Film Theory: New Bond Villain Is SECRETLY Dr No

1. Madelaine's Secret

Crucially, No Time To Die's plot is centred around Madelaine Swann and not James Bond's duty to the government. After all, he's a retired agent drawn back in by personal stakes - including helping Felix on whatever mission he would ONLY trust Bond to handle - rather than an employee doing as he's told.

Whatever it is, is personal. The Felix issue is clearly what draws him back to MI6, where he encounters Madelaine again after not seeing her during his retirement (hence his surprise at seeing her working there). From there, he interviews Blofeld to uncover whatever Felix needs to be found out, learns the truth about Madelaine and links it to whatever Safin is doing that has concerned Felix in the first place.

So what's the big secret that will break Bond? Well, what if Madelaine has been a villain all along? What if she DIDN'T turn her back on the life her father had laid out for her and was in fact a deep cover handler for Bond all along? What if she worked for SPECTRE even after her father betrayed them and it was only her genuine love for Bond that made her turn on them too?

That would explain why Blofeld's secret is so devastating and also why she's have been so keen to work for MI6 when Blofeld is in their custody. It would also add something to Felix's anxiety about only trusting Bond - there's an implication there that he has reason to suspect a mole, after all. What if she's there to silence him and protect her secret?

That would still need a link to Safin though.

So perhaps Madelaine actually worked WITH Safin when he was at SPECTRE and he holds the key to her identity as much as Blofeld does. What if she was involved in the punishment that led to his disfigurement? She would have to be a pretty high level SPECTRE agent to be assigned to Bond in the first place, so it's not outside of the realms of possibility that she's on Safin's kill list, particularly when she might have secrets about him that his re-emergence might threaten to expose.

If Felix knows something vague about Safin, that suggests his activity has sparked interest after lying low for years (we would have heard about him already if he wasn't working in the shadows), which means that Safin's self-preservation instincts might be in full flow. And if he has loose ends like Madelaine and Blofeld who need to be eradicated for his own sake, that puts Bond in the firing line too, but in terms of his duty to the country (which counts Blofeld as its most valuable asset) and to Madelaine who he loves despite everything.

Wouldn't that final conflict of country and heart be a fitting end for Craig's Bond?

What do you think? Do you believe this theory? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.