Ranking EVERY James Bond Henchman From Worst To Best

As Le Chiffre's foxy fling, you could be forgiven for expecting Valenka to fall into the "must not outshine Mads Mikkelsen" school of henchmen, but that's not quite the case.

In fact, Valenka brings 007 closer to death than perhaps he's ever been throughout the entire 24-film (and counting) saga. It's her that spikes his cocktail at Le Chiffre's behest with a deadly dose of digitalis before melting away into an opulent casino backdrop. A dastardly move, but Le Chiffre doesn't care. He'll use any means at his disposal to knock Bond out of the picture.

Valenka's happy to oblige, and what's the result? The immortal 007, a figure we'd only ever known as suave, confident, perpetually in control, ends up staggering and sweating away from the mission at death's door.

It's only thanks to MI6 coaching his every move from afar and the convenient appearance of Vesper Lynd that a longstanding truth is hammered home: for James Bond, there's no time to die, even if Valenka arguably came closer than anyone to finally getting it done.

Of course, she's also a quivering wreck as she nearly gets her arm chopped off by Obanno. A reasonable reaction? Certainly, but can you imagine Xenia Onatopp reacting the same way? Definitely not.