All I know about the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, is what I read on EW.com, but something has me worried: the name of the new villain, played by Mathieu Amalric: Monsieur Greene. Ooh, scary! What happened to the tradition of giving the big Bond bad a cool name, like Dr. No, Le Chiffre, Ernst Stavros Blofeld, Francisco Scaramanga, and, my favorite, Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe, pictured with Sean Connery’s Bond)?
All in all, Mr. Vert is going to have a hard time matching up to my man Auric in the coolest-Bond-villain-ever competition. First of all, Goldfinger has built an entire lifetime of wickedness around the pursuit of a commodity that happens to appear in his last name. (What is Monsieur Greene going to do, destroy America’s stock of lettuce?) And Goldfinger has by the far the best murderous assistant in any of the movies: Oddjob (if only for the razor-Frisbee derby). Plus, even though Bond could outcheat him in golf, Goldfinger could nearly match 007 in a zinger-off. (”Do you expect me to talk?” "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.")
But that’s just me. Who’s your favorite Bond villain of all time? Name your nominee(s) in the comments section below, and be sure to state your reasons why. The most convincing answers may appear in an upcoming EW.com gallery!
More on James Bond, ‘Quantum of Solace’:
Visit EW.com’s James Bond HQ (it’s awesome!)
Read Lisa Schwarzbaum’s ‘Quantum of Solace’ review
Read EW’s current cover story on ‘Quantum of Solace’ (featuring exclusive pics!)
Listen to EW’s movie critics talk 007
James Bond: The Spy Who Raised Me
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Do we know that Mr. Greene is the guy’s actual name? I mean it can’t be a coincidence that the bad guy at the very end of the last one was called Mr. White.
Loved Christopher Walken’s “Max Zoran” and Grace Jones’ “Mae Dey” from “A View to a Kill”. Christopher Walken never dissapoints, and I loved the scene where Mae Dey picked up a member of the KGB and tossed him across a row of bleachers.
I’m partial to Hugo Drax in MOONRAKER.
I also pick Zoran from “A View to a Kill” because Chris Walken was such a nut job.
ROSA. KLEBB.
Goldfinger is definitely my favorite. My friend loves Oddjob so much she named her car after him. Second would probably be Max Zoran because he was such a wacko. “A View to a Kill” might be the weirdest Bond movie ever.
I know he’s not a “primary” villian but Jaws was pretty menacing in “The Spy Who Loved Me” (he’s probably remembered more for the comedic relief role in “Moonraker”). But he was a great villian in “Spy” – he killed a friggin’ shark with his metal bite! Sure, other villians Bond faced may have been smarter but Jaws? I wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley….
Auric Goldfinger, of course.
“James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”
I might add that to my knowledge, Goldfinger is the only Bond arch villian to be parodied (e.g. Goldmember).
Gotta be Dr. Kanaga from Live and Let Die. He was a dual personality, gator-feeding, voodoo-practicing, Cadillac-driving maniac with both a secret island cave and a seat at the UN in NYC! Oh yeah – as far as parodies go, Austin Power’s Dr. Evil character was based on Blofeld . . .
Um, Dr. Evil was a complete parody of Blofeld and in the first Austin Powers movies one of the henchmen was named Random Task, an obvious play on Odd Job
Dr. No, in addition to a great name, must also get credit for the steel karate hand. He is really the only “primary” villain who tries to take on Bond personally rather than through hired help. Kananga in Live and Let Die does go after Bond with a knife and he gets the best death; inflated with compressed air and popped like a balloon.
I think we are forgetting 006, Alec Trevelyan. He was a true adversary who knew Bond from the bottom up. He was smart, capable, and just as quick with a snide remark. Hes one of my personal favorites, probably because Goldeneye was the first Bond film I saw in theaters
What about agent 006, Alec Trevelyan. This was a man who bond not only befriended, but sought vengence for his death in Goldeneye against General Auromov. Come to find out, Trevelyan had been plotting and leading a double life for years. And, Trevelyan dueled Bond to the death hanging hundreds of feet above the ground, until Bond dropped him to his death….not for England, but for himself.
Sean Bean as Alec is brilliant. He does more than the average Bond villain because he challenges every facet of the Bond we know. He’s witty enough that you can like and hate him. That’s good writing, but it’s also good acting…plus he’s not unattractive.
blofeld, he was in multiple bond movies, inspired the character of dr.evil, and he KILLED bond’s wife.
Blofeld…he killed Tracy Bond, James’ wife. The only woman he truly loved.
Xenia Onatopp. (GoldenEye) A ridiculous name (in the tradition of Bond villains), but there was nothing funny about this henchwoman’s deadly methods! Pierce Brosnan reinvigorated James Bond in 1995, and Famke Janssen made the ladies memorable again.
Xenia Onatopp (Goldeneye).
Okay, Dalton was the lamest Bond ever, but I really dug Franz Sanchez and his henchman Dario from License to Kill.
The best bond guy happens to also be the best bond girl: Xenia Onatopp!!! She is like Tricia Helfer’s BSG character but even deadlier with her sexuality. A star was born with Famke Jannsen’s impeccable performance.
One Bond villain was named to AFI’s Greatest Villains List. Therefore, only one Bond villain can truly claim the title of Best Bond Villain:
Goldfinger, Auric Goldfinger.
SCARAMANGA! lol and i love nick nack! he’s awesome.
Grant.
If you have to ask, you’re not sharp enough.
MAYDAY from “A view to a kill” was the best villain EVER!!
Le Chiffre. He bleeds blood. That is terrifying. Who can compare to that? No one.
The Absolute BEST – Auric Goldfinger & Oddjob and Rosa Klebb & Grant. Unfortunately, this would probably NEVER happen due to copyright issues but I would LOVE to see Bond combat these classic fictional villains – Cobra Commander, Doctor Doom, Red Skull, Ra’s Al Ghul, Lex Luthor, and Hannibal Lector. I’m surprised there hasn’t been (Especially in Novel Format) a story featuring Bond battling Osama Bin Laden & Al Queda – but I guess it would be too controversial. Bond BEATING the crap out of Bin Laden would be a best seller. Maybe I should start writing the manuscript, hmmm. Oh well, I can’t wait for “Qauntum of Solace”, at least EW gave it a B.
Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me really freaked me out when I was kid. It’s just hard to forget how he killed a man and a shark with his teeth. Why, he could bite through chains with his stainless steel teeth!
Hey Molly, I bleed blood, too. So, I suspect, do you. It’s terrifying for me, to be sure, but for others? Not so much. (BTW, I know what you meant to say.)
For the record, Auric Goldfinger actually contains two references to gold. Auric is derived from the Latin for gold and means “of or pertaining to gold.” This obviously means he wants gold twice as much as you initially thought.
Jaws was great, and the only Bond villain to appear in more than one film (Spy Who Loved Me & Moonraker). What’s more menacing than a 7-foot tall mercenery who kills people with his steel teeth? Remember when he was spying on Bond as a Mardi Gras clown in “Moonraker”? Pretty terrifying.