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Who is the most vile Bond villain?
Eon Productions

Who is the most vile Bond villain?

James Bond is one of the greatest heroes in Hollywood history, but he'd be nothing without his villains. Over 24 films, there have been plenty of them. Since debuting on screen in 1962, Bond has fought Spectre, the Soviet Union, drug cartels, evil innovators, crooked generals, double agents, yellow journalists and terrorists. On top of battling the unhinged villainous leaders, there's never a powerful henchman far away in the 007 series either. 

There are many aspects to a great Bond film, but consider the villain and/or the henchmen as one of the most important parts. Here are the greatest villains ranked in 007 history.

 
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56. Professor Dent

Professor Dent
Eon Productions

The first significant Bond villain on screen, Dent is a professional geologist working for Dr. No. Bond accuses him of not being a good geologist when he incorrectly says certain samples are not radioactive, and then Dent is not a good henchmen when he's unable to prevent Bond from finding Crab Key despite possessing a lethal spider which he uses to try to poison 007. Dent can't keep track of the amount of bullets in his gun either. Bond coolly shoots him in a bedroom after Dent has already emptied his gun chamber.

 
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55. Gen. Brad Whitaker

Gen. Brad Whitaker
Eon Productions

As far as generals go, Whitaker (pictured in middle) isn't the brightest. He was expelled from West Point for cheating and then joined the crime world after a short stint as a mercenary in the Belgian Congo. His military uniform and the expertise he appears to show is a simple farce. But it's a compelling one. As an arms dealer on the black market, he controls his own army, wearing a U.S. military uniform. His mansion contains famous war memorabilia, and Bond is highly outmatched in a gun fight against Whitaker's semi-automatic weapon.

 
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54. Erich Kriegler

Erich Kriegler
Eon Productions

Following in the footsteps of Red Grant, Kriegler is one of many blonde-haired, blue-eyed assassins and is the secondary antagonist in "For Your Eyes Only." It's clear the audience is supposed to associate him with Hitler's "master race," as in addition to his personal appearance, Kriegler is a biathlon champion in excellent shape. Bond was fortunate to defeat Kriegler, pushing him out of a window using a candelabra in the film's climatic scene.

 
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53. Tov Kronsteen

Tov Kronsteen
Eon Productions

In "From Russia with Love," Kronsteen never engages in a fight and meets Bond in the flesh, but he's one of the smartest Bond villains of the 1960s. He's the mastermind behind the plan to steal the Lektor from the Russians. When the audience meets Kronsteen, he's engaged in a highly competitive game of chess, which he wins abruptly in one move because Spectre has requested his presence immediately. Of course, Kronsteen still isn't smart enough for Bond. His plan doesn't work, and Blofeld has him poisoned.

 
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52. Dominic Greene

Dominic Greene
Eon Productions

A highly ranked Quantum criminal operative, Greene aims to secure a piece of Bolivia that is rich in natural resources. His cover is as an environmental preservationist, but his organization acquires land and resources to influence the global political landscape. He's not overly physical or scary, but he has a memorable death. Bond promises not to kill Greene if he tells Bond everything he knows about Quantum. Greene does, and 007 doesn't kill him but leaves Greene in the middle of the desert with a can of motor oil. It's revealed at the end of the film Greene was found dead in the desert with two bullets in his head and motor oil in his stomach.

 
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51. Alex Dimitrios

Alex Dimitrios
Eon Productions

His appearance in "Casino Royale" is brief but memorable. Bond really does a number on Dimitrios, first beating him at poker and winning his Aston Martin DB5 in the game. After the win, Bond gives his wife, Solange, a ride to his villa and uses her to find out where Dimitrios is heading next. Instead of sleeping with Solange (pictured in right), Bond leaves and catches up with Dimitrios at the airport. Bond stabs him in the chest, ironically, in the middle of what appears to be a cadavers exhibit. Bond leaves him dead sitting in a chair.

 
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50. Baron Samedi

Baron Samedi
Eon Productions

If he had a bigger part, Baron Samedi could easily be much higher on this list. He's a secondary villain in "Live and Let Die," a henchman for Dr. Kananga who instills fear in his followers to keep people in line. But perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the Baron Samedi is he doesn't succumb to Bond. He's one of the only villains on this list who lives and isn't arrested or captured.

 
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49. Pu$$y Galore

Pu$$y Galore
Eon Productions

Galore is a hard one to rank among villains. If this was a list of Bond girls or greatest characters in the Bond series, Galore would be ranked much higher. Her line where she introduces herself in "Goldfinger" remains one of the most memorable in the series' history, and her help ultimately saves the day for Fort Knox. However, she's not ranked particularly high on this list because she's more of a Bond girl than villain. Galore loses any evilness she possesses when 007 convinces her, with his usual ways of persuasion, to assist his cause. Still, it felt wrong to omit Galore on our list.

 
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48. Gen. Medrano

Gen. Medrano
Eon Productions

Quantum of Solace is the weakest of the first four Bond films starring Daniel Craig, but Gen. Medrano (pictured on left) is one of the highlights. His backstory of raping Camille's mother and sister and murdering her family gives the film a secondary personal revenge storyline. While Bond doesn't complete his act of vengeance, "Quantum of Solace" possesses a satisfying ending with Camille achieving hers.

 
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47. Gen. Orlov

Gen. Orlov
Eon Productions

"Octopūssy" is filled with several different villains and henchmen, which is great on one hand, but it's also hard for any one of them to stick out in the viewer's memory. Gen. Orlov is the maniac mastermind behind the plan to stage an accident on a United States Air Force base in West Germany to force nuclear disarmament throughout Germany. This will give the Soviet Union the ability to roll out its army and invade Eastern Europe. Orlov's plan is a little reminiscent of Blofeld strategy of finagling a way for the U.S. and Soviet Union to fight one another. Orlov doesn't live to see if his plan works, as border guards gun down Orlov while he's trying to jump back onto a train.

 
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46. Dario

Dario
Eon Productions

"License to Kill" has several henchmen, but Dario is the right-hand man in Franz Sanchez's billion-dollar drug enterprise. A brutal psychopath, Dario feeds Felix Leiter to a shark and tries to kill Bond in a grinder. But he should have known better than to take his time with Bond's death. Pam Bouvier arrives just in time to save Bond, knocking Dario down, and Bond then pulls him into the grinder. A brutal villain deserves a brutal death. 

 
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45. Aristotle Kristatos

Aristotle Kristatos
Eon Productions

He isn't as menacing as most of the primary Bond antagonists, but Kristatos' character was innovative as one of the first double agents in the series. Kristatos is a hero in WWII and the Greek Civil War, but when the KGB asks him to obtain the ATAC device, he's easily flipped for a price. On top of that, Kristatos attempts to manipulate Bond into believing his business rival, Columbo, is the true villain. Columbo gets the last laugh, throwing a knife into Kristatos' back to kill him.

 
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44. Necros

Necros
Eon Productions

Bond fans will never look at milkmen the same after watching "The Living Daylights." Necros is the second-in-command under rogue Soviet Union general Georgi Koskov. He disguises himself as the milkman to sneak into a British safe house and stage the kidnapping of Koskov. Necros is great at disguises and is one of the best Bond villains at strangling his foes, usually using a 1980s headset to do so. Necros is unable to do that while fighting Bond on a flying plane, though, and he falls to his death.

 
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43. Mischka and Grischka

Mischka and Grischka
Eon Productions

Mischka and Grischka (one of them pictured on the right) are unique solely because they are twins, but they are also circus knife throwers. In another rare occurrence, "Octopūssy" features a scene with another 00 agent (009) without Bond present on screen. The twins kill 009, which helps the audience feel even more of a dislike for the villainous organization. Bond gets revenge, though, killing both brothers and then saying, "That's for 009."

 
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42. Marco Sciarra

Marco Sciarra
Eon Productions

He dies before the opening titles, but Sciarra sends the plot of "Spectre" in motion, as his funeral eventually leads Bond to Blofeld. His death also leads Bond to his wife, Lucia Sciarra, who is important in the series' history as the first "Bond girl" over the age of 50. Bond's helicopter fight scene with Sciarra is over the top, but it's also one of the best sequences in "Spectre." The scene is memorable also as the first time Bond travels to Mexico.

 
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41. Gen. Koskov

Gen. Koskov
Eon Productions

While Koskov isn't menacing in the classic Bond villain sense, he's extremely deceitful and a true sociopath. Koskov tricks the British into believing he really was defecting and manipulates his girlfriend, Kara, into believing Bond is a bad guy. Then after using her to capture Bond, he's more than willing to order her death. That's after he sets up Kara as a fake sniper during his defection, hoping Bond would shoot her dead. But 007 is too smart and doesn't kill Kara then. Bond saves her from Koskov, who finishes the film captured.

 
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40. Mr. White

Mr. White
Eon Productions

Mr. White is notable for many reasons. He's one of the few villains on this list who appears in multiple Bond movies. Although he does eventual die, 007 doesn't kill him — Mr. White commits sūicide after a conversation with Bond in "Spectre." As it turns out, White was a major player in the Quantum organization and behind a lot of the villainous plots in "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace." His daughter becomes important, as she is Bond's love interest in "Spectre." White's final line before he dies is one of the most memorable of the 007 films in the 21st century: "You're a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr Bond."

 
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39. Tee Hee

Tee Hee
Eon Productions

Early in Bond history, the villains were often unfortunately portrayed with defects — scars, extreme height, dwarfism and missing body parts. There isn't a better example than Tee Hee, who has a metal arm. Tee Hee tells Bond he lost his arm to a crocodile while he sets up 007 in a crocodile pit, one of the more memorable traps in the series' history. Ironically, Tee Hee meets his demise because of his metal arm after Bond cuts two wires in Tee Hee's arm, which traps his hook on the train window. 007 closes the window and throws Tee Hee out it with the arm staying attached. Then Roger Moore delivers one of his classic cheesy puns: "Just being disarming, darling."

 
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38. Gen. Ourumov

Gen. Ourumov
Eon Productions

Presumed to be the primary villain of "Goldeneye," Ourumov served as the leader of the Soviet Union's chemical weapons factory in the opening scene of the film. He survives the explosion and then steals the Goldeneye to set the plot of the film in motion. Russian Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin catches Ourumov and orders his arrest for terrorism, but Ourumov quickly shoots Mishkin with Bond's gun. What commences from that point is one of the most famous chase scenes in Bond history — 007 riding through the streets of St. Petersburg in a tank. Ourumov meets his demise shortly thereafter when Bond kills him to save Natalya.

 
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37. Max Denbigh (C)

Max Denbigh (C)
Eon Productions

C is one of the newest villains in the series, so he's not really old enough to be a classic Bond villain. But he's so dislikable, which has vaulted him ahead of some of the other major villains. C is responsible for the end of the MI6 in "Spectre" and betrays England. His organization orders the death of innocent lives in South Africa just because they voted against his intelligence agreement. But while C accuses M of being a pencil-pusher, it turns out C's inexperience in the field costs him. He tries to use an unloaded gun on M and then after a physical struggle, he falls to his death.

 
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36. May Day

May Day
Eon Productions

May Day is significant for several reasons. Even to this day, there have been few black women in the Bond series, so her presence as an African-American Bond girl remains a major deal. She's also one of the few women portrayed to be as strong as many of the male henchmen. Furthermore, May Day sees the error in her ways and decides to help Bond stop the destruction of Silicon Valley. She's one of the few villains to redeem themselves before death.

 
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35. Nick Nack

Nick Nack
Eon Productions

Continuing the theme of depicting people who are different as villains, Nick Nack stands at 3-foot-11. He acts as the butler, housekeeper and top henchman in Scaramanga's criminal organization. Nick Nack seems innocent, and the heroes don't take him seriously because of his height, but that enables him to catch his enemies by surprise. Bond doesn't fall for it, though, locking Nick Nack in a 4-foot long suit case. The Bond series wasn't exactly sensitive in 1973. In the "Austin Powers" series, Nick Nack helped inspire Doctor Evil's Mini-Me character.

 
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34. Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint

Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint
Eon Productions

Speaking of insensitivity, the creepy "Spectre" sidekicks, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, are controversial today because of their homosexual portrayal. The two characters are originally depicted as gay in the novel "Diamonds Are Forever," and the film showcases them in a similar fashion  painting the pair as more villainous and frightening because they are gay. With the way they act and kill, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint are creepy anyway, but in 2020, they aren't more villainous because they hold hands. If the film had broken away from focusing on their homosexuality, the pair could have been higher on the list.

 
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33. Prince Kamal Khan

Prince Kamal Khan
Eon Productions

Bond travels to India for the first time in 1983's 'Octopūssy," where the exiled Afghan Prince Kamal Khan teams up with Gen. Orlov to stage a nuclear accident at a U.S. base in West Germany. Khan is suave and cool like many of the early Bond villains, and his love for the finer things in life isn't matched by anyone except maybe Bond. Khan's portrayal is the first instance of nostalgia in the series, which has become a vital part of 007 movies in the 21st century. Khan's turtleneck is reminiscent of Dr. No's attire, and Bond's ability to foil his cheating at dice mirrors what 007 did to Goldfinger by the pool two decades prior.

 
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32. Irma Bunt

Irma Bunt
Eon Productions

Other than Baron Samedi, Bunt is the only other villain in the series to escape home free. The last the viewers see of Bunt is her (and Blofeld's) drive-by shooting attempt at Bond and his new wife, Tracy. She missed Bond but kills Tracy, leaving 007 heartbroken. Yes, Bunt is responsible for keeping Bond a bachelor. For the sake of the series (and all of Bond's women), maybe she's actually a hero?

 
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31. Karl Stromberg

Karl Stromberg
Eon Productions

"The Spy Who Loved Me" is widely regarded as the strongest of the Bond films starring Roger Moore. The villain of the film, Stromberg, follows the series' antagonist pattern of the time and possesses a little uniqueness as well. Stromberg is aiming to destroy the world with nuclear war, firing a bomb at both the United States and Soviet Union. Just like Blofeld's plan, Stromberg is hoping this strategy will encourage the two countries to destroy each other. After the world ends, Stromberg plans to restart it with the creatures of the sea. How Stromberg plans to survive the nuclear holocaust is unclear, but his admiration for the sea apparently comes from his webbed fingers. Bond rubs it in his face that he doesn't have the characteristics of a normal human hand by offering a handshake during their meeting despite being told Stromberg doesn't like shaking hands. No one said Bond was a nice guy.

 
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30. Renard (Victor Zokas)

Renard (Victor Zokas)
Eon Productions

"The World is Not Enough" begins with Renard as one of the most intimating villains in Bond history. Because he's already been shot in the temple, Renard has lost his sense of touch. This means he feels no pain and while his wounds will kill him, Renard grows stronger every day until he dies. Basically, the Bond series created its own human version of the Terminator. A new more menacing villain emerges in the film, but Renard still holds his own with one of the most unique characteristics in 007 history.

 
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29. Franz Sanchez

Franz Sanchez
Eon Productions

Most villains in the Bond series are after world domination or money. In the drug industry, Sanchez already has that, and "License to Kill" is a truly unique Bond film in that the plot is mostly driven through 007's need for revenge and not his orders from Queen and country. He may already have power, but Sanchez is still extremely ruthless, especially when he comes across anyone in his organization he can't trust. Loyalty is what he seeks, and death always comes to those who betray him even if it hurts his bottom line.

 
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28. Miss Taro

Miss Taro
Eon Productions

The original Bond femme fatale, Miss Taro works as a secretary for the British chief secretary, but she's also a spy for Dr. No. Bond catches her looking through a peephole when he walks out of the chief secretary's office and promptly begins a cat and mouse game with the woman. In a complex scheme for 1962, Bond sets a trap, capturing Miss Taro and then using her bungalow as another trap for Professor Dent. Of course, 007 sleeps with Miss Taro first.

 
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27. Helga Brandt

Helga Brandt
Eon Productions

Officially No. 11 inside the "Spectre" organization, Brandt is one of the most famous Bond femme fatals in the 1960s. She is an expert torturer and plans to use her skills on a captured Bond, but 007 seduces her and convinces Brandt to help him. However, in the next scene, Brandt leaves 007 trapped in an exploding plane, double-crossing the spy. Apparently, Bond isn't the only one who believes in "sex for dinner, death for breakfast." Of course, Bond escapes the exploding plane, and Brandt pays for her failure with her life. She has a memorable death, falling into a river of piranhas.

 
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26. Zao

Zao
Eon Productions

The Pierce Brosnan Bond era featured several great second-in-command villains, including Zao in "Die Another Day." Because of the battle in the opening scene, Zao's face is left scarred, leaving diamond pieces engraved in the right side of it. Zao also loses his hair through the gene therapy he undergoes. Bond's thirst to find Zao drives the plot in "Die Another Day" and leads the film to the love it or hate it ice palace. It's memorable to say the least. So is Zao and Bond's car chase, ending with Zao dying via an ice chandelier to the face.

 
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25. Gobinda

Gobinda
Eon Productions

One of the most underrated henchmen in the series, Gobinda is the best villain in the antagonist ensemble of "Octopūssy." He doesn't say much, but he's an imposing force on screen. Gobinda possesses a strong liking for antique weapons and is loyal to his master, Prince Kamal, to a fault. That turns out to be his downfall, as Kamal orders him to fight Bond on top of a plane. Gobinda falls to his death during the fight scene.

 
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24. Fiona Volpe

Fiona Volpe
Eon Productions

Two years before Brandt, Volpe, who also has red hair, works as a criminal operative for Spectre. She seduces Maj. Francois Derval in the organization's master plan to steal two atomic bombs and use them for blackmail. When Bond is hot on their trail, Volpe is deployed to seduce him as well, sneaking into his hotel room to take a bath. After sleeping together, Volpe leads 007 into a trap at the Junkanoo night parade, but while dancing together, Bond uses her as a human shield, and the other Spectre agents mistakenly shoot Volpe dead in the back.

 
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23. Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga

Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga
Eon Productions

Dr. Kananga is one of the most mischievous early villains of the series. He doubles as two different criminal kingpins — Mr. Big, who runs a chain of restaurants in New York City and New Orleans, and Dr. Kananga, who is an unelected dictator of the fictional Caribbean Island of San Monique. It all works as a front to sell heroin in the United States. Kananga has one of the most famous demises among the early villains, dying via a swallowed gas pallet, which causes him to inflate and explode. Bond finishes the scene with a great cheesy quip: "He always did have an inflated opinion of himself."

 
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22. Elliot Carver

Elliot Carver
Eon Productions

Just like Blofeld, Carver is trying to start a war between two countries, but Carver differs slightly in that the world domination he seeks is in the media world. Carver gives journalists a bad name, as he not only exaggerates the news but literally creates his own crime headlines, which is how he obtains the scoop before anyone else. Often compared to Rupert Murdoch, Carver is a lesson in the abuse of media power, and he's as elegant and psychotic as any of the classic Bond villains. Carver hires some of the most vicious torturers and orders the killing of his own wife.

 
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21. Boris Grishenko

Boris Grishenko
Eon Productions

One of the most memorable sidekick villains in the modern era of the series, Boris isn't intimating, but he's extremely smart and turns on his fellow Severnaya technicians when he helps Gen. Ourumov steal the Goldeneye. Boris becomes the top cyber-terrorist in Alec Trevelyan's plan for revenge against London. But Natalya outduels him in computer programming, foiling the organization's entire plan. Boris still gets points, though, for his memory lines of "Better luck next time, slugheads," and "I'm invincible." He says the last line before getting covered in nitrogen, freezing to death.

 
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20. Mr. Hinx

Mr. Hinx
Eon Productions

He hasn't been in the series long enough to become a classic henchman, but Mr. Hinx is the more modern and realistic version of Jaws. Standing at 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, he's a mammoth of a man and proves his loyalty to Quantum by gouging the eyes out of a man with his thumbs. Mr. Hinx is hot on Bond's tail throughout "Spectre," and they finally meet in a speeding train where they engage in a brutal hand-to-hand battle. 007 barely defeats him, and Mr. Hinx mutters just one word — the only one he says in the entire movie — prior to his death, "S**t."

 
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19. Gustav Graves/Col. Tan-Sun Moon

Gustav Graves/Col. Tan-Sun Moon
Eon Productions

The gene therapy Graves undergoes to change his race from Korean to Western European is odd, but it's also a clever way to convey the idea that terrorism comes in all kinds of faces. Setting race aside, Graves is a legit tough guy and gets most of his charm from the wealth and gadgets he deploys — fancy cars, ice palace, and then finally Icarus, a laser beam weapon in space. He also doesn't need sleep, which is very cool. Graves and Bond engage in a memorable fencing duel and meet in a final battle while flying on a military airplane. Bond electrocutes Graves and pushes him into one of the jet's engines to kill him.

 
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18. Hugo Drax

Hugo Drax
Eon Productions

"Moonraker" falls apart in the final 30 minutes, but Drax is a great villain. A billionaire living in California, Drax Industries constructs space shuttles. He launches several of them into space filled with a superior race of humans. Similar to the 1960s villains, Drax plans to destroy the human race (with nuclear destruction in the novel, and chemical weapons in the film) once the Earth is safe again, his organization will repopulate the world with his superior race. Clearly, Drax is extremely psychotic and yet possesses a calmness similar to Carver. Bond kills him with a dart to the heart and, fittingly, pushes him out into space.

 
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17. Mr. Stamper

Mr. Stamper
Eon Productions

One of the most memorable henchmen of the modern era in the series, Mr. Stamper is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed second-in-command who was popular through the first three decades of the Bond films. Stamper's brute strength and lack of pity make him an even better villain than his boss. Stamper continues to attack Bond even after his boss dies because things are personal between him and 007. But he probably should have backed off, as Bond traps Stamper underneath a missile, and he's vaporized when the missile explodes but doesn't fire.

 
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16. Rosa Klebb

Rosa Klebb
Eon Productions

The first real villainous female of the series, Klebb is also significant because she's the first instance of betrayal in the series. She works as a double agent for Spectre, posing as a member of the Soviet Union, and orders USSR agent Tatiana Romanova to lure Bond into giving her the Lektor. When the plan doesn't work, Klebb attacks Bond with a poisonous knife sticking out of her shoe during one of the final scenes. Her death is also an early instance where the series breaks away from the damsel in distress motif, as Romanova actually shoots her dead, saving Bond. But 007 still steals the scene with this line after Klebb's death: "She's had her kicks."

 
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15. Miranda Frost

Miranda Frost
Eon Productions

As great as Graves and Zao are in "Die Another Day," Frost is at another level of villainy. She works for the British government after retiring as an Olympic fencer, but she's a double agent, actually in cahoots with Graves. Rosamund Pike, who also stars in "Gone Girl," plays an excellent villain, and she does it to perfection in the Frost character. She sleeps with Bond to ensure his gun is empty before he finds Graves, and then she leaves Jinx to drown in the ice palace. But in the final battle scene, she doesn't prove to be the superior fencer.

 
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14. Xenia Onatopp

Xenia Onatopp
Eon Productions

There are so many wonderful aspects of "Goldeneye," and yet Xenia still stands out. She's every bit as manipulative as Volpe and Brandt, who debuted 30 years before her, but Xenia is unique in that she strangles the men she sleeps with during sex. She's sexy and freaky, which is just a lethal combination. Fittingly, she's squeezed to death herself when she's attached by a rope to a helicopter that's struggling to stay in the air. She can't reel herself in or detach the rope from her body because it's trapped in a tree. Xenia essentially strangles herself.

 
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13. Red Grant

Red Grant
Eon Productions

Beginning the trend of blond-haired, blue-eyed assassins, Red Grant is arguably the most influential henchman in the series. While future villain sidekicks have become stronger, smarter and more menacing, many of them were created with him in mind. Grant is a physical specimen for 1963. He captures Bond and his dialogue with 007 is arguably the best scene of "From Russia with Love." Too bad he's unaware of Bond's latest gadget, which blows up in his face to give 007 enough time to wiggle free. Even in perfect condition, Grant can't defeat Bond in hand-to-hand combat. 007 first stabs him and then strangles Grant with his own garrote.

 
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12. Elektra King

Elektra King
Eon Productions

Suffering from a bad case of Stockholm syndrome, King becomes the ultimate villain of "The World is Not Enough" when it's revealed the plan to destroy Istanbul is all for her family's pipeline. Like so many other femme fatales, King sleeps with Bond to gain his trust, but she's revolutionary to the series as the first main female antagonist. Her betrayal to Bond is the first of many from the women in the series starting in 1999. King is beautiful, smart and cunning, which is just a lethal combination.

 
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11. Max Zorin

Max Zorin
Eon Productions

There are plenty of psychotic villains in the Bond series, but Zorin is officially labeled as one. About midway through "A View to a Kill," the story reveals Zorin is the product of a Nazi medical experiment during WWII where Hitler injected pregnant women with massive quantities of steroids in an attempt to create super children, and Zorin is super intelligent but also insane. Since he's from German descent, Zorin follows the pattern of blond hair and blue eyes, but he's the most memorable main antagonist with those physical features. Zorin ends his affiliation with the KGB and enters the microchip market and then devises his own scheme to cause a super earthquake in San Francisco to destroy his American competition in Silicon Valley. As a lot of Bond villains do, he falls to his death, but Zorin dies falling from the Golden Gate Bridge.

 
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10. Francisco Scaramanga

Francisco Scaramanga
Eon Productions

Despite possessing several classic early Bond tropes, "The Man with the Golden Gun" hasn't aged well for several reasons. Watching it today, though, Scaramanga is still one of the highlights of the film and remains one of the best villains in the series. Played beautifully by Christopher Lee, Scaramanga is an assassin for hire who can kill anyone with one golden bullet. He costs an astonishing $1 million to hire, but maybe the most memorable (and ridiculous) characteristic about him is his third nipple. Scaramanga kills his girlfriend after she sleeps with Bond, but all the villain really wants with 007 is to defeat him in a duel. So he lures Bond to his private island, where he explains over lunch how he and 007 are virtually the same except that he lives lavishly because he doesn't work for peanuts as Bond does. Too bad his golden gun can't beat 007's Walther PPK.

 
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9. Dr. Julius No

Dr. Julius No
Eon Productions

The first main villain of the series, Dr. No is naturally the inspiration for future Bond villains. He's the first to seek global domination, which is a central theme among all the villains in the first two decades of the series. Dr. No is a brilliant scientist who most notably has prosthetic hands. He plans to sabotage the U.S. Project Mercury spaceflight program for Spectre. Before he does, he shows off his $1 million giant aquarium, which is a magnificent spectacle for 1962. This is the beginning of the Bond villains possessing unusual and expensive equipment or merchandise. Dr. No's prosthetic hands lead to his demise. Bond pushes him into reactor coolant, and he can't climb out.

 
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8. Le Chiffre

Le Chiffre
Eon Productions

After the release of the next three films following "Casino Royale," it's revealed that Le Chiffre is a smaller pond in the giant Quantum crime organization and takes orders from Blofeld. Even though he's not technically in charge, Le Chiffre remains one of the best villains of the series. Fans of the novels remember him as the first villain of the entire series ("Casino Royale" was the first book). In the film, Le Chiffre first defeats Bond at poker, but when 007 buys back in, he doesn't make the same mistake, and Le Chiffre loses millions. He needs the money badly after Bond ruined his investment earlier in the plot, and unable to win it back legally, Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond and his lover interest, Vesper, and ties 007 to an open chair while naked. The torture that ensues explains why Bond can't have any kids. But in the same scene, a mysterious man comes into the room and shoots Le Chiffre in the head. The audience later learns that man is Mr. White. 

 
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7. Alec Trevelyan

Alec Trevelyan
Eon Productions

After the end of the Cold War, there wasn't another Bond film for six years. There were questions of whether 007 was still relevant in the modern age. But the series returned arguably better than ever in "Goldeneye," and Trevelyan's storyline was a major reason the film worked so well. The western world's rival with the Soviet Union may be gone, but in the 21st century, the Bond series' villains are often rogue agents or former good people gone bad. That theme kicked off with Trevelyan, who began as 006 at the start of "Goldeneye." Coupled with Xenia and Boris, Trevelyan, also known as Janis, nearly erases all electrical records in London. Bond is there, though, to stop his former friend.

 
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6. Emilio Largo

Emilio Largo
Eon Productions

Similar to Le Chiffre, Largo doesn't really pull all the strings because he's No. 2 in the Spectre crime organization. But there are only a couple of scenes where Blofeld is present, and his face isn't revealed until the next film, so Largo is the primary villain in "Thunderball." Largo helped set a precedent for calm and cool antagonists in the Bond series. He has a giant private villa, as many Bond villains do, and he's the first antagonist of many in the series who loves sharks. Although he's portrayed to be in his 60s, Largo has a young girlfriend, Domino, who is another popular Bond trope that largely began with him (and Goldfinger). Largo's master plan is also classic Bond, as he steals a nuclear bomb to blackmail the United States. But he meets his demise when Domino shoots a spear in his back.

 
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5. Raoul Silva

Raoul Silva
Eon Productions

"Skyfall" is just about the perfect modern-day Bond film, and Silva's a major reason for the film's success. Through his character, the series continued its recent theme of betrayal, but it was actually M who technically turned her back on Silva while he was one of her agents. Since her betrayal, Silva has built a terrorist empire and to continue with the theme of Bond villains possessing a physical deficiency, Silva reveals his face is disfigured when he takes out his false teeth. While Silva is a lethal terrorist, rigging elections and manipulating the stock market, by the time Bond meets him, like Trevelyan, another former British agent, Silva's main objective is revenge — killing M. He succeeds, but 007 also kills him in the process.

 
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4. Oddjob

Oddjob
Eon Productions

One of the best villain sidekicks in Hollywood history, Oddjob is under 6-feet tall but is a stout 280 pounds. No wonder the brick 007 throws at him just bounces off his chest. Oddjob also has a lethal top hat, which he throws like a frisbee as his primary weapon. Oddjob is responsible for Jill Masterson's death, painting her body gold and suffocating her skin. Even when Bond gets the better of him during the golf game, Oddjob comes across as intimidating by crushing a golf ball with his bare hand.He's practically an invincible bodyguard, but fortunately for Bond, he sees an opportunity to grab a couple of severed electrical cables and electrifies Oddjob through his hat.

 
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3. Jaws

Jaws
Eon Productions

Just barely edging Oddjob, Jaws is our highest-ranked villain sidekick. He's one of just a handful of antagonists who are shown in multiple Bond movies. With the film "Jaws" becoming a blockbuster in 1975, the 007 series created its own shark-like human. Jaws stands over 7-feet tall and is more than 300 pounds. During a couple of the fight scenes with Bond, it's clear Jaws could "palm" 007's head like Shaq "palmed" a basketball. On top of that, Jaws has a steel set of teeth that can bite through any rope with just a nibble on a bite on a person's neck results in death. Jaws was such a popular character, he returned for a second time in "Moonraker" after his debut in "The Spy Who Loved Me." Just like Mr. Hinx, Jaws mutters only one sentence the entire time he's on-screen in two films, and it's during his final scene.

 
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2. Auric Goldfinger

Auric Goldfinger
Eon Productions

He has a real argument to take the No. 1 spot on our list. Goldfinger is not only an iconic Bond villain, but in 2003, the American Film Institute also voted him as the No. 49th greatest villain in Hollywood history.  Everything about him screams classic Bond. He's the wealthy old man, which so many of the villains are in the series. Goldfinger participates in all kinds of illegal schemes — everything from cheating his gin partner out of a few thousand bucks by the pool to gold smuggling. He possesses a laser beam too, which helps create perhaps the greatest scene in Bond history. But Goldfinger's greatest scheme yet is called Operation Grandslam. Instead of stealing the gold from Fort Knox, his plan is to make it radioactive and unusable for 58 years, multiplying the price of his gold by at least 10. If Goldfinger had succeeded, the gold at Fort Knox would have been radioactive until 2022.

 
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1. Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Eon Productions

"It was all me, James. It's always been me. The author of all your pain."

As great as Goldfinger is as a villain, it's hard to usurp Blofeld from the top spot. He doesn't become the primary villain of the series until the fifth film, "You Only Live Twice," but he operates behind the scenes in three of the first four movies prior to that. Then Blofeld is the primary antagonist in "You Only Live Twice," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Diamonds Are Forever." He returns to haunt 007 again in the 21st century, as he is behind the scenes in "Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace" and "Skyfall," but he comes to the forefront in "Spectre" and returned in "No Time to Die." In "Spectre," Blofeld reveals that he and Bond grew up as stepbrothers after 007's parents died. This gave the two men an even stronger connection. There are great Bond films without Blofeld as the villain, but new fans can't be introduced into the series without first watching the Bond-Blofeld rival play out in the 1960s and '70s then again during the Daniel Craig era.

Dave Holcomb began working as a sports writer in 2013 after graduating from Syracuse University. Over the past six years, he has covered the NFL, NHL, MLB, fantasy sports, college football and basketball, and New Jersey high school sports for numerous print and online publications. Follow Holcomb on Twitter at @dmholcomb.

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