Austin Powers is a character created by Canadian comic
Mike Myers (although law suits have allegedly been filed suggesting
Dana Carvey's involvement in the
genesis of the character, as well as that of
Dr. Evil) for the eponymous movies. Austin is an
International Man of Mystery, a British
secret agent, equal parts
Jason King,
James Bond and
Peter Sellers. He has silly false teeth,
NHS glasses, and wears crushed velvet suits,
frilly shirts and
Union Jack underpants. His accent is apparently based on Myers' parents and people he has met living in
Liverpool.
Powers was cryogenically frozen in the 1960's and thawed out in the 1990's to pursue his nemesis Dr. Evil (see the nodes of the individual films for more details). The 'joke' was that Powers' 1960's attitudes (as the archetypal swinger) clashed with 1990's culture. As it turned out this idea was a bit crap, and Dr. Evil gets most of the laughs and the screen time.
Myers originally planned to knock out a Powers movie every few years to allow him to fund more experimental material, which largely has yet to materialise.