The figurehead for SPECTRE is one of the most recognisable villains in the history of James Bond, a character whose served as a template for nearly every other adversary 007 has since faced (as well as giving Mike Myers plenty of material to work into Dr Evil). Ernst Stavro Blofeld has been played by multiple different actors throughout the film series, but it's Donald Pleasence's turn in You Only Live Twice that's the best remembered the grey uniform, the white cat on his lap, the facial scar that inspired everything from Le Chiffre's blood-weeping eye in Casino Royale to the brain damaged Renard from The World Is Not Enough. SPECTRE doesn't live and die with Blofeld, however. Sure, he's the one who presumably ordered the hit on Bond's new wife at the tragic conclusion of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and his teased appearances never showing his face in the early films hinted that he was the franchise's big bad. SPECTRE is designed to operate more like a terrorist cell than a criminal enterprise, with the books explicitly mentioning that the numbering given to each member was changed at random, a tactic borrowed from revolutionary organisations wherein deliberately drawing attention away from the true leader of the organisation makes him look less important and less likely to be offed.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
