10 James Bond Villains Who Simply Vanished
8. Professor Dr. Metz
Bond villains have a rare talent when it comes to manipulating well-meaning scientists.
In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), SPECTRE Number One, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) deceives light refraction expert and "committed idealist to peace", Professor Dr. Metz (Joseph Furst) into constructing a diamond-powered laser satellite.
Convincing Metz that it is to be used to force nuclear disarmament throughout the world, the cat-stroking menace does not tell Metz that the entire scheme is “an international auction with nuclear supremacy going to the highest bidder”. By the time Metz realises the truth, Blofeld has already instructed him to programme the satellite to destroy Washington, D.C. and the villain’s oil rig lair is under attack from armed helicopters.
Threatening to have the genuinely terrified Metz shot if he leaves his post, Blofeld prepares to abandon the doomed oil rig in his bathosub mini-submarine. However, James Bond (Sir Sean Connery) uses the bathosub as an impromptu battering ram to destroy the rig’s control room and disable the satellite, presumably killing Metz in the process.
Although Blofeld’s fate was never officially confirmed in the franchise, Metz's demise was all but clear from the film’s theatrical trailer and television spots, which show the further destruction of the control room. However, these were removed from the final film, presumably for time and pacing reasons.