There are a few defining hallmarks of James Bond villains. They’re usually a megalomaniac bent on world domination or something equally diabolical, they usually have a loyal henchman at their side, and they usually have a secret lair that 007 has to infiltrate and destroy in the big finale.
And on top of all that, they tend to have a quirk that makes them unique, whether it’s a personality trait like an obsession with gold or a physical attribute like a pair of metal hands.
10 Emilio Largo’s Eyepatch (Thunderball)
Emilio Largo, the industrialist with ties to SPECTRE who terrorizes 007 in Thunderball, isn’t a particularly memorable Bond villain. In fact, the movie as a whole is generally considered one of the weaker entries in the Sean Connery era of the franchise.
But Largo certainly has the right look for the part. Eyepatches are commonly associated with pirates and Nick Fury, but it’s also a classic villain trait.
9 Safin’s Mask (No Time To Die)
Like all Bond movies, No Time to Die begins with an action-packed pre-title sequence. But before that, there’s a prologue filling in the backstory of both returning Bond girl Dr. Madeleine Swann and the villainous Lyutsifer Safin. Safin arrives at Madeleine’s family’s isolated cabin in the snow and tries to kill her. His creepy mask makes this sinister prologue play like a slasher movie, complete with a couple of jump scares.
Later in the movie, the cracked mask becomes a symbol of Safin’s menace. He books a therapy session with Madeleine, then gives her the broken mask to remind her that he’s the assassin who attacked her (and then saved her) as a child.
8 Scaramanga’s Third Nipple (The Man With The Golden Gun)
Giving Scaramanga a third nipple was an odd choice, but it’s certainly memorable. On the whole, Scaramanga is one of the best-characterized Bond villains. He’s the anti-Bond: a similarly skilled assassin who wants to kill 007 purely so he can prove he’s the best.
His extra nipple has nothing to do with that, but it’s the first thing that’s introduced about the character. It’s seen in closeup as he sunbathes shirtless on the beach before Nick Nack sends a killer after him to keep him on his toes.
7 Xenia Onatopp’s Lust Murders (GoldenEye)
Pierce Brosnan’s Bond faced one of the series’ all-time greatest villains in his first on-screen outing, GoldenEye. Alec Trevelyan is a fellow 00 agent who’s presumed dead after turning his back on MI6. As memorable as Trevelyan is, he doesn’t have a unique quirk.
That honor goes to GoldenEye’s secondary villain, Xenia Onatopp, played by Famke Janssen. Onatopp is a femme fatale in the most literal sense as she derives pleasure from crushing men to death with her thighs during sex.
6 Oddjob’s Bowler Hat (Goldfinger)
While the most memorable villain in Goldfinger is Goldfinger himself, he has one of the Bond franchise’s most iconic henchmen – Oddjob, played by strapping Olympic weightlifter Harold Sakata – to back him up.
Oddjob wears a deadly bowler hat with a chakram stashed in the brim. He demonstrates how deadly it is by decapitating a statue.
5 Dr. No’s Metal Hands (Dr. No)
Joseph Wiseman plays the titular villain in the first Bond movie, Dr. No, with a haunting calmness. His performance set a high bar for every Bond villain actor that followed.
The most notable thing about Dr. Julius No is his chilling personality, but he’s also memorable for his metal hands. These metal hands lead to his ironic demise, as they prevent him from climbing out of his own diabolical contraption in the finale.
4 Renard’s Inability To Feel Pain (The World Is Not Enough)
There’s a unique villain gambit in The World is Not Enough. Bond is hired to protect a wealthy heiress, Elektra King, from the most wanted terrorist in the world – Renard, played by Robert Carlyle – who’s supposedly targeting her. The climactic twist reveals that Elektra has been in cahoots with Renard all along.
Renard, a KGB agent-turned-international terrorist, is characterized by his inability to feel pain. It’s an interesting concept that makes him uniquely inhuman, although the script doesn’t do much with it.
3 Jaws’ Jaws (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Portrayed by Richard Kiel, Jaws is arguably the most iconic henchman in the Bond canon. Henchmen are rarely brought back for a second appearance, but Jaws proved to be such a fan-favorite gem in The Spy Who Loved Me that he was brought back in Moonraker.
Jaws’ namesake metal jaws can bite through anything, including a ski lift cable. In the climax of The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws is dropped into a big water tank with a shark and he’s the one who takes a bite out of the shark, not the other way around.
2 Blofeld’s White Persian Cat (You Only Live Twice)
Bond’s arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, is always seen ominously stroking his white Persian cat, adding a shocking casualness to his evil. This iconic image has since become the quintessential portrayal of a scheming megalomaniac.
It also allowed the filmmakers to identify Blofeld on-screen without showing his face. He was teased as the big bad of SPECTRE in From Russia with Love and Thunderball before the big reveal. Thanks to the Persian cat, the Bond producers didn’t have to show Blofeld’s face until You Only Live Twice.
1 Auric Goldfinger’s Obsession With Gold (Goldfinger)
Gert Fröbe’s iconic eponymous villain in Goldfinger, whose full name is Auric Goldfinger, is defined by his obsession with gold. This personality trait is even referenced in Shirley Bassey’s theme song: “He loves only gold.”
Goldfinger is a rare example of a Bond villain whose nefarious plan is tied to their quirk: he wants to destroy all the gold in Fort Knox to increase the value of his own gold.
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