Men in Black 3 (stylized as MIB³) is a 2012 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin. It is the third installment in the Men in Black film series and the final film in the original trilogy which is loosely based on the comic book series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. It was released fifteen years after the original Men in Black (1997) and ten years after the first sequel, Men in Black II (2002). Sonnenfeld and Steven Spielberg returned as director and executive producer, respectively. In the film, Boris the Animal, an old enemy of Agent K, escapes from prison and travels back in time to kill the younger K in order to allow his species, a ruthless alien race known as Boglodites, to attack Earth