Men in Black: WTF You Need To Know About This Franchise

We take a look back at the Men in Black franchise, including the Barry Sonnenfeld trilogy with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones + the reboot.

By Kier Gomes

May 23rd 2023, 11:03am

Last Updated on June 2, 2023

These days, comic book films are seen as massive franchises with bankable superstar casts, giant CGI battle sequences, and of course, recognizable comic book IP characters. And for the most part, it is safe to say that comic book media is becoming so common that even smaller, unknown characters are making their way into the mainstream. But before seeing Batman and Superman share the silver screen, and before seeing every generation of spider-man films cross over for an epic fan-favorite event, movies based on comics were slightly more taboo in Hollywood. And for most, it’s a shock to learn that before Agents J and K were busting aliens on the big screen, the Men in Black were protecting earth from alien threats on the pages of Marvel Comics.

Now, the MIB films are significantly more popular in the zeitgeist than the comics, and I personally love this franchise for the most part. Not that I love everything within the MIB catalogue, but the stuff that works for me, REALLY works for me. And the stuff that doesn’t work for me… Well, we’ll get to that later.

But for better or worse, we are in for quite a ride as we follow talking pugs, slimy aliens, space marbles, Martians, roaches, time-travel, and the iconic underground organization that keeps you and me safe from it all.

So, grab your darkest sunglasses and grab a slice of pie- because we’re about to cover WTF You Need to Know About the Men in Black franchise. In this episode we dig into the original Barry Sonnenfeld series of films starring Will Smith as the cool Agent J, and Tommy Lee Jones as the older, laconic Agent K. All three movies were giant blockbusters (although the profit lines got slimmer the more expensive they got) and helped make Will Smith a household name. Then, of course, there was Men in Black International, a misbegotten reboot that pretty much put the series on ice indefinitely. We dig into all of them, ranking them from best to worst in this episode of WTF You Need to Know About This Franchise, which is written, edited and narrated by Kier Gomes, with Tyler Nichols producing.

How would you rank the Men in Black movies? Let us know in the comments!