Movie Smarts

Men in Black Quiz: Keep Your Memory Intact

You have seen the movie. Now see how much of it you can bring back.

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

Men in Black: New Job. Strange Coworkers. Very Good Suits.

A street-smart officer gets recruited into a secret agency with a much bigger beat than he expected. His new partner is calm about things that would send most people running, and the city is suddenly full of unfamiliar faces hiding in familiar places. Their first case together could put the whole planet in danger. The dress code is simple; everything else requires a serious adjustment.

Keep your sunglasses on. Your memory is about to be inspected.

1. Who plays Agent J?
- Will Smith
- Martin Lawrence
- Eddie Murphy
- Chris Rock
Smith came straight off Independence Day, his first summer blockbuster, and took a part David Schwimmer had turned down. He also recorded the theme song, which won him a Grammy, and Martin Lawrence is his partner in the Bad Boys films, not this one.
2. Who plays Agent K?
- Harvey Keitel
- Robert Duvall
- Tommy Lee Jones
- Ed Harris
Jones had won his Oscar for The Fugitive a few years earlier and signed on once Steven Spielberg was attached as producer. K keeps checking satellite photos of the woman he left in 1961, and at the end he has J wipe his memory so he can go back to her.
3. Who directed Men in Black?
- Ivan Reitman
- Tim Burton
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Joe Dante
Sonnenfeld had been the Coen brothers' cinematographer before directing The Addams Family and Get Shorty, and he adapted a comic book by Lowell Cunningham. Ivan Reitman is the tempting answer because of Ghostbusters, another deadpan New York creature comedy.
4. What is J's name before recruitment?
- Steven Hiller
- James Edwards
- Robert Neville
- Mike Lowrey
Edwards is an NYPD officer who chases an alien on foot across Manhattan and into the Guggenheim, which gets him invited to the recruitment test. The other three are Will Smith characters from Independence Day, I Am Legend and Bad Boys.
5. What device erases people's recent memories?
- A memory prism
- A mind scanner
- A flash decoder
- A neuralyzer
K follows each flash with a replacement story, and the morgue doctor Laurel is neuralyzed so often that she complains about it. At the end J uses it on K at his own request, and Laurel joins the agency as his new partner.
6. What tiny gun does K give J?
- The Silver Bullet
- The Noisy Cricket
- The Little Hornet
- The Pocket Rocket
J wants one of the enormous weapons from the armory and is handed something the size of a toy. The first shot wrecks a parked vehicle and throws him the length of a sidewalk, which is the joke K was waiting for.
7. Who runs the agency's headquarters?
- Max
- Zed
- Omega
- Chief
Zed is played by Rip Torn, then best known for The Larry Sanders Show, and he runs the recruitment test as well as the ransom negotiations with the Arquillians. He is the one who tells J the whole planet is about to be destroyed, with an hour to spare.
8. Where is the agency's headquarters hidden?
- A ventilation building for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
- The basement of Grand Central Terminal
- The Flatiron Building
- A pier on the Hudson River
The entrance is the real brick ventilation building at Battery Park, with a bored agent at a desk inside. The vast interior was a set by the production designer Bo Welch, modeled on the swooping airport terminals of the 1960s.
9. What kind of alien steals Edgar's body?
- A squid-like shapeshifter
- A silicon robot
- A giant bug
- A reptilian prince
The bug crash-lands on Edgar's farm, kills him and wears his skin into the city to hunt for the galaxy. The reptilian prince is a near miss: the Arquillian prince Rosenberg is the one hiding in a human disguise as a jeweler.
10. Who plays Edgar?
- Vincent D'Onofrio
- Steve Buscemi
- John Turturro
- Tony Shalhoub
D'Onofrio based the lurching walk on a creature that does not know how human joints work, and the skin sags further as Edgar decays. He had been Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket a decade earlier; Tony Shalhoub is in the film too, as the pawnbroker Jeebs.
11. What does the disguised Edgar demand to drink?
- Black coffee
- Warm milk
- Sugar water
- Salt water
The bug stumbles into the farmhouse in Edgar's skin and demands sugar in water from Edgar's wife, Beatrice. When K later neuralyzes her, he suggests she think of this as a fresh start and hire a decorator.
12. What kind of dog does Frank appear to be?
- A pug
- A terrier
- A dachshund
- A bulldog
Frank is an alien in a pug disguise who sells information at a newsstand, and he is the one who tells the agents what the galaxy on Orion's belt really means. The pug was called Mushu, and he came back with a bigger part in the sequel.
13. What is Orion in the clue about Orion's belt?
- A constellation map
- A spacecraft
- A nightclub
- A cat
The dying prince Rosenberg tells Laurel that the galaxy is on Orion's belt, and the agents waste time on the constellation until Frank points out that it is the jeweler's cat. The belt is Orion's collar, and the cat is at the morgue with the body.
14. Where is the tiny galaxy hidden?
- Inside a subway token
- Inside a wristwatch
- In an agent's ring
- In a charm on a cat's collar
The galaxy is a bauble the size of a marble, and the Arquillians threaten to destroy Earth rather than let the bugs have it. The closing shot zooms out to show our own galaxy as one marble in an alien game.
15. Where does the final showdown with the bug take place?
- The Statue of Liberty
- The old World's Fair grounds in Flushing Meadows
- Coney Island
- The top of the Chrysler Building
The twin observation towers of the 1964 World's Fair turn out to be flying saucers in disguise, and the bug takes off in one of them. J brings it down, K lets himself be swallowed to recover his gun, and Laurel finishes the job.

All the answers

1. Who plays Agent J?

Will Smith

Smith came straight off Independence Day, his first summer blockbuster, and took a part David Schwimmer had turned down. He also recorded the theme song, which won him a Grammy, and Martin Lawrence is his partner in the Bad Boys films, not this one.
2. Who plays Agent K?

Tommy Lee Jones

Jones had won his Oscar for The Fugitive a few years earlier and signed on once Steven Spielberg was attached as producer. K keeps checking satellite photos of the woman he left in 1961, and at the end he has J wipe his memory so he can go back to her.
3. Who directed Men in Black?

Barry Sonnenfeld

Sonnenfeld had been the Coen brothers' cinematographer before directing The Addams Family and Get Shorty, and he adapted a comic book by Lowell Cunningham. Ivan Reitman is the tempting answer because of Ghostbusters, another deadpan New York creature comedy.
4. What is J's name before recruitment?

James Edwards

Edwards is an NYPD officer who chases an alien on foot across Manhattan and into the Guggenheim, which gets him invited to the recruitment test. The other three are Will Smith characters from Independence Day, I Am Legend and Bad Boys.
5. What device erases people's recent memories?

A neuralyzer

K follows each flash with a replacement story, and the morgue doctor Laurel is neuralyzed so often that she complains about it. At the end J uses it on K at his own request, and Laurel joins the agency as his new partner.
6. What tiny gun does K give J?

The Noisy Cricket

J wants one of the enormous weapons from the armory and is handed something the size of a toy. The first shot wrecks a parked vehicle and throws him the length of a sidewalk, which is the joke K was waiting for.
7. Who runs the agency's headquarters?

Zed

Zed is played by Rip Torn, then best known for The Larry Sanders Show, and he runs the recruitment test as well as the ransom negotiations with the Arquillians. He is the one who tells J the whole planet is about to be destroyed, with an hour to spare.
8. Where is the agency's headquarters hidden?

A ventilation building for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel

The entrance is the real brick ventilation building at Battery Park, with a bored agent at a desk inside. The vast interior was a set by the production designer Bo Welch, modeled on the swooping airport terminals of the 1960s.
9. What kind of alien steals Edgar's body?

A giant bug

The bug crash-lands on Edgar's farm, kills him and wears his skin into the city to hunt for the galaxy. The reptilian prince is a near miss: the Arquillian prince Rosenberg is the one hiding in a human disguise as a jeweler.
10. Who plays Edgar?

Vincent D'Onofrio

D'Onofrio based the lurching walk on a creature that does not know how human joints work, and the skin sags further as Edgar decays. He had been Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket a decade earlier; Tony Shalhoub is in the film too, as the pawnbroker Jeebs.
11. What does the disguised Edgar demand to drink?

Sugar water

The bug stumbles into the farmhouse in Edgar's skin and demands sugar in water from Edgar's wife, Beatrice. When K later neuralyzes her, he suggests she think of this as a fresh start and hire a decorator.
12. What kind of dog does Frank appear to be?

A pug

Frank is an alien in a pug disguise who sells information at a newsstand, and he is the one who tells the agents what the galaxy on Orion's belt really means. The pug was called Mushu, and he came back with a bigger part in the sequel.
13. What is Orion in the clue about Orion's belt?

A cat

The dying prince Rosenberg tells Laurel that the galaxy is on Orion's belt, and the agents waste time on the constellation until Frank points out that it is the jeweler's cat. The belt is Orion's collar, and the cat is at the morgue with the body.
14. Where is the tiny galaxy hidden?

In a charm on a cat's collar

The galaxy is a bauble the size of a marble, and the Arquillians threaten to destroy Earth rather than let the bugs have it. The closing shot zooms out to show our own galaxy as one marble in an alien game.
15. Where does the final showdown with the bug take place?

The old World's Fair grounds in Flushing Meadows

The twin observation towers of the 1964 World's Fair turn out to be flying saucers in disguise, and the bug takes off in one of them. J brings it down, K lets himself be swallowed to recover his gun, and Laurel finishes the job.