Dr. Evil

This article is about the Austin Powers character. For the 1968 toy, see Dr. Evil (Captain Action).

Dougie "Dr. Evil" Powers
Austin Powers character
Mike Myers as Dr. Evil
First appearance	International Man of Mystery
Created by	Mike Myers
Portrayed by	Mike Myers Josh Zuckerman (teenager) Kevin Spacey (in film-within-film)
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Evil doctor
Family	Nigel Powers (biological father) Austin Powers (brother) Unnamed adoptive father (deceased) Chloe (adoptive mother, presumed deceased) Mini-Me (clone)
Spouse	Frau Farbissina
Children	Scott Evil
Nationality	British (Raised in Belgium)

Dr. Evil (b. Douglas Powers) is a fictional character, played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers film series. He is the antagonist of the movies, and Austin Powers' nemesis. He is a parody of James Bond villains, primarily Donald Pleasence's Ernst Stavro Blofeld (as featured in You Only Live Twice). Dr. Evil routinely hatches schemes to terrorize and take over the world, and is typically accompanied by his cat Mr. Bigglesworth and his side-kick Mini-Me, a dwarf clone of himself.

On May 10, 2007, Mike Myers announced that he is developing a fourth film in the Austin Powers universe, which will focus more on the character of Dr. Evil.

Background

According to his own account in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, delivered in a group therapy session with his estranged son Scott, Dr. Evil's upbringing went as follows:

The details of my life are quite inconsequential ... Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize; he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament ... My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon ... luge lessons ... In the spring, we'd make meat helmets ... When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds — pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Vilmer ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum — it's breathtaking ... I suggest you try it.

TV versions skipped the last three lines and replaced it with

"When I was 18 I went to evil medical school. At age 25 I took up tap dancing. I wanted to be a quadruple threat: an actor, dancer ...

In the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember, Dr. Evil claims that his adopted mother was the love-slave of the Belgian baker rather than a prostitute.

In Goldmember, Nigel Powers reveals that Dr. Evil is Austin Powers' twin brother and that his real name is Douglas ("Dougie") Powers. He explains that Douglas and Austin were separated as babies following a car explosion, and that he thought that only Austin had survived. Dougie was raised by Belgians, which is what made him so complex and evil. Interestingly, despite the fact that he cites his home town is Bruges, which is situated in the Dutch-speaking Flemish Region of Belgium, he claims to not know how to speak "Freaky-Deaky Dutch", instead speaking French, the main language of southern Belgium.

He also attended the British Intelligence Academy with Austin (along with Basil Exposition and Number 2), and is angered that Austin won the "International Man of Mystery" award, while he, the academy's best student, was overlooked.

In the first film, Dr. Evil is an internationally known criminal genius cryogenically frozen in 1967 and reawakened in 1997. Like Austin Powers, he faces challenges in acclimating to the new period (although he has his staff, who remained behind, to help him).

He often places his little finger near his mouth, especially when excited or to emphasize a statement. Although expanded upon, this signature move may have been taken from "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," an episode of The Twilight Zone in which Dr. Rex uses the same gesture several times. Although the idiosyncrasy was intended to be a humorous "signature move" for Evil, the only apparent reason for Rex's use of it was to differentiate him from several other characters (played by the same actor) who were intentionally physically identical to him.

Evil also repetitively uses the euphemism frickin'. He occasionally uses unnecessary finger quotes around now-familiar technical terms such as laser.

The scar on his face is a reference to similar scars on early 20th century movie villains such as several portrayed by Erich von Stroheim (as well as a homage to Donald Pleasence as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice). This type of scar is usually a remnant of Mensur fencing, an activity in which elite European student groups participate. In Goldmember it is revealed that he has a tattoo on his buttocks that reads "E. Diddy" and he also claimed to have three testicles. Dr. Evil also tends to get angry when he is referred to as "Mr. Evil" and then proceeds to say that "didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mister', thank you very much!"

In the first Austin Powers film and half of the second, Dr. Evil's eyes are brown, but in the third, Mike Myers wore contact lenses to give his eyes an icy blue color.

Entourage

Dr. Evil employs a diverse and highly stereotypical group of minions.

Frau Farbissina

Perhaps closest to Dr. Evil is his assistant, Frau Farbissina, founder of the militant wing of the Salvation Army. In the second film, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, after imbibing some of Austin Powers' mojo Dr. Evil becomes temporarily irresistible and they have sex. However, this leads to an uncomfortable morning-after encounter. In the closing credits Frau is revealed to be Scott's mother. (In the first film, it is asserted that Scott was created via Dr. Evil's frozen semen, thought it is assumed that in traveling back through time he altered this particular event.) In Goldmember, Farbissina and Dr. Evil also kiss while he is in prison; although the two enjoyed it (despite Frau having been established as a lesbian in the previous movie), the purpose was to transfer a key to Evil so that he could escape. She is probably a parody of either the character Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love, or that of Irma Bunt from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She does not appear to age as she looked the same in the 1960s as she did in the 1990s, which was used for comedic effect in the film. Dr. Evil meets the younger Number Two and comments 'You look so healthy and youthful.' Farbissina's voice is heard offscreen and Dr. Evil turns and says, 'And Frau, you look so ...' as the audience is shown she has not changed at all, leading Dr. Evil to finish with '... ri-ght'.

Scott Evil

Dr. Evil carries on a strained relationship with his son Scott. In fact, he frequently tries to have Scott killed, but he never succeeds. He liquidates their therapy group, accusing them of being "insolent". Scott is also known for pointing out Dr. Evil's incompetence and immaturity as well as obvious mistakes and flaws in Dr. Evil's plans. For instance, when Dr. Evil asks why Austin Powers always foils their plans, Scott says "Because you never kill him when you have the chance and you're a big dope". Dr. Evil mocks Scott and ignores his corrections, which often leads to failure. Scott later grows more "evil", thus losing his hair; this gains his father's respect momentarily, especially after Scott provides him a pool filled with "frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads". When Dr. Evil switches sides to help Austin save the world, Scott takes over as the head of the evil organization.

Number 2

Number 2 is the leader of Dr. Evil's industrial empire, Virtucon. A natural businessman, Number 2 is often more concerned about the financial aspects of world domination than the world domination itself. In each successive film, Number 2 has devised various schemes and ventures which would not only garner massive profits for - and expand the power-base of - the Virtucon empire, but would do so legitimately, leaving the authorities with little excuse for apprehending Dr. Evil (such as shifting their resources towards investing in Starbucks). Evil, however, refuses to heed Number 2's advice and has often made Number 2 suffer for his insolence, claiming that his strategies in bringing in legitimately-obtained income are insulting to the ideals of an evil empire. In the second film Number 2 tries to do a deal with Austin, causing Dr. Evil to try sending him into flames. However he returns inthe next film. He helps Dr. Evil adjust to the new era, such as explaining the financial differences. Number 2 is a parody of Emilio Largo from the James Bond film Thunderball, second in command of The SPECTRE terrorist organization.

Mr. Bigglesworth

Mr. Bigglesworth
Austin Powers character
Mr. Bigglesworth hairless
First appearance	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Last appearance	Austin Powers in Goldmember
In-universe information
Species	Cat
Gender	Male
Occupation	Dr. Evil's cat

Mr. Bigglesworth is a fictional cat belonging to Dr. Evil. He was originally similar to Blofeld's cat, a typical white Persian cat from the James Bond movie series.

He was forced to escape hastily with Dr. Evil in a cryogenic capsule, but lost all of his fur due to an error in the unfreezing process.

Mr. Bigglesworth has since that time been bald, played by a Sphynx cat named Ted NudeGent. Dr. Evil's miniature clone, Mini-Me, has a tiny cat called "Mini Mr. Bigglesworth", presumably also a clone of Mr. Bigglesworth. One of Doctor Evil's lines in the movie to Mini Me is "No Mini Me, we do not gnaw on our kitty." In the third installment of the franchise, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Mr. Bigglesworth is not seen once in the entire length of the film, except for promotional shots, the school flashback to when he still had hair as a kitten, where he was played by a 12 week old kitten named Chloe. He was in a deleted scene in which Dr. Evil describes what it is like to hold a hairless cat - "like holding somebody's ass."

To illustrate his importance, Dr. Evil states in the first movie: "When Dr. Evil gets angry, Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset. And when Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset, people DIE!"

Fat Bastard

Fat Bastard is an immensely obese henchman hailing from Scotland, weighing a metric ton. His extreme size endows Fat Bastard with super-human strength as exhibited by his prowess in the Sumo ring from Goldmember. This makes him a formidable enemy for Austin Powers. Fat Bastard is noted for his foul temper, his frequent flatulence, his vulgar and revolting bad manners and his unusual eating habits, which include cannibalism, more specifically a taste for human infants (which he calls "the other other white meat") or anything that looks like a baby, e.g. midgets/dwarves, by which even Dr. Evil is grossed out. Fat Bastard was originally in the employ of the British Ministry of Defence as a guard, but his resentment of being told to lose weight caused him to defect, and he stole Austin's mojo while he was in cryostasis in 1969. Fat Bastard appears at the end of Austin Powers in Goldmember, having lost most of his girth, claiming he lost "180 lbs" (contradicting the notion he weighed a metric ton) and attributing the loss to the "Subway diet", though he complains about the excess skin (notably around his neck, in the "shape of a vagina") left over from the weight loss.

Random Task

Dr. Evil's handyman extraordinaire is Random Task, a Korean ex-wrestler whose personality and assassination style is a parody to that of Oddjob from Goldfinger, except he throws his shoe instead of his hat. His names themselves are synonyms of 'odd' and 'job'. Task repetitively cracks his neck and it is often his job to silently move dead bodies away and move Dr. Evil's chair. Random Task attempts to kill Austin in his Honeymoon suite unsuccessfully as Austin uses the Swedish-made penis enlarger pump on him before Vanessa Kensington breaks a bottle of champagne over his head to subdue him. His unconscious but broadly-grinning body is then placed on a trolley and pushed along the corridor of the hotel.

Patty O'Brien

Patty O'Brien is an ex-Irish assassin who is extremely superstitious, leaving a keepsake from his good-luck charm bracelet on the body of every victim he kills. Apparently Scotland Yard has been trying to get a hold of that bracelet for some time. O'Brien explains in his Irish accent: "They're always after me lucky charms!", a reference to an American breakfast cereal television ad. Dr. Evil and Frau insult O'Brien revealing his voice to sound like the Leprechaun mascot from the Lucky Charms advertisement. However, O'Brien does not understand the reference. O'Brien attempts to assassinate Austin by choking him with his bracelet in the bathroom stall, but Austin drives his head into the toilet, drowning him. Patty's charms on his bracelet actually look like the marshmallows found in Lucky Charms cereal. He is a parody of Donald "Red" Grant from the 007 film From Russia With Love.

Mustafa

Mustafa is a Crimean Tatar and another notable assistant, for he designs the cryogenic freezing process that preserves Dr. Evil for 30 years. In 1969, two years after the 1960s Dr. Evil was frozen, Mustafa is caught by the 1990s Austin Powers (who had followed 90's Dr. Evil through time) and is forced to answer questions on the location of 90's Dr. Evil's hideout (as it turns out, he can't help but answer any question that is asked to him three times). He is silenced by Mini-Me before he can reveal his boss's location and is nearly killed when he falls down a cliff. He survives, however, but breaks both his legs, and he pleads for someone to help him while at the bottom of the cliff. In 1997, he sees to it that the 90's Dr. Evil is thawed out, but he is dumped into an incineration chamber after he learns that the cryogenic freezing process has left Mr. Bigglesworth completely furless. He survives this as well, and calls for help after saying that he's in "quite a lot of pain". Dr. Evil sends a henchman down to shoot him to death. The first shot hits him in the arm, which only causes Mustafa to complain, before a second shot kills him.

Mini-Me

The second film introduces Dr. Evil's clone, Mini-Me, who is 1/8 his size. Dr. Evil considers him more of a real son than Scott, provoking the latter's jealousy. As revealed by Myers in the audio commentary for the 2nd film, Mini-Me is a parody of the character Majai, from the film The Island of Dr. Moreau, as played by 2'4" actor Nelson de la Rosa, whose sole purpose in that film is to follow Marlon Brando's Dr. Moreau character around and copy his every move, even dressing identically to Brando in every scene. Majai never speaks in the film, and simillarly, Mini-Me does not speak either. Any comparison to Herve Villechaize's "Nick-Nack" character from The Man with the Golden Gun is merely coincidental.

Other assistants

In the opening few minutes of the first film, Dr. Evil has four henchmen, namely Jurgen, Generalisimo, Rita, and Don Luigi, who are all executed because of their failure to kill Austin Powers. Rita was the final person to be killed. There are also unnamed henchmen who, in The Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember, witness Austin and Felicity and Austin and Mini-Me, respectively, perform rather mundane tasks which look depraved, as the henchmen are observing their silhouettes through a tent or screen (making it appear that Felicity is pulling objects out of Austin's bottom where she is actually pulling them out of a bag, or Austin's genitalia, which is really Mini-Me's arm, tossing him an apple).

Lairs

The Space Needle in Seattle

Parodying the many Bond villains, Dr. Evil inhabits a sequence of elaborate lairs.

In Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, Dr. Evil's first lair is underground in the Nevada desert, outside Las Vegas; an obvious homage to Diamonds Are Forever.

Following a successful investment by Number 2, Dr. Evil's lair in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is atop the Space Needle in Seattle, portrayed to be the Starbucks headquarters; later, it is housed first in a volcano with Dr. Evil's face carved into it on a Caribbean island (an homage to both You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die), and then on the moon (the film's final villainous homage, to Moonraker). He also has a spaceship that looks like a penis.

For the third film, Austin Powers In Goldmember, Dr. Evil has a new lair behind the famous Hollywood sign and a submarine lair, shaped like himself (an homage to Karl Stromberg's Liparus tanker in The Spy Who Loved Me).

Schemes

Dr. Evil's projects for world domination are often named after pop culture trademarks (Death Star, The Alan Parsons Project, Preparation H) and he is often unaware of the accidental pun. For example, when Dr. Evil says he will turn the moon into a "Death Star" (said with finger quotes), Scott laughs and calls him "Darth". Scott also coughs and mutters "Rip-off!" After a slight pause, his father says, "Bless you."

Dr. Evil varies in how real he makes his threats out to be. When he makes his threat of causing all of the volcanoes in the world to erupt at once, all he does is display his machinery, something of an homage to Thunderball. When he makes the threat of "Death Star", he "demonstrates" the power of his laser by showing the President and the cabinet footage of the White House being destroyed. After the President and the cabinet realize they're still alive, he says "Well actually that was just footage from the movie Independence Day, but the real laser would be a lot like that". With his threat of flooding the world, he shows that the tractor beam is real by pulling down a satellite that looks like a pair of breasts.

A Dr. Evil impersonator.

Dr. Evil seems to have a problem in general with understanding money, especially regarding the modern American economy and inflation. In the first film, he intends to hold the world ransom for one million dollars, but doesn't understand that isn't as large a sum of money as it was in the 1960s, because of inflation, and the demand causes the U.N. to burst out laughing. In the second film, Dr. Evil goes back to 1969 and plans to hold the world ransom for $100 billion, and when he tells the amount to the President, he receives a similar reaction as in the first film when the President and his cabinet laugh at him. In the second film, Dr. Evil says, "Why make trillions when we can make ... BILLIONS?" not knowing that trillions are a thousand times larger than billions. In the third movie, he demands "1 billion, gagillion, fafillion, shabolubalu million illion yillion ... yen." This time his demand is met with simple confusion from the world leaders. In his first film his other idiotic schemes include a threat to destroy the ozone layer and make a scandal of Prince Charles' marriage, humorously unaware that these were both major issues recently and have since subsided.

One of Dr. Evil's greatest desires is to have "frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads," and is disappointed when he can't have the sharks because of laws on endangered species. Instead, Number 2 gives him mutated sea bass, which Dr. Evil grudgingly accepts, muttering "well, it's a start" (they were ill-tempered, as the bass do manage to eat the head of one unfortunate henchman hired by Dr. Evil). Scott however, manages to get him said sharks in the third film as a father-son gift.

Dr. Evil can't resist cracking puns at his own work (he says his submarine lair is "long and hard and full of seamen"). As with Auric Goldfinger, he creates models of his plans, worried that they are too complicated for his minions to understand. He also cares nothing for the companies (Virtucon, Starbucks, Hollywood Talent Agency) that fund his plans, ignoring all suggestions from Number 2 on how to increase the profit of such companies. Although he was impressed that Number 2's Hollywood Talent Agency was able to recruit celebrities such as George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Parody

The James Bond films

Just as Austin Powers lampoons James Bond, Dr. Evil parodies several James Bond villains. The first is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, as portrayed by Donald Pleasence in the film You Only Live Twice. (Curiously, Pleasence was a regular to the Halloween movie series, whose villain is named Michael Myers.) Blofeld has a white Persian cat, parodied by Dr. Evil's Mr. Bigglesworth.

Dr. Evil also wears clothing with a strong resemblance to Julius No, played by Joseph Wiseman, from the film Dr. No, specifically gray Nehru Jacket jumpsuits and similar anti-radiation suits. Some aspects, including some of his quotes and his henchman Random Task, parody elements from Goldfinger.

While Dr. Evil is primarily a send-up of the 1960s Sean Connery-era Bond villains, the 1970s Roger Moore-era also gets skewered: the interior of Dr. Evil's space station in The Spy Who Shagged Me resembles Hugo Drax's space station from Moonraker, and the film's title spoofs The Spy Who Loved Me. Dr. Evil has three testicles, as is proven in Goldmember when he checks to see that "they're all there" following a rather painful blow to his groin. This is most likely a nod to James Bond villain Francisco Scaramanga from 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun, who has three nipples. Mini-Me may also be another reference to Scaramanga, who has a dwarf servant named Nick Nack.

Others

Some of Dr. Evil's facial and vocal expressions are allegedly patterned after Lorne Michaels, producer of television's Saturday Night Live, where Myers worked for a number of years. Most notably, Dr. Evil's statement "throw me a frickin' bone here, people," was supposedly something Michael's said many times at script meetings for SNL. As Dr. Evil, Myers occasionally affects an Ontario accent, reflecting his upbringing.

In popular culture

• Jamaican dancehall artist Craig "Leftside" Parks took up the stage name "Dr. Evil," "toasting" (rapping) with the same vocal pattern as the character. He is now known as "Mr. Evil".

• American rapper Kanye West references him in his song "Heartless" from the album 808s and Heartbreak.Quote "How could you be so Dr. Evil, you bringin’ out a side of me that I don’t know…."

• In The Chowder episode "Gazpacho Fights Back", Chowder does the same impression that he does in the movie.

• In The ReBoot episode "Daemon Rising part 2", Enzo, Matrix, Andrea and Frisket 'reboot' into Dr. Evil, Mini Me, Mr. Bigglesworth, etc.; Matrix does the same impression that Dr. Evil does in the movie.

• In World of Warcraft, an important raid instance named Naxxramas has Mr. Bigglesworth, a cat which appears at the beginning of the instance. Upon killing the cat, that master of the instance will curse you and promise to punish you dearly.Also in a goblin's quest named A Goblin in Shark's Clothing you have control of a robotic shark and one of your moves fires a laser beam with the description stating :"Every shark needs a freakin' laser beam!

• In an episode of That's So Raven, Raven has a not-so-major vison of Chelsea breaking a nail. When she tells her friends of this vision, they are more concerned of the fact it caused Raven to get distracted and lose a volleyball game. When asked why it was so major that Chelsea would break a nail, Raven remarks that "It was the pinky! You know, the one that she does Dr. Evil with" and imitates Dr. Evil's famous little finger-to-lip gesture.

• Punk band Good Charlotte reference Dr. Evil in the song 'Superman Can't Walk'.

• Kim Jong-il was referred to as the real life Dr. Evil

External links

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