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* AluminumChristmasTrees: One of the alien creatures in the Chinese restaurant is a real creature called a blob fish.
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Fridge Logic/Brillance shouldn't be listed as a trope.
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** {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[ForeShadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** Frank's nowhere to be seen, aside from a couple of references (a picture of him hanging on Jay's wall, and a sign advertising the Amazing Talking Pug at Coney Island). Frank's actor[[note]]Specifically, the dog, Mushu; Tim Blaney is still alive[[/note]] died, necessitating his disappearance.
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** Frank's nowhere to be seen, aside from a couple of references (a picture of him hanging on Jay's wall, and a sign advertising the Amazing Talking Pug at Coney Island). Frank's actor[[note]]Specifically, the dog, Mushu; Tim Blaney is still alive[[/note]] died, alive[[/note]]died, necessitating his disappearance.
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** Frank's nowhere to be seen, aside from a couple of references (a picture of him hanging on Jay's wall, and a sign advertising the Amazing Talking Pug at Coney Island). Frank's actor died, necessitating his disappearance.
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** Frank's nowhere to be seen, aside from a couple of references (a picture of him hanging on Jay's wall, and a sign advertising the Amazing Talking Pug at Coney Island). Frank's actor actor[[note]]Specifically, the dog, Mushu; Tim Blaney is still alive[[/note]] died, necessitating his disappearance.
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** Boris is a genocidal alien biker and also LastOfHisKind, just like {{Lobo}}.
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** Boris is a genocidal alien biker and also LastOfHisKind, just like {{Lobo}}.Lobo.
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* ShownTheirWork: Details of the Apollo launch gantry in the film, with the escape zip line, and the capsule escape tower.
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* CloudCuckooLander: Due to him seeing multiple futures at the same time, Griffin is this.
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** And Music/JustinBieber, David Beckham, Creator/TimBurton and RichardNixon.
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** And Music/JustinBieber, David Beckham, Creator/TimBurton and RichardNixon.UsefulNotes/RichardNixon.
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** {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowing [[ForeShadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[Spoiler:already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[Spoiler:already [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** {{FrigeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowig in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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** {{FrigeBrilliance}}: {{FridgeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already [[Spoiler:already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowig [[Foreshadowing in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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* {{FrigeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowig in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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* {{FrigeBrilliance}}: Being part of a {{StableTimeLoop}} K [[spoiler: already suspected that the time loop would begin shortly. Hence his conversations [[Foreshadowig in the Chinese restraint. He knew his partner was about to go back]] in time which would lead to not only saving K but to the death of Jay's father. Something that could not be prevented to preserve the timeline. K knew the loss his partner was about to face and couldn't do anything to help or guide him.]] Hence his more stoic nature, he knew what was coming and [[ForegoneConclusion there was nothing K or Jay could do to stop it.]]
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* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Josh Brolin is a remarkably good young Tommy Lee Jones.
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** Both the [=LunarMax=] prison in the beginning and the bunker to the Apollo launch site in the end are labeled CRM-114, a code that [[http://www.eeggs.com/items/1589.html pops up frequently]] in Creator/StanleyKubrick's films since DrStrangelove.
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** Both the [=LunarMax=] prison in the beginning and the bunker to the Apollo launch site in the end are labeled CRM-114, a code that [[http://www.eeggs.com/items/1589.html pops up frequently]] in Creator/StanleyKubrick's films since DrStrangelove.Film/DrStrangelove.
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* Some of the nicknames that young K uses for J are from 50's cowboy shows Like Hondo, Cochise, and Hoss.
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* SaveSat: The very end had one of these avert a potential asteroid strike, but seemingly only Griffin was aware of it. A [[CatchPhrase close one]], indeed.
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* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted. J is warned before jumping back in time that "it wasn't the best time for your people," and is later pulled over simply due to being a black man driving a nice car. Then again, Cape Canaveral security is commanded by a black dude. MIB was also less alien-friendly in those days.
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* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted. Zigzagged. J is warned before jumping back in time that "it wasn't the best time for your people," and is later pulled over simply due to being a black man driving a nice car. Then car, but then again, Cape Canaveral security is commanded by a black dude.man, and no one in the film even calls J "Black", let alone the N-word. MIB was also less alien-friendly in those days.
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** It does reinforce the theory that [[spoiler:he had a love child with the queen of Zartha.]] and [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] why he was holding out for the first girl, because he neuralyzed himself to protect the Light of Zartha.
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** It does reinforce the theory that [[spoiler:he had a love child with the queen of Zartha.]] Zartha]] and [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] why he was holding out for the first girl, because he neuralyzed himself to protect the Light of Zartha.
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That\'s not time-travel related, that\'s just a trip that takes a long time.
* CassandraTruth: Inverted. J is surprised when K immediately believe's he's a time-traveler, no questions asked.
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** The reason why the invasion didn't occur sometime in 1969 instead of the morning of the change despite being mentioned repeatedly that the race is extinct for 40 years because when J goes back in time and asks O about K, he is told that Boris escapes to his planet 20 light-years away. So it took a 40 year round-trip to go back to his planet and come back to invade with an army.
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* AgeLift / ContinuitySnarl: [[spoiler:In the first movie, K deletes J' data, which shows a 1975 birth date. In the third movie, he finds a young James Edwards in 1969. To make it worse, Will Smith was born in '68.]]
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* AgeLift / ContinuitySnarl: [[spoiler:In the first movie, K deletes J' J's data, which shows a 1975 birth date. In the third movie, he finds a young James Edwards in 1969. To make it worse, Will Smith was born in '68.]]
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* TheSymbiote: Boris the Animal has a symbiotic relationship with a small creature that burrows into his right hand so he can shoot lethal spikes at a very fast rate. Smuggling his symbiote into prison and giving him free use of his hand is what initially allows him to escape his confinement.
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** [[Franchise/{{Predator}} His true form.]] At least partly.
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*** [[Film/{{Predator}} His true form.]] At least partly.
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*** [[Film/Predator His true form.]] At least partly.
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*** [[Film/Predator [[Film/{{Predator}} His true form.]] At least partly.
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*** [[Film/Predator His true form.]] At least partly.
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** This banter between J and [[spoiler:Andy '''W'''arhol]] is definitely one to Film/{{Hancock}}:
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** This banter between J and [[spoiler:Andy '''W'''arhol]] ]]'''W'''[[spoiler:arhol]] is definitely one to Film/{{Hancock}}:
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* AnachronismStew:
**The Apollo 11 launch site is referred to as Cape Canaveral. While this would have been natural for Agent J, it would have been unnatural for young Agent K as the Cape was re-named Cape Kennedy after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The name only reverted back to Cape Canaveral in 1973, way after Apollo 11 was launched.
**In 1969, green-and-white New York street signs introduced in the 1980s can be seen on light posts (back then, the signs would have been yellow with black lettering).
**The racist cops who pull J over for driving while black, wear light powder blue shirts introduced in 1973. The correct uniform would have been dark navy blue shirts without NYPD patches on the sleeves, which were not designed as the department emblem until 1973 as well.
**When J, K and Griffin enter MIB headquarters at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel ventilation building to fly to Cape Canaveral, the tilting shot prominently features three medallions over the entrance doors. Those cast aluminum reliefs, designed by Paul Manship, would not have been over the building entrance in 1969. They would have been mounted on the New York Coliseum convention center in midtown Manhattan. The reliefs were removed from the Coliseum in 1999 as it was being prepared for demolition and only later mounted on the ventilation building.
**Aversion: The motorcycle ridden by Boris the Animal has an low-profile rear wheel and tire which were not made in 1969. However, given that the motorcycle burns with a blue-green flame after it crashes, it is probably reasonable to assume it is at least partly of extraterrestrial manufacture.
**The Apollo 11 launch site is referred to as Cape Canaveral. While this would have been natural for Agent J, it would have been unnatural for young Agent K as the Cape was re-named Cape Kennedy after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The name only reverted back to Cape Canaveral in 1973, way after Apollo 11 was launched.
**In 1969, green-and-white New York street signs introduced in the 1980s can be seen on light posts (back then, the signs would have been yellow with black lettering).
**The racist cops who pull J over for driving while black, wear light powder blue shirts introduced in 1973. The correct uniform would have been dark navy blue shirts without NYPD patches on the sleeves, which were not designed as the department emblem until 1973 as well.
**When J, K and Griffin enter MIB headquarters at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel ventilation building to fly to Cape Canaveral, the tilting shot prominently features three medallions over the entrance doors. Those cast aluminum reliefs, designed by Paul Manship, would not have been over the building entrance in 1969. They would have been mounted on the New York Coliseum convention center in midtown Manhattan. The reliefs were removed from the Coliseum in 1999 as it was being prepared for demolition and only later mounted on the ventilation building.
**Aversion: The motorcycle ridden by Boris the Animal has an low-profile rear wheel and tire which were not made in 1969. However, given that the motorcycle burns with a blue-green flame after it crashes, it is probably reasonable to assume it is at least partly of extraterrestrial manufacture.
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* RememberTheNewGuy: O in never appeared in the first two films but apparently had been working at MIB for at least as long as K had.
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* RememberTheNewGuy: O RememberTheNewGuy:
**O in never appeared in the first two films but apparently had been working at MIB for at least as long as Khad.had.
**Done InUniverse after the alternate timeline is put into place: J gets on the elevator to go to work and is joined by another agent, AA, who addresses J as if J's his partner, whom he (nor the audience) has ever met before much less been partnered up with. J naturally knows something's wrong.
**O in never appeared in the first two films but apparently had been working at MIB for at least as long as K
**Done InUniverse after the alternate timeline is put into place: J gets on the elevator to go to work and is joined by another agent, AA, who addresses J as if J's his partner, whom he (nor the audience) has ever met before much less been partnered up with. J naturally knows something's wrong.
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* StylisticSuck: The aliens in [=MIB=] headquarters in 1969 are all obviously suited actors, in contrast to the puppetry and CGI aliens of the present. What makes it this trope is that they're RubberForeheadAliens that look like the stereotypical depictions of aliens from those times.
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* StylisticSuck: The aliens in [=MIB=] [=MiB=] headquarters in 1969 are all obviously suited actors, actors in rubber suits, in contrast to the puppetry and CGI aliens of the present. What makes it this trope is that they're RubberForeheadAliens that look like the stereotypical depictions of aliens from those times.
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Do not pothole trope names to something else, please.
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* [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Thrown Out the Gaping Hole Blasted into the Ceiling]]: How Boris deals with the prison guards when he escapes [=LunarMax=].
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* [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Thrown Out the Gaping Hole Blasted into the Ceiling]]: ThrownOutTheAirlock: How Boris deals with the prison guards when he escapes [=LunarMax=].
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Split the different works off to their own pages.
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[[redirect:Film/MenInBlack]]
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''Men in Black 3'' (stylized ''MIB[[superscript:3]]'', but '''not''' ''MIB:[[ThirdIs3D 3D]]'', though it was released in 3D in select theatres) was released on May 25, 2012, with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith reprising their roles and the writer for ''Film/TropicThunder'' and ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' on writing duties. A very dangerous Boglodite named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Boris The Animal]] ([[BerserkButton ...IT'S. JUST. BORIS!!...]]) breaks out of a lunar prison and swears revenge on K, who arrested him 40 years ago and was responsible for him losing his left arm. He successfully erases K from the present by helping his younger self to kill him in [[TheSixties 1969]], allowing a Boglodite invasion. J, somehow the only one in the present who notices the change, must travel back to 1969 to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Music/{{Pitbull}} sings over the credits this time ("''NUMBAA TWOOOOOOOOOO!!''"), though his single "Back in Time" was included in his studio album ''Global Warming'', and not on the OST itself.
----
!!This film provides examples of:
* AdvertisedExtra:
** Lily, who appears in only the opening sequence. ([[SexSells being played by Nicole Scherzinger helped]])
** Wu, the Chinese restaurant owning alien got an action figure despite five minutes of screentime and is killed in the prologue.
* AgeLift / ContinuitySnarl: [[spoiler:In the first movie, K deletes J' data, which shows a 1975 birth date. In the third movie, he finds a young James Edwards in 1969. To make it worse, Will Smith was born in '68.]]
* AgreeToDisagree: Boris the Animal's catchphrase.
* AlienInvasion: A Boglodite invasion occurs in the AlternateTimeline where K was killed in 1969.
* AlienLunch: J and K investigate in a Chinese restaurant ''for aliens''. They find who they're looking for, along with a bunch more they weren't.
* AlternateTimeline: In which K was killed in 1969, allowing the invasion of the Earth by the Boglodites, with no [[DeflectorShields Arknet Shield]] to stop them.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Boglodites are implied to be this, which would make sense since the heroes need to remain sympathetic after wiping them out save for Boris.
* AmazingFreakingGrace: Played by the Worms with a bagpipe at Z's funeral.
* AnArmAndALeg: Boris lost his arm to K before going to a lunar prison.
* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Exploited by Wu who is an alien disguised as a Chinese restaurant owner who does this to appease the tourists. He drops the act when K and J don't play along.
-->'''J''': Save the chop socky shit for the tourists, alright, Wu?
* BadToTheLastDrop: A running gag has Agent K lamenting every morning that "This coffee tastes like dirt", to which Agent J (in the present) or Agent O (in the past) would reply, "It should, it was just ground this morning." [[spoiler:(This joke clues O in on the fact that J actually knew K, after K was killed in the past by Boris the Animal.)]]
* BalancingDeathsBooks: Griffin advises J that the only way to save K is to sacrifice another life, because "Where there is death there will always be death".
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Boris can survive and even speak in a vaccuum.
* BavarianFireDrill: The newly arrived J acquires a car in 1969 by letting its owner assume that the black man in a suit must be the hotel's valet.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Andy Warhol was a MiB agent. And MickJagger was a promiscuous alien.
* BerserkButton: Boris The Animal has one. It's '''just''' Boris. [[NoIndoorVoice NOT BORIS THE ANIMAL!!!]]
* BigBad: Boris the Animal.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Boris the Animal and his younger self in 1969.
* BizarreAlienSenses: Griffin lives in 5 dimensions, which gives [[ForWantOfANail him a rather]] [[InSpiteOfANail interesting view of]] [[TimeyWimeyBall time in general]].
* BlessedWithSuck: Griffin's future sight. At one point he shows J and K the Mets winning the 1969 World Series three months before it happens. J says it's incredible; Griffin replies that it's a pain in the ass due to him not only having to juggle constantly seeing a multitude of possible futures with no clue as to which one is the one that's going to occur, but also seeing those futures long before they are anywhere near relevant in the first place. (though he does still enjoy it to some extent).
* BriarPatching:
-->'''J:''' Listen, I have rights and I demand to see my lawyer [[SchmuckBait before you press that small button]] [[LaserGuidedAmnesia on the side firmly]].
* BrickJoke:
** Possibly with Agent J being pulled over in 1969 simply because he was black (he had stolen a car but the cops didn't know that). In ''Men in Black II'', J remarks that the inflatable autopilot agent in the car used to be a black guy, but he kept getting pulled over.
** "Man, what happened to you?"
* BrokenAesop: Played for laughs with the cops that pull J over in 1969.
-->'''J''': Just because you see a black man driving a nice car does ''not'' mean ''it's stolen!'' [{{Beat}}] A'ight, I stole this one, but not because I'm black!
* ButterflyOfDoom: Griffin is constantly referring to those. The trope is actually lampshaded when he is really worried upon seeing a butterfly...and with good reason, because [[spoiler:in the timeline in which the butterflies appear Boris enters and begins shooting from the window, not the door]].
* TheCameo: Will Arnett as Agent AA and Bill Hader as Creator/AndyWarhol.
* CatchPhrase:
-->Boris: "Let's agree to disagree."\\
\\
Boris: [[BerserkButton "It's just BORIS!"]]
* CerebusRetcon:
** [[spoiler:The reason K has always been such a curmudgeonly old guy is because he witnessed J's father sacrificing himself to save K from Boris back in 1969, which ended up with him somewhat becoming a surrogate to J.]]
** The movie also added to why he selected J to be an MIB candidate in the first place [[spoiler:since he kept an eye on him since then.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The Moon landing]].
* CloseEnoughTimeline: Boris' initial change (killing K) seemed to keep things the same enough for J to have become an agent in the first place. And despite J's involvement in the past it's implied minor things were also different but still "close enough." To the movie's credit, when J and 1960's K are together J makes a point of trying to keep K going along on the detective path he took in the original timeline rather than skipping to everything ahead of time due to J's future knowledge (which was minimal since he glanced over the case report in the first place).
* ContinuityNod:
** While he doesn't appear in the film, Frank is referenced twice. Over J's bed, a huge portrait of a pug is hung, and a sideshow poster on Coney Island references the "amazing talking dog" - a pug.
** Jack Jeebs (or someone who looks a lot like him) is the guy in the newspaper stand in front of the Chrysler Building in 1969 (it's a blink-and-you-miss-it thing).
** Agent K is back living in the apartment that he used to have prior to ''Men in Black II''.
** [[spoiler:The Colonel says "that's some next-level stuff" as the Arknet Shield is deployed. J said "there's some next-level shit" when getting on the elevator as he returned to officially join up in the first film]].
** The cafe K and J go to is the same one J took T and Laura to in the second film.
** [[spoiler:Hey, K, have you ever flashy-thinged me?]]
** Using "Eye exam" as a euphemism for neuralization.
** The worms leaving Earth when an alien invasion is about to occur.
** J climbing on top of a car to shoot an escaping alien and ending up in a pile of trash.
** [[spoiler: The younger Boris dies exactly the same way as Mikey from the first movie, sound effect and everything.]]
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: [[spoiler:Agent J]].
* CreatorCameo: Director Barry Sonnenfeld appears as one of the people watching [[spoiler:the rocket launch.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The third movie. [[spoiler:It includes a much darker villain than any from the first two, and partly as a result of this the heroes face tougher moral dilemmas and more emotionally overwhelming circumstances than before.]]
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: [[spoiler:J's father]]. Agent K's actions make this an InvokedTrope [[spoiler:as he neuralizes the young J and tells him that all he needs to know is that his father was a hero.]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The 1969 MIB resembles a sci-fi version of the set from ''MadMen,'' including female agents working as secretaries.
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Subverted by both versions of Boris. Future Boris survives getting pushed off a great height, but he is burned alive by the rocket as it takes off. Past Boris falls after his arm is blown off, but he gets blown up by K.]]
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Zed, DaChief, died between films.
* EurekaMoment: J figures out where Griffin is by hearing two diner patrons talk about the Mets. This is K's intent, deliberately invoking this by interrupting the case to get pie and getting their minds off the case.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: A ''T. rex'' appears during the time jump sequence.
* ExactWords:
** Why do you think it's called a time ''jump?''
** Lily's cake was 96% ''organic material'', as analyzed by the [=LunarMax=] guards.
* {{Expy}}: [[FlightOfTheConchords Jemaine Clement]] (Boris) is doing his best TimCurry impression for the role.
* {{Flanderization}}: In the original movie, K is a rather stoic individual who takes his job seriously, but approaches everything with a calm demeanor, contrasting J who doesn't take the job seriously, but overreacts to everything. By this movie, K is so stoic, he is unable to crack a joke or a smile [[spoiler:up until the ending.]]
* TheFunInFuneral: K's tribute to Zed consists of two phrases with no emotion at all. Agent O (Creator/EmmaThompson) imitates a tearful female alien spewing high-pitched gibberish.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent
** Music/LadyGaga is an alien, living under her given name.
** So is Yao Ming.
** And Music/JustinBieber, David Beckham, Creator/TimBurton and RichardNixon.
** And EVERY professional model.
** That one big-eyed alien at Zed's memorial service who keeps blinking, and blinking, and blinking...
** Look at one of the guards when J, K and Griffin are talking to the colonel.
* GenreBlindness:
** The prison guards in the opening scene. Someone brings a cake into a prison and you don't think to check it beyond a cursory scan? Not to forget leaving massive guns in the same area of a prison some of the worst inmates are kept in and not shooting Boris, despite him having a gun that can punch a hole in the hull of the lunar prison.
** Boris is utterly sure he will be victorious, even despite [[spoiler:his future self coming back to tell him that he wasn't.]]
* GoodCopBadCop: J and K.
* HamToHamCombat: Boris does this with ''himself'' almost immediately after meeting himself in 1969.
* HandWave: How they explain why J remembers the original timeline.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:The Colonel, who turns out to be J's father.]]
* HistoricalInJoke: Undercover agent [[spoiler:Andy Warhol]] desperately needs a transfer. He's [[spoiler:so low on ideas he's been reduced to painting bananas and soup cans]]!
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The Boglodites. Their species can only survive by conquest, they wipe out entire species as they move through the galaxy, and if they can't move on to a new species, they will die out.
* IHatePastMe: Boris. He sees in his past self all the mistakes that led to losing his arm and ending up TheLastOfHisKind. The loathing is mutual, though, as Young Boris sees in his future self all the failures that he hasn't suffered yet.
* InnocentInaccurate: "Mommy! [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama The president]] is drinking my chocolate milk! He didn't even say please."
* InsectoidAliens: The parasite that lodges in Boris' hand and "completes him."
* InsistentTerminology: It's '''JUST BORIS'''!
* IronicEcho: "Let's agree to disagree."
* IWantMyJetpack: Lampshaded when O straps J and K to car sized jetpacks. J remarks [[AwesomeButImpractical there is a reason]] they don't use them in the future.
* JailBake: Though the thing inside the cake is an alien symbiont (nicknamed "Weasel" in the Blu-ray disc commentary) which helps Boris escape.
* LargeHam: Boris the Animal.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Two prototypes of the Neuralyzer exist in 1969: the giant one that J is locked into, and a smaller one with a battery attached to K's belt (which for some reason has a ''dial-up modem''). Also if you listen carefully, the "modem" makes an AOL chime.
* LastOfHisKind:
** Boris is the last Boglodite alive.
** Griffin is the last of his kind as well.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Towards the start of the movie, Agent J claims that a fallen flying saucer was caused by someone on an airplane not turning off their cellphone when instructed to do so. He then starts a lecture telling people to turn off their cellphones, which could also be a message directed at the audience. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: [[CallBack an asteroid almost hits Earth, but hits a satellite instead, probably the GPS satellite J was talking about in this very speech]]]].
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: Why Boris travels back in time.
* [[ManicPixieDreamGirl Manic Pixie Dream Guy]]: A rare male version in Griffin, kinda.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In the scene where J tries to get a time machine, take a close look at the television screens, which play news reports showing the AlienInvasion underway in different parts of the world. It just takes a bit of time before said aliens actually ''reach'' New York.
** Also, watch closely as J looks around 1969 MIB for the first time, and you'll see Griffin walking around in the foreground.
* MentalTimeTravel: Griffin can see a variety of possible futures.
* MirthlessLaughter: Boris. Just [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw9gqEej5OA listen to it]]. Yikes.
* MissingTrailerScene: Notice that Flaco never appears in the entire film?
* MistakenForGay: The guy who gives J the time travel device comments "You must really love him," referring to K.
* MisterSandmanSequence: The first things J sees when he travels back to 1969? Cars, hippies ...
* MonsterFangirl: In the opening, Boris the Animal escapes from his Lunar Prison when his prison mail girlfriend brings him [[JailBake a cake containing his lethal symbiont]]. The kill-crazy alien monster thanks her for her aid to him, but lets her be sucked out into space without remorse and goes back to trying to destroy Earth.
* MonumentalDamage: An alien ship pulls out the top of the Eiffel Tower.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: [[spoiler: Boris' "true form" seems to be nothing ''but'' teeth. Foreshadowed by the mouth-like fissures his body is covered with.]]
* MotorMouth: Griffin can lapse into this, but considering he can see every possible timeline all at once it's understandable.
* MsFanservice: Boris' girlfriend, played by real-life MsFanservice Nicole Scherzinger.
* MultinationalTeam: There are hints that the MIB have members from different countries, if O is any indication.
* MythologyGag:
** [[spoiler:The plot resembles the MIB animated series episode "The Head Trip Syndrome" which was about a human bigot who hated Aliens and uses a time machine to kill off the founding members of MIB. The difference for the film is that the villain is an alien who wanted to travel back in time to kill K.]]
** [[spoiler: Both also involve K in an important event in history. In the TV show episode, K was there when the first aliens landed and presented them flowers (originally meant for a date) as a welcome gift (this actually was a callback to the first movie when K mentions the MIB origins). In this movie, he was responsible for sending a defense network out into space around Earth to keep alien invasions from happening by planting it on the Apollo 11 launch. This is part of the reason Boris wants him dead (though the majority of his motive is revenge)]].
** Boris is also similar to Agent Alpha, a PsychoPrototype who K knew in the past, fired spikes, and required Jay's help to take him down.
** A ChaseScene begins with a shot of the New York Pavilion's metal globe that was destroyed by the Bug's ship in the first film.
* NewspaperDating: The attempt at newspaper dating doesn't work because the guy in the elevator keeps shifting the date on the paper out of J's line of sight. J finally just asks him WhatYearIsIt.
* NoIndoorVoice: Boris. Seriously.
* NoNameGiven: The Colonel from 1969 is never referred to by name. [[spoiler:Given he's J's father, his full name must be James Darrell Edwards II.]]
* NoodleIncident: Jay telling Kay about finding out "too late" that all models are aliens.
* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: The only way to make the TimeTravel device work.
* OlderThanTheyLook:
** Given she was a twenty-something in 1969, O is at the very least in her early sixties and could possibly be seventy. She looks about fifty.
** [[spoiler: Griffin when he makes his appearance at the end of the movie looking no older than he did more than 40 years ago.]]
* OmnicidalManiac: The Boglodites need to regularly consume all the resources (and life forms) of a planet or they'll starve and die.
* TheOmniscient: Griffin. He's a spacetime omniscient alien who can see every single future possibility of given events and [[ForWantOfANail how these possibilities are influenced by other small events]].
* OneWingedAngel: Boris's true form at the end is pretty nasty looking. [[spoiler: K isn't fazed at all and wastes no time disintegrating Boris with his laser gun.]]
* OrphansPlotTrinket: [[spoiler:J's watch from his father.]]
* OverlyLongTongue: With plenty of {{squick}} to go along with it.
* PalatePropping: J sticks a metal tray between his thighs when the fish-creature tries to swallow him, preventing it from biting his legs off.
* PhraseCatcher: "Boris the Animal!"
** [[InsistentTerminology "It's JUST BORIS!"]]
* PlotHole: In this case, ''Characters ignoring or avoiding obvious solutions to their problems.'' With the organization being a space-oriented organization in a universe with CasualInterstellarTravel, many viewers scratched their heads at having to put the MacGuffin on Apollo 11 specifically. Reasons can be justified and finagled out through WildMassGuessing, and even some potential FridgeBrilliance, but the fact that this alternative is ''never brought up in dialogue at all'' despite the fact that Agent J has been saying "what about this or that" every two minutes so far is a minor plot hole.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted. J is warned before jumping back in time that "it wasn't the best time for your people," and is later pulled over simply due to being a black man driving a nice car. Then again, Cape Canaveral security is commanded by a black dude. MIB was also less alien-friendly in those days.
* RememberTheNewGuy: O in never appeared in the first two films but apparently had been working at MIB for at least as long as K had.
* {{Retcon}}: In the first film they portrayed K as a man holding out for TheOneThatGotAway. In this film they have him flirting with O every time they are together.
** It does reinforce the theory that [[spoiler:he had a love child with the queen of Zartha.]] and [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] why he was holding out for the first girl, because he neuralyzed himself to protect the Light of Zartha.
** Also considering the second film where [[spoiler: he separated from his wife during his temporary retirement, he might have moved on.]]
*** And also Aileen from the animated series.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: J can remember the "real" past, which is explained as an effect of [[spoiler:him being there, resulting in something of a StableTimeLoop]].
* RippleEffectIndicator: K's apartment.
* RubberForeheadAliens: [=MIB=] headquarters in 1969 is populated by aliens that are accurate to late 60's scifi portrayals. Including HumanAliens wearing space suits that look like they came from sci-fi movies about the future.
* RunningGag: "IT'S JUST BORIS!"
* SaveScumming: [[spoiler:J time travels one minute backwards after memorizing Boris' attack pattern.]] Though [[spoiler:pay attention when Boris went back in time that minute as well. The first attacks are Left-Right-Left, the Second are Right-Left-Left. This makes for a bit of FridgeLogic as to how J dodged perfectly the second time.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: The NASA launch site commander, who turns out to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure [[spoiler:and J's DisappearedDad.]]
* SeaMonster: The alien fish the Chinese restaurant keeps for their non-human patrons. The reason K and J show up is because they're serving them to ''human'' patrons.
-->'''J:''' Wong, we had a deal. Earth people get Earth fish!
* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Josh Brolin is a remarkably good young Tommy Lee Jones.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Why J travels back in time. More precisely, he needs to set right what was once right but then was made wrong.
** Interestingly enough, along with J fixing the direct problem, future Boris and J also help fix something else by accident. [[spoiler:Because of future Boris, K has a legit reason to shoot him instead of arresting him. Likewise, meeting future J means K knows the boy will develop right, lessening the guilt of not having been able to save his father. Both changes cause K to be less grumpy and more friendly, somewhat.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Both the [=LunarMax=] prison in the beginning and the bunker to the Apollo launch site in the end are labeled CRM-114, a code that [[http://www.eeggs.com/items/1589.html pops up frequently]] in Creator/StanleyKubrick's films since DrStrangelove.
** Boris is a genocidal alien biker and also LastOfHisKind, just like {{Lobo}}.
** The number of the MIB car used in the 60-s starts with NX. Kind of reminds of [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise another precursor vehicle]].
** [[JerryMaguire "You]] [[AustinPowers complete me..."]]
*** [[SweeneyTodd At last, his arm is complete again.]]
** The alien at MIB HQ [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial on the phone with his dad]]...
** This banter between J and [[spoiler:Andy '''W'''arhol]] is definitely one to Film/{{Hancock}}:
--->'''J:''' Actually [[spoiler:Mr. Warhol]], I gotta tell you I really love your work.
--->'''W:''' Oh! Oh, thank you. ''(beat, then turns to K)'' Who's the dumbass?
--->'''J:''' Woah! Hey, how about a little professional courtesy here?
--->'''W:''' What's that, dumbass?
--->'''J:''' Say that again.
--->'''W:''' You want me to?
--->'''J:''' I dare you.
--->'''W:''' Dumbass.
--->'''K:''' Agents...
--->'''J:''' You know, I have no problem pimp-slapping the ''shiznit'' out of [[spoiler:Andy Warhol]].
* Some of the nicknames that young K uses for J are from 50's cowboy shows Like Hondo, Cochise, and Hoss.
* TheSixties
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Jay uses these as part of his neuralyzer cover stories: "You don't turn off electronics on a plane when told to, crashed satellite." "Flush a live goldfish, fish monster."
* SpikeShooter: Boris.
* StableTimeLoop: The time travel plot was ''always'' supposed to happen. [[spoiler:It results in J's father not being there while he was growing up, K becoming TheStoic (and looking after J throughout his life), and J having RippleEffectProofMemory]]. Some things are changed around.
* TheStoic: K. He has never been so stoic, and there's a good reason for that.
* StylisticSuck: The aliens in [=MIB=] headquarters in 1969 are all obviously suited actors, in contrast to the puppetry and CGI aliens of the present. What makes it this trope is that they're RubberForeheadAliens that look like the stereotypical depictions of aliens from those times.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: The song "Back in Time" - "Give credit where credit is due don't cha. / Know that I don't give a number two."
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Zed, whose death happens offscreen. The film opens with J and K discussing what K will say at his funeral. Though oddly he does not make an appearance when J goes back in time when they had a perfect opportunity to use him but not deal with the troubled Rip Torn.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Jeffrey fills the same exact role as Jeebs in the first two films, although his characterization is different.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: [[spoiler:When Agent J returns to 2012, and does a CallingTheOldManOut routine on K and O's relationship in 1969, Agent K cites an MIB no-fraternization rule between agents. But he never actually denies J's claim, and J doesn't believe K's deflection anyway.]]
* TechnologyMarchesOn: [[invoked]] The movie has a lot of fun with this, as the 1960's MIB gear is still advanced but looks like what the 1960's thought future technology would look like. 60's K pulls out his communicator that looks like an infamous 80's "brick" cell phone with chrome plating. The reliable neuralizer is the size of a room, with a pocket sized version that requires a connected belt battery and manual tuner. And this was before the creation of the BigRedButton so J and K needed to actually strap on some rocket packs to race to the climax.
* TerminatorTwosome: Boris is the history-changer, J is the history-preserver. Interesting in that the pursuer actually arrives before the quarry.
* ThisCannotBe: [[spoiler: When J dodges Boris' darts and throws him off the top of the launch gantry, Boris shouts "That's not possible!"]]
* [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Thrown Out the Gaping Hole Blasted into the Ceiling]]: How Boris deals with the prison guards when he escapes [=LunarMax=].
* TimeTravel
* TimeyWimeyBall: Inevitable since TimeTravel is involved. There are explanations for some of them, at least.
** J was present at K's death in the alternate 1969 but remembers the original timeline's K, because alternate!J doesn't exist due to regular J's immunity to the timeline change. O explains this shortly before J goes back in time.
** Jeffrey remembers sending Boris back in time, because for him it seems nothing that changed in the past changed his life up until the moment J walked into his shop.
** When [[spoiler:J time jumps with Boris, there isn't a past!J and Boris because Boris did not travel back in time fully, but J did as the time device is single-person only.]]
** Poor Griffin lives in one inside his head. He seems to enjoy it at times, but knowing how every moment in existence could go horribly wrong in infinite ways obviously wears on his nerves.
** The reason why the invasion didn't occur sometime in 1969 instead of the morning of the change despite being mentioned repeatedly that the race is extinct for 40 years because when J goes back in time and asks O about K, he is told that Boris escapes to his planet 20 light-years away. So it took a 40 year round-trip to go back to his planet and come back to invade with an army.
* TortureForFunAndInformation:
** Happens with the aliens in the bowling alley - when one doesn't talk, J uses his head for a ball.
** Also done by 1969 K to J when they first meet, due to J's cover story sucking. K puts J in a EEG-machine styled neuralizer, and J spills what he knows, causing K to abort the neuralization.
* UnderTheTruck: Twice during the bike chase, first by J on his wheel-bike (which survives), and later by Boris on a conventional motorcycle (which gets trashed).
* UngratefulBastard: Boris' poor penpal girl goes through all the trouble to sneak an ...alien thing... in to help him to escape. He repays it by letting her fly out into space. [[spoiler:But since young Boris got killed by K this event does not exist anymore]].
* WeHardlyKnewYe: The girl who helps Boris escape, and the prison inmate who is the father of the store clerk that gives him the time travel device. Although, after [[spoiler: 60's Boris' death in 1969]], they and anyone killed by Boris after that event should be inserted back into the new timeline.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Jeebs, who is usually the go-to-guy for the latest not-very-legal technology, is nowhere to be seen. A fat man running a toy store replaces him, though as the tech that sends J back is human, it makes a bit more sense.
** Frank's nowhere to be seen, aside from a couple of references (a picture of him hanging on Jay's wall, and a sign advertising the Amazing Talking Pug at Coney Island). Frank's actor died, necessitating his disappearance.
* WhatTheHellHero: K has a brief moment of this when he punches J in the face twice for "lying and then telling the truth". The latter was only trying to help after all.
* YouDidntSeeThat: When K climbs over the command module, one of the astronauts points out that if they report it the launch would be scrubbed. All deny seeing anything.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Boris's poor prison pen-pal.
* YouKilledMyFather: It is revealed [[spoiler: very late into the movie that Boris is the reason why J's father never saw him grow up. However, J never actually finds out until after 60s-era Boris does the deed and dies by K's hand and J finds his father dead, and likewise, J didn't remember until then because K neuralized him]].
* {{Zeerust}}: Done deliberately with the MIB headquarters in 1969.
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