The venerated action film franchise James Bond is also famous for its Action Prologues, so much so that it used to be the Trope Namer (as "Bond Cold Open"). They're typically introduced with the Bond Gun Barrel and shown leading into the Title Sequence.
Eon Productions series:
- Dr. No had its Title Sequence right away, although Bond doesn't appear until several minutes into the film. The film opens in Jamaica with MI-6 agent Strangways and his secretary being shot to death by Dr. No's henchmen the Three Blind Mice, who pretend to be blind to approach their unsuspecting targets. Said henchmen also steal documents pertaining to No to not let MI-6 have informations on him.
- From Russia with Love: The first pre-Title Sequence prologue in the series. Bond is followed by an imposing man in a garden maze and seemingly gets strangled to death by the latter... until it's revealed it was a living target with a very convincing mask in the middle of a SPECTRE training session for killer Red Grant.
- Goldfinger: The trend of Bond being on an action-heavy prologue mission that's (mostly) unrelated to the main plot really started there. Bond infiltrates a drug cartel's warehouse and blows up their drug supplies, tries having some good time with a Sultry Belly Dancer and fights a mook till the latter dies via Electrified Bathtub.
- Thunderball: Bond tracks down, fights and kills Colonel Jacques Bouvar, a highly ranked SPECTRE operative who's faking his own funeral disguised as a widow, and escapes from his castle using a Jet Pack and his Aston Martin DB5.
- You Only Live Twice: An American spacecraft is "swallowed" in outer space by an unknown and bigger spacecraft (belonging to SPECTRE actually), and Bond is ambushed and seemingly gunned down in Hong Kong after bedding a local lady.
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service: In Portugal, Bond saves the life of suicidal Mafia Princess Tracy Draco on a beach and fights her father's henchmen. And also states that "this never happened to the other fella".
- Diamonds Are Forever: Bond frantically punches his way through a series of informants throughout the world until he finds Ernst Stavro Blofeld and kills him (or so he thinks) in a mud bath plastic surgery facility.
- Live and Let Die: Not really "action" since it only shows three MI-6 agents being killed by the criminal network of Mr. Big/Kananga in various ways (Brown Note, fake funeral-turned-genuine, and snake bite) and places (the United Nations building in New York City, New Orleans and a fictional Caribbean island).
- The Man with the Golden Gun: Professional Killer with a golden gun Francisco Scaramanga trains himself against another killer sent after him inside his "Fun House", and it ends with Scaramanga shooting said killer in the head then shooting at the fingers of a lifelike statue of Bond.
- The Spy Who Loved Me: A British submarine gets mysteriously hijacked, and Bond is chased on skis by a squad of KGB agents in the Austrian Alps after having spent some good time with a traitorous female agent. Bond kills the squad leader (who happens to be the lover of agent Anya Amasova) with a gun concealed in his ski pole and ends up jumping down a cliff with a Union Jack parachute.
- Moonraker: A Drax Industries Moonraker space shuttle gets hijacked in mid-air as it was being transported on a cargo plane, and Bond is ambushed in a private jet, which results in a Free-Fall Fight. Bond manages to wrestle control of a parachute, the traitorous pilot falls to his death and a returning Jaws lands on a circus tent.
- For Your Eyes Only: A British Spy Ship is sunken in the Ionian Sea when fishing a Sea Mine, and Bond is ambushed by a wheelchair-bound villain in a remote-controlled helicopter in London after visiting the grave of his deceased wife. Bond manages to gain control of the helicopter and turns it against said villain, who suspiciously looks like SPECTRE leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld and perishes after being dropped down a smokestack.
- Octopussy: Bond must blow up a military base's radar prototype in a Cuba-like country and ends up being chased in a one-man minijet by a homing missile, which he turns against the base.
- A View to a Kill: Bond is sent to retrieve a microchip on a dead MI-6 agent in Siberia and ends up chased in the snow by a whole Soviet army battalion, and manages to escape. Includes a bit of surfing with The Beach Boys as soundtrack. For real.
- The Living Daylights: A MI-6 training day in Gibraltar goes awry and Bond chases after a mysterious killer who just assassinated 004, culminating in the killer's explosive death and Bond landing with his parachute on the pleasure boat of a woman who appropriately felt a little too lonely.
- Licence to Kill: In Florida's Keys, Bond and his CIA Best Friend Felix Leiter team up on Leiter's own wedding day to arrest the most powerful drug lord in Latin America, and they end up "fishing" his plane with a helicopter and jumping with parachutes to directly land at the church.
- GoldenEye: Bond and his Best Friend Alec Trevelyan aka agent 006 are sent to blow up a secret Soviet chemical plant. The plan goes awry as Trevelyan is seemingly killed, but Bond still manages to blow up the plant and escape in a plane (which he jumped after down a cliff and gained control of in mid-air, no less).
- Tomorrow Never Dies: Bond is sent to spy on a weapons market for terrorists in Russia, and ends up fighting his way to steal a plane with two nuclear warheads before a Royal Navy missile blows up the place, succeeding at that in the nick of time.
- The World Is Not Enough: Bond retrieves a briefcase of money from a shady banker in Bilbao, Spain, on behalf of billionaire Sir Robert King. King gets assassinated in London in the very MI-6 headquarters, and Bond goes after the woman who killed him on a extensive chase on the Thames with a special weaponized speedboat built by Q. The chase ends on the roof of the Millennium Dome with the woman blowing up her own hot air balloon out of fear of the Big Bad when Bond tries to get intel from her.
- Die Another Day: Bond is sent to assassinate a mad North Korean colonel, Tan-Sun Moon, and blow up his base. The mission goes awry although Bond still manages to blow up the base. A hovercraft chase on the Korean Demilitarized Zone's mine fields ensues and the colonel is seemingly killed at the waterfall at the end of it, but then Bond is captured by the colonel's father and tortured for months.
- Casino Royale: In this Continuity Reboot, Bond accomplishes his first two kills and earns his "00" license to kill. Bond's first kill happens at the end of brutal fight in a toilet room, with Bond first attempting to drown the guy in a sink then shooting him. His second kill is easier — a mole who sold MI-6 secrets he has no issue shooting in cold blood. The two kills are shown in Anachronic Order, with Bond's first kill morphing into the film's Bond Gun Barrel that opens the Title Sequence.
- A deleted part extends the scene, with Bond following the first target at a cricket field in Lahore, Pakistan, the toilets of which end up the place of the fight.
- Quantum of Solace: Bond is in a brutal car chase in Italy after capturing Mr. White at the end of the previous film, and manages to fend off his pursuers with some Car Fu and submachine gun fire, bringing White to MI-6 in Siena.
- Skyfall: Bond is sent to İstanbul to retrieve a hard drive with a list of agents that must not fall into enemy hands. He chases Professional Killer Patrice through the city and on top of a train. Bond ends up being shot by mistake by fellow MI-6 agent Eve and falls off a bridge into a river.
- Spectre: Bond is sent to Mexico City during a big Día de Muertos parade to kill terrorist Marco Sciarra. His sniping attempt fails, a chase ensues and climaxes with a fight within a helicopter (which does several dangerous barrel rolls and a vertical ascent as they wrestle), with Bond throwing Sciarra and the pilot to their death and narrowly regaining control of the aircraft before it crashes and causes casualties in the below crowd.
- No Time to Die: The film starts with a Flashback to Madeleine Swann's youth in snowy Norway, when a masked Lyutsifer Safin killed her mother and when herself barely escaped death at his hands. Cut to present-day, Bond is enjoying his retirement in the Southern Italian city of Matera with Madeleine and goes to visit Vesper Lynd's grave. He is ambushed by Spectre (starting with a bomb in the grave) and a chase on bike and in the Aston Martin DB5 ensues (highlights include the DB5 now being fitted with miniguns). It ends with Bond breaking up with Madeleine and sending her off on a train, believing she had something to do with the attack. Clocking in at 20 minutes, it is the longest prologue in the history of the series.
Others:
- Never Say Never Again: The Title Sequence opens on Bond infiltrating a jungle compound to free a woman, with the song continuing through a good part of the scene. He seemingly kills or incapacitates several mooks along the way, and upon reaching the captive woman, she suddenly stabs him in the stomach... It turns out this was all a training exercise, and Bond failed it.
