All 3 Austin Powers Movies, Ranked From Worst To Best

Austin Powers (Mike Myers) definitely wasn't the first parody of James Bond. You can go back to 1967's intentionally goofy "Casino Royale" or even 1996's "Spy Hard." But none have managed to enter the zeitgeist quite as effectively as Austin Powers.

Of course, those movies satirized typical tropes found in spy movies, but they also created a lore and legacy of their own. Dr. Evil (also Myers) is a genuinely great villain who clearly has some vulnerabilities he needs to work through but also parodies all of the intensely convoluted plans Bond villains tend to showcase, like having an elaborate method of killing the hero rather than just shooting him. 

The world may perpetually wait to see if "Austin Powers 4" ever happens, but honestly, there's nothing wrong with calling it a day as a simple trilogy. All of Austin Powers' films have great jokes in them, but not all of them quite reach the same height. Here are all of the Austin Powers movies ranked based on critical reviews, audience consensus, and our own personal opinions. 

A major component of what makes a great joke is novelty. Hearing the same joke over and over again is naturally going to lead to diminishing returns, and that's ultimately why "Austin Powers in Goldmember" is the weakest of the trilogy.

Don't get us wrong; there are still plenty of great bits. The opening movie-within-a-movie, one of the best of all time, that reveals Tom Cruise is playing a fictional Austin Powers is a great bit. Then we get into Britney Spears playing herself, who's revealed to be a malfunctioning fembot like what we saw in the first film. That's just the first of many retreaded gags and catchphrases that have long since overstayed their welcome. You have to understand: In the late '90s and early 2000s, everyone and their mother was saying, "Yeah, baby!" Hearing Austin Powers say the same line repeatedly felt like an attempt to stay relevant rather than a fun callback. 

As for the rest of the movie, Austin teams up with Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyonce) to rescue his father Nigel (Michael Caine) from Dr. Evil, who's gone back in time to dominate the world alongside new villain Goldmember (Mike Myers once again). By this film, Myers is playing four characters, and the schtick is running a little thin. Caine is a welcome addition as Austin's dad, but by this point, it was clear the franchise was running on fumes. And when you're trying to make people laugh, sometimes it's best to dip when you're already ahead. 

There are plenty of comedy sequels that are better than the original, but one bad habit they tend to fall into is simply repeating the main beats from the first film. You can see this in "The Hangover Part II," "Meet the Fockers," and, yes, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." 

That doesn't mean it's not a good time. Dr. Evil travels back in time to the 1960s to steal Austin's mojo, making him lose his libido. Given his sexual proclivities in the first film, it's a neat twist to allow us to see a different side of Austin. In addition, the film introduces Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) to serve as Dr. Evil's right-hand man, opening the door for even more comic potential as Evil's actual son Scott (Seth Green) feels replaced by this clone.

The sequel also undoes a lot of Austin's development from the first movie, which might actually be its best and most subversive joke. It's a perfect encapsulation of how James Bond would rarely grow and even if he wound up with a woman by the end of one film, he'd have to lose her in some way so that he could be with more women. "The Spy Who Shagged Me" does just enough to justify its existence, but it just doesn't hold a candle to the original...

When "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" came out in 1997, it was a breath of fresh air. We hadn't been inundated with Austin Powers impressions from everyone yet, so the catchphrases and gags still feel revelatory. And the character himself was so great to be introduced to, especially with the film's fish-out-of-water premise that he's a secret agent who was frozen in the '60s and brought back in the '90s. 

Perhaps the film's greatest strength is how it clearly has an appreciation for James Bond films from the '60s. It's not smug about the tropes that were deployed. It points out how absurd some of them are, but the jokes about how Dr. Evil is an incompetent villain always come from a place of love and adoration. And whether you've been a Bond fan for decades or this is your first foray into the spy genre, there's something to enjoy.

Mike Myers is incredible at coming up with distinct characters who feel totally lived-in. That goes back to his "Saturday Night Live" days when he embodied Wayne from "Wayne's World" or Dieter from the "Sprockets" sketches. Here, he could play both Austin and Dr. Evil without missing a beat, as they represent both sides of the same coin. They may have these giant personalities, but they're both ultimately seeking validation, which helps ground many of the sillier moments. Ultimately, there was a novelty to the first "Austin Powers" movie that unless the sequels were willing to greatly deviate from, it was always going to stand at the top of the pack.