Daniel Craig's James Bond Stole Austin Powers' Dr. Evil Twist

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Daniel Craig's James Bond Stole Austin Powers' Dr. Evil Twist

Spectre revealed that Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is the adoptive brother of James Bond (Daniel Craig) - a nearly identical twist stolen from Austin Powers in Goldmember, which contained the revelation that Austin Powers and Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) are twin brothers. Spectre retconned Daniel Craig's James Bond saga, turning Blofeld into "the author of all of [007's] pain" but this awkward bombshell didn't work as well or make as much sense as Austin Powers'.

In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and in the original 007 movie continuity, there was absolutely no relationship between Bond and Blofeld. They were simply arch enemies as 007 foiled every one of the diabolical terrorist's schemes. The most personal their animosity got was Blofeld murdering Bond's wife Tracy (Diana Rigg) in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. 007 finally exacted revenge and killed Blofeld at the start of For Your Eyes Only, which was the last time the former leader of SPECTRE appeared in the classic film saga. For Spectre's reboot of Blofeld in Daniel Craig's Bond movies in 2015, director Sam Mendes and his writers decided to not only make Blofeld the uber-villain of the saga but he also grew up with Bond. As a boy, James knew Blofeld as Franz Oberhauser, whose father adopted the orphan Bond after his parents were killed in a climbing accident. While it did make Bond's rivalry with Blofeld personal, the unwieldy retcon is still a hard pill to swallow.

In contrast, 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember's climactic swerve that the groovy super spy and Dr. Evil were actually twins not only felt right, but it was also properly set up in the original film, 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. During the climax of the inaugural Austin Powers movie, Dr. Evil taunted his nemesis that, "We're not so different, you and I." For the audience, this played as a nod to the fact that the two characters look incredibly similar since Mike Myers played them both, but it was also a plot thread that Austin Powers in Goldmember smartly paid off. The third film saw Austin confront his daddy issues when his swinging secret agent father, Nigel Powers (Michael Caine), was kidnapped by Goldmember at the behest of Dr. Evil. Austin then confronted Dr. Evil in prison, where the villain again reminded Powers that, "We're not so different, you and I."

Austin Powers in Goldmember was all about the dual origins of Austin and Dr. Evil as Nigel revealed all of their family's secrets: Dr. Evil's real name is Dougie Powers but he was separated from his real family during an assassination attempt on Nigel. Their mother was killed by a car bomb and Nigel thought only Austin survived. Instead, baby Dougie was found by an Evil Belgian and his wife Chloe, who raised him to be evil.

The future Dr. Evil ended up as roommates with Austin at the British Intelligence Academy, but neither knew they were really brothers. Already polar opposites, their rivalry began when Evil was passed over as that year's International Man of Mystery in favor of Austin. Dejected, Evil went to evil medical school, gained his doctorate, and dedicated his life to supervillainy. As bizarre as all that sounds, it still somehow makes sense in the context of Austin Powers' hilarious universe.

The Austin Powers films are obvious spoofs of the classic Sean Connery James Bond movies, which Mike Myers loved growing up. But whether or not Sam Mendes and his writers remembered the Austin Powers/Dr. Evil twist when conceiving Spectre, their Bond/Blofeld reboot ends up inadvertently spoofing the spoofer. No Time To Die will follow up James Bond's relationship with his adoptive brother, Blofeld, who 007 let live at the conclusion of Spectre. Hopefully, the resolution to Bond's rivalry with Blofeld will be as satisfying as the strangely logical but definitely funny revelation that Austin Powers and Dr. Evil are twin brothers.