Every Main James Bond Villain Ranked Worst To Best

2. Franz Sanchez (Licence To Kill, 1989)

It takes a lot to get under 007’s skin, and even fewer villains managed to send him completely over the edge. Drug baron Franz Sanchez takes the prize for invoking Bond’s wrath at its most intensely vengeful. Sanchez’s mutilation of Felix Leiter, and the brutal killing of Leiter’s wife provides the motive for Bond to truly go on the warpath in Licence to Kill.

And what a villain to be placed in 007’s crosshairs - Franz Sanchez is the living embodiment of the power and corrupting influence of the drug trade at its highest level, untouchable by authority and as hungry for blood as he is for riches.

Sanchez is the most violent Bond villain ever, and one that provides Bond with a threat like he’s never handled before, forced to face him as a rogue agent unsupported by Her Majesty’s Secret Service. On top of these stakes, Sanchez possesses all of the wit, charisma, and ferocity necessary to make him a classic Bond villain, as capable of charming with one liners as he is of flying into murderous rages.

Best Moment: We're spoiled for choice when it comes to grisly executions but it’s hard to look past the gory murder of one Milton Krest, first framed by Bond and thrown by Sanchez into a decompression chamber full of ill-gained cash. After he hacks the vent with an axe causing Krest’s head to explode like a bodily balloon, his henchmen ask him what they should do with the blood-soaked money. “Launder it.”

Worst Moment: An iguana? Apparently the multitude of Blofelds cleaned the Bond Villain Pet Store fresh out of fluffy white cats.