Introduction:

The MIB, a top-secret agency that polices, monitors and directs alien activity on Earth, has established the Earth as an apolitical “neutral zone”. MIB agents have no identity or any public record of existence, and the MIB agency answers to no government. The funding for their agency comes from the patents they own on technology confiscated from aliens, such as velcro, microwave ovens, and liposuction. Any memory of MIB activity upon “mustering out” of the MIB is erased and a new identity is created for the departing agent. Into this strange world is ushered the initially skeptical James Edwards (Will Smith), an NYPD officer, as he becomes Agent J, one of the newest MIB personnel. Tommy Lee Jones plays K, a senior MIB agent who recruits and guides J as he learns the ropes.

MIB agents wear sunglasses and dark suits, and appear at UFO landing sites, similar to paranormal reports of real-world Men in Black. Instead of intimidating or threatening witnesses, the MIB use devices known as Neuralizers to wipe their memories and suggest more mundane causes to the encounter (to the amazement of Agent J, such explanations are uniformly and horribly bland). Neuralizers are typically the size and shape of an oversized pen (although a giant version is seen in the second movie, hidden in the Statue of Liberty’s torch), and can be set to erase memories as far back as several decades. Neuralizers are also used on agents who leave the organization for any reason. The MIB’s sunglasses protect them from the effects of the Neuralizer.