Image via Complex Original
Every great hero needs a great villain, or several of them, and over the years super spy James Bond's franchise has given the world some of cinema's best would-be dictators, terrorists, drug smugglers, and evil geniuses. Ever since Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman) created the blueprint for the typical Bond foe in 007’s debut silver screen adventure, Dr. No, his nefarious villains have grown bigger, bolder, and, sometimes, more ridiculous as the franchise has evolved over the past five decades.
Whether they’re involved in intricate geo-political crimes, or pointing a giant space laser at Earth, all of these villains have a memorable scheme that 007 is forced to stop. Armed with countless henchmen, thick accents, and plenty of physical deformities, Bond’s rogue’s gallery is the most robust and diverse in cinema history—but it’s always a guarantee that they’ll meet a grisly fate before the closing credits.
With the U.S. release of Skyfall, Daniel Craig's third Bond movie, this week, Javier Bardem will join the ranks as one of the best Bond baddies to ever hit the screen. But before he can officially make that claim, Complex takes a look back at all of the franchise's evildoers in The Complete History of James Bond Villains.
RELATED: The Complete History of Bond Girls
RELATED: James Bond Cars From The 007 Film Franchise
RELATED: The Best Bond Vehicle Gadgets From The 007 Film Franchise
Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)
Dr. Julius No
Appeared In: Dr. No (1962)
Played By: Joseph Wiseman
Diabolical Weapon: Bionic metal hands
Killed By: Boiling to death in a nuclear reactor
The first major Bond villain to hit the screen, Dr. Julius No became the template for all of 007’s adversaries that followed. He is a man of incredible drive and has his sights set on world domination, but he’s also incredibly egotistical, which ultimately gets in the way of his own plans. He is an expert of radiation, but after an accident earlier in his life, he is left with bionic metal hands that greatly increase his strength but compromise his dexterity.
His plan to disrupt the launch of an American rocket into space through the use of an atomic-powered radio beam is ultimately foiled by Bond and he gets boiled in his own reactor. Death aside, No created the archetype for diabolic villains that we see today; in Bond flicks as well as in other movies, TV shows, video games, and even comic books.
R.J. Dent
Appeared In: Dr. No (1962)
Played By: Anthony Dawson
Diabolical Weapon: Smith and Wesson, tarantula
Killed By: James Bond gunshot
R.J. Dent is memorable for being the first major henchman from the first Bond movie ever. He is an assassin working for Dr. No and SPECTRE, and is tasked with killing 007. To do this, Dent unleashes a poisonous tarantula into his room, which is still one of the most disgusting moments from the Connery era. Before long, Bond dispatches the spider as well as Dent, who 007 shoots in cold blood.
It’s the first time we see the Bond character simply murder someone who he could just as easily apprehended. Then again, we would have better sense than to mess with a dude who has a license to kill.
Ernst Blofeld
Appeared In: From Russia with Love (1963), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) For Your Eyes Only (1981), Never Say Never Again (1983)
Played By: Anthony Dawson, Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray, John Hollis, Max von Sydow
Diabolical Weapon: Turkish angora
Killed By: Copyright issues
Ernst Blofeld is easily the most recognizable and iconic Bond villain ever, having inspired countless rip-offs and parodies over the years. He is notable for being the head of the evil organization SPECTRE, and during his first few appearances, his face is never shown; rather, he gives out orders to his henchmen and they carry out his evil deeds. In nearly every appearance a different actor would play him, and eventually he was given more screen time and even came face-to-face with Bond.
At first, Blofeld would show up, get defeated by Bond, and escape until the next film. Lather, rinse, repeat. But after he was presumed dead in For Your Eyes Only, the non-canonical Never Say Never Again came out and brought him back to life. The movie was made while the Bond movie rights were in a tug of war between EON and Kevin McClory, and since then the fate of Blofeld has been unknown. And that’s the way he likes it.
Rosa Klebb
Appeared In: From Russia with Love (1963)
Played By: Lotte Lenya
Diabolical Weapon: Poison-tipped shoe
Killed By: Tatiana Romanova gunshot
Rosa Klebb is one of Blofeld’s most trust agents in the field, and her main objective is to retrieve a Soviet cryptographer device from Bond and then kill him. Most famously, she attempts to assassinate 007 while disguised as a hotel maid, and she's quickly discovered as she attempts to kill Bond with her poison-tipped shoe. She is ultimately killed by Tatiana Romanova during the struggle. However, Klebb entered Bond lore as being one of the first females to ever have the ability to match up with him physically.
Red Grant
Appeared In: From Russia with Love (1963)
Played By: Robert Shaw
Diabolical Weapon: Pistol
Killed By: James Bond strangulation
In an attempt to avenge the death of Dr. No, Red Grant is sent by SPECTRE to assassinate Bond. He begins by deceiving 007 into almost handing over the Lektor encoding device to the evil organization, but Bond soon catches on and the two battle aboard a train. To put it mildly, things don’t quite work out for ol’ Red. Even in death he’s remembered as one of the best henchmen of Bond’s early years. Robert Shaw perfectly mixed menacing action with a cold, calm demeanor to truly give us the creeps whenever he was on screen.
Kronsteen
Appeared In: From Russia with Love (1963)
Played By: Vladek Sheybal
Diabolical Weapon: Chess prodigy's mastermind
Killed By: Stabbing with poison-tipped blade
Kronsteen is an interesting foe because he’s not directly tasked with killing Bond; he’s the man hired by Blofeld to think of how to pull it off. He’s a chess prodigy and is a master of planning out his moves and moving in for the kill, so orchestrating assassinations is second nature for him. But after his hired assassin, Red Grant, is killed by Bond, he returns to a dissatisfied Blofeld and is killed on the spot.
Before that, however, Kronsteen forever laid out the blueprint of the sophisticated Bond henchman that was dangerous, despite not getting his hands dirty. It’s been done since, but Kronsteen is still near the top of the heap.
Auric Goldfinger
Appeared In: Goldfinger (1964)
Played By: Gert Fröbe
Diabolical Weapon: Atomic bomb, crotch-cutting laser beam
Killed By: Being sucked out an airplane window
Auric Goldfinger’s obsession with all things gold is one of the great bits of neurosis for any Bond foe, and it also gave birth to one of the best villainous schemes of the entire series. In an attempt to make his own personal stash of gold the most valuable on the planet, Goldfinger tries to detonate an atomic device inside of Fort Knox that would irradiate the gold there and make it worthless. This would cause financial panic worldwide, and everyone would then have to go through him to get more gold.
Goldfinger’s shining moment came during a scene when he binds Bond to a table and aims a high-powered laser at his crotch that is capable of slicing right through 00 and 7. Although he eventually gets killed in the end, this scene alone makes Goldfinger stand out amongst Bond’s better foes.
Oddjob
Appeared In: Goldfinger (1964)
Played By: Harold Sakata
Diabolical Weapon: Razor-edged hat, gold paint
Killed By: Electrocution
The incredibly strong and devious Oddjob is only a minor henchman in Bond lore, but his trademark razor-edged hat and implacable demeanor have made him one of the most recognizable baddies in the franchise. As the right-hand man to Auric Goldfinger, Oddjob is charged with eliminating any threats that might stand in his boss’s way, and he performs his tasks through any means necessary.
Aside from his famous bowler cap of doom, Oddjob also finished people off through brute force and skin suffocation with the help of a deadly gold paint. And he did it all without saying a word, aside from a few grunts and an eventual scream of agony during his electrifying death.
Pussy Galore
Appeared In: Goldfinger (1964)
Played By: Honor Blackman
Diabolical Weapon: Judo
Killed By: Survives
With a name about as subtle as a sledgehammer, Pussy Galore is usually first on the list of best Bond girls yet. Beauty aside, she started the film as an agent of Goldfinger, working with him to irradiate the gold in Fort Knox. But after being seduced by 007, she switches sides and helps Bond stop his plot.
Honor Blackman, of Avengers fame, had the perfect mixture of sex appeal and villainy, as she convinced nearly everyone that she was irredeemably evil. Interestingly enough, Pussy was written as a lesbian in the original Goldfinger novel, but there isn’t much in the film to suggest that. And if she was, we’re pretty sure Bond could still turn her.
Emilio Largo
Appeared In: Thunderball (1965)
Played By: Adolfo Celi
Diabolical Weapon: Pool of sharks
Killed By: Domino, who shoots him in the back with a spear gun
Emilio Largo’s scheme in Thunderball was Super Villainy 101. He attempts to extort money from NATO by hijacking two nuclear subs and threatening to detonate them in the U.S. or England. It’s been done a million times by now, but at least Largo had a swimming pool full of sharks that he would feed his underachieving subordinates to. That’s cool no matter how hackneyed your scheme may be.
Technically, Largo would fall under the “henchman” category because of his allegiance to Blofeld, but he had enough autonomy to be considered a main villain of the series. He’s also one in a long line of Bond villains to suffer from some sort of physical deformity with the eye patch he sports through the whole picture.
Fiona Volpe
Appeared In: Thunderball (1965)
Played By: Luciana Paluzzi
Diabolical Weapon: Motorcycle missile launcher
Killed By: Shot in the spine
Even now, Fiona Volpe is one of the most physically dangerous women Bond has ever encountered. She’s a cold-blooded killer for SPECTRE, and, unlike so many other would-be assassins from the series, succeeds in killing many of her targets. Of course, all of that villainy doesn’t stop Bond from sleeping with her. In one of the most debated scenes in the series, Bond spins Volpe in the way of an oncoming bullet as an assassin takes a shot at him. This was the first time he killed a woman on the screen, even though it wasn’t an explicit murder, more like self-defense.
Dr.Noah/Jimmy Bond Jr.
Appeared In: Casino Royale (1967)
Played By: Woody Allen
Diabolical Weapon: Biological weapons
Killed By: His own atomic pill
We know that the 1967 version of Casino Royale isn’t considered part of the James Bond “canon,” but we had to put this on here so people can sit back and realize that, technically, Woody Allen has played a Bond villain. In this movie, which was a spy spoof, Allen played Dr. Noah, who turns out to be Bond’s nephew: Jimmy Bond Jr.
His plan is to create a biological weapon that will make all of the women of the world beautiful and kill every man over 4'6". This would make him one of the tallest men on the planet and the object of every woman’s affection. Serious Bond fans would probably prefer that this version of Casino Royale never be mentioned again, but like we said, we need to remind the world that this actually happened.
Irma Bunt
Appeared In: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Played By: Ilse Steppat
Diabolical Weapon: Machine gun
Killed By: Escapes
In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Irma Bunt is an agent of Blofeld who is in charge of his Angels of Death. These women are being brainwashed to carry out SPECTRE’s evil deeds, and as their caretaker, Bunt is tasked with preparing them for missions. Similar to From Russia With Love’s Rosa Klebb, Bunt isn’t a femme fatale for Bond to fall in love with; instead, she’s a brutish woman that is just as deadly as she is homely.
In a rare twist for a Bond villain, Irma Bunt escapes scot-free from any punishment at the end of the movie. The only time a villain survives crossing paths with 007 is usually either by being arrested or switching allegiances, so this makes Irma an anomaly in the Bond universe.
Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd
Appeared In: Diamonds are Forever (1971)
Played By: Bruce Glover (Wint), Putter Smith (Kidd)
Diabolical Weapon: Poisoned scorpions, radio-controlled bombs
Killed By: A fall off a boat while on fire (Kidd), a bomb explosion (Wint)
Wint and Kidd are assassins for Blofeld in Diamonds are Forever, and they employ a wide array of tactics to eliminate targets, such as poisoned scorpions, bombs, and various methods of burning and burying foes. Nothing, however, is as etched into the mind of Bond fans as the heavily implied homosexual relationship between the two. At this time, not many mainstream movies tackled the subject, so Wint and Kidd were actually trailblazers, if you can believe it.
As with Jaws and Oddjob, the best Bond villains always have a stand-out personality or gimmick, and the creative ways in which Wint and Kidd attempt to kill their targets, as well as their relationship, separate them from the rest.
Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big
Appeared In: Live and Let Die (1973)
Played By: Yaphet Kotto
Diabolical Weapon: Heroin
Killed By: A gas pellet Bond puts into his mouth, which causes him to blow up like a balloon and pop
Mr. Big is actually the drug lord alias of Dr. Kananga, the tyrant of the Caribbean island of San Monique. As Mr. Big, Kananga runs a chain of restaurants throughout the U.S., where he is planning on distributing his enormous supply of heroin for free. This will bankrupt his U.S. drug competitors in the mob, and it will also create an endless supply of addicts. Once he’s done that, he will begin charging for the heroin at record prices with no competition.
It’s a scheme that could only be plausible in a Bond movie, and it’s one of the only times that hard drugs entered the series. Mr. Big is also one of the rare black criminal masterminds that Bond has ever squared-off against. Aside from all that, Mr. Big has the best death scene yet: He blows up like a balloon and pops when Bond forces a gas pellet down his throat.
Tee Hee
Appeared In: Live and Let Die (1973)
Played By: Julius Harris
Diabolical Weapon: Metal hook for a hand
Killed By: A fall from a moving train, when thrown by Bond
After getting his hand bit off by an alligator named Albert earlier on in his life, Tee Hee Johnson crafted a metal hook for a hand that was capable of slicing, dicing, and crushing anything in its path. As Mr. Big’s main henchman, Tee Hee has various run-ins with Bond, but none more memorable than the close-quarters train brawl towards the movie’s end.
It’s an old school fight completely devoid of frills and stunts. In the end, Tee Hee gets tossed out of a train window to his death, but the combination of Julius Harris’ enormous physique and his trademark hook will forever make him one of Bond’s classic rogues.
Baron Samedi
Appeared In: Live and Let Die (1973)
Played By: Geoffrey Holder
Diabolical Weapon: Sword
Killed By: Survives
This painted-up henchman is one of the most mysterious Bond villains of all time. He’s touted as being the actual immortal Voodoo god that he is named for, but a lot of villains have made outlandish claims before, so no one believes him. However, after seemingly surviving a sure-fire death at the hands of Bond towards the end of the movie, those claims seem to have been validated.
Although he technically works for Mr. Big in this movie, he’s not the typical “yes man” that we’re accustomed to. It’s unknown if Mr. Big even really trusts Samedi, or if he was just trying his hardest to take advantaged of his powers. There hasn’t been a villain before or since as strange as this one, but despite escaping death, he hasn’t been seen since.
Francisco Scaramanga
Appeared In: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Played By: Christopher Lee
Diabolical Weapon: The golden gun
Killed By: A bullet courtesy of Bond
Is there any actor on the planet more dastardly than Christopher Lee? He’s the epitome of evil, having played Dracula a zillion times in Hammer films, so it was only natural that he took on the role of a Bond villain eventually. And while The Man with the Golden Gun isn’t one of 007’s better outings, Lee’s performance was still top notch.
Sporting a gold plated pistol and a third nipple, Francisco Scaramanga is one of the world’s deadliest assassins, and his plot is to steal the “Solex Agitator,” which is used in the creation of solar energy plants, and sell it to the highest bidder. However, Bond is always in his way as the movie soon turns into a personal vendetta between the two. It culminates in a final showdown in a hall of mirrors that is still among the franchise’s high points.
Nick Nack
Appeared In: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Played By: Hervé Villechaize
Diabolical Weapon: An adorable little knife
Killed By: Survives, captured
He is pint-sized, but Nick Nack has climbed to the top of the Bond villain heap in recent years. As Francisco Scaramanga’s assistant in The Man with the Golden Gun, this tiny ball of malice makes his presence known during a failed assassination attempt on 007 that leaves the little guy stuffed inside of a suitcase. For a character that had the potential to be nothing more than a cheap gimmick, Nick Nack was deceitfully dangerous because of how elusive and vicious he was. The best henchmen in these movies always straddle the line between hated and beloved, and none did that better than Nick Nack.
Karl Stromberg
Appeared In: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Played By: Curt Jurgens
Diabolical Weapon: Table rocket launcher
Killed By: A bullet from Bond
This was a weird one. Karl Stromberg’s master plan revolves around hijacking two nuclear subs and firing on the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This was intended to provoke all-out nuclear war between the two, which would inevitably destroy the world. Stromberg would then restart civilization under the sea in his impenetrable fortress.
We’re all for eccentric billionaires flexing their creative muscle, but this was an odd plan even by Bond villain standards. Somehow it all made sense, though, and Stromberg has made a case for being one of the better villains during Roger Moore’s tenure playing the character.
Jaws
Appeared In: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979)
Played By: Richard Kiel
Diabolical Weapon: Indestructible metal teeth
Killed By: Survives
With his mountainous frame and mangled metal teeth, Jaws is an oddity among the Bond villains, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a fan favorite. He’s one of the rare foes to appear in more than one 007 movie, and in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker his viciousness knew no bounds. Jaws has been known to bite clean through the flesh of any opponent—from run-of-the-mill humans to great white sharks—and despite being faced with death constantly, he always walks away unscathed and with a sadistic grin.
Also, unlike many Bond villains, not much is known about Jaws. We don’t know who he really is or how he got those trademark metal teeth, but in an age where everything is spelled out for us, a little mystery can go a long way. It’s tempting to want to see a new actor take on the Jaws role, but we think it’s best to leave the classics alone.
Hugo Drax
Appeared In: Moonraker (1979)
Played By: Michael Lonsdale
Diabolical Weapon: Dogs, chemical agents
Killed By: Poison and Bond blasting him into space
Hugo Drax was a screwball billionaire with an outer space fetish and a hatred for humanity. His plan is to kill most of civilization through the use of a nerve gas that would be emitted from his space station. He would then rebuild humanity in his image by keeping a select few humans on the station if he deemed them worthy of breeding the next generation.
Much like Karl Stromberg's, this scheme is pretty out there, yet Moonraker was released at a time when the Bond franchise didn’t strive for realism like it does now, and Drax was the prototypical baddie for the period. Just one look at Drax’s devious goatee makes us yearn for the days when Bond villains were this over-the-top.
Chang
Appeared In: Moonraker (1979)
Played By: Toshiro Suga
Diabolical Weapon: Kendo stick
Killed By: Bond throwing him to his death
Chang was one of Hugo Drax’s trusted assassins, and during the course of Moonraker, he tries various methods of killing 007, such as sealing him inside of a centrifuge chamber and whacking him to death with a kendo stick. Despite being well prepared and disciplined, Chang suffers the same grisly fate of most foes 007 has crossed paths with. This time, though, Bond throws him to his death as he lands right through an expensive piano in the middle of a dinner party below.
With nothing but his feet sticking out of the instrument, Bond can only smirk and quip, “Play it again, Sam.” This is easily one of the most famous deaths in the history of the Bond saga, and one that elevated Chang from no-name thug to amusing footnote.
Aris Kristatos
Appeared In: For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Played By: Julian Glover
Diabolical Weapon: A.T.A.C. controller
Killed By: Knife in the back by Milos Columbo
Unlike so many other villains on this list, Aris Kristatos fails in all respects to stick out from the pack. Usually these baddies have defining characteristics and personalities that permanently etch them into our minds, but this is a wannabe villain with a scheme as bland as white bread.
His whole plot revolves around selling the A.T.A.C. controller to the Soviets. This device can hijack the missiles of British submarines and make him a bloody fortune. In the end, though, Kristatos couldn’t make For Your Eyes Only anything more than a forgettable entry into the Bond saga.
Locque
Appeared In: For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Played By: Michael Gothard
Diabolical Weapon: Various guns
Killed By: Bond kicking his car off a cliff
Locque was a cold-blooded killer working for Aris Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and he was the type of villain that you loved to hate. With his goofy haircut and stoic expressions, he was never going to join the likes of Jaws or Oddjob as 007’s most memorable henchmen, but the performance by Michael Gothard was so spot-on that he elevated an otherwise one-dimensional villain.
Aside from the performance, Locque is perhaps best remembered for his death scene, which sees him shot in his car as it was hanging over the edge of a cliff. Without a hint of emotion on his face, Bond simply walks over and kicks the vehicle off the edge and Locque falls to his doom. It doesn’t get much more 007 than that.
Kamal Khan
Appeared In: Octopussy (1983)
Played By: Louis Jourdan
Diabolical Weapon: Assassins
Killed By: Plane crash
Kamal Khan was a disgraced Afghani prince who aligned himself with the notorious General Orlov, who hoped to bring Soviet forces into Germany. He’s not remembered as one of Bond’s fiercest enemies, but he did have his moments. Most notably he had a bodyguard, Gobinda, and an army of assassins that were loyal to him until the end. That’s the power of respect; not money. Unfortunately, Gobinda managed to outshine Khan, who was more of a utilitarian villain, rather than a memorable one.
General Orlov
Appeared In: Octopussy (1983)
Played By: Steven Berkoff
Diabolical Weapon: Standard issue weaponry
Killed By: Border guards shooting him
General Orlov’s plan is to detonate an atomic bomb at an American Air Force base in Germany. His hope is that this would cause nuclear disarmament in Germany, which he could then invade with his Soviet forces. Remember, this movie came out during the Cold War, so propaganda was at an all-time high.
Orlov wasn’t a nuanced, complicated villain; he was just a crazed member of the Soviet military who dreamed of expansion and world domination. This type of antagonist was prevalent in Bond movies during the time, and despite how they are perceived now, they were legitimately diabolical back then.
Gobinda
Appeared In: Octopussy (1983)
Played By: Kabir Bedi
Diabolical Weapon: Elephant gun, scimitar
Killed By: Falling off a plane
As Kamal Khan’s bodyguard, Gobinda was a force to be reckoned with because, unlike his one-note boss, he was an expert swordsman and well-versed in various fighting styles. He was completely ruthless and was more concerned with actually eliminating his target, rather than boasting and stroking his own ego.
In one of the most thrilling action scenes of the Roger Moore era, 007 and Gobinda have a final confrontation on top of a plane in mid-flight. It’s a tense piece of choreographed mayhem that eventually ends with Gobinda screaming like a grade-school kid with a skinned knee as he falls to his death. Up until that point, though, he was one of the most intimidating henchmen of the ‘80s Bond movies.
Max Zorin
Appeared In: A View to a Kill (1985)
Played By: Christopher Walken
Diabolical Weapon: Sub-machine gun
Killed By: Falling off the Golden Gate Bridge
Yes folks, Christopher Walken was a Bond villain, and he was about as satisfying in the role as you would expect; in fact, he was easily the best thing about A View to a Kill. As Max Zorin, Walken plays the owner of Zorin Industries, who plans on ruling the tech world by destroying Silicon Valley and literally leveling the competition. This was during the Reagan administration, when cutthroat businessmen were portrayed as unwaveringly evil in movies, and Zorin fit right into that mold.
As usual, Walken gave us an intense, diabolical performance that was actually one of the better bad guy roles of the Roger Moore era. Walken managed to capture that old school Bond feel that we love, despite the movie itself ultimately disappointing. He was cold and calculating, and he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty when he needed to.
May Day
Appeared In: A View to a Kill (1985)
Played By: Grace Jones
Diabolical Weapon: Pistol
Killed By: An explosion
As the super-strong May Day, Grace Jones entered Bond lore as a henchwoman for Christopher Walken’s Max Zorin. She was an impenetrable wall of strength and ruthlessness, serving as both an assassin and Zorin’s lover. Whenever Zorin needed a target eliminated without getting his own hands dirty, May Day would do the job, even crossing paths with Bond several times. In the end, though, May Day sacrifices herself to stop Zorin’s plan for destruction after realizing how little he truly cared for her.
General Georgi Koskov
Appeared In: The Living Daylights (1987)
Played By: Jeroen Krabbe
Diabolical Weapon: Guns
Killed By: Arrested, but it is assumed he was put to death
General Georgi Koskov was a defected KGB officer who lied to MI6 about his successor putting out an order to assassinate all known spies. The hope was that Bond would kill his successor—who was investigating Koskov for embezzlement—and Koskov would be free to continue supporting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It’s a bit on the outlandish side, but the Bond movies from the ‘80s usually fell into these types of traps by attempting to introduce real-world politics and failing miserably.
Brad Whitaker
Appeared In: The Living Daylights (1987)
Played By: Joe Don Baker
Diabolical Weapon: Soviet military weaponry
Killed By: A falling statue crushing him
An associate to General Koskov, Brad Whitaker was an American arms dealer who didn’t care what country he was dealing to or what army he was supporting, so long as he got his money. It wasn’t the most memorable part for a Bond villain, but it wasn’t any worse than the rest of The Living Daylights. This movie introduced a new Bond and a new attitude to the world, as it strove for realism and authentic espionage action. The character of Whitaker proved to be the type of real-world threat that the filmmakers were going for, and for that they succeeded.
Franz Sanchez
Appeared In: License to Kill (1989)
Played By: Robert Davi
Diabolical Weapon: Hyperbaric chamber
Killed By: Bond burning to death
In an attempt to get edgier in the late ‘80s, License to Kill focused on the seedy drug trade of the world, and featured the villainous Franz Sanchez, a man more appropriate for a Stallone movie than a Bond movie. Sanchez was a prominent cocaine smuggler in South America, and he figured out a way to dissolve his drugs into petrol, disguise it as fuel, and sell it easily in Asia.
Aside from his business savvy, Sanchez was also incredibly ruthless and violent, ordering the death and rape of anyone in his way. This was a revenge movie, and Sanchez was such a scumbag that he wound up getting under the skin of the normally unflappable Bond. Unfortunately, this movie couldn’t live up to its potential, and 007 didn’t see the big screen again for another six years—the longest drought in the series’ history.
Dario
Appeared In: License to Kill (1989)
Played By: Benicio del Toro
Diabolical Weapon: Pistol
Killed By: Bond pulling him into a grinder that pulverizes him
License to Kill was one of Benicio del Toro’s first big breaks in the movie business, and he managed to make the most out of his small amount of screen time. Franz Sanchez’s youngest henchman, Dario was a vicious killer that would stop at nothing to please his boss, and sometimes would even go a little overboard when tasked with killing a foe. License to Kill was the movie that brought '80s grittiness to the franchise, and Dario was the type of real-world henchman that never would have existed in the Connery or Moore eras.
Alec Trevelyan
Appeared In: GoldenEye (1995)
Played By: Sean Bean
Diabolical Weapon: GoldenEye satellite weapons system
Killed By: Falling radar dish crushing him
Sean Bean’s foray into the world of Bond villainy was a welcome surprise in the movie that revitalized the franchise: GoldenEye. In the movie, he played Alec Trevelyan, a former partner of Bond who faked his own death so he could begin a crime syndicate and destroy London. He would do this by firing a nuclear device at London through the use of the GoldenEye satellite weapons system.
This was a standard plan for a Bond villain, but the added connection to 007 made the conflict even more personal. However, this is Sean Bean after all, and we all know that he dies in pretty much everything that he’s ever been in, so it should come as no surprise that he was killed off in style here. And while the plan didn’t succeed, Bean’s performance helped usher in a new era for 007 and established Pierce Brosnan as the Bond of the ‘90s.
Xenia Onatopp
Appeared In: GoldenEye (1995)
Played By: Famke Janssen
Diabolical Weapon: The thighs of doom
Killed By: Helicopter cable squeezing her to death
Xenia Onatopp is beautiful to look at, but you’re putting your fate in your own hands if you spend a night with her. Working alongside Alec Trevelyan, Onatopp is part of the Janus crime syndicate, and her job is to seduce and kill anyone in her way. She does this by literally squeezing men to death with her thighs during sex. It’s a tough way to go, yet we’re willing to bet she always leaves her victims smiling.
Onatopp is the type of cold femme fatale that we’re accustomed to from the Bond franchise, and Famke Janssen played the role superbly. This is one of the only times that a female was considered the muscle of the organization, as opposed to just being sensual eye candy.
Boris Grishenko
Appeared In: GoldenEye (1995)
Played By: Alan Cumming
Diabolical Weapon: Computers
Killed By: Liquid nitrogen freezing him
Boris Grishenko is the perfect example of a role being elevated by the actor playing it. In GoldenEye, Grishenko is a computer programmer who helps operate Alec Trevelyan’s weapons satellites. He’s incredibly egotistical, misogynistic, and a whole hell of a lot of fun to hate. He's seen shouting “I am invincible!” whenever he succeeds at any of his tasks. And like the wormiest of villains, he’s about as physically unintimidating as they come, often relying on his brains to help him out.
In the hands of any other actor this role could have just been obnoxious, but Cumming made it work. In the end he’s frozen in liquid nitrogen with his arms up in the air in a victory pose. It’s a poetic ending for one of Bond’s more repugnant foes.
Elliot Carver
Appeared In: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Played By: Jonathan Pryce
Diabolical Weapon: The media
Killed By: Bond skewers him with a sea drill
Elliot Carver has the distinction of having perhaps the blandest name for a Bond villain ever. But he’s also one of the more refreshing foes because he wasn’t a clichéd mad scientist or military general; he was a psychotic media mogul who wanted to expand his empire into China. To do that, he needed to incite a war between the U.K. and China to bring about an eventual regime change.
This Rupert Murdoch-esque baddie is much different than nearly everyone else on this list. He’s still a Bond villain at heart, though, so that means his scheme is horribly convoluted and he often spends his time boasting, rather than taking action. Then again, isn’t that the charm of these characters?
Elektra King
Appeared In: The World is Not Enough (1999)
Played By: Sophie Marceau
Diabolical Weapon: Pistol
Killed By: Bond shooting her in the chest
You know a Bond movie is in trouble when it features Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, and boneheaded choices like that made The World is Not Enough one of the worst 007 movies of all time. The good news, though, is that the beautiful Elektra King is one of the rare bright spots in an otherwise dull film.
At first she seems like a typical damsel in distress; however, it is soon revealed that she has eyes on monopolizing the oil market through terrorism. Of course none of this is discovered until after Bond plowed her righteously. King is a classic Bond character: morally ambiguous, unbelievably sexy, and terrifyingly dangerous. It’s just a shame she was wasted here.
Renard
Appeared In: The World is Not Enough (1999)
Played By: Robert Carlyle
Diabolical Weapon: Plutonium
Killed By: A plutonium rod impaling him
A Soviet terrorist, Renard was considered one of the most dangerous men on the planet. So dangerous, in fact, that MI6 previously tried to assassinate him. The attempt left a bullet lodged in his brain, which somehow destroyed his senses and made him unable to feel pain. He then decided to strike back by attempting to destroy Istanbul with a nuclear device so Elektra King could monopolize the oil market.
Renard wasn’t the evil genius type of Bond villain, but he was clearly psychotic and had a real mad-on for anything related to MI6. Plus, his unique relationship with Elektra added enough interest and intrigue to the character to make him out to be a real threat. He still falls short of the Soviet Bond baddies of the Cold War era, though.
Gustav Graves/Colonel Tan-Sun Moon
Appeared In: Die Another Day (2002)
Played By: Toby Stephens (Graves), Will Yun Lee (Moon)
Diabolical Weapon: Icarus weapons platform
Killed By: Beings sucked into a plane engine
Where do we begin? First of all, Gustav Graves is the dullest Bond villain in the absolute worst Bond film in history. Second of all, Gustav Graves isn’t even real. In fact, the man everyone knew as Graves was actually Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, who had his appearance changed via gene therapy after being presumed killed by Bond.
This is still one of the more perplexing plot twists in the whole franchise, and it just served to make everyone realize that the Bond series needed a complete makeover. Thankfully, four short years later, we got our wish. Our advice? Stay as far away from this one as possible.
Zao
Appeared In: Die Another Day (2002)
Played By: Rick Yune
Diabolical Weapon: Gatling gun mounted on car
Killed By: Chandelier impaling him
In the lore of Bond henchmen, Zao falls a bit short of classics like Oddjob and Jaws. But where he fails to impress in terms of character and personality, he more than makes up for in appearance. His face is literally embedded with diamonds after an explosion earlier in the film horribly disfigures him. The Bond series has a proud history of deformed villains, and Zao keeps up that trend, despite being dreadfully dull and uninspired throughout the movie.
Miranda Frost
Appeared In: Die Another Day (2002)
Played By: Rosamund Pike
Diabolical Weapon: Sword
Killed By: Impaled by Jinx
Miranda Frost is another in a long line of traitorous MI6 agents working right under 007’s nose. And as usual, Bond winds up sleeping with her like a buffoon. And though Die Another Day is the absolute worst Bond film, Frost’s character is actually very reminiscent of the series’ earlier, sexy femme fatales. One of the high points of the Pierce Brosnan era actually came in this movie during the sword fight between Frost and Jinx (Halle Berry) aboard an airplane. Needless to say, she doesn’t make it to the end credits.
Le Chiffre
Appeared In: Casino Royale (2006)
Played By: Mads Mikkelsen
Diabolical Weapon: Knotted rope
Killed By: Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) shooting him
After the horrible taste that Die Another Day left in our mouths, we were extremely surprised by the grittiness, realism, and overall quality of Casino Royale. And a lot of that success is due to Mads Mikkelsen, who played the perfect post-9/11 villain in Le Chiffre. His plot is to regain the money he owes to various terrorists by winning a high-stakes game of poker worth tens of millions of dollars. This cash would have funded terrorism for decades and would have helped Le Chiffre convince them not to kill him.
Mikkelsen brought the proper amount of brains and underlying brutality to the role, as he traded in the over-the-top personalities of previous Bond villains for a more realistic take on the character. And if you need any more proof not to run afoul of Le Chiffre, just remember how he pummels Bond’s testicles to a pulp after 007 beat him in poker. Why do these guys always go after the testicles?
Mr. White
Appeared In: Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008)
Played By: Jesper Christensen
Diabolical Weapon: Pistol
Killed By: Survives, remains at large
Not much is known about Mr. White, but we do know that he’s heavily involved in Quantum, a shadowy villainous organization. In Casino Royale, he makes his presence known by killing Le Chiffre and attempting to steal the terrorist money from the poker game. He is soon captured by Bond, but he escapes MI6 custody after a mole in the organization frees him. Oddly enough, he’s still at large and we have absolutely no idea if we’ll ever get closure on his story. For someone who never said much, Mr. White sure did have an impact.
Vesper Lynd
Appeared In: Casino Royale (2006)
Played By: Eva Green
Diabolical Weapon: None
Killed By: Drowning suicide
Longtime Bond fans knew of the tragic story of Vesper Lynd even before Casino Royale hit theaters, and Eva Green absolutely nailed the conflicted nature of the character. As an agent for the Treasury, Lynd is tasked with keeping an eye on Bond, who is given a $10 million buy-in for the poker game at Casino Royale. But unbeknownst to all involved, she is being blackmailed by Quantum to steal Bond’s winnings.
Making things more complicated, Lynd begins developing feelings for Bond but still goes along with her plan. She’s not a traditional villain, but she still betrays 007, and not many people are still breathing after that. A character as complex and grey as Lynd never would have survived in the black and white, emotionally sterile world of Connery and Moore’s Bond.
Mollaka
Appeared In: Casino Royale (2006)
Played By: Sebastien Foucan
Diabolical Weapon: Parkour
Killed By: An explosion Bond sets off
In one of the most exhilarating and freshest action sequences in a 007 movie, Bond has to chase Mallaka through the streets of Madagascar and above the city on a construction crane. The use of parkour and practical special effects made this an absolutely stunning scene to behold, and it masked the fact that Mallaka didn’t really have a personality. All we know is that he was a bomb maker working for an associate of La Chiffre. Really, he only exists to take part in this scene.
People might not care about all of the complicated plot developments or political allusions in Casino Royale, but chances are they won’t be able to stop talking about this chase after the film is over, even if they don’t even remember Mollaka’s name.
Dominic Greene
Appeared In: Quantum of Solace (2008)
Played By: Mathieu Amalric
Diabolical Weapon: Axe
Killed By: Left in the desert by Bond; later found dead with two bullet holes in him
When you control the water, you control the land. It worked in Chinatown, and Dominic Greene attempts to use that philosophy in Quantum of Solace. His plan is to dam off the water to Bolivia and then set up a coup d'état that would allow him to sell water supplies back to the country at an inflated price.
Unlike other Bond flicks that dealt with terrorism and war, this one sets its sights on environmentalism. Greene isn’t a scarred, cartoonish villain, either; he is the type of evil that could actually exist in the world. Unfortunately his scheme is a little convoluted and unnecessarily long, which leads to the whole movie becoming a little confusing at points. Still, it was a bold change of direction for the franchise, and one that came close to working because of how stellar Amalric was in the role.