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Here’s our pick of the most iconic 20 James Bond villains of all time

Here’s our pick of the most iconic 20 James Bond villains of all time

For more than 60 years, James Bond, Agent 007, has stopped megalomaniacs from bringing the world to an end, evil merchants from becoming even richer, and terrorists from plotting some good ol’ fashioned world supremacy. Hence, it is hardly a surprise, given their long history, that some of James Bond’s villains are among the most odious and memorable evil guys ever. Let’s start with the absolute worst. We’re only including the primary antagonist on this list, therefore there won’t be any henchmen like Jaws or Oddjob. Since numerous actors have assumed the role of SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld, each actor will receive a separate grade. Since each performer that played him brought something special to the part.

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20. Oddjob 

With his scary bowler hat, Oddjob, one of Goldfinger’s henchmen, comes in second (naturally spoofed as “Random Task” in Austin Powers). Oddjob, a mass of pure, beautifully constructed muscle, is the only henchman who ever seemed like he could compete with Bond. Recall the shattered golf ball and Bond’s frantic electrocution manoeuvre to eventually dispatch him? Never before have two antagonists given Bond such cause for concern.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

19. Auric Goldfinger

Do you expect me to speak? “No, Mr. Bond, I see your end coming!”

With his plan to irradiate Fort Knox’s contents, Auric Goldfinger, played by Gert Frobe, showed how dangerous yet insane Bond villains could be. This exchange is one of the most well-known in Bond’s 25-movie run, and it also represents one of the greatest comebacks in movie history. Goldfinger is not a physically powerful man, but he is wealthy.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

18. Rosa Klebb

The more Bond films you look at, the more Mike Myers’ influences on Austin Powers become apparent. As the hunched and busy SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb, Lotte Lenya undoubtedly served as the basis for Frau Farbissina, Dr. Evil’s henchwoman-turned-love interest who, as you may recall, came from the violent section of the Salvation Army. Rosa Klebb, however, is not someone to be mocked. Early on in the film, she forces Bond to sleep with a young Russian spy before going around stabbing people with a poisoned blade that protrudes from her shoe. Robert Shaw’s portrayal as Red Grant, the Russian equivalent of James Bond, and that dramatic train battle have won him plaudits.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya
  • Directed by: Terence Young

17. Francisco Scaramanga

Before bothering Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and making a cameo in a galaxy far, far away in the Star Wars prequels, Christopher Lee got his start in mediocre horror films, most notably as Dracula. In my opinion, trading fangs for a third nipple as he does in this sequence is ridiculous, and watching an older Lee compete against a slightly younger Moore (52 to 47 at the time of the film’s release) doesn’t exactly suggest high-stakes excitement. However, Christopher Lee continues to outperform the plot in the character of a dangerous antagonist who crafts a weapon out of a cigarette lighter in a James Bond movie. The suspenseful conclusion, which is reminiscent of, deserves special note.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

16. Alec Trevelyan 

Pierce Brosnan’s 007 debut is better than you may anticipate. Sean Bean is also a better villain than you would remember from his time as Agent 006! Fans of Causal may refer to the superior fallen 00 as Raoul Silva, the rogue agent played by Javier Bardem in Skyfall (2012), but they would be wrong. Compared to Silva, who is cartoonish and over the top, Trevelyan radiates a more understated feeling of threat. And instead of just relaxing in tan suits, we see him in the field killing evil guys. No, he doesn’t blow up MI6’s headquarters or kill Judi Dench, but his icy, lifeless glare has a greater cruelty.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
  • Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco
  • Directed by: Martin Campbell

15. Jaws

One of the most well-known Bond villains of all time is the man with the metal lips, and with good reason—not that he’s the only one who isn’t a Bond actor—to appear in two movies. In The Spy Who Loved Me, written at the height of Moore’s career, Kiel’s Jaws first appears. Unstoppable and vicious, Kiel’s Jaws enjoys the enviable distinction of being a dreadful Bond villain. After all, only his inclusion in the largely mediocre television series Moonraker keeps Jaws from being ranked higher. Jaws embodied brute force; all he needed to do was turn up, appear powerful, and use his teeth to devour a shark.

  • IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
  • Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
  • Directed by: Steven Spielberg

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14. Max Zorin 

Roger Moore’s advanced age in his final Bond movie has drawn a lot of attention. Yes, at the time of filming, he was 57 years old. And yes, he did use stuntmen to rush up the steps for the Eiffel Tower’s dedication. The greatest villain of all time, Max Zorin, whose diabolical plan (it involved horses, right?) was masterfully executed by none other than Christopher Walken, should be honoured instead of the main character’s waning influence. Here, Bond is up against a real Hollywood A-lister who ultimately prevails in many ways. Walken is smart and intelligent in this scene, amused and reserved, as Moore goes to even more ludicrous measures to try to stop him.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts
  • Directed by: John Glen

13. Ernst Stavro Blofeld 

What comes to mind when you hear the words “supervillain with designs for world domination”? Most likely, it’s Donald Pleasence in the You Only Live Twice movie as SPECTRE boss Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Pleasence makes sure that we will never forget our first encounter with SPECTRE’s head. Therefore, his horrible scheme involves stealing the space probes of the US and USSR, starting a second global war, and having the two superpowers take the responsibility. He declares, “Extortion is my business.”

  • IMDB Rating: 6.8/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama
  • Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

12. Emilio Largo

The most active enemy Bond has faced is probably Emilio Largo, who emerges in Thunderball. He has no issues participating in the activity. Whether recovering the stolen nuclear bombs (and killing henchmen who want more money) or fending off US frogmen at the very end, Largo is in the thick of it all. Largo is the mastermind of the “hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage” plot and an extremely dangerous bad guy. His cunning is on display in a scenario where Bond breaks into his mansion at night and tricks his security guards into exchanging shots. Largo instantly sees through the ruse and chastises his men for falling for it. Largo is a great villain all around.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.9/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi
  • Directed by: Terence Young

11. Dr. Julius No 

The first major enemy has a lot to live up to given that he just makes an appearance in the closing 24 minutes of the movie. Prior to it, Dr. No is shown as a mysterious and perilous character whose adherents would rather die than betray him. Dr. No is a clever, terrifying, and lethal man who is half-Chinese and half-German. He lost his real hands while experimenting with radioactive materials, and now he has robotic ones. Joseph Wiseman, who portrays the title character, is held to a high standard, but he more than lives up to it. uttering such wonderful phrases as “Unfortunately, I’ve misjudged you” and “East, West, just points on the compass, one as silly as the other.”

  • IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Bernard Lee
  • Directed by: Terence Young

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10. Francisco Scaramanga – The Man With The Golden Gun

Christopher Lee played by him, he automatically qualifies as someone who will be remembered. The world’s deadliest assassin is Scaramanga from The Man With The Golden Gun. Each job costs $1 million. Scaramanga sees himself as a dark reflection of James Bond and makes a rather excellent argument for it, not least because he has a special weapon at his disposal and is genuinely happy in his line of work. He even makes an attempt to persuade Bond to declare that he adores murder, and Bond eventually confesses that he would enjoy killing Scaramanga. Similar to Alec Trevelyan, he is constrained by his evil plan. When the movie was released in 1974, solar energy was a major deal, therefore he’s attempting to corner that market.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

9. Franz Sanchez – License to Kill

The two least memorable opponents in the history of the James Bond franchise faced Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights, the first James Bond movie to feature him. Although, Dalton’s second (and final) film, License To Kill, fixes that by throwing him against Franz Sanchez, one of the cruellest and most depraved villains Bond has yet encountered. Drug lord Sanchez controls a small-scale enterprise. He possesses two distinct identities, one for his allying with friends and allies and the other for his adversaries. He flips between the two so quickly that he is so unsettling. Sanchez is an absolutely terrible creature who you do not want to run across when you’re feeling down. 

  • IMDB Rating: 5.5/10
  • Starring: James Farentino, Penny Fuller, Don Murray
  • Directed by: Jud Taylor

8. Le Chiffre

Le Chiffre makes his debut in Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale,” the first James Bond novel. Instead of focusing on Peter Lorre’s portrayal of the crafty card player in a 1954 TV series adaptation or Orson Welles’ spoof of him in a 1967 comedy rendition, we’ll focus on Mads Mikkelsen’s portrayal of him in the 2006 movie. Mikkelsen gave Le Chiffre a big advantage by making James Bond look menacing and coming up with a novel way to torture him (played by Daniel Craig).

  • IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
  • Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench
  • Directed by: Martin Campbell

7. Hugo Drax

Since his appearance in the Fleming book “Moonraker,” Drax has undergone a lot of alterations. He is a billionaire who owns a company that produces space shuttles for NASA, unlike the World War II veteran in the book who becomes wealthy after the war. The movie, which was created about the same time the first “Star Wars” came out, was heavily centred on space battles, with Drax (played by Michael Lonsdale) being the one who started all the chaos. Hugo Drax, the moniker he goes by, is the best villain name ever!

  • IMDB Rating: 6.2/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale
  • Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

6. Xenia Onatopp

Famke Janssen portrayed the lethal former Soviet jet pilot in “GoldenEye.” In addition to being one of the most beautiful Bond girls, Xenia was also one of the deadliest because she was infamous for crushing her victims to death in bed with her thighs.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
  • Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco
  • Directed by: Martin Campbell

5. Mr. Big 

When Roger Moore debuted as James Bond, Mr. Big, a Harlem drug king who was superbly portrayed by Yaphet Kotto, was waiting for him. With his sharp clothes and cunning eyes, Mr. Big is one of the series’ more scary villains.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

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4. Raoul Silva 

Javier Bardem portrays the insane former MI6 agent, the most famous villain of the Daniel Craig era. In his career, Bardem has always favoured the heavier role, and his portrayal of Silva brings out his greatest scenery-chewing.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
  • Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris
  • Directed by: Sam Mendes

3. Baron Samedi 

In “To Live and Let Die,” Geoffrey Holder’s portrayal of Mr. Big’s goon was one of the series’ more beautiful characters. In order to play on Baron Samedi’s Voodoo abilities, the villain is granted supernatural abilities unusual for the genre and stunning attire.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour
  • Directed by: Guy Hamilton

2. Donald “Red” Grant 

In the sequel to “Dr. No,” Bond battles SPECTRE’s most lethal assassin. The movie’s introduction shows that he can handle any circumstance, including a brass knuckles blow to the stomach. Robert Shaw does a great job of portraying this henchman as having a stone face. But it’s important to note that this is unquestionably one of the least creative character names in the Bond series.

  • IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
  • Starring: Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya
  • Directed by: Terence Young

1. May Day

There have been a number of henchwomen in the Bond films, but Grace Jones’ May Day is by far the greatest. She is a darling among the audience because of her intimidating sexuality. particularly when, at the movie’s finale, she prevents her boss Max Zorin from attempting to dominate the world.

  • IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
  • Starring: Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts
  • Directed by: John Glen

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From Connery through Craig, via Brosnan, Moore, Daltry, and Lazenby, every iteration of 007 shared a psychopath with ambitions to end the world. There have undoubtedly been a few mistakes along the way. Therefore, some of the more recent renditions resembled diluted parodies of famous songs from the Connery period. Hence, the most antiquated ones, which have evolved into racial stereotypes, are best avoided in history.

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