3. Raoul Silva
Silva is a curious villain. He simultaneous embodies some of the clichés of Bond villains such as a horrifying physical disfigurement and the whole Only Im allowed to kill him (Well, her in this case) schtick but at the same time some of the others like use of elaborate death traps are left out. Hes incredibly genre savvy and works better as a villain because of it. Its like Silvas watched all of the old Bond films and taken careful note of what not to do. Although that kind of makes sense in hindsight since, as a former MI6 agent who has complete access to all of Ms files, he has probably read up on at least a few of Bonds past missions. Another thing that sets Silva apart from most Bond villains is that instead of trying to make money, destabilise a world power, or take over the world, hes out for revenge against a single person. This leads to a much more personal conflict on a significantly smaller scale thats a nice change of pace. On top of that he comes close to being an anti-villain since his motivation for revenge isnt that unreasonable. Regardless of him going rogue against the Chinese and M giving him to the Chinese in exchange for six other agents resulting in a net gain of five lives, she completely screwed him over. That betrayal from a trusted superior combined with MI6s defective cyanide pill pretty much melting his face is a perfectly understandable reason for wanting revenge. And finally, for the first time in Bond history, the villain wins. Its not a perfect victory since he doesnt kill M or die in the way he intended but, in essence, he achieves his overall goals. Not only does M die but before she dies, she and MI6 are thoroughly humiliated and Silva cancels out the lives M saved by handing him over to the Chinese. Like the film itself, Silva is great mix of the old and new, embodying many traits of classic Bond villains while introducing a few new ones. And his similarities to Bond are a nice touch as well.