This year sees the release of the eagerly-awaited 24th film in the James Bond franchise, Spectre - which fans hope will do just what it says on the tin and reintroduce the criminal organisation which was the perennial thorn in the side of Sean Connery's original James Bond back in the sixties.
SPECTRE spawned many of the great Bond villains - Rosa Klebb, Dr No and the big cheese himself, Ernst Stavro Blofeld - but even after the organisation disappeared from the series (due to a rights issue) a James Bond film could nearly always be relied upon to produce a memorable bad guy, with each version of 007 coming up against at least one great villain (yes, even George Lazenby). And with Christoph Waltz and Dave Bautista confirmed for Spectre - as Franz Oberhauser and Mr Hinx, respectively - this is something that will hopefully continue.
Quite where the new breed of villains will sit in the grand ladder of evil that Bond has inspired over the years remains to be seen. Modern villains have, after all, been something of a mixed bag, but with smart casting and good film-making credentials, there should be some confidence that Messrs Oberhauser and Hinx stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Zorin and Oddjob.
But which of the classic villains - from Alec Trevelyan to Hog Drax - deserves to be considered the greatest of all time? Read on for a definitive answer...
25. Alec Trevelyan
It's near impossible to pick the best Bond villain but you can't get much better than Sean Bean's Alec Trevelyan.
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A literal anti-Bond (his codename is 006), as an old friend gone rogue Trevelyan is a villain with all Bond's wit and cunning. And he knows exactly how to hurt Bond most; namely, by threatening dear old England!