James Bond: 8 Movies You Need To See To Understand Spectre

8. Skyfall

Skyfall may be kind of a strange choice for this list. SPECTRE is never mentioned in the film and there's no obvious connection to Quantum, the SPECTRE-like organization first glimpsed in Casino Royale (and named in Quantum Of Solace). But there is a link - in one of the trailers for Spectre, Moneypenny gives Bond what they recovered from Skyfall, which seems to lead him onto SPECTRE's path. It's also suggested that Waltz's character, Franz Oberhauser, has a personal connection with Bond; the Octopussy short story had a background character named Hannes Oberhauser who helped out a younger 007. So it seems like Bond and Franz Oberhauser may have been brothers of a sort. How much of a role Skyfall will play in Spectre remains to be seen. In the books, SPECTRE employed members drawn from the likes of SMERSH, the Gestapo, and the mafia, among others. A modern version of SPECTRE might use former intelligence operatives, so Silva, the film's villain, may have had an involvement with them. Regardless, as Spectre promises to delve a bit more into Bond's past, and as Sam Mendes directed both movies, it stands to reason that Skyfall will have more than a passing connection to the upcoming film.