Rank the main James Bond villains (films)

Continuing with a new James Bond list, this week we will be ranking the main James Bond villains. Again, Never Say Never Again is eligible to be included with the EON series.

So rank the main James Bond villains according to your personal preference.

Here’s my rankings:

  1. Franz Sanchez – (Robert Davi) – LICENCE TO KILL

  2. Kamal Khan & Orlov – (Louis Jourdan & Steven Berkoff) – OCTOPUSSY

  3. Auric Goldfinger – (Gert Fröbe) – GOLDFINGER

  4. Emilio Largo – (Adolfo Celi) – THUNDERBALL

  5. Karl Stromberg – (Curd Jürgens) – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

  6. Alec “Janus” Trevelyan 006 – (Sean Bean) – GOLDENEYE

  7. Max Zorin – (Christopher Walken) – A VIEW TO A KILL

  8. Ross “Mr. Big” Kananga – (Yaphet Kotto) – LIVE AND LET DIE

  9. Hugo Drax – (Michael Lonsdale) – MOONRAKER

  10. Elliot Carver – (Jonathan Pryce) – TOMORROW NEVER DIES

  11. Julius No – (Joseph Wiseman) – DR. NO

  12. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – (Telly Savalas) – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE

  13. Tan-Sun Moon aka Gustav Graves – (Will Yun Lee aka Toby Stephens) – DIE ANOTHER DAY

  14. Brad Whitaker & Georgi Koskov – (Joe Don Baker & Jeroen Krabbé) – THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

  15. Maximilian Largo – (Klaus Maria Brandauer) – NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

  16. Elektra King – (Sophie Marceau) – THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

  17. Aris Kristatos – (Julian Glover) – FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

  18. Le Chiffre – (Mads Mikkelsen) – CASINO ROYALE

  19. Francisco “Pistols” Scaramanga – (Christopher Lee) – THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

  20. Raoul Silva – (Javier Bardem) – SKYFALL

  21. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – (Donald Pleasence) – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

  22. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – (Charles Gray) – DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

  23. Rosa Klebb – (Lotte Lenya) – FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

  24. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – (Christoph Waltz) – SPECTRE

  25. Dominic Greene – (Mathieu Amalric) – QUANTUM OF SOLACE

  26. Lyutsifer Safin – (Rami Malek) – NO TIME TO DIE

I love Robert Davi’s Franz Sanchez–evil in every way and a physical threat to Bond. I also love Louis Jourdan’s suave Kamal Khan villain and the way he talks. I know I like both Die Another Day’s and The Living Daylights’ villains more than most, but I just enjoy Toby Stephens’ smarmy, over-the-top performance and I find Joe Don Baker’s Brad Whitaker a funny character/guy with some memorable one-liners (“You know, you could have been a live, rich man instead of a poor dead one.” And, “You’ve had your eight, now I’ll have my 80!”)

On the other hand, I don’t seem to like The Man With The Golden Gun and Skyfall’s villains as much as others. Christopher Lee’s Francisco Scaramanga is fine, but he doesn’t do a whole lot. And Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva just keeps going on about M and killing her, but doesn’t really do anything about it. He has her in his sights twice (at the Whitehall meeting and the Skyfall church) and doesn’t pull the trigger.

I also feel bad about ranking Rosa Klebb so low. I like her villain, but she also doesn’t have a lot to do so I think that drags her down in my rankings a bit. But really, the only villain I don’t like is Lyutsifer Safin. He’s very weak. Easily the worst of the series. Actually, looking at my list, the Daniel Craig films really suffer in this department. Three of his villains are at the very bottom of my list and, of the other two, none rank higher than 18th, so hopefully the new Amazon Bond film will improve on the recent villains. Shoot, they can’t do much worse than the last one.

7 Likes

I’ll do my Top 10:

  1. Francisco Paco “Pistols” Scaramanga – (Christopher Lee) – THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (“I only need one (shot)”. :cold_face:)

  2. Dr. Julius No – (Joseph Wiseman) – DR. NO (“East, West, just points of the compass, each as stupid as the other.” :face_with_monocle:)

  3. Auric Goldfinger – (Gert Fröbe) – GOLDFINGER (“I expect you to diiie!” :laughing:)

  4. Ross Kananga/Mr. BIG – (Yaphet Kotto) – LIVE AND LET DIE (“Now, you get ripped off in Detroit, baby, you yell out to me! You hear?!” :grimacing:)

  5. Maximilian Largo – (Klaus Maria Brandauer) – NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (“Monuments to power…we now possess.” :smiling_imp: )

  6. Max Zorin – (Christopher Walken) – A VIEW TO A KILL (“From here on nothing goes down unless I’m involved…” Oops, wrong movie, “I no longer consider myself a KGB agent” :astonished:)

  7. Ernst Stavro Blofeld – (Telly Savalas) – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (“I mean what I say, and I’ll do what I claim.” :scream:)

  8. Franz Sanchez – (Robert Davi) – LICENCE TO KILL (“Remember, you’re only President…for life.” :smirk: )

  9. Kamal Khan & Orlov – (Louis Jourdan & Steven Berkoff) – OCTOPUSSY (“It (The West) has no stomach to risk our atomic reprisals.” :fire:)

  10. Brad Whitaker & Georgi Koskov – (Joe Don Baker & Jeroen Krabbé) – THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (Whitaker: “Lies, spread by my competitors!” :laughing: )

7 Likes

I generally prefer the psychological dark mirrors to Bond who can also have physicality. Sanchez, Silva, Scaramanga, Trevelyan and Blofeld (Savalas).

4 Likes

Silva - his introduction is just so much fun
Goldfinger - also: so much fun in his narcisist devil may care attitude
Stromberg - deliciously superior
Drax - deliciously superior with better bonmots but a bit less threatening
Scaramanga - hey, it’s Lee, so, definitely great
Mr.Big - maliciously delicious and emotional
Blofeld DAF - pure fun
Carver - and we thought he was unreal
Safin - creepily underrated, snake-like and beyond any moral boundaries, very effective, too
Greene - lowkey but wonderfully hateable
Zorin - hey, it’s Walken, so, never enough cowbell
Largo Brandauer - so smug, terrifying in that sweater arms around the neck way
Blofeld Savalas - almost normal in his suck all the attention from the room way
Sanchez - ruthless, but almost too much so
Klebb - really a henchwoman, and strangely needs thick glasses only when asked to look menacing and weird
Graves - smarmy, but almost too much so
Kamal Khan - „Octopussy… Octopussy…“ Nobody but him can say that ridiculous name twice in a row without breaking out into laughter. His slight „s“-slurring adds that particular oomph.
Largo Celi - sees being evil as work and wants to please the boss
Dr.No - still wondering how he manages to button his frock with those hands, but he is unsettlingly crazy
Oberhauser - the usual Waltz
LeChiffre - without those tears a bit bland
Blofeld Pleasance - well, he‘s Pleasance, so that saves him
Kristatos - could also work in a pawn shop
Trevelyan - without those scars he would be run of the mill, too

5 Likes

Thanks for participating, but might I ask where are Brad Whitaker & Georgi Koskov and Elektra King The Living Daylights and The World Is Not Enough villains on your list?

3 Likes

I forgot about them!

Makes one think, maybe.

I would put Whitaker/Koskov above Le Chiffre and Electra above Kristatos. But not higher.

Whitaker/Koskov: both are kind of bumbling idiots, no match for all the other villains but more fun than the guys following on my ranking.

Elektra: yeah, well, okay, she provokes him very well on that chair, but before that she is more mopey than threatening.

6 Likes
  1. Drax
  2. Scaramanga
  3. Blofeld–DAF
  4. Klebb
  5. Oberhauser/Blofeld
  6. Elliot Carver/Kamal Khan/Blofeld–Salvalas/Zorin
  7. All the rest tied, except
    25.Mr. Big
5 Likes
  1. Goldfinger
  2. Hugo Drax
  3. Blofefd DAF
  4. Dr. No
  5. Largo TB
  6. Blofeld YOLT
  7. Stromberg
  8. Scaramanga
  9. Sanchez
  10. Silva
  11. Zorin
  12. LeChiffre
  13. Klebb, not realy the main villian but ok.
  14. Blofeld OHMSS
  15. Kristatos
  16. Kamal Khan
  17. Graves
  18. Mr. Big
  19. Electra King
  20. Blofeld SP
  21. Trevelyan
  22. Largo NSNA
  23. Carver
  24. Koskov
  25. Greene
  26. Safin
3 Likes