Film Theory: New Bond Villain Is SECRETLY Dr No

4. "Safin"

Remember in the run-up to Spectre when we were told, without question, that Christoph Waltz definitely wasn't playing Blofeld? It was so obvious - particularly when it turned out that he had a similar facial injury to the legendary character - that we were being lied to that we all just sort of shrugged it off.

It doesn't QUITE feel like that with No Time To Die, but there's definitely a suggestion that we're being invited to believe that Malek's Safin means more than we're initially being led to believe. After all, the first trailer is - once again - obsessed with the ghosts of the past and secrets. What if that's a meta reference to Dr No's importance to the franchise?

There's a pretty loaded exchange between Bond and Safin in the trailer that was immediately evocative of Dr No too. At one point, he says "History isn’t kind to men who play God,” which almost feels like an update on the most famous exchange between Sean Connery’s Bond and No when the latter reveals his plans:

“World domination – same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they’re Napoleon. Or God."

Again, this is a film written by people drenched in the lore of Bond. They know exactly what they're doing and accusing a villain of playing God is bound to have the audience recalling the other most famous time that happened.

And there's more to Safin too...