Every Main James Bond Villain Ranked Worst To Best

18. Dr. Kananga (Live and Let Die, 1973)

The first, and so far only, black Bond villain is the head baddie of a memorable film but there are several knocks against him. Dr. Kananga, drug trafficker and dictator of San Monique, tries at first to give the impression of a unique Bond antagonist but eventually becomes more of a gently-spoken Blofeld clone, not present during any of the film’s better moments, and lacking any truly notable individual traits as a villain.

Kananga’s main problem is that he tends to get upstaged by the motley crew under his employ; Tee Hee and Baron Samedi are far more animated characters with more chances to shine and more memorable encounters with Bond.

His relationship with mystical Bond girl Solitaire is semi-intriguing but seems forgotten about by the film’s climax, in which Bond kills him by shoving an air pellet into his mouth, inflating Kananga, portrayed by a painfully obvious dummy, which then explodes, apparently.

Best Moment: Kananga’s best moment actually comes while in disguise as his alternate persona, gangster Mr. Big. “Names is for tombstones, baby!” Instant t-shirt material.

Worst Moment: It's tempting to point to the least surprising twist in cinema history early in the film which “reveals’ that aforementioned gangster Mr. Big is actually Kananga himself, wearing a flimsy mask, but seriously, it has to be the dummy at the end.