‘Men in Black 3′ exclusive clip reveals monowheel action

In the first clip released from "Men in Black 3," available exclusively on Yahoo! Movies, Will Smith and Josh Brolin chase down a motorcycle-riding villain in (drum roll)... monowheels.

"Do you have these in the future?" a young Agent Kay (played by Brolin) asks Agent Jay (Smith) as he whips out a couple monowheels for the pair to ride after their car gets trashed. They're in hot pursuit of Boris (Jermaine Clement from "Flight of the Conchords"), a time-traveling alien who goes back to 1969 in order to erase the older K (the returning Tommy Lee Jones) from existence.

The single-wheel vehicles have the shiny silver look common to all of the tech used by the Men in Black. They have motorcycle seats and handlebars, but just one wheel that expands telescopically around the passenger. In a nod to '60s automotive style, they do have little tailfins on the brake lights. J and K traverse the streets, rolling over cars and leaning from side-to-side with gyroscopic motion keeping them upright.

Sure MIB3's monowheel is fast, oddly nimble, and sleek, but these things have actually been around a while... since the late 1800s.

[PHOTOS: 'Men in Black 3' movie stills]

By definition, a monowheel is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle. It's similar to a unicycle in that it has one wheel, except with a monowheel, the rider sits either inside or next to the wheel. Originally, they were pedal-powered like bicycles. The first motorized version was presented to the public at the Milan Exposition in 1904.

When first invented, they were put forth as serious modes of transport, but today, they're just for fun.

And then there's Kerry McLean and "his amazing Rocket Roadster" (pictured left).

The monocycle enthusiast and maker once rode for approximately 12 hours at a speed of 35 miles an hour across the state of Michigan. McLean also set a world speed record on his monocycle, hitting 53 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

"Men in Black 3" rides into theaters on May 25th.