Austin Powers Super Bowl ad brings back four cast members from the original movies. SNL alum Mike Myers originated the character of Austin Powers, a James Bond knock-off with a style stuck in the 1960s, in a trio of comedy movies released beginning in 1997
The first of these three Austin Powers films, subtitled International Man of Mystery, was only a modest success with $53 million at the domestic box office. The sequels however were smash hits, with 1999’s The Spy Who Shagged Me taking $206 million domestically and 2002’s Goldmember taking $213 million. Unfortunately that would spell the end of the Austin Powers franchise and now the three movies are looked back upon mostly with nostalgia, though there are certainly problematic elements to their comedy.
A full-on Austin Powers reunion may in fact not be in the cards but a small reunion has just happened thanks to a new Super Bowl ad touting General Motors’ electric vehicles. In the clip, Myers’ villain Dr. Evil (renamed Dr. EV-il in honor of GM’s EVs) is joined by Seth Green as Scott Evil, Rob Lowe as Young Number 2 and Mindy Sterling as Frau Farbissina. See the clip in the space below:
Watch This Video Here
The new Austin Powers ad may be only one minute long but it certainly crams in a lot of bits familiar to fans of the original films. It naturally features Dr. Evil doing his signature pinky-to-lips move as he concocts his evil schemes – which this time around are not so evil as they involve him taking over GM and trying to save the world with electric vehicles before then conquering the world. There’s also a call-back to Mini-Me, the Dr. Evil clone played memorably in the films by the late Verne Troyer.
Overall the new spot hits many of the notes one would expect from a Super Bowl ad: it features a few familiar stars, it’s humorous and it leans heavily on nostalgia. Whether the spot engenders a full-on cry for a fourth Austin Powers film to finally be made is of course another question. Over the years there have of course been reports of a new Austin Powers happening, including a story about Myers wanting to do one from Dr. Evil’s perspective, but nothing has ever gotten off the ground. For now, fans who can’t get enough of the antics of Dr. Evil and his cohorts can at least enjoy a nostalgic little nugget in the form of this amusing new Austin Powers Super Bowl ad.
