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'''[[center: [- [[Characters/JamesBond Main Character Index]] -]]]'''
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[[header:'''M''']]
M is an officer at the head of [=MI6=] and James Bond's boss.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:The Character in General]]
* CodeName: M is simply a title given to the head of [=MI6=].
* DaChief: M frequently berates Bond when he takes initiatives that would cause much trouble for the British government, as M is fully responsible for the actions of [=MI6=] agents.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'', the first act is more personal for him than in most Bond stories and actually sees him get out of the office, if only for a high-stakes[[note]]Hugo Drax is suspected of cheating at big-money card games in a fictional gambling club, and M fears that a scandal could endanger the Moonraker project[[/note]] game of bridge. "For Your Eyes Only" also delves into his psychology a bit, where he grapples with the problem of using his position to take a personal revenge. (Bond understands, and spares him the decision by doing the mission off-the-books). And in Literature/ColonelSun, he's kidnapped and becomes the McGuffin. We also get to see his home and learn something about his personal life.
* LegacyCharacter: Applies to the film versions.
** The first M, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, was Creator/BernardLee. As he died before ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' was filmed, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim M is absent]] and Bond is briefed by the Minister of Defence and Bill Tanner. A [[http://www.007museum.com/cameos42.jpg painting of Messervy]] appears at the [=MI6=] headquarters in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', acknowledging Judi Dench's M as one of his successors.
** In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Robert Brown is the new M. He is very possibly Admiral Hargreaves, the character Brown played in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
** In ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'', Creator/JudiDench took over the role ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot inspired by the MI5 being led by a woman at the time]]), and remained there in the Daniel Craig years despite the ContinuityReboot.
** Dench's M dies in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', but in the film's ending, Gareth Mallory (Creator/RalphFiennes) becomes the new M. Dench's M recorded one more mission order for Bond which was played back in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', which resulted in the Mexico City incident and Bond's own investigation on [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Spectre]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: As explained in DaChief above, M tends to not like when Bond takes initiatives on his own, because it can result in much diplomatic incidents and thus troubles for M's ass if the British government finds out about it.
** Robert Brown's M is probably the most uptight, inconsiderate and inflexible of the Ms as shown in ''Licence to Kill'' when he places work over Bond's care for his friend Felix Leiter. While his actions may have been justified after Bond began a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, that is still no excuse for talking to the hero like he is a piece of crap whilst also ignoring the fact that Bond also has a point. There's also the fact that when Bond was unavailable for the Istanbul job, he still assigned 007 to it and then went to America to have a go at him when he didn't turn up in Istanbul to do the job, instead of just assigned another agent like 008 and be done with it.
** Ralph Fiennes' M, in his conversations with Judi Dench's M, initially appears to be some arrogant pencil pusher that will get in her way of catching the bad guys. [[SubvertedTrope He is actually not, and never does]].
* PropheticName: All of the canonical people holding the title have first and/or last names starting with "M". In the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', M's full name is revealed for the first, last, and only time in the Fleming novels as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: M is generally far from being an incompetent boss, and helps Bond whenever the trails he follows are serious or when he is on something crucial.
** Especially Creator/BernardLee's M, often doing all he can to give Bond the elbow room he needs and frequently clashing with his government superiors for doing so. For instance, in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', after Bond ends up embarrassing both him and Frederick Gray, M is forced to take Bond off the case until he produces a vial of the gas he recovered in Drax's laboratory. M decides to give him a two-week leave of absence in order to pursue a lead in Rio.
** Gareth Mallory also proves to be a strong moral rampart when [=MI6=] itself is shut down in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', defending it to the very end against Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou mass surveillance]] program. While he tries to keep [=MI6=] alive, he also finds out Bond is on a serious trail and lets him operate. All of this turns out to be the best thing to do, [[spoiler:as Denbigh is actually a Spectre [[TheMole mole]]. Mallory even directly helps Bond in taking down Spectre's nefarious project by directly confronting Blofeld and Denbigh.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literary]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
!!!'''Voiced by:''' David King (''You Only Live Twice'', BBC Radio 4, 1990), John Standing (BBC Radio 4 Dramas since 2008)
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CodeName: He's known as M internally but uses another codename, "MAILED-FIST" to sign off (all-caps) dispatches. Bond comments that there's a suitable simpler English word, "Em", a term of measurement used in printing, but M probably finds it not dashing enough.
* ComicBookTime: The continuation novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, set in the present day (1980s onward), still have him active despite the original Fleming novels starting in the 1950s. Until he eventually retires several books in, and is succeeded by the M from ''Film/GoldenEye''.
* {{Expy}}: Creator/IanFleming based the character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, commanding officer of the Royal Naval Intelligence Division in which Fleming served during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Fleming also took inspiration from his own mother, Evelyn, who he nicknamed "M".
* GivenNameReveal: His real name is revealed in the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the Fleming novels, the club M frequents keeps a supply of cheap red wine from Algeria on hand just for him. He calls it "Infuriator" and drinks it only in small quantities unless he's in a really bad mood.
* ItsPersonal: In the short story ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly'', he sends Bond to Cuba as essentially his personal hitman to avenge the murders of an old married British couple, his dear friends. He's deeply troubled about this until Bond takes the hint and gives him the excuse that it's a matter of state, since the criminals and corrupt official behind the murders can't be allowed to treat British citizens that way.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bernard Lee]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1kvdato_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"When you carry a 00 number, you have a licence to kill, not get killed."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/BernardLee
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Serge Nadaud (French, 1962-1974), Jean Brunel (French, 1977-1979)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/DrNo'' | ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' | ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' | ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' | ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' | ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' | ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' | ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' | ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' | ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' | ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''
The first M in the film series.
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Bernard Lee played M for 17 years, in 11 movies, more than any other actor in the role, and it showed (his hair had turned completely white by the time of ''Moonraker'').
* DeadpanSnarker: He can really get in some good jabs when he wants to, and Bond and the situations at play never fail to provide him reasons to snark.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: He is seen with a pipe sometimes. He doesn't always smoke with it.
* FrontlineGeneral: While not getting directly involved, this M would often set up a field office not too far from where Bond is working.
* GrumpyOldMan: He can be quite cranky on occasion, sometimes as a result of Bond's actions.
* MomentKiller: He regularly interrupts Bond and Moneypenny's flirting, sometimes via the intercom of Moneypenny's office.
* NoodleIncident: In ''From Russia with Love'' M and Moneypenny are listening to an audio recording sent to them by Bond. When Bond starts to mention an embarrassing incident involving M in Tokyo, M ''immediately'' pauses the recording and dismisses Moneypenny from the room.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Lee's M and Connery's Bond, for all their bickering, were still clearly friends (to the point that they once [[NoodleIncident apparently wingmanned for each other in Japan]]). This is most obvious in ''Thunderball'', where M repeatedly defends Bond in front of his doubting superiors.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Robert Brown]]
!!Admiral Marian Hargreaves / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mrobertbrown.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"We're not a country club, 007!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Robert Brown
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Émile Duard (French, ''The Spy Who Loved Me''), Jean Davy (French, 1983-1985), Philippe Dumat (French, 1987-1989)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''[[note]]as he's possibly a promoted Admiral Hargreaves[[/note]] | ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' | ''Film/AViewToAKill'' | ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' | ''Film/LicenceToKill''
The second M in the film series.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: This M's name is never pronounced or indicated in the films, but it's very plausible that the character Robert Brown played in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', Admiral Hargreaves, may have been promoted after a possible death or retirement of Messervy in-universe.
* BadBoss: [[AmbiguousSituation If one thinks]] the syringe that one of his agents was preparing to inject Bond with once arresting him for being a RogueAgent was a lethal injection in ''Licence to Kill'', then this M was intending to have Bond [[DisproportionateRetribution executed once found on the spot for his insubordination]] after having TookALevelInJerkass into becoming a morally ambiguous TautologicalTemplar.
* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: He's way more uptight than his predecessor and less tolerant of Bond's antics. That said, he had a softer, more amiable edge.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Like his predecessor, he's often seen smoking a pipe.
* HeroAntagonist: He becomes this in ''Licence to Kill'' when he tries to stop a [[RogueAgent rogue and increasingly reckless]] Bond.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite his cold manner, he was somewhat justified in trying to stop Bond's RoaringRampageOfRevenge in ''Licence to Kill,'' especially considering he had just brutally murdered [[AssholeVictim Killifer]] by feeding him to a shark. He had reason to believe his vendetta with Sanchez would lead to a major scandal if he continued killing in that manner.
--> ''"This private vendetta of yours could easily compromise Her Majesty's government."''
* NoSenseOfHumour: He was not nearly as witty as Creator/BernardLee or Judi Dench's portrayals.
* PointyHairedBoss: In ''Licence to Kill'', he neglects to inform Bond that there are operations going on at Sanchez's BananaRepublic lair when Bond accuses their American allies for doing nothing and instead results to haranguing him for "sentimental rubbish."
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is noticeably more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat towards Bond than his past appearances.
* TautologicalTemplar: Robert Brown in ''Licence to Kill'' reacts cold-heartedly to the Leiters' tragedy, labels Bond as a RogueAgent for caring about them, claiming that it's not [=MI6=]'s business (despite the many times Leiter assisted them), and then orders [=MI6=] operatives to arrest Bond or even execute him if necessary when he goes rogue. Deep down however, he still wishes Bond to survive, if his very worried "God help you, Commander" when Bond escapes custody is any indication.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is very abrupt and harsh with Bond when he confronts him in Florida about the neglect of his duties, due to his vendetta, showing NoSympathy towards Felix's tragedy and criticizes Bond for lack of professionalism and objectivity. Brown also treats Moneypenny slightly more poorly then before, criticizing her for making typing errors.
* UngratefulBastard: Despite all the service Leiter has done for [=MI6=], this M places duty above all and shows NoSympathy towards the tragedy that involves Leiter losing a leg and having his bride murdered.
* UpperClassTwit: His ObstructiveBureaucrat DaChief and PointyHairedBoss approach to his job makes him the worst M in the franchise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (I)]]
!!Barbara Mawdsley / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/m_goldeneye___profile.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"If you think I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. I've no compunction about sending you to your death. But I won't do it on a whim."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Liliane Gaudet (French, 1995-1999), Annie Bertin (French, ''Die Another Day'')
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/GoldenEye'' | ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' | ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' | ''Film/DieAnotherDay''
The third M in the film series, in the Creator/PierceBrosnan Bond era.
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* AllThereInTheManual: Assuming Robert Brown's M was Admiral Hargreaves, Judi Dench's M holds the distinction of being the only M whose name is not revealed in the entire film series. The name of the Brosnan era M was "Barbara Mawdsley" according to the script of ''[=GoldenEye=]'', as well as in the Raymond Benson novel ''Literature/TheFactsOfDeath''.
* BoyishShortHair: Her hairstyle represents the suppression of her femininity in order to succeed in a male-dominated field. She even tells Bond in ''The World Is Not Enough'' that her job requires her to ignore her maternal instincts.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are. Best exemplified in ''The World Is Not Enough'' when she ignores her maternal-like connection to Elektra King and uses the younger woman ''twice'' as bait to try to catch the terrorist Renard.
* DamselInDistress: She is imprisoned in the appropriately-named Maiden's Tower in ''The World Is Not Enough'', and Bond must rescue his boss from Elektra's clutches.
* DarkSecret: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M is so ashamed over how she handled Elektra King's kidnapping that she sealed Elektra's file so that no one else can access it. When Bond requests the classified information as an employee, M flatly refuses with a stern warning ("I will not tolerate insubordination, 007"), so he resorts to using their implicit mother-son relationship (the gentle way he asks, "What happened?") before she willingly discloses a painful part of her past.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very much like Creator/BernardLee's M, she has quite a supply of wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Bourbon, neat. It shows she's no nonsense and gets down to the bottom line. Tellingly, Bond takes his bourbon with ice when she pours him a drink.
* {{Foil}}: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M and Elektra King are powerful women who have very different ways of exercising control within a patriarchal system. Elektra overuses her femininity to manipulate the men around her, whereas M suppresses her femininity to maintain her authority over her employees (especially male chauvinists like Bond); when handling Elektra's kidnapping, M even explicitly states that she went against her instincts as a mother.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* IronLady: She wouldn't be leading MI-6 if she wasn't one tough lady of authority, and she definitely is one.
* ItsPersonal: Bond accuses M of this in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', as she was a very close friend of Sir Robert.
-->'''Bond:''' I brought the money in that killed King.\\
'''M:''' Don't make this personal.\\
'''Bond:''' I'm not; are you?
* MyGreatestFailure: Her handling of Elektra King's kidnapping.
* ParentalSubstitute: To a lesser extent during the Brosnan era compared to Craig's, but still there, such as when M mentions to Elektra King that Bond is her best agent, [[WellDoneSonGuy but she'd never tell him that in person]]. As a close friend of Sir Robert King, M is a maternal figure towards his daughter Elektra (whose mother had passed away some years ago before the events of ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'').
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle also serves to highlight her position of authority.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: She delivers a ''scathing'' one to Bond upon her introduction in ''[=GoldenEye=]'', firmly establishing her grip on MI-6 and shoots down any doubts Bond may have about how far she is willing to go to get the job done. Bond wisely chooses not to challenge her any further.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''The World Is Not Enough'', M was the one who convinced her family friend Sir Robert King not to pay the ransom to Renard, who was holding King's daughter Elektra hostage at that time. This event is what drove an embittered Elektra to team up with Renard in a plot to cause a meltdown in order to monopolize the oil market; even ordering the successful murder on King and taking M as prisoner; even Renard coldly berates M for making such a unwise decision, something which left M in complete guilt.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: She delivers this to Bond in ''Die Another Day'' when she's led to believe that Bond has surrendered valuable information to the enemy during his captivity in North Korea, and promptly strips him of his 00-licence when he is finally recovered. It isn't long though before he escapes and she realizes that something far bigger than Bond is unfolding and promptly reinstates him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (II)]]
!!Olivia Mansfield / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/02155_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Christ, I miss the Cold War!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Nadine Alari (French, 2006-2015)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' | ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' | ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' [[note]]in the VideoWills Bond receives following her death in ''Skyfall''[[/note]]
->''"I suppose I see a different world than you do, and the truth is that what I see frightens me. I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map, they aren't nations. They are individuals. And look around you - who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No, our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque! It's in the shadows - that's where we must do battle."''
Technically the fourth M in the film series, as she's still played by Judi Dench (the sole remaining cast member to carry over from the Brosnan era), but this time in the era of Creator/DanielCraig's Bond, which is a ContinuityReboot.
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* AffectionateNickname: In ''Skyfall'', characters call her "Emma" in private a couple of times, implying that this is her real name and that "M" is a play on it as Bond suggested in ''Casino Royale''. Her real name is actually Olivia Mansfield.
* AllThereInTheManual: A prop from the end of ''Skyfall'' reveals that her name in the Craig continuity is "Olivia Mansfield".
* BoyishShortHair: Her hair is still short to outline her {{power|hair}}, but this time it has more to do with the fact that Dench is in her late 70's.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Judi Dench's tenure in the series lasted as long as Creator/BernardLee's (17 years in the full-fledged role, 20 if the VideoWills cameo of ''Spectre'' is counted), even though she technically played two different Ms. In-universe the character is also considered a veteran, especially in ''Skyfall'' as Gareth Mallory pushes her to resign before the hearing so she could get a honourable retirement.
* CompositeCharacter: Or rather, Composite Character ''Archetype''. In ''Skyfall'', as the main female deuteragonist for the second half of the film, she arguably also fills the role of the Bond girl.
* DarkSecret: She betrayed one of her best agents -- Tiago Rodriguez (Raoul Silva) -- and sold him out to the Chinese when Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese government in 1997 as he ignored her orders and went rogue. It brutally comes back to haunt her in ''Skyfall''.
* DeadpanSnarker: She still has quite the occasional wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: In ''Skyfall'', she is required to testify before a Defence Ministry hearing about her services' effectiveness following Bond's failure in Turkey and the bombing of her headquarters. It's rendered moot when Silva and his henchmen attack the hearing and M is eventually killed before they come to any decision.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the climax of ''Skyfall'', she keeps missing with Bond's PPK and notes that she's never been a good shot. Her likely diminished sight due to her age doesn't really help either.
* IronLady: In the Craig movies in particular as his Bond is more "wild" than Creator/PierceBrosnan's, and therefore she has to be more stern with the former in order to try to keep him under control.
* ParentalSubstitute: She really takes on a motherly ToughLove role to Bond here.
* PosthumousCharacter: In ''Spectre'', Bond receives a video following her death in ''Skyfall'', which basically kicks off the plot. [[VideoWills It contains her last will]], that is going after Marco Sciarra, killing him and uncovering the organisation he works for, providing him his first lead to Spectre.
-->'''Bond:''' She wasn't gonna let death get in the way of her job.
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle. By then it has more to do with the fact that Dench was pushing 80, but it's still a sign of authority.
* PunnyName: "Olivia Mansfield" appears to be a pun on "I live in a man's field". Fitting, given the ''James Bond'' series' tradition of puns for female characters' names.
* {{Retirony}}: In ''Skyfall'', Gareth Mallory tries to convince her to retire due to her age and the hearing also means her career has great chances to end. She eventually dies of her wounds in the FinalBattle.
* ShrineToTheFallen: Like Miles Messervy before her, there's now a portrait of her at the [=MI6=] office in ''Film/NoTimeToDie''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ralph Fiennes]]
!!Gareth Mallory / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mralphfiennes.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"There’s no shame in saying you’ve lost a step. The only shame will be in not admitting it until it’s too late."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/RalphFiennes
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Bernard Gabay (French)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' | ''Film/NoTimeToDie''
->''"Have you ever had to kill a man, Max? Have you? To pull that trigger, you have to be sure. Yes, you investigate, analyze, assess, target. And then you have to look him in the eye. And you make the call. And all the drones, bugs, cameras, transcripts, all the surveillance in the world can't tell you what to do next. A licence to kill is also a licence not to kill."''
The Chairman of the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the SAS, Gareth Mallory got promoted as the head of [=MI6=] following the death of the previous M (Olivia Mansfield).
----
* AesopAmnesia: In Spectre, he chastises C for wanting to move away from assassins to assassination by drone instead, essentially stating that there will always need to be a human being who pulls the trigger. [[spoiler:In No Time to Die, he essentially forgets this, and develops the Heracles program to quietly assassinate MI6’s enemies with tiny nanobots instead of requiring a human being to do it.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: His pointed shutdown of Denbigh's arguments against the 00 program, seen in the folder quote.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He's easily the M who has the most amount of screentime as an active combatant, especially in ''Spectre''. Even in ''Skyfall'', he's still shown to be capable in a firefight before he actually becomes M by the film's end.
* BadassBureaucrat: He's initially a Member of Parliament and he works at a desk, but don't think he's a pushover. He's one of the first to jump into the firefight with Silva and his cohorts and handles himself nicely despite taking a shot to the shoulder.
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Early on in ''Skyfall'', he seems to be an obstruction to Judi Dench's M and Co., and before Silva shows up there's even a bit of {{fauxshadowing}} that [[RedHerring makes it seem like he might be behind the attacks on MI6]].
* BenevolentBoss: M (Judi Dench) screwed up spectacularly, so Mallory had no choice but to hold her accountable. Much the same, at the beginning of ''Spectre'', Bond went way overboard and was promptly chewed out. But other than these two instances, Mallory is a man who has utmost faith in his men and wholly supports them - even teaching them a thing or two about LoopholeAbuse.
* BigGood: Affirms himself as one in ''Spectre'', as he's the staunchest defender of [=MI6=] when Max Denbigh wants to shut the intelligence service in favour of the [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou Orwellian]] "Nine Eyes" (which is actually a backdoor entrance into the world's major intelligence services' databases for SPECTRE). In the climax, M himself puts a stop to Denbigh's project and has [[BigBad Blofeld]] arrested.
* ColonelBadass: He was a Lt. Colonel in the SAS and survived torture at the hands of the IRA during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.
* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly in ''Spectre''.
* EveryoneHasStandards: ''Spectre'' in particular shows that he has strong moral principles.
** In ''Skyfall'', he unapologetically believes that M should be called to account for her handling of the crisis, but is visibly appalled when it becomes clear that the actual committee hearing is basically turning into little more than a KangarooCourt.
-->'''Mallory:''' [[DeadpanSnarker For the sake of variety might we actually hear from the witness?]]
** In ''Spectre'', he opposes Max Denbigh's BigBrotherIsWatching project as he feels it is oppressive and anti-democratic.
* AFatherToHisMen: Somewhat downplayed in that he's not particularly close to any of his subordinates beyond a strictly professional basis, but he still has quite a few shades of this.
** In ''Skyfall'', he shows genuine concern for the undercover agents whose identities were contained in a stolen hard drive and warns M (Judi Dench) to pull out the agents before their covers could be blown, and he is noticeably skeptical about James Bond being placed back on active service when the latter returns worse for wear after being presumed dead.
** In ''Spectre'', even though Bond, Q, and Moneypenny all disobey or lie to him to varying degrees, his first reaction to learning of said disobedience from C’s surveillance data is not to get mad at '''them''' for their insubordination, but to get mad at '''C''' for spying on his agents/staff. When he later learns that [[spoiler:C was working for Spectre the whole time (and presumably gave all the surveillance data on MI6 agents to Spectre)]], he [[spoiler:confronts C and eventually kills him after a brief struggle, with plenty of subtle PapaWolf undertones on his (M’s) part throughout]].
-->'''M:''' Not a good feeling being watched, is it?
** [[spoiler:In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' he gives the order to launch missiles on an island housing poisonous weapons, while Bond is still on it. It is painfully obvious that the decision weighs on him heavily, but he does so anyway after Bond urges him on. Bond's death saddens him greatly.]]
* TheFettered: In ''Spectre'', his moral compass drives him to firmly oppose Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatching mass surveillance]] project. Even the shutting of [=MI6=] doesn't prevent him from actively trying to stop what is revealed to be Spectre's nefarious scheme to control the flow of intel of the major secret services of the world.
* FrontlineGeneral: He is involved in the action in the climax of ''Spectre''.
* IdiotHoudini: It's safe to say that most of the long, long list of things that go wrong for MI6, the United Kingdom, and the world in general in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' are the result of his catastrophic incompetence (see LethallyStupid), but while he gets plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments from his staff once they find out how badly he's screwed up, the film ends with him carrying on with business as usual with zero apparent consequences for his career.
* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: Malory becomes the ''first'' hero in the franchise to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When a young agent in the film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' casually quips how The Status of Double-O is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, Malory chastises him with weary sadness that The License to Kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden,''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but only those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In the beginning when he's in ObstructiveBureaucrat mode, at least, when he shuts down M's objections to being summoned to meet him:
-->'''M:''' Forgive me, but why am I here?\\
'''Mallory:''' Three months ago you lost a computer drive containing the identity of almost every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe. A list, which in the eyes of our allies, never existed. So, if you'll forgive ''me'', I think you ''know'' why you're here.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he may be a bit harsh towards Judi Dench's M before her hearing, there's no doubt that Mallory is just doing his job. When he takes over as M, he shows himself to be far less harsh and bitchy than his predecessor. Indeed, the only time he's harsh with 007 is [[Film/{{Spectre}} when 007 went AWOL and killed someone for apparently no reason,]] a situation in which he was very right to be upset. Once his reasoning is clear, he does try to dissuade 007 from pursuing the plan further, but doesn't expend too much effort in stopping him when he does.
* LegacyCharacter: He becomes the new M after the death of Judi Dench's character.
* LethallyStupid: ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' is not his finest hour. [[spoiler:First off, he chooses to develop a genetically-targeted nanoplague as an ultra-precise assassination tool while keeping it a secret from the entire rest of the British government, without sparing a single thought for the uncountable horrific ways in which such a weapon could be both deliberately and accidentally misused by both legitimate and illegitimate wielders. Then, he fails to adequately vet the scientists he picks to work on his plague or secure their research facility, letting a faction of SPECTRE steal it for use in an EnemyCivilWar via ''a special-forces assault in the middle of London'' that killed dozens of scientists and blew up part of a skyscraper. The following chain of events causes the deaths of long-term British ally Felix Leiter (who was forced to investigate with lethally inadequate information due to MI6 refusing to come clean about its screw-up), legendary 00 agent James Bond (who got dragged into the whole mess for similar reasons), and a whole lot of innocent civilians who were collateral damage from the Heracles attacks on the SPECTRE high command. Oh, and he was forced to cause a massive international incident by ordering a Royal Navy bombardment of an island in disputed Russian/Japanese colonial waters.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: In his debut in ''Skyfall'', he feels acting in the shadows goes against serving the public, but Creator/JudiDench's M points out that acting in the shadows is the point of espionage. He gets his CharacterDevelopment later on after witnessing the KangarooCourt and Silva's assault, and is seen ordering Q and Tanner to discreetly lead Silva to Skyfall Mansion without letting anyone else find out.
* PunnyName: His name is oddly [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthurian-sounding]], evoking both Sir Gareth of the Round Table and Sir Thomas Mallory (or Malory) who wrote the most prominent version of Sir Gareth in ''[[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Le Morte d'Arthur]]''.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Judi Dench's M screwed up and he wants her to be held accountable. Nothing odd there. Following his promotion, he's more akin to the Ms of old in terms of how he approaches the job. He only chews out Bond on a single occasion - and he ''really'' deserved it.
** He was also on Q's and Tanner's side when they were trying to lure Silva to where Bond and Dench's M would be hiding.
--->'''Mallory''': What are you doing?
--->'''Q''': *stammering* We're just... monitoring--
--->'''Mallory''': Creating a false tracking signal for Silva to follow.
--->'''Tanner''': W-well...
--->'''Q''': N-no sir--
--->'''Mallory''': Excellent thinking. Get him isolated. Send him on the A9, it's the direct route. You can monitor his progress more directly, and confirm it with the traffic cameras.
--->'''Q''': B-but sir, what if the PM finds out?
--->'''Mallory''': Well then we're all [[PrecisionFStrike buggered.]] Carry on.
* RetiredBadass: He's an ex-SAS colonel (this alone makes him a badass for life by default) who was once held hostage for three months by the IRA. As Silva and his goons learn the hard way, this is a bureaucrat who can more than hold his own alongside and against [=MI6=]'s finest.
* TakingTheBullet: When Silva attacks the inquiry hearing, Mallory instinctively jumps a railing. Seeing Silva about to shoot M with his pistol, Mallory pushes her to the ground and takes a bullet in his left arm. He's seen wearing a sling for the remainder of the movie.
* TookALevelInKindness: After the previous M dies. He succeded in her position at the head of [=MI6=] and becomes more friendly and nicer to James and every of his agent subordinates at the end of ''Skyfall'' and onwards in ''Spectre''.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''No Time to Die'', Bond chews him out thoroughly when it comes out that [=MI6=] had secretly supported the development of the Heracles viral weapon -- a weapon which of course falls in the hands of the bad guys.
* WhatWereYouThinking: On the receiving end of this - secretly supporting the development of the Heracles nanobot bioweapon, with a 100% lethality rate and capacity to be pinpoint targeted is just one step away from being a SyntheticPlague. M can only defend himself in that it would leave no collateral damage when properly controlled, but in the wrong hands? It warrants crossing the GodzillaThreshold.
[[/folder]]
----
----
[[header:'''M''']]
M is an officer at the head of [=MI6=] and James Bond's boss.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:The Character in General]]
* CodeName: M is simply a title given to the head of [=MI6=].
* DaChief: M frequently berates Bond when he takes initiatives that would cause much trouble for the British government, as M is fully responsible for the actions of [=MI6=] agents.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'', the first act is more personal for him than in most Bond stories and actually sees him get out of the office, if only for a high-stakes[[note]]Hugo Drax is suspected of cheating at big-money card games in a fictional gambling club, and M fears that a scandal could endanger the Moonraker project[[/note]] game of bridge. "For Your Eyes Only" also delves into his psychology a bit, where he grapples with the problem of using his position to take a personal revenge. (Bond understands, and spares him the decision by doing the mission off-the-books). And in Literature/ColonelSun, he's kidnapped and becomes the McGuffin. We also get to see his home and learn something about his personal life.
* LegacyCharacter: Applies to the film versions.
** The first M, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, was Creator/BernardLee. As he died before ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' was filmed, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim M is absent]] and Bond is briefed by the Minister of Defence and Bill Tanner. A [[http://www.007museum.com/cameos42.jpg painting of Messervy]] appears at the [=MI6=] headquarters in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', acknowledging Judi Dench's M as one of his successors.
** In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Robert Brown is the new M. He is very possibly Admiral Hargreaves, the character Brown played in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
** In ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'', Creator/JudiDench took over the role ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot inspired by the MI5 being led by a woman at the time]]), and remained there in the Daniel Craig years despite the ContinuityReboot.
** Dench's M dies in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', but in the film's ending, Gareth Mallory (Creator/RalphFiennes) becomes the new M. Dench's M recorded one more mission order for Bond which was played back in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', which resulted in the Mexico City incident and Bond's own investigation on [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Spectre]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: As explained in DaChief above, M tends to not like when Bond takes initiatives on his own, because it can result in much diplomatic incidents and thus troubles for M's ass if the British government finds out about it.
** Robert Brown's M is probably the most uptight, inconsiderate and inflexible of the Ms as shown in ''Licence to Kill'' when he places work over Bond's care for his friend Felix Leiter. While his actions may have been justified after Bond began a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, that is still no excuse for talking to the hero like he is a piece of crap whilst also ignoring the fact that Bond also has a point. There's also the fact that when Bond was unavailable for the Istanbul job, he still assigned 007 to it and then went to America to have a go at him when he didn't turn up in Istanbul to do the job, instead of just assigned another agent like 008 and be done with it.
** Ralph Fiennes' M, in his conversations with Judi Dench's M, initially appears to be some arrogant pencil pusher that will get in her way of catching the bad guys. [[SubvertedTrope He is actually not, and never does]].
* PropheticName: All of the canonical people holding the title have first and/or last names starting with "M". In the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', M's full name is revealed for the first, last, and only time in the Fleming novels as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: M is generally far from being an incompetent boss, and helps Bond whenever the trails he follows are serious or when he is on something crucial.
** Especially Creator/BernardLee's M, often doing all he can to give Bond the elbow room he needs and frequently clashing with his government superiors for doing so. For instance, in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', after Bond ends up embarrassing both him and Frederick Gray, M is forced to take Bond off the case until he produces a vial of the gas he recovered in Drax's laboratory. M decides to give him a two-week leave of absence in order to pursue a lead in Rio.
** Gareth Mallory also proves to be a strong moral rampart when [=MI6=] itself is shut down in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', defending it to the very end against Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou mass surveillance]] program. While he tries to keep [=MI6=] alive, he also finds out Bond is on a serious trail and lets him operate. All of this turns out to be the best thing to do, [[spoiler:as Denbigh is actually a Spectre [[TheMole mole]]. Mallory even directly helps Bond in taking down Spectre's nefarious project by directly confronting Blofeld and Denbigh.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literary]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
!!!'''Voiced by:''' David King (''You Only Live Twice'', BBC Radio 4, 1990), John Standing (BBC Radio 4 Dramas since 2008)
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CodeName: He's known as M internally but uses another codename, "MAILED-FIST" to sign off (all-caps) dispatches. Bond comments that there's a suitable simpler English word, "Em", a term of measurement used in printing, but M probably finds it not dashing enough.
* ComicBookTime: The continuation novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, set in the present day (1980s onward), still have him active despite the original Fleming novels starting in the 1950s. Until he eventually retires several books in, and is succeeded by the M from ''Film/GoldenEye''.
* {{Expy}}: Creator/IanFleming based the character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, commanding officer of the Royal Naval Intelligence Division in which Fleming served during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Fleming also took inspiration from his own mother, Evelyn, who he nicknamed "M".
* GivenNameReveal: His real name is revealed in the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the Fleming novels, the club M frequents keeps a supply of cheap red wine from Algeria on hand just for him. He calls it "Infuriator" and drinks it only in small quantities unless he's in a really bad mood.
* ItsPersonal: In the short story ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly'', he sends Bond to Cuba as essentially his personal hitman to avenge the murders of an old married British couple, his dear friends. He's deeply troubled about this until Bond takes the hint and gives him the excuse that it's a matter of state, since the criminals and corrupt official behind the murders can't be allowed to treat British citizens that way.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bernard Lee]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1kvdato_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"When you carry a 00 number, you have a licence to kill, not get killed."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/BernardLee
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Serge Nadaud (French, 1962-1974), Jean Brunel (French, 1977-1979)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/DrNo'' | ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' | ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' | ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' | ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' | ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' | ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' | ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' | ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' | ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' | ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''
The first M in the film series.
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Bernard Lee played M for 17 years, in 11 movies, more than any other actor in the role, and it showed (his hair had turned completely white by the time of ''Moonraker'').
* DeadpanSnarker: He can really get in some good jabs when he wants to, and Bond and the situations at play never fail to provide him reasons to snark.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: He is seen with a pipe sometimes. He doesn't always smoke with it.
* FrontlineGeneral: While not getting directly involved, this M would often set up a field office not too far from where Bond is working.
* GrumpyOldMan: He can be quite cranky on occasion, sometimes as a result of Bond's actions.
* MomentKiller: He regularly interrupts Bond and Moneypenny's flirting, sometimes via the intercom of Moneypenny's office.
* NoodleIncident: In ''From Russia with Love'' M and Moneypenny are listening to an audio recording sent to them by Bond. When Bond starts to mention an embarrassing incident involving M in Tokyo, M ''immediately'' pauses the recording and dismisses Moneypenny from the room.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Lee's M and Connery's Bond, for all their bickering, were still clearly friends (to the point that they once [[NoodleIncident apparently wingmanned for each other in Japan]]). This is most obvious in ''Thunderball'', where M repeatedly defends Bond in front of his doubting superiors.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Robert Brown]]
!!Admiral Marian Hargreaves / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mrobertbrown.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"We're not a country club, 007!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Robert Brown
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Émile Duard (French, ''The Spy Who Loved Me''), Jean Davy (French, 1983-1985), Philippe Dumat (French, 1987-1989)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''[[note]]as he's possibly a promoted Admiral Hargreaves[[/note]] | ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' | ''Film/AViewToAKill'' | ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' | ''Film/LicenceToKill''
The second M in the film series.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: This M's name is never pronounced or indicated in the films, but it's very plausible that the character Robert Brown played in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', Admiral Hargreaves, may have been promoted after a possible death or retirement of Messervy in-universe.
* BadBoss: [[AmbiguousSituation If one thinks]] the syringe that one of his agents was preparing to inject Bond with once arresting him for being a RogueAgent was a lethal injection in ''Licence to Kill'', then this M was intending to have Bond [[DisproportionateRetribution executed once found on the spot for his insubordination]] after having TookALevelInJerkass into becoming a morally ambiguous TautologicalTemplar.
* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: He's way more uptight than his predecessor and less tolerant of Bond's antics. That said, he had a softer, more amiable edge.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Like his predecessor, he's often seen smoking a pipe.
* HeroAntagonist: He becomes this in ''Licence to Kill'' when he tries to stop a [[RogueAgent rogue and increasingly reckless]] Bond.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite his cold manner, he was somewhat justified in trying to stop Bond's RoaringRampageOfRevenge in ''Licence to Kill,'' especially considering he had just brutally murdered [[AssholeVictim Killifer]] by feeding him to a shark. He had reason to believe his vendetta with Sanchez would lead to a major scandal if he continued killing in that manner.
--> ''"This private vendetta of yours could easily compromise Her Majesty's government."''
* NoSenseOfHumour: He was not nearly as witty as Creator/BernardLee or Judi Dench's portrayals.
* PointyHairedBoss: In ''Licence to Kill'', he neglects to inform Bond that there are operations going on at Sanchez's BananaRepublic lair when Bond accuses their American allies for doing nothing and instead results to haranguing him for "sentimental rubbish."
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is noticeably more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat towards Bond than his past appearances.
* TautologicalTemplar: Robert Brown in ''Licence to Kill'' reacts cold-heartedly to the Leiters' tragedy, labels Bond as a RogueAgent for caring about them, claiming that it's not [=MI6=]'s business (despite the many times Leiter assisted them), and then orders [=MI6=] operatives to arrest Bond or even execute him if necessary when he goes rogue. Deep down however, he still wishes Bond to survive, if his very worried "God help you, Commander" when Bond escapes custody is any indication.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is very abrupt and harsh with Bond when he confronts him in Florida about the neglect of his duties, due to his vendetta, showing NoSympathy towards Felix's tragedy and criticizes Bond for lack of professionalism and objectivity. Brown also treats Moneypenny slightly more poorly then before, criticizing her for making typing errors.
* UngratefulBastard: Despite all the service Leiter has done for [=MI6=], this M places duty above all and shows NoSympathy towards the tragedy that involves Leiter losing a leg and having his bride murdered.
* UpperClassTwit: His ObstructiveBureaucrat DaChief and PointyHairedBoss approach to his job makes him the worst M in the franchise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (I)]]
!!Barbara Mawdsley / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/m_goldeneye___profile.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"If you think I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. I've no compunction about sending you to your death. But I won't do it on a whim."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Liliane Gaudet (French, 1995-1999), Annie Bertin (French, ''Die Another Day'')
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/GoldenEye'' | ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' | ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' | ''Film/DieAnotherDay''
The third M in the film series, in the Creator/PierceBrosnan Bond era.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: Assuming Robert Brown's M was Admiral Hargreaves, Judi Dench's M holds the distinction of being the only M whose name is not revealed in the entire film series. The name of the Brosnan era M was "Barbara Mawdsley" according to the script of ''[=GoldenEye=]'', as well as in the Raymond Benson novel ''Literature/TheFactsOfDeath''.
* BoyishShortHair: Her hairstyle represents the suppression of her femininity in order to succeed in a male-dominated field. She even tells Bond in ''The World Is Not Enough'' that her job requires her to ignore her maternal instincts.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are. Best exemplified in ''The World Is Not Enough'' when she ignores her maternal-like connection to Elektra King and uses the younger woman ''twice'' as bait to try to catch the terrorist Renard.
* DamselInDistress: She is imprisoned in the appropriately-named Maiden's Tower in ''The World Is Not Enough'', and Bond must rescue his boss from Elektra's clutches.
* DarkSecret: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M is so ashamed over how she handled Elektra King's kidnapping that she sealed Elektra's file so that no one else can access it. When Bond requests the classified information as an employee, M flatly refuses with a stern warning ("I will not tolerate insubordination, 007"), so he resorts to using their implicit mother-son relationship (the gentle way he asks, "What happened?") before she willingly discloses a painful part of her past.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very much like Creator/BernardLee's M, she has quite a supply of wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Bourbon, neat. It shows she's no nonsense and gets down to the bottom line. Tellingly, Bond takes his bourbon with ice when she pours him a drink.
* {{Foil}}: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M and Elektra King are powerful women who have very different ways of exercising control within a patriarchal system. Elektra overuses her femininity to manipulate the men around her, whereas M suppresses her femininity to maintain her authority over her employees (especially male chauvinists like Bond); when handling Elektra's kidnapping, M even explicitly states that she went against her instincts as a mother.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* IronLady: She wouldn't be leading MI-6 if she wasn't one tough lady of authority, and she definitely is one.
* ItsPersonal: Bond accuses M of this in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', as she was a very close friend of Sir Robert.
-->'''Bond:''' I brought the money in that killed King.\\
'''M:''' Don't make this personal.\\
'''Bond:''' I'm not; are you?
* MyGreatestFailure: Her handling of Elektra King's kidnapping.
* ParentalSubstitute: To a lesser extent during the Brosnan era compared to Craig's, but still there, such as when M mentions to Elektra King that Bond is her best agent, [[WellDoneSonGuy but she'd never tell him that in person]]. As a close friend of Sir Robert King, M is a maternal figure towards his daughter Elektra (whose mother had passed away some years ago before the events of ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'').
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle also serves to highlight her position of authority.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: She delivers a ''scathing'' one to Bond upon her introduction in ''[=GoldenEye=]'', firmly establishing her grip on MI-6 and shoots down any doubts Bond may have about how far she is willing to go to get the job done. Bond wisely chooses not to challenge her any further.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''The World Is Not Enough'', M was the one who convinced her family friend Sir Robert King not to pay the ransom to Renard, who was holding King's daughter Elektra hostage at that time. This event is what drove an embittered Elektra to team up with Renard in a plot to cause a meltdown in order to monopolize the oil market; even ordering the successful murder on King and taking M as prisoner; even Renard coldly berates M for making such a unwise decision, something which left M in complete guilt.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: She delivers this to Bond in ''Die Another Day'' when she's led to believe that Bond has surrendered valuable information to the enemy during his captivity in North Korea, and promptly strips him of his 00-licence when he is finally recovered. It isn't long though before he escapes and she realizes that something far bigger than Bond is unfolding and promptly reinstates him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (II)]]
!!Olivia Mansfield / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/02155_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Christ, I miss the Cold War!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Nadine Alari (French, 2006-2015)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' | ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' | ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' [[note]]in the VideoWills Bond receives following her death in ''Skyfall''[[/note]]
->''"I suppose I see a different world than you do, and the truth is that what I see frightens me. I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map, they aren't nations. They are individuals. And look around you - who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No, our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque! It's in the shadows - that's where we must do battle."''
Technically the fourth M in the film series, as she's still played by Judi Dench (the sole remaining cast member to carry over from the Brosnan era), but this time in the era of Creator/DanielCraig's Bond, which is a ContinuityReboot.
----
* AffectionateNickname: In ''Skyfall'', characters call her "Emma" in private a couple of times, implying that this is her real name and that "M" is a play on it as Bond suggested in ''Casino Royale''. Her real name is actually Olivia Mansfield.
* AllThereInTheManual: A prop from the end of ''Skyfall'' reveals that her name in the Craig continuity is "Olivia Mansfield".
* BoyishShortHair: Her hair is still short to outline her {{power|hair}}, but this time it has more to do with the fact that Dench is in her late 70's.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Judi Dench's tenure in the series lasted as long as Creator/BernardLee's (17 years in the full-fledged role, 20 if the VideoWills cameo of ''Spectre'' is counted), even though she technically played two different Ms. In-universe the character is also considered a veteran, especially in ''Skyfall'' as Gareth Mallory pushes her to resign before the hearing so she could get a honourable retirement.
* CompositeCharacter: Or rather, Composite Character ''Archetype''. In ''Skyfall'', as the main female deuteragonist for the second half of the film, she arguably also fills the role of the Bond girl.
* DarkSecret: She betrayed one of her best agents -- Tiago Rodriguez (Raoul Silva) -- and sold him out to the Chinese when Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese government in 1997 as he ignored her orders and went rogue. It brutally comes back to haunt her in ''Skyfall''.
* DeadpanSnarker: She still has quite the occasional wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: In ''Skyfall'', she is required to testify before a Defence Ministry hearing about her services' effectiveness following Bond's failure in Turkey and the bombing of her headquarters. It's rendered moot when Silva and his henchmen attack the hearing and M is eventually killed before they come to any decision.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the climax of ''Skyfall'', she keeps missing with Bond's PPK and notes that she's never been a good shot. Her likely diminished sight due to her age doesn't really help either.
* IronLady: In the Craig movies in particular as his Bond is more "wild" than Creator/PierceBrosnan's, and therefore she has to be more stern with the former in order to try to keep him under control.
* ParentalSubstitute: She really takes on a motherly ToughLove role to Bond here.
* PosthumousCharacter: In ''Spectre'', Bond receives a video following her death in ''Skyfall'', which basically kicks off the plot. [[VideoWills It contains her last will]], that is going after Marco Sciarra, killing him and uncovering the organisation he works for, providing him his first lead to Spectre.
-->'''Bond:''' She wasn't gonna let death get in the way of her job.
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle. By then it has more to do with the fact that Dench was pushing 80, but it's still a sign of authority.
* PunnyName: "Olivia Mansfield" appears to be a pun on "I live in a man's field". Fitting, given the ''James Bond'' series' tradition of puns for female characters' names.
* {{Retirony}}: In ''Skyfall'', Gareth Mallory tries to convince her to retire due to her age and the hearing also means her career has great chances to end. She eventually dies of her wounds in the FinalBattle.
* ShrineToTheFallen: Like Miles Messervy before her, there's now a portrait of her at the [=MI6=] office in ''Film/NoTimeToDie''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ralph Fiennes]]
!!Gareth Mallory / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mralphfiennes.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"There’s no shame in saying you’ve lost a step. The only shame will be in not admitting it until it’s too late."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/RalphFiennes
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Bernard Gabay (French)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' | ''Film/NoTimeToDie''
->''"Have you ever had to kill a man, Max? Have you? To pull that trigger, you have to be sure. Yes, you investigate, analyze, assess, target. And then you have to look him in the eye. And you make the call. And all the drones, bugs, cameras, transcripts, all the surveillance in the world can't tell you what to do next. A licence to kill is also a licence not to kill."''
The Chairman of the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the SAS, Gareth Mallory got promoted as the head of [=MI6=] following the death of the previous M (Olivia Mansfield).
----
* AesopAmnesia: In Spectre, he chastises C for wanting to move away from assassins to assassination by drone instead, essentially stating that there will always need to be a human being who pulls the trigger. [[spoiler:In No Time to Die, he essentially forgets this, and develops the Heracles program to quietly assassinate MI6’s enemies with tiny nanobots instead of requiring a human being to do it.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: His pointed shutdown of Denbigh's arguments against the 00 program, seen in the folder quote.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He's easily the M who has the most amount of screentime as an active combatant, especially in ''Spectre''. Even in ''Skyfall'', he's still shown to be capable in a firefight before he actually becomes M by the film's end.
* BadassBureaucrat: He's initially a Member of Parliament and he works at a desk, but don't think he's a pushover. He's one of the first to jump into the firefight with Silva and his cohorts and handles himself nicely despite taking a shot to the shoulder.
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Early on in ''Skyfall'', he seems to be an obstruction to Judi Dench's M and Co., and before Silva shows up there's even a bit of {{fauxshadowing}} that [[RedHerring makes it seem like he might be behind the attacks on MI6]].
* BenevolentBoss: M (Judi Dench) screwed up spectacularly, so Mallory had no choice but to hold her accountable. Much the same, at the beginning of ''Spectre'', Bond went way overboard and was promptly chewed out. But other than these two instances, Mallory is a man who has utmost faith in his men and wholly supports them - even teaching them a thing or two about LoopholeAbuse.
* BigGood: Affirms himself as one in ''Spectre'', as he's the staunchest defender of [=MI6=] when Max Denbigh wants to shut the intelligence service in favour of the [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou Orwellian]] "Nine Eyes" (which is actually a backdoor entrance into the world's major intelligence services' databases for SPECTRE). In the climax, M himself puts a stop to Denbigh's project and has [[BigBad Blofeld]] arrested.
* ColonelBadass: He was a Lt. Colonel in the SAS and survived torture at the hands of the IRA during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.
* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly in ''Spectre''.
* EveryoneHasStandards: ''Spectre'' in particular shows that he has strong moral principles.
** In ''Skyfall'', he unapologetically believes that M should be called to account for her handling of the crisis, but is visibly appalled when it becomes clear that the actual committee hearing is basically turning into little more than a KangarooCourt.
-->'''Mallory:''' [[DeadpanSnarker For the sake of variety might we actually hear from the witness?]]
** In ''Spectre'', he opposes Max Denbigh's BigBrotherIsWatching project as he feels it is oppressive and anti-democratic.
* AFatherToHisMen: Somewhat downplayed in that he's not particularly close to any of his subordinates beyond a strictly professional basis, but he still has quite a few shades of this.
** In ''Skyfall'', he shows genuine concern for the undercover agents whose identities were contained in a stolen hard drive and warns M (Judi Dench) to pull out the agents before their covers could be blown, and he is noticeably skeptical about James Bond being placed back on active service when the latter returns worse for wear after being presumed dead.
** In ''Spectre'', even though Bond, Q, and Moneypenny all disobey or lie to him to varying degrees, his first reaction to learning of said disobedience from C’s surveillance data is not to get mad at '''them''' for their insubordination, but to get mad at '''C''' for spying on his agents/staff. When he later learns that [[spoiler:C was working for Spectre the whole time (and presumably gave all the surveillance data on MI6 agents to Spectre)]], he [[spoiler:confronts C and eventually kills him after a brief struggle, with plenty of subtle PapaWolf undertones on his (M’s) part throughout]].
-->'''M:''' Not a good feeling being watched, is it?
** [[spoiler:In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' he gives the order to launch missiles on an island housing poisonous weapons, while Bond is still on it. It is painfully obvious that the decision weighs on him heavily, but he does so anyway after Bond urges him on. Bond's death saddens him greatly.]]
* TheFettered: In ''Spectre'', his moral compass drives him to firmly oppose Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatching mass surveillance]] project. Even the shutting of [=MI6=] doesn't prevent him from actively trying to stop what is revealed to be Spectre's nefarious scheme to control the flow of intel of the major secret services of the world.
* FrontlineGeneral: He is involved in the action in the climax of ''Spectre''.
* IdiotHoudini: It's safe to say that most of the long, long list of things that go wrong for MI6, the United Kingdom, and the world in general in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' are the result of his catastrophic incompetence (see LethallyStupid), but while he gets plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments from his staff once they find out how badly he's screwed up, the film ends with him carrying on with business as usual with zero apparent consequences for his career.
* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: Malory becomes the ''first'' hero in the franchise to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When a young agent in the film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' casually quips how The Status of Double-O is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, Malory chastises him with weary sadness that The License to Kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden,''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but only those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In the beginning when he's in ObstructiveBureaucrat mode, at least, when he shuts down M's objections to being summoned to meet him:
-->'''M:''' Forgive me, but why am I here?\\
'''Mallory:''' Three months ago you lost a computer drive containing the identity of almost every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe. A list, which in the eyes of our allies, never existed. So, if you'll forgive ''me'', I think you ''know'' why you're here.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he may be a bit harsh towards Judi Dench's M before her hearing, there's no doubt that Mallory is just doing his job. When he takes over as M, he shows himself to be far less harsh and bitchy than his predecessor. Indeed, the only time he's harsh with 007 is [[Film/{{Spectre}} when 007 went AWOL and killed someone for apparently no reason,]] a situation in which he was very right to be upset. Once his reasoning is clear, he does try to dissuade 007 from pursuing the plan further, but doesn't expend too much effort in stopping him when he does.
* LegacyCharacter: He becomes the new M after the death of Judi Dench's character.
* LethallyStupid: ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' is not his finest hour. [[spoiler:First off, he chooses to develop a genetically-targeted nanoplague as an ultra-precise assassination tool while keeping it a secret from the entire rest of the British government, without sparing a single thought for the uncountable horrific ways in which such a weapon could be both deliberately and accidentally misused by both legitimate and illegitimate wielders. Then, he fails to adequately vet the scientists he picks to work on his plague or secure their research facility, letting a faction of SPECTRE steal it for use in an EnemyCivilWar via ''a special-forces assault in the middle of London'' that killed dozens of scientists and blew up part of a skyscraper. The following chain of events causes the deaths of long-term British ally Felix Leiter (who was forced to investigate with lethally inadequate information due to MI6 refusing to come clean about its screw-up), legendary 00 agent James Bond (who got dragged into the whole mess for similar reasons), and a whole lot of innocent civilians who were collateral damage from the Heracles attacks on the SPECTRE high command. Oh, and he was forced to cause a massive international incident by ordering a Royal Navy bombardment of an island in disputed Russian/Japanese colonial waters.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: In his debut in ''Skyfall'', he feels acting in the shadows goes against serving the public, but Creator/JudiDench's M points out that acting in the shadows is the point of espionage. He gets his CharacterDevelopment later on after witnessing the KangarooCourt and Silva's assault, and is seen ordering Q and Tanner to discreetly lead Silva to Skyfall Mansion without letting anyone else find out.
* PunnyName: His name is oddly [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthurian-sounding]], evoking both Sir Gareth of the Round Table and Sir Thomas Mallory (or Malory) who wrote the most prominent version of Sir Gareth in ''[[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Le Morte d'Arthur]]''.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Judi Dench's M screwed up and he wants her to be held accountable. Nothing odd there. Following his promotion, he's more akin to the Ms of old in terms of how he approaches the job. He only chews out Bond on a single occasion - and he ''really'' deserved it.
** He was also on Q's and Tanner's side when they were trying to lure Silva to where Bond and Dench's M would be hiding.
--->'''Mallory''': What are you doing?
--->'''Q''': *stammering* We're just... monitoring--
--->'''Mallory''': Creating a false tracking signal for Silva to follow.
--->'''Tanner''': W-well...
--->'''Q''': N-no sir--
--->'''Mallory''': Excellent thinking. Get him isolated. Send him on the A9, it's the direct route. You can monitor his progress more directly, and confirm it with the traffic cameras.
--->'''Q''': B-but sir, what if the PM finds out?
--->'''Mallory''': Well then we're all [[PrecisionFStrike buggered.]] Carry on.
* RetiredBadass: He's an ex-SAS colonel (this alone makes him a badass for life by default) who was once held hostage for three months by the IRA. As Silva and his goons learn the hard way, this is a bureaucrat who can more than hold his own alongside and against [=MI6=]'s finest.
* TakingTheBullet: When Silva attacks the inquiry hearing, Mallory instinctively jumps a railing. Seeing Silva about to shoot M with his pistol, Mallory pushes her to the ground and takes a bullet in his left arm. He's seen wearing a sling for the remainder of the movie.
* TookALevelInKindness: After the previous M dies. He succeded in her position at the head of [=MI6=] and becomes more friendly and nicer to James and every of his agent subordinates at the end of ''Skyfall'' and onwards in ''Spectre''.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''No Time to Die'', Bond chews him out thoroughly when it comes out that [=MI6=] had secretly supported the development of the Heracles viral weapon -- a weapon which of course falls in the hands of the bad guys.
* WhatWereYouThinking: On the receiving end of this - secretly supporting the development of the Heracles nanobot bioweapon, with a 100% lethality rate and capacity to be pinpoint targeted is just one step away from being a SyntheticPlague. M can only defend himself in that it would leave no collateral damage when properly controlled, but in the wrong hands? It warrants crossing the GodzillaThreshold.
[[/folder]]
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to:
----
[[header:'''M''']]
M is an officer at the head of [=MI6=] and James Bond's boss.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:The Character in General]]
* CodeName: M is simply a title given to the head of [=MI6=].
* DaChief: M frequently berates Bond when he takes initiatives that would cause much trouble for the British government, as M is fully responsible for the actions of [=MI6=] agents.
* ADayInTheLimelight: In ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'', the first act is more personal for him than in most Bond stories and actually sees him get out of the office, if only for a high-stakes[[note]]Hugo Drax is suspected of cheating at big-money card games in a fictional gambling club, and M fears that a scandal could endanger the Moonraker project[[/note]] game of bridge. "For Your Eyes Only" also delves into his psychology a bit, where he grapples with the problem of using his position to take a personal revenge. (Bond understands, and spares him the decision by doing the mission off-the-books). And in Literature/ColonelSun, he's kidnapped and becomes the McGuffin. We also get to see his home and learn something about his personal life.
* LegacyCharacter: Applies to the film versions.
** The first M, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, was Creator/BernardLee. As he died before ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' was filmed, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim M is absent]] and Bond is briefed by the Minister of Defence and Bill Tanner. A [[http://www.007museum.com/cameos42.jpg painting of Messervy]] appears at the [=MI6=] headquarters in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', acknowledging Judi Dench's M as one of his successors.
** In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Robert Brown is the new M. He is very possibly Admiral Hargreaves, the character Brown played in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''.
** In ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'', Creator/JudiDench took over the role ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot inspired by the MI5 being led by a woman at the time]]), and remained there in the Daniel Craig years despite the ContinuityReboot.
** Dench's M dies in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', but in the film's ending, Gareth Mallory (Creator/RalphFiennes) becomes the new M. Dench's M recorded one more mission order for Bond which was played back in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', which resulted in the Mexico City incident and Bond's own investigation on [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Spectre]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: As explained in DaChief above, M tends to not like when Bond takes initiatives on his own, because it can result in much diplomatic incidents and thus troubles for M's ass if the British government finds out about it.
** Robert Brown's M is probably the most uptight, inconsiderate and inflexible of the Ms as shown in ''Licence to Kill'' when he places work over Bond's care for his friend Felix Leiter. While his actions may have been justified after Bond began a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, that is still no excuse for talking to the hero like he is a piece of crap whilst also ignoring the fact that Bond also has a point. There's also the fact that when Bond was unavailable for the Istanbul job, he still assigned 007 to it and then went to America to have a go at him when he didn't turn up in Istanbul to do the job, instead of just assigned another agent like 008 and be done with it.
** Ralph Fiennes' M, in his conversations with Judi Dench's M, initially appears to be some arrogant pencil pusher that will get in her way of catching the bad guys. [[SubvertedTrope He is actually not, and never does]].
* PropheticName: All of the canonical people holding the title have first and/or last names starting with "M". In the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', M's full name is revealed for the first, last, and only time in the Fleming novels as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: M is generally far from being an incompetent boss, and helps Bond whenever the trails he follows are serious or when he is on something crucial.
** Especially Creator/BernardLee's M, often doing all he can to give Bond the elbow room he needs and frequently clashing with his government superiors for doing so. For instance, in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', after Bond ends up embarrassing both him and Frederick Gray, M is forced to take Bond off the case until he produces a vial of the gas he recovered in Drax's laboratory. M decides to give him a two-week leave of absence in order to pursue a lead in Rio.
** Gareth Mallory also proves to be a strong moral rampart when [=MI6=] itself is shut down in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', defending it to the very end against Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou mass surveillance]] program. While he tries to keep [=MI6=] alive, he also finds out Bond is on a serious trail and lets him operate. All of this turns out to be the best thing to do, [[spoiler:as Denbigh is actually a Spectre [[TheMole mole]]. Mallory even directly helps Bond in taking down Spectre's nefarious project by directly confronting Blofeld and Denbigh.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literary]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
!!!'''Voiced by:''' David King (''You Only Live Twice'', BBC Radio 4, 1990), John Standing (BBC Radio 4 Dramas since 2008)
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CodeName: He's known as M internally but uses another codename, "MAILED-FIST" to sign off (all-caps) dispatches. Bond comments that there's a suitable simpler English word, "Em", a term of measurement used in printing, but M probably finds it not dashing enough.
* ComicBookTime: The continuation novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, set in the present day (1980s onward), still have him active despite the original Fleming novels starting in the 1950s. Until he eventually retires several books in, and is succeeded by the M from ''Film/GoldenEye''.
* {{Expy}}: Creator/IanFleming based the character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, commanding officer of the Royal Naval Intelligence Division in which Fleming served during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Fleming also took inspiration from his own mother, Evelyn, who he nicknamed "M".
* GivenNameReveal: His real name is revealed in the novel ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the Fleming novels, the club M frequents keeps a supply of cheap red wine from Algeria on hand just for him. He calls it "Infuriator" and drinks it only in small quantities unless he's in a really bad mood.
* ItsPersonal: In the short story ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly'', he sends Bond to Cuba as essentially his personal hitman to avenge the murders of an old married British couple, his dear friends. He's deeply troubled about this until Bond takes the hint and gives him the excuse that it's a matter of state, since the criminals and corrupt official behind the murders can't be allowed to treat British citizens that way.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bernard Lee]]
!!Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1kvdato_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"When you carry a 00 number, you have a licence to kill, not get killed."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/BernardLee
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Serge Nadaud (French, 1962-1974), Jean Brunel (French, 1977-1979)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/DrNo'' | ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' | ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' | ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' | ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' | ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' | ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' | ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' | ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' | ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' | ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''
The first M in the film series.
----
* AlliterativeName: Sir '''M'''iles '''M'''esservy.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Bernard Lee played M for 17 years, in 11 movies, more than any other actor in the role, and it showed (his hair had turned completely white by the time of ''Moonraker'').
* DeadpanSnarker: He can really get in some good jabs when he wants to, and Bond and the situations at play never fail to provide him reasons to snark.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: He is seen with a pipe sometimes. He doesn't always smoke with it.
* FrontlineGeneral: While not getting directly involved, this M would often set up a field office not too far from where Bond is working.
* GrumpyOldMan: He can be quite cranky on occasion, sometimes as a result of Bond's actions.
* MomentKiller: He regularly interrupts Bond and Moneypenny's flirting, sometimes via the intercom of Moneypenny's office.
* NoodleIncident: In ''From Russia with Love'' M and Moneypenny are listening to an audio recording sent to them by Bond. When Bond starts to mention an embarrassing incident involving M in Tokyo, M ''immediately'' pauses the recording and dismisses Moneypenny from the room.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Lee's M and Connery's Bond, for all their bickering, were still clearly friends (to the point that they once [[NoodleIncident apparently wingmanned for each other in Japan]]). This is most obvious in ''Thunderball'', where M repeatedly defends Bond in front of his doubting superiors.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Robert Brown]]
!!Admiral Marian Hargreaves / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mrobertbrown.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"We're not a country club, 007!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Robert Brown
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Émile Duard (French, ''The Spy Who Loved Me''), Jean Davy (French, 1983-1985), Philippe Dumat (French, 1987-1989)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''[[note]]as he's possibly a promoted Admiral Hargreaves[[/note]] | ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' | ''Film/AViewToAKill'' | ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' | ''Film/LicenceToKill''
The second M in the film series.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: This M's name is never pronounced or indicated in the films, but it's very plausible that the character Robert Brown played in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', Admiral Hargreaves, may have been promoted after a possible death or retirement of Messervy in-universe.
* BadBoss: [[AmbiguousSituation If one thinks]] the syringe that one of his agents was preparing to inject Bond with once arresting him for being a RogueAgent was a lethal injection in ''Licence to Kill'', then this M was intending to have Bond [[DisproportionateRetribution executed once found on the spot for his insubordination]] after having TookALevelInJerkass into becoming a morally ambiguous TautologicalTemplar.
* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: He's way more uptight than his predecessor and less tolerant of Bond's antics. That said, he had a softer, more amiable edge.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Like his predecessor, he's often seen smoking a pipe.
* HeroAntagonist: He becomes this in ''Licence to Kill'' when he tries to stop a [[RogueAgent rogue and increasingly reckless]] Bond.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite his cold manner, he was somewhat justified in trying to stop Bond's RoaringRampageOfRevenge in ''Licence to Kill,'' especially considering he had just brutally murdered [[AssholeVictim Killifer]] by feeding him to a shark. He had reason to believe his vendetta with Sanchez would lead to a major scandal if he continued killing in that manner.
--> ''"This private vendetta of yours could easily compromise Her Majesty's government."''
* NoSenseOfHumour: He was not nearly as witty as Creator/BernardLee or Judi Dench's portrayals.
* PointyHairedBoss: In ''Licence to Kill'', he neglects to inform Bond that there are operations going on at Sanchez's BananaRepublic lair when Bond accuses their American allies for doing nothing and instead results to haranguing him for "sentimental rubbish."
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is noticeably more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat towards Bond than his past appearances.
* TautologicalTemplar: Robert Brown in ''Licence to Kill'' reacts cold-heartedly to the Leiters' tragedy, labels Bond as a RogueAgent for caring about them, claiming that it's not [=MI6=]'s business (despite the many times Leiter assisted them), and then orders [=MI6=] operatives to arrest Bond or even execute him if necessary when he goes rogue. Deep down however, he still wishes Bond to survive, if his very worried "God help you, Commander" when Bond escapes custody is any indication.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''Licence to Kill'', he is very abrupt and harsh with Bond when he confronts him in Florida about the neglect of his duties, due to his vendetta, showing NoSympathy towards Felix's tragedy and criticizes Bond for lack of professionalism and objectivity. Brown also treats Moneypenny slightly more poorly then before, criticizing her for making typing errors.
* UngratefulBastard: Despite all the service Leiter has done for [=MI6=], this M places duty above all and shows NoSympathy towards the tragedy that involves Leiter losing a leg and having his bride murdered.
* UpperClassTwit: His ObstructiveBureaucrat DaChief and PointyHairedBoss approach to his job makes him the worst M in the franchise.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (I)]]
!!Barbara Mawdsley / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/m_goldeneye___profile.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"If you think I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. I've no compunction about sending you to your death. But I won't do it on a whim."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Liliane Gaudet (French, 1995-1999), Annie Bertin (French, ''Die Another Day'')
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/GoldenEye'' | ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' | ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' | ''Film/DieAnotherDay''
The third M in the film series, in the Creator/PierceBrosnan Bond era.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: Assuming Robert Brown's M was Admiral Hargreaves, Judi Dench's M holds the distinction of being the only M whose name is not revealed in the entire film series. The name of the Brosnan era M was "Barbara Mawdsley" according to the script of ''[=GoldenEye=]'', as well as in the Raymond Benson novel ''Literature/TheFactsOfDeath''.
* BoyishShortHair: Her hairstyle represents the suppression of her femininity in order to succeed in a male-dominated field. She even tells Bond in ''The World Is Not Enough'' that her job requires her to ignore her maternal instincts.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are. Best exemplified in ''The World Is Not Enough'' when she ignores her maternal-like connection to Elektra King and uses the younger woman ''twice'' as bait to try to catch the terrorist Renard.
* DamselInDistress: She is imprisoned in the appropriately-named Maiden's Tower in ''The World Is Not Enough'', and Bond must rescue his boss from Elektra's clutches.
* DarkSecret: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M is so ashamed over how she handled Elektra King's kidnapping that she sealed Elektra's file so that no one else can access it. When Bond requests the classified information as an employee, M flatly refuses with a stern warning ("I will not tolerate insubordination, 007"), so he resorts to using their implicit mother-son relationship (the gentle way he asks, "What happened?") before she willingly discloses a painful part of her past.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very much like Creator/BernardLee's M, she has quite a supply of wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Bourbon, neat. It shows she's no nonsense and gets down to the bottom line. Tellingly, Bond takes his bourbon with ice when she pours him a drink.
* {{Foil}}: In ''The World is Not Enough'', M and Elektra King are powerful women who have very different ways of exercising control within a patriarchal system. Elektra overuses her femininity to manipulate the men around her, whereas M suppresses her femininity to maintain her authority over her employees (especially male chauvinists like Bond); when handling Elektra's kidnapping, M even explicitly states that she went against her instincts as a mother.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* IronLady: She wouldn't be leading MI-6 if she wasn't one tough lady of authority, and she definitely is one.
* ItsPersonal: Bond accuses M of this in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', as she was a very close friend of Sir Robert.
-->'''Bond:''' I brought the money in that killed King.\\
'''M:''' Don't make this personal.\\
'''Bond:''' I'm not; are you?
* MyGreatestFailure: Her handling of Elektra King's kidnapping.
* ParentalSubstitute: To a lesser extent during the Brosnan era compared to Craig's, but still there, such as when M mentions to Elektra King that Bond is her best agent, [[WellDoneSonGuy but she'd never tell him that in person]]. As a close friend of Sir Robert King, M is a maternal figure towards his daughter Elektra (whose mother had passed away some years ago before the events of ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'').
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle also serves to highlight her position of authority.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: She delivers a ''scathing'' one to Bond upon her introduction in ''[=GoldenEye=]'', firmly establishing her grip on MI-6 and shoots down any doubts Bond may have about how far she is willing to go to get the job done. Bond wisely chooses not to challenge her any further.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''The World Is Not Enough'', M was the one who convinced her family friend Sir Robert King not to pay the ransom to Renard, who was holding King's daughter Elektra hostage at that time. This event is what drove an embittered Elektra to team up with Renard in a plot to cause a meltdown in order to monopolize the oil market; even ordering the successful murder on King and taking M as prisoner; even Renard coldly berates M for making such a unwise decision, something which left M in complete guilt.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: She delivers this to Bond in ''Die Another Day'' when she's led to believe that Bond has surrendered valuable information to the enemy during his captivity in North Korea, and promptly strips him of his 00-licence when he is finally recovered. It isn't long though before he escapes and she realizes that something far bigger than Bond is unfolding and promptly reinstates him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Judi Dench (II)]]
!!Olivia Mansfield / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/02155_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Christ, I miss the Cold War!"'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/JudiDench
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Nadine Alari (French, 2006-2015)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' | ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' | ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' [[note]]in the VideoWills Bond receives following her death in ''Skyfall''[[/note]]
->''"I suppose I see a different world than you do, and the truth is that what I see frightens me. I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map, they aren't nations. They are individuals. And look around you - who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No, our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque! It's in the shadows - that's where we must do battle."''
Technically the fourth M in the film series, as she's still played by Judi Dench (the sole remaining cast member to carry over from the Brosnan era), but this time in the era of Creator/DanielCraig's Bond, which is a ContinuityReboot.
----
* AffectionateNickname: In ''Skyfall'', characters call her "Emma" in private a couple of times, implying that this is her real name and that "M" is a play on it as Bond suggested in ''Casino Royale''. Her real name is actually Olivia Mansfield.
* AllThereInTheManual: A prop from the end of ''Skyfall'' reveals that her name in the Craig continuity is "Olivia Mansfield".
* BoyishShortHair: Her hair is still short to outline her {{power|hair}}, but this time it has more to do with the fact that Dench is in her late 70's.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are.
* CharacterAgedWithTheActor: Judi Dench's tenure in the series lasted as long as Creator/BernardLee's (17 years in the full-fledged role, 20 if the VideoWills cameo of ''Spectre'' is counted), even though she technically played two different Ms. In-universe the character is also considered a veteran, especially in ''Skyfall'' as Gareth Mallory pushes her to resign before the hearing so she could get a honourable retirement.
* CompositeCharacter: Or rather, Composite Character ''Archetype''. In ''Skyfall'', as the main female deuteragonist for the second half of the film, she arguably also fills the role of the Bond girl.
* DarkSecret: She betrayed one of her best agents -- Tiago Rodriguez (Raoul Silva) -- and sold him out to the Chinese when Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese government in 1997 as he ignored her orders and went rogue. It brutally comes back to haunt her in ''Skyfall''.
* DeadpanSnarker: She still has quite the occasional wit against Bond.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Played with; she never leaves anybody in doubt as to who's calling the shots at MI-6, and is especially disdainful of Bond upon her introduction. However, she eventually comes to trust his judgement and is quite reasonable with him when he must resort to unorthodox tactics to resolve a crisis.
* FrontlineGeneral: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: In ''Skyfall'', she is required to testify before a Defence Ministry hearing about her services' effectiveness following Bond's failure in Turkey and the bombing of her headquarters. It's rendered moot when Silva and his henchmen attack the hearing and M is eventually killed before they come to any decision.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the climax of ''Skyfall'', she keeps missing with Bond's PPK and notes that she's never been a good shot. Her likely diminished sight due to her age doesn't really help either.
* IronLady: In the Craig movies in particular as his Bond is more "wild" than Creator/PierceBrosnan's, and therefore she has to be more stern with the former in order to try to keep him under control.
* ParentalSubstitute: She really takes on a motherly ToughLove role to Bond here.
* PosthumousCharacter: In ''Spectre'', Bond receives a video following her death in ''Skyfall'', which basically kicks off the plot. [[VideoWills It contains her last will]], that is going after Marco Sciarra, killing him and uncovering the organisation he works for, providing him his first lead to Spectre.
-->'''Bond:''' She wasn't gonna let death get in the way of her job.
* PowerHair: Her short hairstyle. By then it has more to do with the fact that Dench was pushing 80, but it's still a sign of authority.
* PunnyName: "Olivia Mansfield" appears to be a pun on "I live in a man's field". Fitting, given the ''James Bond'' series' tradition of puns for female characters' names.
* {{Retirony}}: In ''Skyfall'', Gareth Mallory tries to convince her to retire due to her age and the hearing also means her career has great chances to end. She eventually dies of her wounds in the FinalBattle.
* ShrineToTheFallen: Like Miles Messervy before her, there's now a portrait of her at the [=MI6=] office in ''Film/NoTimeToDie''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ralph Fiennes]]
!!Gareth Mallory / M
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mralphfiennes.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"There’s no shame in saying you’ve lost a step. The only shame will be in not admitting it until it’s too late."'']]
!!! '''Played by:''' Creator/RalphFiennes
!!! '''Dubbed by:''' Bernard Gabay (French)
!!! '''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' | ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' | ''Film/NoTimeToDie''
->''"Have you ever had to kill a man, Max? Have you? To pull that trigger, you have to be sure. Yes, you investigate, analyze, assess, target. And then you have to look him in the eye. And you make the call. And all the drones, bugs, cameras, transcripts, all the surveillance in the world can't tell you what to do next. A licence to kill is also a licence not to kill."''
The Chairman of the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the SAS, Gareth Mallory got promoted as the head of [=MI6=] following the death of the previous M (Olivia Mansfield).
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* AesopAmnesia: In Spectre, he chastises C for wanting to move away from assassins to assassination by drone instead, essentially stating that there will always need to be a human being who pulls the trigger. [[spoiler:In No Time to Die, he essentially forgets this, and develops the Heracles program to quietly assassinate MI6’s enemies with tiny nanobots instead of requiring a human being to do it.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: His pointed shutdown of Denbigh's arguments against the 00 program, seen in the folder quote.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He's easily the M who has the most amount of screentime as an active combatant, especially in ''Spectre''. Even in ''Skyfall'', he's still shown to be capable in a firefight before he actually becomes M by the film's end.
* BadassBureaucrat: He's initially a Member of Parliament and he works at a desk, but don't think he's a pushover. He's one of the first to jump into the firefight with Silva and his cohorts and handles himself nicely despite taking a shot to the shoulder.
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Early on in ''Skyfall'', he seems to be an obstruction to Judi Dench's M and Co., and before Silva shows up there's even a bit of {{fauxshadowing}} that [[RedHerring makes it seem like he might be behind the attacks on MI6]].
* BenevolentBoss: M (Judi Dench) screwed up spectacularly, so Mallory had no choice but to hold her accountable. Much the same, at the beginning of ''Spectre'', Bond went way overboard and was promptly chewed out. But other than these two instances, Mallory is a man who has utmost faith in his men and wholly supports them - even teaching them a thing or two about LoopholeAbuse.
* BigGood: Affirms himself as one in ''Spectre'', as he's the staunchest defender of [=MI6=] when Max Denbigh wants to shut the intelligence service in favour of the [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou Orwellian]] "Nine Eyes" (which is actually a backdoor entrance into the world's major intelligence services' databases for SPECTRE). In the climax, M himself puts a stop to Denbigh's project and has [[BigBad Blofeld]] arrested.
* ColonelBadass: He was a Lt. Colonel in the SAS and survived torture at the hands of the IRA during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.
* DeadpanSnarker: Particularly in ''Spectre''.
* EveryoneHasStandards: ''Spectre'' in particular shows that he has strong moral principles.
** In ''Skyfall'', he unapologetically believes that M should be called to account for her handling of the crisis, but is visibly appalled when it becomes clear that the actual committee hearing is basically turning into little more than a KangarooCourt.
-->'''Mallory:''' [[DeadpanSnarker For the sake of variety might we actually hear from the witness?]]
** In ''Spectre'', he opposes Max Denbigh's BigBrotherIsWatching project as he feels it is oppressive and anti-democratic.
* AFatherToHisMen: Somewhat downplayed in that he's not particularly close to any of his subordinates beyond a strictly professional basis, but he still has quite a few shades of this.
** In ''Skyfall'', he shows genuine concern for the undercover agents whose identities were contained in a stolen hard drive and warns M (Judi Dench) to pull out the agents before their covers could be blown, and he is noticeably skeptical about James Bond being placed back on active service when the latter returns worse for wear after being presumed dead.
** In ''Spectre'', even though Bond, Q, and Moneypenny all disobey or lie to him to varying degrees, his first reaction to learning of said disobedience from C’s surveillance data is not to get mad at '''them''' for their insubordination, but to get mad at '''C''' for spying on his agents/staff. When he later learns that [[spoiler:C was working for Spectre the whole time (and presumably gave all the surveillance data on MI6 agents to Spectre)]], he [[spoiler:confronts C and eventually kills him after a brief struggle, with plenty of subtle PapaWolf undertones on his (M’s) part throughout]].
-->'''M:''' Not a good feeling being watched, is it?
** [[spoiler:In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' he gives the order to launch missiles on an island housing poisonous weapons, while Bond is still on it. It is painfully obvious that the decision weighs on him heavily, but he does so anyway after Bond urges him on. Bond's death saddens him greatly.]]
* TheFettered: In ''Spectre'', his moral compass drives him to firmly oppose Max Denbigh's [[BigBrotherIsWatching mass surveillance]] project. Even the shutting of [=MI6=] doesn't prevent him from actively trying to stop what is revealed to be Spectre's nefarious scheme to control the flow of intel of the major secret services of the world.
* FrontlineGeneral: He is involved in the action in the climax of ''Spectre''.
* IdiotHoudini: It's safe to say that most of the long, long list of things that go wrong for MI6, the United Kingdom, and the world in general in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' are the result of his catastrophic incompetence (see LethallyStupid), but while he gets plenty of WhatTheHellHero moments from his staff once they find out how badly he's screwed up, the film ends with him carrying on with business as usual with zero apparent consequences for his career.
* ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: Malory becomes the ''first'' hero in the franchise to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When a young agent in the film ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' casually quips how The Status of Double-O is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, Malory chastises him with weary sadness that The License to Kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden,''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but only those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In the beginning when he's in ObstructiveBureaucrat mode, at least, when he shuts down M's objections to being summoned to meet him:
-->'''M:''' Forgive me, but why am I here?\\
'''Mallory:''' Three months ago you lost a computer drive containing the identity of almost every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe. A list, which in the eyes of our allies, never existed. So, if you'll forgive ''me'', I think you ''know'' why you're here.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he may be a bit harsh towards Judi Dench's M before her hearing, there's no doubt that Mallory is just doing his job. When he takes over as M, he shows himself to be far less harsh and bitchy than his predecessor. Indeed, the only time he's harsh with 007 is [[Film/{{Spectre}} when 007 went AWOL and killed someone for apparently no reason,]] a situation in which he was very right to be upset. Once his reasoning is clear, he does try to dissuade 007 from pursuing the plan further, but doesn't expend too much effort in stopping him when he does.
* LegacyCharacter: He becomes the new M after the death of Judi Dench's character.
* LethallyStupid: ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' is not his finest hour. [[spoiler:First off, he chooses to develop a genetically-targeted nanoplague as an ultra-precise assassination tool while keeping it a secret from the entire rest of the British government, without sparing a single thought for the uncountable horrific ways in which such a weapon could be both deliberately and accidentally misused by both legitimate and illegitimate wielders. Then, he fails to adequately vet the scientists he picks to work on his plague or secure their research facility, letting a faction of SPECTRE steal it for use in an EnemyCivilWar via ''a special-forces assault in the middle of London'' that killed dozens of scientists and blew up part of a skyscraper. The following chain of events causes the deaths of long-term British ally Felix Leiter (who was forced to investigate with lethally inadequate information due to MI6 refusing to come clean about its screw-up), legendary 00 agent James Bond (who got dragged into the whole mess for similar reasons), and a whole lot of innocent civilians who were collateral damage from the Heracles attacks on the SPECTRE high command. Oh, and he was forced to cause a massive international incident by ordering a Royal Navy bombardment of an island in disputed Russian/Japanese colonial waters.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: In his debut in ''Skyfall'', he feels acting in the shadows goes against serving the public, but Creator/JudiDench's M points out that acting in the shadows is the point of espionage. He gets his CharacterDevelopment later on after witnessing the KangarooCourt and Silva's assault, and is seen ordering Q and Tanner to discreetly lead Silva to Skyfall Mansion without letting anyone else find out.
* PunnyName: His name is oddly [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthurian-sounding]], evoking both Sir Gareth of the Round Table and Sir Thomas Mallory (or Malory) who wrote the most prominent version of Sir Gareth in ''[[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Le Morte d'Arthur]]''.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Judi Dench's M screwed up and he wants her to be held accountable. Nothing odd there. Following his promotion, he's more akin to the Ms of old in terms of how he approaches the job. He only chews out Bond on a single occasion - and he ''really'' deserved it.
** He was also on Q's and Tanner's side when they were trying to lure Silva to where Bond and Dench's M would be hiding.
--->'''Mallory''': What are you doing?
--->'''Q''': *stammering* We're just... monitoring--
--->'''Mallory''': Creating a false tracking signal for Silva to follow.
--->'''Tanner''': W-well...
--->'''Q''': N-no sir--
--->'''Mallory''': Excellent thinking. Get him isolated. Send him on the A9, it's the direct route. You can monitor his progress more directly, and confirm it with the traffic cameras.
--->'''Q''': B-but sir, what if the PM finds out?
--->'''Mallory''': Well then we're all [[PrecisionFStrike buggered.]] Carry on.
* RetiredBadass: He's an ex-SAS colonel (this alone makes him a badass for life by default) who was once held hostage for three months by the IRA. As Silva and his goons learn the hard way, this is a bureaucrat who can more than hold his own alongside and against [=MI6=]'s finest.
* TakingTheBullet: When Silva attacks the inquiry hearing, Mallory instinctively jumps a railing. Seeing Silva about to shoot M with his pistol, Mallory pushes her to the ground and takes a bullet in his left arm. He's seen wearing a sling for the remainder of the movie.
* TookALevelInKindness: After the previous M dies. He succeded in her position at the head of [=MI6=] and becomes more friendly and nicer to James and every of his agent subordinates at the end of ''Skyfall'' and onwards in ''Spectre''.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''No Time to Die'', Bond chews him out thoroughly when it comes out that [=MI6=] had secretly supported the development of the Heracles viral weapon -- a weapon which of course falls in the hands of the bad guys.
* WhatWereYouThinking: On the receiving end of this - secretly supporting the development of the Heracles nanobot bioweapon, with a 100% lethality rate and capacity to be pinpoint targeted is just one step away from being a SyntheticPlague. M can only defend himself in that it would leave no collateral damage when properly controlled, but in the wrong hands? It warrants crossing the GodzillaThreshold.
[[/folder]]
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* AbsenteeActor: Bernard Lee was fighting stomach cancer when the filming of ''For Your Eyes Only'' began, he could not attend it and passed away shortly afterwards. Bill Tanner (played by James Villiers) and Minister of Defence Sir Frederick Gray replaced him to give Bond his mission orders in that film. A new M would appear in the following film, ''Octopussy''.
