3 Bond Villians That Could Make A Come-Back

Bond has totally changed from the days of Sean Connery sleuthing around a hidden island or Roger Moore slipping on a banana skin. Now we have the chiselled Daniel Craig, smashing his way through army bases, busy roads and the London underground. We are given a realistic, gritty look at Britain’s greatest action hero. Sometimes, I cannot help but wonder how some of the older villains would cope in this new Bond world. As it happens, there are still a handful of Bond villains hanging around the franchise that could make a comeback. I try and come up with scenarios that could cater for a triumphant return from these characters.

3 – ERNST STARVO BLOFELD

Sure, we could argue Blofeld died in ‘Your Eyes Only’, when a bald man in the shadows made a frankly lame attempt on Bond’s life at the start of the movie. However, I find it offensive that the writers decided to kill off one of the greatest Bond masterminds in the first five minutes, if that, of the movie. Therefore, I don’t see the problem in coming up with some storyline, where it turns out Blofeld sent a decoy after Bond and that he has some big plot brewing in the background.

It could be an awesome twist. There is a big conspiracy going on somewhere, per usual, and Bond slowly works his way up the chain of command. He reaches a secret location, confronts the head of this evil organisation, only for it to be a familiar bald man stroking a white cat. “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bond.” Out of all of the following entries, this is the most likely and a plot-line I actually really want to see put into motion.

Potential actors: It would have to be a bald actor just to rekindle the stereotypical Blofeld image. Basically the same candidates for Lex Luthor: Bryan Cranston, Kevin Spacey… maybe Mark Strong, if we wanted to keep him British.

2 – BARON SAMEDI

This entry should only happen if the story could benefit from it. I am all for the immortal voodoo master, making a comeback, but it needs to be in a scenario that makes sense. If he turned up in Skyfall for example, it would obviously be a forced way of squeezing the old henchman into the plot. However, if Bond ever ventured around the theme of voodoo or New Orleans again, then I reckon it would be hard not to at least reference him. Maybe that’s the trick to a successful Baron Samedi return: give him a cameo, rather than an important part in the story.

Potential actors: If he has a cameo, this doesn’t really matter. Maybe a small-time Brit who could do with the screen-time. Daniel Kaluuya, perhaps.

1 – JAWS

We have to be careful here, because although Jaws is the easiest character to write a comeback for, he doesn’t overly lend himself to the new style of Bond. We have to avoid the slapstick humour Richard Kiel used to make Jaws memorable and he cannot be immortal. We can imply his immortality, but making him survive something moderately fatal (moderately, so not falling from a plane!), but it cannot descend into the foolishness.

I would reference him rather than use him as a main henchman, but maybe have his cameo play an important part in the story. Perhaps an opening sequence, where Bond encounters ‘someone’ with metallic shark teeth. Or maybe he plays a henchman that faces off against Bond midway through the movie, but is never brought up again. To successfully do this though, it would have to be done in secret. If we broadcasted Jaws as a returning character and only gave him five minutes of screen-time, people would riot.

Potential actors: Vinnie Jones would be the obvious choice, but I would sway more towards Manu Bennett. Who knows? Maybe Arnie would consider taking the role.