Mike Myers combined his love of the James Bond movies and his love of 1960s swinging culture into Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, in which a gentleman spy is cryogenically frozen in the “flower power” era and thawed out in the ‘90s when times have changed. Austin is motivated by his pursuit of his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, also played by Myers (and those two roles are just the tip of the iceberg).
Much like Austin himself is a spot-on spoof of Bond, Dr. Evil is a pitch-perfect parody of Bond’s rogues’ gallery. While his appearance was clearly based on Blofeld, he’s a hilarious lampoon of every Bond villain.
His Costume Is A Perfect Recreation Of Blofeld’s
The obvious model for Dr. Evil’s appearance was James Bond’s arch-enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Since Blofeld first showed up on the big screen, a bald man with a scarred eye, a pet cat, and a gray Nehru jacket has been the universal symbol of an evil megalomaniac.
The wardrobe and makeup departments working on the Austin Powers movies perfectly recreated this look in turning Mike Myers into Dr. Evil.
His Evil Lairs Have Plenty Of Vanity
Building an evil lair in one’s own honor is inherently vain, but Dr. Evil dialed up the vanity even more than classic Bond villains. In The Spy Who Shagged Me, he has his own face carved into the side of a Caribbean island in a reference to You Only Live Twice.
In Goldmember, he has a submarine designed in his own image that resembles Karl Stromberg’s Liparus tanker from The Spy Who Loved Me.
The Movies Explore The Realities Of Building An Evil Lair
Whenever James Bond infiltrates one of his baddies’ lairs, all the cool evil stuff is already there. Hugo Drax already has a base of operations in outer space in Moonraker and Blofeld already has a lair hidden inside a volcano in You Only Live Twice.
In the Austin Powers movies, Dr. Evil’s scenes explore the realities of building an evil lair. He can’t get contractors for everything he wants, like “sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.”
Number Two Tries To Move Him Away From Evil Business Ventures
At the beginning of The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil returns to his evil corporation and finds that, in his absence, Number Two has turned the business around with wise investments, including getting in on the ground floor with Starbucks.
Upon his return, Dr. Evil has a bunch of new evil schemes he wants to try out, but Number Two insists that non-evil business ventures are more profitable and less risky.
The “Evil Medical School” Line Hilariously Explains Away Dr. Evil’s Ambiguous Doctorate
There’s a classic Big Bang Theory joke about the absurd number of supervillains with advanced degrees, like Drs. Doom, Sivana, and Octopus. James Bond’s first on-screen foe Dr. No is a prime example.
When somebody calls him “Mr. Evil,” Dr. Evil hilariously explains away his ambiguous doctorate: “It’s Dr. Evil! I didn’t spend six years in evil medical school to be called ‘Mister,’ thank you very much.”
Instead Of Killing Austin, He Puts Him In An Elaborate Trap
Much like any given Bond villain, when Dr. Evil captures his gentleman spy nemesis, he sends a henchman to put him in an elaborate trap instead of just seizing the chance to kill him.
Dr. Evil’s cloned son Scott says he should just kill him when he has the chance. He even has a gun in his room, so they can shoot him dead in an instant. His exasperated dad tells him, “Scott, you just don’t get it, do ya?”
When He Makes Monetary Demands, He Doesn’t Consider Inflation
Like many megalomaniacs before him, Dr. Evil often holds the world’s governments to ransom. He’ll set up an evil scheme and demand a ridiculous fee to call it off. However, after spending a few decades cryogenically frozen, his financial frame of reference is all off.
When he demands $1 million from the president, he and all of his aides burst into laughter because it’s become a relatively small figure. He changes it to $100 billion, which is also met with laughter as it’s unrealistically high.
His Henchmen All Have Full, Rich Lives
In Bond movies, the villains’ henchmen are treated like expendable cannon fodder, like the Stormtroopers in Star Wars movies or the Nazis in Indiana Jones movies. But at the end of the day, the legions of uniformed henchmen killed callously by 007 are all human beings.
The first Austin Powers movie demonstrates that all of Dr. Evil’s henchmen have full, rich lives outside their work at his lair. Whenever Austin kills a henchman, the movie cuts to their friends or family hearing the tragic news and mourning their loss.
His Lorne Michaels-Inspired Voice Creates A Hilarious Juxtaposition
Mike Myers reportedly modeled Dr. Evil’s voice and mannerisms after Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Apparently, the line “Throw me a frickin’ bone, people,” was something Michaels used to say at SNL script meetings.
While Dr. Evil’s characterization is that of a straightforward Bond villain, the Lorne Michaels-inspired voice creates a hilarious juxtaposition that makes the character appear non-threatening.