The Top 10 Best Bond Villains
5. Auric Goldfinger- Goldfinger
Now, I love the film Goldfinger. It gets about as “Bond” as you can. However, when it comes to Bond villains dastardly plans, irradiating all the gold in Fort Knox is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. What exactly are you going to do with radioactive gold? Roll around in it until you lose your hands like Dr. No? Still, Auric is a man who knows what he likes and leans into it. He’s obsessed with gold to the point where he murders a woman by painting her with it. I don’t even know how that’s possible! Plus, he has one of the best Bond interactions of all time:
James Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?”
Auric Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”
Goldfinger is a Bond villain MVP, but he’s not the best of all time.
4. Le Chiffre- Casino Royale
Just to be clear, I’m talking about the Mads Mikkelsen version of the character, because, well, Mads is just incredible at everything. Perhaps one of the worst Bond villains of all time, Le Chiffre has no plans for world domination. In fact, he doesn’t give a flying heck about the world. You see, he’s not some crazed terrorist. He’s much, much worse. Le Chiffre is a… BANKER! Now, he’s not quite as evil as say JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs, since he just finances terrorists around the world. Still, he’s a cold and calculating bastard, and the only thing he loves more than a reasonable rate of return is a good game of cards. Don’t expect to see him wearing terrible sunglasses on ESPN though, because he only plays for high stakes.
3. Alec Trevelyan- Goldeneye
It turns out the only thing MI-6 is better at than turning out secret agents is making Bond villains. Alec Trevelyn, played by Sean Bean (whose first and last name are pronounced differently), was the former 006 in her majesty’s secret service. He was an agent just as good as Bond any day of the week, and the two were actually pretty close back when they were on the same side. Thing is, Britain has a habit of doing terrible things (see “all of history” for examples), and Alex had his reasons to despise England and her government. Being a former 006 agent, Alec actually came up with a plan that could have worked. He was going to set off an electromagnetic pulse to cover up the theft of millions of pounds, throwing the economy into chaos. Unfortunately, any character played by Sean Bean usually ends up dead. Alec was doomed right out of casting.
2. Tiago “Raoul Silva” Rodriguez- Skyfall
World domination? Bah, who needs it when you can cling to revenge to keep you warm at night. Bond villains usually have such grandiose plans. Raoul Silva though only wants one thing. To humiliate and kill James Bond’s boss, “M.” Why would he want to kill such a lovely lady? Well, it turns out that Silva used to work for her back in the day, and she traded him to the Chinese for Hong Kong to have a smooth transition from British to Chinese control. Five months in a Chinese prison (and a horrifically failed suicide attempt) would be enough to make anyone dream of revenge, and being one of the best cyber experts that MI-6 ever had meant he had the skills to pull it off. While some might argue that Silva failed in the end, his goals were more or less accomplished, making him one of the few Bond villains to actually succeed.
1. Ernst Stavro Blofeld- Spectre, For Your Eyes Only, Diamonds are Forever, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, Thunderball, From Russia with Love, and Never Say Never Again
When it comes to Bond villains, there’s one guy who signs all the checks. Blofeld is not only the head of SPECTRE but a cat lover as well, making him the single greatest threat James Bond has ever faced. Not only has he been the mastermind behind ill-conceived plan after ill-conceived plan, but it took Bond over 20 movies to actually catch the guy. There might be more dangerous people on this list, but Blofeld is everything you imagine when you close your eyes and imagine the ultimate Bond bad guy. The character had been played by 5 actors from Christoph Waltz to Donald Pleasence and appeared in 8 movies (probably more to come). If he doesn’t deserve the top spot among Bond villains, I’m not sure who does.
There are tons of other Bond villains out there, but these 10 are the best of the best. Don’t agree with me? Let me know who your favorites are! As always, I’ll be updating this list as new and eviler Bond villains hit the silver screen. So, be sure to check back to see how the rankings change in the future!