The 5 Types of Bond Villain
There are a few elements common to nearly all Bond films: gadgets, girls, guns and villains. While the gadgets were all but done away with in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale, we can be relatively sure that Bond baddies arent going anywhere. Indeed, a good enemy can often be the selling point of a Bond film Bond himself is an established character, and theres a limit to how far the filmmakers can develop him (although they certainly played with that limit in the recent Skyfall.) His opponent, on the other hand, is an unknown quantity, and usually provides an opportunity for the film team to find new ways to test Bond. Because lets be honest, without a compelling enemy, 007 is just an alcoholic womaniser with a gambling problem who would be fired from MI6 within days for seemingly never filling in a single piece of paperwork. As a huge Bond fan, I've noticed that over the years the creative minds at MGM have come up with approximately five different types of villain against which to pit James Bond. Alright, some characters actually offer a combination of two or even three of these archetypes, but there are essentially five different traits that the film-makers are working with. If thats not enough, they even helpfully telegraph an enemys evilness by stamping him with a physical deformity. Elektra King, shortly after revealing herself to be the true mastermind behind the death of her father, takes off her earring to reveal that shes missing part of her ear. This is relatively inconsiderate of her: if she had done so earlier in the film Bond presumably would have realised a lot faster that she was in fact evil, and wouldnt have fallen for her elaborate damsel in distress charade. Oh, you dont have both ears? Why didnt you say so? Youre under arrest for the murder of Sir Robert King and numerous counts of terrorism. Sometimes this is handled with even less subtlety (the most you can say for Blofelds face is that somewhere under his scar, it exists.) Keep reading to find out about the five different villain archetypes for the Bond films...