The James Bond novels and films are notable for their memorably despicable villains and henchmen. From Le Chiffre's encounter with Bond in the original Casino Royale novel in 1953 to Colonel Moon/Gustav Graves' assault on the Korean Demilitarized Zone in the 2002 film, Die Another Day, Bond's foes have been one of the most important reasons for the book and film series' continued popularity.
Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers! Plot and/or ending details follow.
Main villains
Official movie villains
Unofficial movie villains
| Film | Villain | Portrayed by |
|---|---|---|
| Casino Royale — 1954 TV episode | Le Chiffre | Peter Lorre |
| Casino Royale — 1967 film | Le Chiffre Dr. Noah/Jimmy Bond |
Orson Welles Woody Allen |
| Never Say Never Again | Maximillian Largo Ernst Stavro Blofeld |
Klaus Maria Brandauer Max von Sydow |
| The Property of a Lady (fanfilm) | Jesper Nunn | |
| Casino Royale | Mr. White | [1] |
| Quantum of Solace | [[Dominic Greene] | Jesper Christensen] |
Novel villains
The following is a list of villains in James Bond novels and short stories that are not featured in any official James Bond film:
Ian Fleming
- Casino Royale - Le Chiffre (the character also appeared in the 2006 film)
- Live and Let Die - Mr. Big (although the film version features a version of the character, the two are very different)
- Diamonds Are Forever - The Spangled Mob a.k.a. Jack and Seraffimo Spang
- From Russia with Love - SMERSH (although SMERSH is mentioned, the villainous group is changed to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. for the film).
- "From a View to a Kill" (short story) - Soviet intelligence
- "For Your Eyes Only" (short story) - Von Hammerstein
- "The Hildebrand Rarity" (short story) - Milton Krest (demoted to henchman for the film Licence to Kill)
- The Spy Who Loved Me - Sol "Horror" Horowitz and "Sluggsy" Morant
- "The Living Daylights" (short story) - "Trigger" (becomes the Bond girl Kara Milovy in the film version
- "The Property of a Lady" (short story) - Russian intelligence
- "Octopussy" (short story) - Maj. Dexter Smythe (the film version features his daughter instead).
Robert Markham (a.k.a. Kingsley Amis)
- Colonel Sun - Col. Sun Liang-tan
John Gardner
- Licence Renewed - Dr. Anton Murik
- For Special Services - S.P.E.C.T.R.E. — Blofeld
- Icebreaker - Count Konrad von Glöda a.k.a. Aarne Tudeer
- Role of Honour - Tamil Rahani, Jay Autem Holy
- Nobody Lives For Ever - Tamil Rahani
- No Deals, Mr. Bond - General Konstantin Nikolaevich Chernov (aka "Blackfriar")
- Scorpius - Vladamir Scorpius a.k.a. Father Valentine
- Win, Lose or Die - BAST — Bassam Baradj
- Brokenclaw - "Brokenclaw" Lee Fu-Chu
- The Man from Barbarossa - General Yevgeny Yuskovich
- Death is Forever - Wolfgang Weisen
- Never Send Flowers - David Dragonpol
- SeaFire - Sir Max Tarn
- COLD - General Brutus Clay
Raymond Benson
- "Blast from the Past" (short story) - Irma Bunt
- Zero Minus Ten - Guy Thackeray
- The Facts of Death - The Decada
- "Midsummer Night's Doom" (short story) - Anton Redenius
- High Time to Kill - Roland Marquis, Le Gerant
- "Live at Five" (short story) - KGB
- Doubleshot - Le Gerant, Domingo Espada
- Never Dream of Dying - Le Gerant, The Union
- The Man with the Red Tattoo - Goro Yoshida
Charlie Higson
- SilverFin - Lord Randolph Hellebore
- Blood Fever - Count Ugo Carnifex
Game villains
The following is a list of original main villains in James Bond computer and video games.
| Game | Villain | Portrayed by |
|---|---|---|
| GoldenEye 007 | Alec Trevelyan | |
| Agent Under Fire | Adrian Malprave | |
| Nightfire | Rafael Drake | Michael Ensign |
| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent | Dr. Julius No | |
| Everything or Nothing | Nikolai Diavolo | Willem Dafoe |
| From Russia with Love | OCTOPUS | |
| The world is not enough (video game) | Renard |
Henchmen
In addition, each Bond villain has numerous henchmen to do their bidding.
In particular, there is usually a privileged member who is a formidable physical threat to Bond and must be defeated by Bond to get the employer. Just how formidable has varied from simply adept and tough fighters like Red Grant to ones whose physical characteristics are seemingly superhuman like Jaws.
Official movie henchmen
- Dr. No
- Professor Dent - played by Anthony Dawson
- Miss Taro - played by Zena Marshall
- Photographer - played by Marguerite LeWars
- Jones - played by Reginald Carter
- From Russia with Love
- Donald "Red" Grant - played by Robert Shaw
- Kronsteen - played by Vladek Sheybal
- Morzeny - played by Walter Gotell
- Krilencu - played by Fred Haggerty
- Goldfinger
- Oddjob - played by Harold Sakata
- Pussy Galore - played by Honor Blackman
- Thunderball
- Vargas - played by Philip Locke
- Count Lippe - played by Guy Doleman
- Fiona Volpe - played by Luciana Paluzzi
- Colonel Jacques Bouvar - played by Rose Alba and Bob Simmons
- Angelo Palazzi - played by: Paul Stassino
- You Only Live Twice
- Mr. Osato - played by Teru Shimada
- Helga Brandt - played by Karin Dor
- Hans (Blofeld's Bodyguard) - played by Ronald Rich
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- Irma Bundt - played by Ilse Steppat
- Diamonds Are Forever
- Mr. Wint - played by Bruce Glover
- Mr. Kidd - played by Putter Smith
- Shady Tree - played by Leonard Barr
- Peter Franks - played by Joe Robinson
- Bert Saxby - played by Bruce Cabot
- Bambi - played by Lola Larson
- Thumper - played by Trina Parks
- Morton Slumber - played by: David Bauer
- Live and Let Die
- Tee Hee - played by Julius W. Harris
- Whisper - played by Earl Jolly Brown
- Baron Samedi - played by Geoffrey Holder
- Adam - played by Tommy Lane
- The Man with the Golden Gun
- Nick Nack - played by Hervé Villechaize
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Jaws - played by Richard Kiel
- Naomi - played by Caroline Munro
- Sandor - played by Milton Reid
- Moonraker
- Jaws - played by Richard Kiel; changed sides, supporting Bond in the takeover of the villain's lair
- Chang - played by Toshirô Suga
- For Your Eyes Only
- Eric Kriegler - played by John Wyman
- Emile Locque - played by Michael Gothard
- Hector Gonzales - played by Stefan Kalipha
- Octopussy
- Gobinda - played by Kabir Bedi
- Mischka - played by David Meyer
- Grischska - played by Anthony Meyer
- General Orlov - played by Steven Berkoff
- A View to a Kill
- May Day - played by Grace Jones; changed sides to aid Bond, sacrificing herself to foil the villain's plan
- Scarpine - played by Patrick Bauchau
- Dr. Carl Mortner - played by Willoughby Gray
- Jenny Flex - played by Alison Doody
- Pan Ho - played by Papillon Soo
- The Living Daylights
- Necros - played by Andreas Wisniewski
- Licence to Kill
- Dario - played by Benicio del Toro
- Milton Krest - played by Anthony Zerbe
- Ed Killifer - played by Everett McGill
- Heller - played by Don Stroud
- Truman-Lodge - played by Anthony Starke
- Joe Butcher - played by Wayne Newton
- GoldenEye
- Gen. Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov - played by Gottfried John
- Boris Grishenko - played by Alan Cumming
- Xenia Onatopp - played by Famke Janssen
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- Mr. Stamper - played by Götz Otto
- Henry Gupta - played by Ricky Jay
- Dr. Kaufman - played by Vincent Schiavelli
- General Chang - played by: Philip Kwok
- The World Is Not Enough
- Gabor - played by John Seru
- Sasha Davidov - played by Ulrich Thomsen
- Mr. Bullion - played by Goldie
- Dr. Mikhail Arkov - played by Jeff Nuttall
- Die Another Day
- Zao - played by Rick Yune
- Mr. Kil - played by Lawrence Makoare
- Miranda Frost - played by Rosamund Pike
Unofficial movie henchmen
- Casino Royale
- Agent Mimi - played by Deborah Kerr
- Vesper Lynd - played by Ursula Andress
- Miss Goodthighs - played by Jacqueline Bisset
- Frau Hoffner - played by Anna Quayle
- Polo - played by Ronnie Corbett
- Le Chiffre's Representative - played by: Vladek Sheyball
- Never Say Never Again
- Fatima Blush - played by Barbara Carrera
- Lippe - played by Pat Roach
Video game henchmen
- Agent Under Fire
- Nigel Bloch
- Carla the Jackal
- Reginald Griffon
- Nightfire
- Armitage Rook
- Makiko Hayashi - voiced by Tamlyn Tomita
- Everything or Nothing
- Katya Nadanova - played by Heidi Klum
- Jean Le Rouge
- Jaws - likeness Richard Kiel
- Arkady Yayakov
- From Russia with Love
- Eva - played by Maria Menounos
Villainous organizations
- SMERSH — "Death to Spies", Bond's original nemesis in the novels, though only briefly mentioned in the films.
- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. — SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion
| James Bond films |
|---|
| Sean Connery Dr. No (1962) • From Russia with Love (1963) • Goldfinger (1964) • Thunderball (1965) • You Only Live Twice (1967) • Diamonds Are Forever (1971) |
| George Lazenby On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) |
| Roger Moore Live and Let Die (1973) • The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) • The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • Moonraker (1979) • For Your Eyes Only (1981) • Octopussy (1983) • A View to a Kill (1985) |
| Timothy Dalton The Living Daylights (1987) • Licence to Kill (1989) |
| Pierce Brosnan GoldenEye (1995) • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) • The World Is Not Enough (1999) • Die Another Day (2002) |
| Daniel Craig Casino Royale (2006) • Quantum of Solace (2008) • Skyfall (2012) • Spectre (2015) • No Time To Die (2021) |
| Unofficial films Casino Royale (1954) • Casino Royale (1967) • Never Say Never Again (1983) |
| All Bond films on Archive |