The best villains of the insurgent era update the original template of a Bond villain designed by Fleming; megalomaniacal plans, charismatic wit and physical deformity; to the modern cultural context.

The worst represent a failure to update all aspects of Bond to the present.

The Faces of Terror

The villains of Casino Royale and Skyfall, Le Chiffre and Silva respectively, illustrate the growing threat of terrorism gripping the modern world. They have no political affiliation or common goal. Instead, they aim for personal gain and the destruction of their enemies.

Le Chiffre is the most obvious comparison to the real world. He funds terrorists in order to short-sell stocks due to the inevitable economic fallout. His plan is to explode a prototype aircraft at a demonstration and financially gain as the aircraft’s manufacturer goes bankrupt.

This exact situation happened after 9/11. American Airlines stock and United Airlines stock, the two companies that had their planes hijacked, both fell nearly forty percent after the world trade center was destroyed (Davis). The film even implies that Le Chiffre may have funded the terrorists behind these attacks.

Le Chiffre represents the growing fear of global terror. The fear that there is no safety, even in your own home. This fear culminates in the torture of James Bond. Altered from the psychological torture of the novel, the torture in the movie is meant to humiliate and dehumanize Bond. He is stripped naked and bound, while Le Chiffre swings a knotted rope at his scrotum.

The humiliation and vulnerability of Bond in this scene parallels the political fallout of the 9/11 attacks. The strongest nation brought to its knees in one of the greatest tragedies in recorded history. Similarly, the strongest hero is emasculated before our very eyes.

Silva, on the other hand, represents the terror caused by our own government. With the advent of leaked government secrets by the likes of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the global perception of government oversight has trended towards the negative (‘Americans Think’). The far-reaching hand of the law seemed to even reach inside our own homes and secrets.

Silva is a former 00-agent that was presumed dead by the British government, and is presented as an inverse Bond. He is chaos and anarchy. He uses the government’s massive web of information to trap M and Bond. Eventually, he succeeds and kills M.

The beauty of Silva is that he is the actual “Bond” of Skyfall. He follows the villain, Bond, to his secret, hidden lair, the mansion, and accomplishes his mission while holding a dying Bond-girl in his arms. Bond is even given a physical deformity in the inclusion of a scar. Skyfall upends the narrative structure and posits that the government might be the villain. The reversal of roles forces the audience to side against the invasive nature of the government and support the man that wants to dear it down.

These villains are two examples of Fleming’s formula brought to life in the modern day. They represent the culture of the times and are a blast to watch.

Sad Relapses

I will not dwell on the villain in Quantum of Solace, Dominic Greene. The film was a victim of the writer’s strike during 2008. “On ‘Quantum,’ we were fucked,” said Craig. “We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do (Jagernauth).”

To try and draw any substantive conclusions about either the culture or the character at the time would be of little value. Overall, his plan is to create a coup in Bolivia by supplying water after a drought. There is of little note to the series, and many people forget this movie exists.

The final villain is one many people would like to forget. Blofeld’s return to the Bond franchise in Spectre marked a pivotal moment for Insurgent Era Bond. The stripped-down, back-to-basics realism employed by the first few films was being abandoned in favor of the larger than life qualities exemplified by previous era. Blofeld is now the long, lost brother of Bond, and he plans to create a global surveillance network to spy on the world.

This plot had already been visited in Skyfall, so the topicality seemed limited. Blofeld also acts rather boisterous and child-like. Christoph Waltz, the actor that portrayed this version of Blofeld, even expressed his distaste with his performance, stating, ““It was an incredible experience to be part of this postwar cultural phenomenon. Yet I can’t say that I was happy at every step of the process. I feel that there are some loose ends with my engagement (Maher).”

Overall, Craig’s villains are global terrorists in search of personal gain. They lack compassion or loyalty. They represent the fears of the unknown, as well as the fears of the government.