sassy Black Woman: Foxxy Cleopatra.

Scenery Censor: Spoofed multiple times.

Screens Are Cameras: Dr. Evil tends to do this a lot. He has typical villain ultimatums with various world leaders through closed circuit televisions, yet there are no cameras that would allow him to see anything.

Sealed Evil in a Can: The freezing of Dr. Evil.

Sealed Good in a Can: Ditto for Austin.

Self-Destruct Mechanism: Dr. Evil's underground base in International Man of Mystery has one.

Sequel Reset: I'm single again! Yeah!

The Seventies and The Eighties: "You're not missing anything. There was a gas shortage, and A Flock of Seagulls."

Sexy Backless Outfit: Felicity Shagwell.

Shark Pool: The third movie.

Attempted in the first movie, but they couldn't get sharks due to environmental regulations. They had to make do with (mutant, ill-tempered) sea bass instead.

Shoe Phone: Spoofed with the ridiculous items Austin gets from Basil, including a toothpaste tube containing plastic explosive.

Shoe Slap: Random Task throws his shoe, as a parody of Oddjob's doing the same with his hat.

Shout-Out: According to the Word of God, Austin Powers is a parody to all of the British James Bond-knockoffs in the United Kingdom in the late 60's and early '70s that Mike Myers used to enjoy, though there are plenty of James Bond references as well.

Star Wars is frequently referenced in the second film as well.

The first film gets a shout out in Mortal Kombat X, when Kano snarks at Kung Lao "Do you throw your shoes as well?"

Show Some Leg: Felicity Shagwell says that to guard of Dr. Evil's Volcano Island.

Also used by Vanessa to distract guards.

Show Stopper: Parodied.

Show Within a Show: Austinpussy, originally the intended title of the third film (a parody of Octopussy)), which they couldn't get past the censors. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Tom Cruise as Austin, Gwyneth Paltrow as the Bond Girl, Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil, Danny DeVito as Mini-me, and John Travolta as Goldmember.

Sigil Spam

Silence, You Fool: "SILENCE! I will not tolerate your insolence!"

The Sixties

Skirts and Ladders: Austin can't help but stare when Vanessa climbs up a ladder ahead of him.

Austin also can't help but stare when Dr. Evil climbs up a ladder ahead of him (so that he can use a pun with "your nuts" and "you're nuts").

Smoking Hot Sex: Number 2 and Number 2.

Something Else Also Rises: Austin puts the lotion on Felicity Shagwell's back.

Sound Effect Bleep: Utilized during the cutaway to the Osbournes in Goldmember.

Spell My Name with an "S": A rather infamous error on the setting titles renders Japan's largest city as "Toyko". Yeah.

Stating the Simple Solution: Scott Evil keeps goading his father to just shoot Austin.

Suddenly Shouting:

Supervillain Lair: "Welcome to my underground lair!!"

Brought to its ultimate when Dr. Evil travels back in time and starts getting all the stuff he's used to having as a sixties supervillain:

Surrounded by Idiots: Dr. Evil used to provide the page quote:

Dr. Evil: Why must I be constantly surrounded by frickin' idiots?