History Main / TheMenInBlack

* ''{{Declare}}'', by TimPowers, features a mixture of international intrigue and the supernatural; there are several apy agencies within larger spy agencies responsible for dealing with the djinn. Since the book draws its roots from hard espionage, though, said spies do ''not'' wear black suits and sunglasses, nor are they there to cover things up from the public.

Compare to the [[Franchise/MenInBlack media franchise]] named after and based upon this. Not to be confused with [[Music/JohnnyCash The Man in Black]].

* Mr. Verres, Tedd's Dad, is a high ranking offical in a similar organization in ''ElGoonishShive''.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' has the Men in Infrared, whose black clothes let them hide among regular Infrareds (low-level grunts making up 80% of the population).

* MIB were a common enemy in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension''. The faction they belonged to, the New World Order convention of the Technocracy, also included Men in Grey (infiltrators, who rarely actually wore grey suits) and Men in White (who acted as internal police).

* AnoNatsuDeMatteru has this as a RunningGag in the movie they're making, [[spoiler:and then it turns out that a member of the main cast, and a relative of another one who was referred to a few times are memebers of the real MIB]].

* Lain has several encounters with the [=MIBs=] watching her in ''SerialExperimentsLain''.

* First District in ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' deployed [=MIBs=] to "clean up" memories of encounters between the public and the monstrous "Orphans."

* Oddly, the title page for one chapter of ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'' has Tina and Mayu dressed as [=MIBs=]. This has '''no''' relationship to anything in the story.

* Gleefully subverted in an issue of ''[[Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', in which two [=MIBs=] show up to debrief the turtles' friend Casey Jones after an encounter with an alien robot. However, the agents are actually aliens themselves, testing human reactions to see whether Earth is ready to be contacted openly by their race.

* ''{{The Hunt for Red October}}'' movie makes [=MIBs=] of the CIA when Adm. Greer has his IWasNeverHere moment.

* KimNewman's ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' stories include "The Undertaking", an Edwardian British group of [=MIBs=], who are a rival organisation to the heroes (the Diogenes is, essentially, [[Series/DoctorWho UNIT to the Undertaking's Torchwood]]). They have {{Code Name}}s like Mr. Hay, Mr. Bee and Mr. Sea, which is probably a ShoutOut to the names in ''Men In Black''.

* Played for laughs in the {{Kitty Norville}} series. The titular character notices that human employees of a vampire happen to act like {{MiB}}s - well-dressed, mysterious, brusque and emotionless, and the normal law enforcement is at their beck and call. However, once Kitty sees behind the scenes she realizes that they are more or less normal people, and they were oblivious to their appearance until Kitty pointed it out. She uses them to intimidate someone who's being annoying and they enjoy it.
* ''TheLaundrySeries'' has, well, The Laundry, the British department tasked with dealing with CosmicHorror. Unlike most of their counterparts here, and like British Government departments in real life, funding is a main concern and middle-managers are perhaps a slightly bigger threat to national security than shoggoths. Also mentioned are the Black Chamber (the US counterpart, with far better funding and far fewer morals), the GSA (modern German MiB, nicknamed the Faust Force), and the Thirteenth Directorate (Russian agency, descended from certain KGB elements), among others. The "black suits and sunglasses" part is averted, though, since they are civil servants.

** The [=MIBs=] described were the creepiest sort as well. They had reptilian features, always sported a SlasherSmile, didn't quite seem to know how to use the correct inflections in their speech (much like the G-Man from ''HalfLife''), were completely puzzled by everyday objects, drove dated cars that were somehow ''brand new'', and sometimes giggled unnervingly. One of them called himself "Indrid Cold".

* ''[[TheXFiles The X-Files]]'' occasionally had [=MIBs=] as nameless grunts for the AncientConspiracy that ran the government. However, when [=MIBs=] were specifically referred to, it was spoofed by casting ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'''s Alex Trebek and wrestler/future governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura in the roles. The CelebrityParadox was [[ZigZaggingTrope zig zagged]] in that episode: the MIB played by Ventura was described as "creepy," while the one played by Trebek was described as "looked like Alex Trebek," which made those reporting them seem all the more crazy.\\

* One of the villains in ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation]]'' is an [=MIB=]. Bishop, from the 2003 cartoon, was also one.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'''s members are, essentially, [=MIBs=] who are doing the MIB equivalent of NotWearingTights. They wipe memories of alien encounters as well as confiscate, and reverse-engineer any alien technology which finds its way to Earth. What do they get up to behind the scenes? Well, in the case of Torchwood 3 (Cardiff) at least... lots of sex.

** ''PowerRangersRPM'', a five-year-old Dr. K was [[strike:taken away]] kidnapped by [=MIBs=] and was placed into an organization called Alphabet Soup.

* In the [=SciFi=] Channel's game show ''[=ChaSe=]'', the "Hunters" are [=MIBs=] tasked with hunting down and tagging the contestants. They move at a brisk walk, stone-faced, unless they see the runners. It can be surprisingly creepy, despite the amounts of {{Narm}} their "heads up displays" provide.

* The BritishSeries ''{{UFO}}'' shows what the [=MIBs=] would look like if their fashions and vehicles were designed by [[TheThunderbirds Gerry and Sylvia Anderson]].

* A cooking show, Alton Brown's ''GoodEats'', has fun by invoking this trope whenever they make note of FDA standards. There are always three [=MIBs=], and the only one who talks is played by Brown himself.

* ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' has [=MIBs=] with ''psychic'' powers: the PSI Corps. They'll MindRape you before [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throwing you out of the airlock]].

* For a while in the summer/fall of 2010 KanyeWest and his whole crew started using a smart tailored aesthetic that he called "Rosewood Movement", which had the side effect of making all of them [[http://www.dresslikekanyewest.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/kanye-rosewood-movement-in-korea.jpg look like MIBs]]

* Delta Green in the ''CallOfCthulhu'' RPG ''were'' the official {{MIB}} of the setting until a giant snafu in the Seventies that resulted in massive losses and the dismantling of the organization. Now it exists as a conspiracy within several government agencies, while their arch-rivals, the MAJESTIC conspiracy, have risen to the roost with an even less moral approach to skullduggery. At times the ''Delta Green'' setting gets positively ''crowded'' with sinister guys in sunglasses, all trying to intimidate each other.

* In the play ''TheLastDaysOfJudasIscariot'' (based on the character of the [[TheBible same name]]), the Devil wears an entirely [[{{MIB}} black suit]], black shirt, black tie, and black . And [[SinisterShades black shades]]. And he is often [[ScaryBlackMan black]].

* [=MIBs=] and [=WIBs=] are semi-common enemies in the video game ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. These individuals were Series P augmented agents (Physiopharmaceutical?) whose modifications had rendered them albino. To quote the game, "so far the simple addition of sunglasses and dark clothing appear to have resolved the matter in a practical fashion." Deus Ex was very fond of using tropes and memes to enforce Genre Blindness on the population in the game -- it's remarkably easy to scoff at the idea of an MIB, wheras a towering albino with an automatic shotgun is so far off the conspiracy radar that people might actually start ''listening''.
** The game also used the conspiracy insistence than [=MIBs=] had "electronic sounding voices".
** VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution has more "conventional" [=MIBs=] seen mostly in sidequests: government agents dressed in black suits with common sounding names as aliases (one of them slips up and almost says a colleague's real name before switching back to "Mr. Grey").

** This actually carries over to the task force as since they are under his leadership, they become {{MIB}} too. It also appears in [[MegaManNTWarrior the cartoon]] also as Lan and Chaud both become {{MIB}} in the second season.

* {{MIB}} show up in one mission of ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. Their lines seem to imply that ''they're'' the aliens: "Carbon-based buffon!" and "You evolved from ''shrews''!".

* PokemonBlackAndWhite has MIBs standing around the Unova reigion, their existence is unexplained, but they do give you items.

* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', a FlashBack reveals that two rather benign [=MIBs=] were responsible for Zimmy and Gamma's enrollment at the Court, apparently for the girls' own protection. [[WordOfGod Word Of Tom]] has since revealed that they were Court staff.

* ''JohnnyTest'' spoofs this: a pair of bumbling {{MIB}}s are recurring characters who constantly fail to save the day.
* The ''KimPossible'' episode "Rufus vs. Commodore Puddles" centers around Area 51. Kim's ride for the mission are a pair of {{MIB}}s named "Agent Smith" and "Agent Smith". Kim's usual formulaic response to their "don't mention it" line, to humbly recount how simple it was to help them in the past, is interrupted by, "No, really! Don't mention it."

* ''VentureBrothers'' has Cardholder and Doe, a pair of "exterminators" sent by [[=OSI=]] to deal with Jonas Jr.'s "butterfly problem". Another episode has an entire squad of MIB's being ominously briefed for a mission, that turns out to be working security for Dr. Venture's [[GarageSale yard sale]].

Despite being the symbolic presence of The Oppression Of TheMan, [=MIBs=] have the mystique of being {{Badass}} and [[RuleOfCool Cool]], so heroes can be associated with them. In those cases they are merely protecting [[DyingLikeAnimals panicky people]] by [[IDidWhatIHadToDo doing what's ultimately best]]. Watch out for ConspiracyRedemption if they go too far, though.

The Men In Black tend to have access to vast material resources through their inclusion in budgets that never appear on the public books. They often have new super-secret weapons and devices. If the MIB are hunting a character, he should look over his shoulder for the VanInBlack and scan the skies for the {{Black Helicopter}}s.

* ''UruseiYatsura'': [[TheRival Shutaro Mendo]] has an army of MIB bodyguards, usually calling them "Men in Black Glasses" due to their signature shades. In a subversion, they're all incompetent idiots who frequently misunderstand his commands and are easily fooled -- in one chapter of the manga, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Lum]], [[CuteBruiser Shinobu]] and [[{{Bifauxnen}} Ryuunosuke]] easily infiltrated them by [[WigDressAccent putting on black suits and glasses]].\\

* ''CardCaptorSakura'': Tomoyo had her MIB (or should we say WIB) female bodyguards. They also show up in ''[[TsubasaReservoirChronicle Tsubasa]]'' in the [[ElseWorld alternate world]] of Piffle.

* The GOP in ''KurauPhantomMemory'' is populated by [=MIBs=], with the one in charge being a WIB, complete with cool sunglasses and bad-ass attitude, inspired by her hatred for the two protagonists and their kind.

* In chapter 214 of ''MahouSenseiNegima'', Kaede and Setsuna are dressed quite literally as MIB, though perhaps WIB would be more appropriate. Regardless, in looks they fit the part perfectly.

* [[AliensAndMonsters ''The Big Book of the Unexplained'']] has a chapter on [=MIBs=], of which there are several varieties:

* In the universe of LittleVictory, England, and several of the Commonwealth nations, employ the O.D.A., who go with a MIB look utilizing trench coats and bowler caps.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'', both the movies and [[WesternAnimation/MenInBlack the series]], were unusual in that they presented [=MIBs=] in a positive light; anything bad they do is usually PlayedForLaughs, such as the uncertainty over how much brain damage the memory eraser does.

* The Agents of ''Film/TheMatrix'' are portrayed as {{MIB}}s, even though they wear dark green. Police officers and other people in TheMatrix naturally regard them as authority figures, though their true nature and purpose is much more sinister. The three Agents in the first movie are named "Agent Smith," "Agent Brown," and "Agent Jones," the "upgraded" ones in the sequels are called Jackson, Johnson and Thompson.

* ''LiloAndStitch'' subverts this trope with Cobra Bubbles, who dresses like an MIB despite being only a social worker making sure Nani takes care of Lilo. [[spoiler: This becomes a DoubleSubversion at the end of the movie, when we discover that he used to be a CIA agent responsible for dealing with alien visitors.]] See the Other Wiki page on [[http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Social_Workers Phantom Social Workers]] for the cringe.
* The heroes of ''LaputaCastleInTheSky'' are pursued by a quartet of MIB (whom they at first call "kuromeganetachi", "the guys in dark glasses"), who indeed turn out to be shady government agents (with an even shadier hidden agenda).

* The Securitate was Romania's attempt at {{MIB}} during the communist era. This is more of a subversion though, since most of them were nothing more that common street muscle and bar thugs, dressed in black suits.
* The term is also used tongue-in-cheek to refer to "Revenue Protection Officers" on UK railways, the people who check tickets and issue fines for evasion. They are almost universally seen in pairs, wearing long black coats (more following the "bouncer" image than an {{MIB}} proper) and [[ObstructiveBureaucrat acting like the High Lords of the Universe]].

* In [[WorldWarII 1943]] an American ship in a harbor was hit. The local hospital was flooded with casualties with symptoms no one recognized. While the hospital staff was working a couple of {{MIB}}s walked in, swore the staff to secrecy, and told them that the ship that had been hit had contained a large supply of Mustard Gas that had been shipped to the front, [[CrazyPrepared "just in case"]]. Then the {{MIB}} walked out.

* The Cleaners on ''{{Charmed}}'' exist for the sole purpose of preventing magic from being exposed to the world. When magic is exposed they will either [[ResetButton rewind time]], [[RealityWarper alter reality]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erase memories]] or in extreme cases [[RetGone erase people from existence]] to keep magic a secret.

* The Men With Suitcases in the ''WaysideSchool'' books are there mainly for [[PlanetEris surrealistic flavor]]. Their appearance is random, but usually has a connection to a character making life decisions. In one instance, they offer an emotionally fragile boy a choice between safety or freedom. When he chooses the latter, they hand him a contract, which he signs, and then leave. No explanation is given as to what that contract means, although it's shown that that character no longer has to do anything he doesn't want to, like take tests or do homework.

* The ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation''. Its documents even specifically mention using a "standard 'Man in Black' concealment pattern" to retrieve [=SCPs=] from the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction UIU]].

''[[IWasNeverHere You never saw this page. It doesn't exist.]]''

* Section 31 from ''Franchise/StarTrek'', introduced in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. They are essentially the MIB for TheFederation. Technically they do not exist, they have no headquarters, their agents are scattered incognito among Starfleet and other groups. They explain that whether or not you accept an invitation to join, they manage to [[XanatosGambit use you to further their goals anyway.]] The said that they have existed since the beginning of Starfleet, and ''{{Enterprise}}'' revealed this to be true. Their goal is essentially to protect the Federation's interests [[KnightTemplar at all costs.]] Their clothing isn't the black dress suit, but a comparable futuristic black leather outfit.

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has [=MIBs=] with ''psychic'' powers: the PSI Corps. They'll MindRape you before [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throwing you out of the airlock]].

* Section 31 from ''StarTrek'', introduced in ''DeepSpaceNine''. They are essentially the MIB for TheFederation. Technically they do not exist, they have no headquarters, their agents are scattered incognito among Starfleet and other groups. They explain that whether or not you accept an invitation to join, they manage to [[XanatosGambit use you to further their goals anyway.]] The said that they have existed since the beginning of Starfleet, and ''{{Enterprise}}'' revealed this to be true. Their goal is essentially to protect the Federation's interests [[KnightTemplar at all costs.]] Their clothing isn't the black dress suit, but a comparable futuristic black leather outfit.

Compare to the [[Film/MenInBlack media franchise]] named after and based upon this. Not to be confused with [[Music/JohnnyCash The Man in Black]].

Compare to the [[Film/MenInBlack media franchise]] named after and based upon this. Not to be confused with [[JohnnyCash The Man in Black]].

* In GrantMorrison's ''DoomPatrol'' run, the Men in Black are only one subgroup of a massive organization that has different suits for ostensibly different purposes (the Men in Green, for instance, are more scatterbrained, whereas the Men in Mauve are implied to be completely ruthless)

* In Grant Morrison's "DoomPatrol" run, the Men in Black are only one subgroup of a massive organization that has different suits for ostensibly different purposes (the Men in Green, for instance, are more scatterbrained, whereas the Men in Mauve are implied to be completely ruthless)

* In ''MaxPayne'', the [[BigBad Big Bad's]] mooks all dress in fashionable business suits and shades, and are referred to by title only in the game's credits, which name them the 'Killer Suits'.

* ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'':
** MIB were a common enemy in OWOD's ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension''. The faction they belonged to, the New World Order, also included Men in Grey (infiltrators, who rarely actually wore grey suits) and Men in White (who acted as internal police).
** The NWOD has the Men in Black, mysterious entities from beyond who show up in pristine suits, don't quite act human, go by names like "Mr. Door" and "Agent Clock" and act to... neutralize any individual who's had an encounter with the supernatural.
** In ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'', the (human) Men in Black are officially designated Task Force: VALKYRIE. There's another group, Division Six, that ''thinks'' it's the Men in Black, but they're actually being used as a hitman squad by the Seers of the Throne from ''MageTheAwakening''.\\
\\
Division Six is a direct reference and possible ShoutOut to ''Film/MenInBlack'', referring to the cover story ("(Name of Agency), Division Six") most often used by the MIB agents in the movies and especially in the animated series.

* A bunch of these show up in Marika's cafe in the pilot of ''BodaciousSpacePirates''. Later, Chiaki identifies them as working for various government agencies. Possibly subverted in that they were mostly there to protect her.

* One level of ''{{Psychonauts}}'', "The MilkmanConspiracy", is infested with shady-looking "G-Men" wearing [[PaperThinDisguise flimsy disguises]] consisting of a single prop and [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain unconvincing acting]] (Raz can use this to his advantage: "I am on the road crew. This is my stop sign.") If they catch Raz trespassing in their territory, they drag him off to a dark room and ask him prying questions like "Who are you working for?", "[[GogglesDoNothing What is the purpose of the goggles]]?", and "Who is the Milkman?" before unceremoniously dumping him back where he started.

''[[IWasNeverHere You never saw this page. It doesn't exist.]]''

* Oddly, the title page for one chapter of AiYoriAoshi has Tina and Mayu dressed as [=MIBs=]. This has '''no''' relationship to anything in the story.