Characters / James Bond - Major Recurring Characters

aka: James Bond Felix Leiter

Main Character Index

Characters who have appeared as regulars in numerous takes on James Bond, ranging from the original novels to different film continuities.

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M

M is an officer (usually from the Royal Navy) at the head of MI6 and James Bond's boss.

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The Character in General

• Code Name: M is simply a title given to the head of MI6. Please note that in reality, the head of MI6 is actually given a different single-letter title, "C". (Apparently, certain other senior MI6 personnel have single-letter titles/codenames, but what they are is of course not widely available.)
• Da Chief: 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.
• A Day in the Limelight: In 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 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 Colonel Sun, he's kidnapped and becomes the McGuffin. We also get to see his home and learn something about his personal life.
• Legacy Character: Applies to the film versions.
  • The first M, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, was Bernard Lee. As he died before For Your Eyes Only was filmed, M is absent and Bond is briefed by the Minister of Defence and Bill Tanner. A painting of Messervy◊ appears at the MI6 headquarters in The World Is Not Enough, acknowledging Judi Dench's M as one of his successors.
  • In Octopussy, Robert Brown is the new M. He is very possibly Admiral Hargreaves, the character Brown played in The Spy Who Loved Me.
  • In GoldenEye, Judi Dench took over the role (inspired by the MI5 being led by a woman at the time), with Bond in that movie directly mentioning that she had a predecessor (likely referring to Brown's character), and for the first time directly confirming that the Ms are different people rather than The Other Darrin like Bond. She remained there in the Daniel Craig years despite the Continuity Reboot.
  • Dench's M dies in Skyfall, but in the film's ending, Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) becomes the new M. Dench's M recorded one more mission order for Bond which was played back in Spectre, which resulted in the Mexico City incident and Bond's own investigation on Spectre.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: As explained in Da Chief 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 Roaring Rampage of Revenge, 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. He is actually not, and never does.
• Prophetic Name: All of the canonical people holding the title have first and/or last names starting with "M". In the novel The Man with the Golden Gun, M's full name is revealed for the first, last, and only time in the Fleming novels as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy.
• Race Lift: The Dynamite comics depict him as a black man, though perhaps he's not necessarily the same character as any listed below.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: 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 Bernard Lee'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 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 Spectre, defending it to the very end against Max Denbigh's 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, as Denbigh is actually a Spectre mole. Mallory even directly helps Bond in taking down Spectre's nefarious project by directly confronting Blofeld and Denbigh.
• The Spymaster: As head of MI6, all versions of M are responsible for dispatching the various agents, including Bond, across the globe to do their assigned tasks.

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)

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• Alliterative Name: Sir Miles Messervy.
• Code Name: 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.
• Comic-Book Time: 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 GoldenEye.
• Expy: Ian Fleming based the character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, commanding officer of the Royal Naval Intelligence Division in which Fleming served during World War II. Fleming also took inspiration from his own mother, Evelyn, who he nicknamed "M".
• Given Name Reveal: His real name is revealed in the novel The Man with the Golden Gun.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: 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.
• It's Personal: In the short story For Your Eyes Only, 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.

Bernard Lee

Admiral Sir Miles Messervy / M

"When you carry a 00 number, you have a licence to kill, not get killed."

Played by: Bernard Lee

Dubbed by: Serge Nadaud (French, 1962-1974), Jean Brunel (French, 1977-1979)

Appearances: Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker

The first M in the film series.

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• Alliterative Name: Sir Miles Messervy.
• British Stuffiness: M was quite gruff, with only a few flashes of paternal affection toward Bond.
• Character Aged with the Actor: 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).
• Deadpan Snarker: 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.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: He is seen with a pipe sometimes. He doesn't always smoke with it.
• Frontline General: While not getting directly involved, this M would often set up a field office not too far from where Bond is working.
• Grumpy Old Man: He can be quite cranky on occasion, sometimes as a result of Bond's actions.
• Moment Killer: He regularly interrupts 007 and Moneypenny's flirting, usually over Moneypenny's desk intercom. It's more impressive considering M supposedly can't see or hear any of it, and just correctly assumes it's happening. Then again, he is a chief spy.
• Noodle Incident: 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.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Lee's M and Connery's Bond, for all their bickering, were still clearly friends (to the point that they once apparently wingmanned for each other in Japan). This is most obvious in Thunderball, where M repeatedly defends Bond in front of his doubting superiors.

Robert Brown

Admiral Marian Hargreaves / M

"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: The Spy Who Loved Me^note as he's possibly a promoted Admiral Hargreaves | Octopussy | A View to a Kill | The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill

The second M in the film series.

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• All There in the Manual: 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.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: He's way more uptight than his predecessor and less tolerant of Bond's antics. That said, he had a softer, more amiable edge.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Like his predecessor, he's often seen smoking a pipe.
• Hero Antagonist: He becomes this in Licence to Kill when he tries to stop a rogue and increasingly reckless Bond.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite his cold manner, he was somewhat justified in trying to stop Bond's Roaring Rampage of Revenge in Licence to Kill, especially considering he had just brutally murdered 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."
• No Sense of Humour: He was not nearly as witty as Bernard Lee or Judi Dench's portrayals.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: In Licence to Kill, he neglects to inform Bond that there are operations going on at Sanchez's Banana Republic lair when Bond accuses their American allies for doing nothing and instead results to haranguing him for "sentimental rubbish."
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: In Licence to Kill, he is noticeably more of an Obstructive Bureaucrat towards Bond than his past appearances.
• Tautological Templar: Robert Brown in Licence to Kill reacts cold-heartedly to the Leiters' tragedy, labels Bond as a Rogue Agent 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.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: 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 No Sympathy 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.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite all the service Leiter has done for MI6, this M places duty above all and shows No Sympathy towards the tragedy that involves Leiter losing a leg and having his bride murdered.
• Upper-Class Twit: His Obstructive Bureaucrat Da Chief and Pointy-Haired Boss approach to his job makes him the worst M in the franchise.

Judi Dench (I)

Barbara Mawdsley / M

"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: Judi Dench

Dubbed by: Liliane Gaudet (French, 1995-1999), Annie Bertin (French, Die Another Day)

Appearances: GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day

The third M in the film series, in the Pierce Brosnan Bond era.

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• All There in the Manual: 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 The Facts of Death.
• Boyish Short Hair: 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.
• The Chains of Commanding: 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.
• Damsel in Distress: 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.
• Dark Secret: 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.
• A Day in the Limelight: The World Is Not Enough.
• Deadpan Snarker: Very much like Bernard Lee's M, she has quite a supply of wit against Bond.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: 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.
• Drink-Based Characterization: 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.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: She is the only M who never shares a single scene with Q.
• Frontline General: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
• Iron Lady: She wouldn't be leading MI-6 if she wasn't one tough lady of authority, and she definitely is one.
• It's Personal: Bond accuses M of this in The World Is Not Enough, 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?
• My Greatest Failure: Her handling of Elektra King's kidnapping.
• Parental Substitute: 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, 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 The World Is Not Enough).
• Power Hair: Her short hairstyle also serves to highlight her position of authority.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: 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.
• What the Hell, Hero?: 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.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: 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.

Judi Dench (II)

Olivia Mansfield / M

"Christ, I miss the Cold War!"

Played by: Judi Dench

Dubbed by: Nadine Alari (French, 2006-2015)

Appearances: Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace | Skyfall | Spectre ^note in the Video Wills Bond receives following her death in Skyfall

"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 is still played by Judi Dench (the sole remaining cast member to carry over from the Brosnan era) but this time in the era of Daniel Craig's Bond, which is a new continuity.

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• Abusive Parents: The Craig era movies take the mother-son implications of M and Bond's relationship from subtext to text, particularly in Skyfall where Silva outright addresses her as "Mother" and believes that she has moulded her new favourite, Bond, in exactly the same way. True to Silva's words, Bond treats M as a Parental Substitute, making her death hit especially hard. While M affords a certain amount of sentimentality for Bond between their endless Snark-to-Snark Combat matches, as his employer at MI6, she almost always prioritises the mission first; she regularly sends him on life-threatening missions and unhesitatingly gives Moneypenny the order to take a shot at Silva's henchman Patrice, knowing that there was a 50/50 chance of Bond getting caught in the crossfire.
• Affectionate Nickname: In Skyfall, Bond introduces her to Kincade, his family's old groundskeeper, simply as "M" without any further context. He interprets this as Bond's affectionate nickname for her and politely (if incorrectly) calls her "Emma" from then on.
• All There in the Manual: A prop from the end of Skyfall reveals that her name in the Craig continuity is "Olivia Mansfield".
• Alternate Self: Despite having the same actress, she isn't the same M from the Brosnan era, as those movies took place in a different universe from Craig's. This is doubly confirmed by the two Dench Ms having different real names (Brosnan's M was Barbara Mawdsley, Craig's M is Olivia Mansfeld).
• Animal Motifs: She is associated with the British bulldog, a national symbol for the UK; grouchy, stubborn, resolute, determined, and tough as old boots. She keeps a china bulldog figurine draped in the Union Flag on her desk, much to Bond's irritation. Hilariously, she entrusts it to him as a memento upon her death.
• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is still short to outline her power, but this time it has more to do with the fact that Dench is in her late 70's.
• The Chains of Commanding: She needs to make the hard decisions, no matter what her personal feelings are.
• Character Aged with the Actor: Judi Dench's tenure in the series lasted as long as Bernard Lee's (17 years in the full-fledged role, 20 if the Video Wills 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.
• Code Name: In Casino Royale, Bond discovers that M is not just an arbitrary letter and actually stands for something, but as he's about to say it, she warns him bad things will happen to him if he does. Given her role as an authority figure, and the way Silva sometimes uses maternal nicknames for her in Skyfall, one possibility is that it stands for "Mother", or some variant thereof. It's also possible that it's the first initial of her surname, Mansfield, though in that case it wouldn't be much of a code name.
  Bond: I always thought M was a randomly assigned initial. I had no idea it stood for—
  M: Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed.
• Composite Character: 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.
• Dark Secret: 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.
• A Day in the Limelight: In Skyfall, she gets far more focus and development than any incarnation of M, though she also had plenty of screentime in the preceding films. Tragically, it later becomes A Death in the Limelight.
• Deadpan Snarker: She displays an acidic wit towards Bond and many of her other subordinates.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: 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.
• The Determinator: When she has her mind set on it, nothing will stop her from getting a job done, especially not ministerial bureaucracy. As Spectre proves, even death itself won't impede her ability to complete a mission.
• Frontline General: She got into scrapes a couple times, none of her predecessors did before.
• The Gadfly: She has a porcelain Union Jack bulldog decorating the desk in her office. Bond hates it. Not only does it survive the destruction of the MI6 building, it's the only thing she leaves Bond in her will.
• Good Old Ways: In an increasingly frightening world where the largest threats are no longer nations or powerful individuals, she still believes in the effectiveness of the 00 program and their old-fashioned espionage techniques in order to counter these threats, as she calmly explains to the defence ministers vying for her coerced retirement during their hearing.
• Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: 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.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: She opens Casino Royale griping about her fellow bureaucrats covering their asses. She spends her appearances having to deal with an agent who's digging up infamy and uncomfortable secrets for her administration to deal with, and who eventually put her in a Kangaroo Court in Skyfall to silence her once and for all.
• I Did What I Had to Do: She justifies her betrayal of Tiago Rodriguez with the explanation that she exchanged six other captive agents for his life and that Rodriguez had practically dug his own grave by launching cyber-attacks on the Chinese government without permission.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: 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.
• Iron Lady: Daniel Craig's Bond is more wild and unruly than Pierce Brosnan's, and therefore she has to be more stern with the former in order to keep him under control.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Her cold, brutal and harsh decisions may not be nice but they're always done for the reasons she thinks are best. Bond really deserved the chewing out she gave him in Casino Royale for shooting up an embassy and in Skyfall she's absolutely correct to point out that if Silva hadn't gone rogue in the first place she wouldn't have given him up.
• Killed Off for Real: Succumbs to a stray bullet wound in Skyfall and tragically dies in Bond's arms.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: Almost like a female Malcolm Tucker in the way she uses profanity to cope with the stress of her high pressure job. It's actually fun to play a drinking game by sipping every time she swears or curses.
• My Greatest Failure: While she tries her best to deny it, she clearly views Tiago Rodriguez as her burden and deeply regrets all the revenge-fuelled mayhem he has caused just to get to her.
• Parental Substitute: She really takes on a motherly role to Bond here, albeit one with plenty of Tough Love.
• Posthumous Character: In Spectre, Bond receives a video following her death in Skyfall, which basically kicks off the plot. 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.
• Power Hair: 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.
• Punny Name: "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 Final Battle.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Like Miles Messervy before her, there's now a portrait of her at the MI6 office in No Time to Die.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: About 90% of the dialogue between her and Bond consists of this, with the occasional death threat mixed in. Even her touching final words to Bond have a tinge of her trademark world-weary sarcasm.
• Tough Love: While she may care for Bond on some level, she rarely minces her words and can be disarmingly brutal in her treatment of him.

Ralph Fiennes

Gareth Mallory / M

"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: Ralph Fiennes

Dubbed by: Bernard Gabay (French)

Appearances: Skyfall | Spectre | No Time to Die

"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 second M of the Daniel Craig era. Starting off as 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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• Aesop Amnesia: 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. 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.
• Armor-Piercing Question: His pointed shutdown of Denbigh's arguments against the 00 program, seen in the folder quote.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: 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.
• Badass Bureaucrat: 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.
• Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: 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 makes it seem like he might be behind the attacks on MI6.
• Benevolent Boss: 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 Loophole Abuse.
• Big Good: 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 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 Blofeld arrested.
• Colonel Badass: He was a Lt. Colonel in the SAS and survived torture at the hands of the IRA during The Troubles.
• Deadpan Snarker: Particularly in Spectre.
• Everyone Has Standards: 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 Kangaroo Court.
  Mallory: For the sake of variety might we actually hear from the witness?
  • In Spectre, he opposes Max Denbigh's Big Brother Is Watching project as he feels it is oppressive and anti-democratic.
• A Father to His Men: 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 C was working for Spectre the whole time (and presumably gave all the surveillance data on MI6 agents to Spectre), he confronts C and eventually kills him after a brief struggle, with plenty of subtle Papa Wolf undertones on his (M’s) part throughout.
  M: Not a good feeling being watched, is it?
  • In No Time to Die 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.
• The Fettered: In Spectre, his moral compass drives him to firmly oppose Max Denbigh's 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.
• Frontline General: He is involved in the action in the climax of Spectre.
• Idiot Houdini: 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 No Time to Die are the result of his catastrophic incompetence (see Lethally Stupid), but while he gets plenty of What the Hell, Hero? 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.
• It Never Gets Any Easier: 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 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.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In the beginning when he's in Obstructive Bureaucrat 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.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 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 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.
• Legacy Character: He becomes the new M after the death of Judi Dench's character.
• Lethally Stupid: No Time to Die is not his finest hour. 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 Enemy Civil War 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.
• Naïve Newcomer: In his debut in Skyfall, he feels acting in the shadows goes against serving the public, but Judi Dench's M points out that acting in the shadows is the point of espionage. He gets his Character Development later on after witnessing the Kangaroo Court and Silva's assault, and is seen ordering Q and Tanner to discreetly lead Silva to Skyfall Mansion without letting anyone else find out.
• Punny Name: His name is oddly 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 Le Morte d'Arthur.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • 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 buggered. Carry on.
• Retired Badass: 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.
• Taking the Bullet: 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.
• Took a Level in Kindness: 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.
• What the Hell, Hero?: 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.
• What Were You Thinking?: 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 Synthetic Plague. 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 Godzilla Threshold.

Moneypenny

Miss Moneypenny is M's secretary at the MI6 headquarters. She is generally portrayed as flirting with James Bond, while having a not-so-secret crush on him that never gets resolved.

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The Character in General

• Adapted Out: Like Q, Moneypenny did not appear in Daniel Craig's two first movies, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. And like Q again, she was reintroduced in Skyfall.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: It tends to fluctuate wildly depending on Bond and whether the viewer considers Moneypenny as a proper Love Interest or even Implied Love Interest, or not.
  • Generally, Moneypenny is not shy about teasing Bond and dropping Double Entendres, however, when he suggested they have drinks at his place in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, she demurred and said she couldn't trust herself. In Goldeneye she coolly mentioned his behavior could qualify as sexual harassment.
  • Bond has done everything over the years from flirt back heavily to spend time alone with her to shrug her off and not seem interested.
• Composite Character:
  • The book incarnations of Moneypenny and Mary Goodnight were combined to create the film version of the former. Goodnight was the secretary of the 00 section, and most of the film Moneypenny's flirtation with Bond comes from his interaction with Goodnight in the books. There is another secretary, Loelia Ponsonby, who rebuffs everyone's advances due to their short life expectancies.
  • The inspiration for Moneypenny came from several women, including the Real Life Loelia Ponsonby, SOE admin and spy Vera Atkins, Paddy Bennett Ridsdale, who worked on Operation Mincemeat, and likely others.
• Deadpan Snarker: Her flirting and banter with Bond tends to involve a heavy dose of this, too.
• Depending on the Writer: Whether Moneypenny and Bond's flirting is simply light-hearted banter or she is actually hopelessly in love with him tends to vary wildly from film to film.
• Flanderization: Moneypenny's intense RETURNED flirtations with Connery and Lazenby might surprise viewers of later installments, considering how one-sided things seemed to get with the platonic Moore and "pining crush" Dalton and Brosnan eras.
• Last-Name Basis: She's often referred to as "Miss Moneypenny".
• Mythology Gag: An exchange in Casino Royale, where she didn't appear, doubling as an obvious one.
  Vesper Lynd: I'm the money.
  Bond: (appreciative look) Every penny of it.
• No Full Name Given: Fleming never revealed the first name of the novels' Moneypenny nor any of her background. Samantha Weinberg's Moneypenny Diaries series, which is a continuation of Fleming's novels, went with "Jane", and gave her a backstory. Skyfall eventually gave her a first name moviewise — Eve.
• Sassy Secretary: The original and the best.
• Sexy Secretary: Seeing how often Bond flirts with her.
• Sleeps with Everyone but You: Bond happily seduces and beds any semi-attractive woman he likes... except for Moneypenny. Though this might not be true for Naomie Harris' version, and according to Lois Maxwell was not historically true for her version, either.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Much to their dismay, all of the Moneypennys have this with Bond, with the possible exception of Naomie Harris', given the very potent Did They or Didn't They? scene between them in Skyfall. And if it is still unresolved, it might be to his dismay rather than hers — in Skyfall, he tries to undress her at one point before she slaps his hand away, and he's somewhat jealous in Spectre (after another Did They or Didn't They? scene) when he calls her and he realizes that she has a gentleman visitor (a notable reversal of the typical Bond/Moneypenny dynamic).
• Visual Development: Played with. Particularly in Lois Maxwell's tenure, Moneypenny looks dramatically different and sports a new hairstyle in nearly every film, especially when compared to the more static male characters. However her behavior and motivations don't change, so it's more of a Running Gag.

Lois Maxwell

Moneypenny

"Flattery will get you nowhere - but don't stop trying."

Played by: Lois Maxwell

Appearances: Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill

The first cinematic Moneypenny. She appeared in all of the early movies from 1962 to 1985, during the entirety of Sean Connery's, George Lazenby's and Roger Moore's tenures (fourteen movies in total).

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• Age-Gap Romance: In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Maxwell was 12 years older than George Lazenby, the actor playing Bond in that film. While their ages aren't addressed in-universe, Moneypenny is notably startled by Lazenby's approach of kissing her and inviting her to his place, subtly suggesting she hasn't embraced Swinging London like he has.
• Character Aged with the Actor: Lois Maxwell played Moneypenny all the way from Dr. No to A View to a Kill, in 14 movies over 23 years, and it showed. In Octopussy, she notes that she's getting older when she begins training in an assistant, Miss Penelope Smallbone, whom Roger Moore's Bond naturally tries to flirt with as soon as he sees her upon entering the office.
• Did They or Didn't They?: According to invokedWord of Saint Paul, at least, she and Bond did; as seen in this video at 4:00, Maxwell said she, Sean Connery, and the director discussed a backstory where their characters dated years before when "Bond was a tea-boy [at MI6] and Miss Moneypenny was in the typing pool", complete with a romantic country weekend. They gave each other up to put work first, but it's very evident in the chemistry and intimacy she has with Connery.
• Double Entendre:
  • Her dialogue with Bond tends to run on these, as her Establishing Character Moment makes quite clear.
  • In You Only Live Twice, she tells Bond the password he must use to contact Tanaka in Japan. Said password is "I love you", of course — although it's lampshaded and subverted as she fails at getting him to say it back to her.
    Bond: Don't worry; I get it.
  • A few lines before that, she asks him "How was the girl?"
• Establishing Character Moment: Her very first scene. At work at 3 in the morning, after telling Bond she's been searching all of London to find him, she lets him sit on the arm of her chair and put his arm around her, but smacks his hand when he touches her papers.
  Bond: Moneypenny! What gives?
  Moneypenny: Me. Given an ounce of encouragement. You never take me to dinner looking like this, James... You never take me to dinner, period.
  Bond: I would, you know. Only M would have me court-martialed for 'illegal use of government property'.
  Moneypenny: Flattery'll get you nowhere... but don't stop trying. (turns, crisply) Now...
  Bond: Well, what's all this to-do about?
  Moneypenny: Strangways. And it looks serious...
• Hidden Depths: Maxwell's version of Moneypenny remains the only incarnation shown to be a Royal Navy officer (in You Only Live Twice; the fact she's an officer is indicated by Bond calling her "ma'am").
• Last-Name Basis: Her first name is never used. She's just known as "Miss Moneypenny" (or simply "Moneypenny", if you're Bond — in an inversion, she's one of the very few people to call him 'James').
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Maxwell was Canadian. Her performance as Moneypenny is transatlantic at best. It's also so good, it doesn't detract from anything at all.
• Running Gag: Bond tossing his hat onto the coat stand in her office.
  • Moneypenny does it herself in Goldfinger without even glancing in the stand's direction (a feat so remarkable that Bond does an Eye Take), and it's rather poignantly referenced when Bond throws his hat to her at his wedding in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
  • Notable Subversions are when Bond doesn't bother in Thunderball, giving up mid-runup, and A View to a Kill, where she refuses to let him do it with her own fancy hat for Royal Ascot.

Caroline Bliss

Moneypenny

"I didn't know you were such a music lover, James. Anytime you want to drop by and listen to my Barry Manilow collection..."

Played by: Caroline Bliss

Appearances: The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill

The Timothy Dalton era Moneypenny.

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• Age Lift: From 58 years old Lois Maxwell to 25 years old Caroline Bliss.
• AM/FM Characterization: In The Living Daylights, she tries to have Bond come to her home by telling him she loves Barry Manilow's music and has a whole collection of it.
• Demoted to Extra: She does appear in Licence to Kill, but, sadly, it's for a much shorter time than usual, and she doesn't even interact with Bond.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde and a Nice Girl overall, and even goes against her hierarchy to ensure that Bond can get help from Q in the extremely dangerous situation he's in in Isthmus.
• Irony: Lois Maxwell stated she only agreed to play Moneypenny if she didn't have to put her hair in a bun and wear glasses. Then came Caroline Bliss.
• Last-Name Basis: Like Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny, her first name is never mentioned.
• Nice Girl: She's perhaps the nicest of all Moneypennys towards Bond and she's on the verge of crying when she secretly calls Q to send him help Bond in Isthmus.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In Licence to Kill, she basically goes against her hierarchy and the whole secret service in that she helps a fugitive Rogue Agent, by calling Q in M's back to send him help Bond in Isthmus.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her screentime is very short in Licence to Kill. However, her role in the plot is crucial in that it's her who sends Q to Isthmus to help Bond out of fear for his life.

Samantha Bond

Moneypenny

"You know, this sort of behaviour could qualify as sexual harassment."

Played by: Samantha Bond

Appearances: GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day

The Pierce Brosnan era Moneypenny.

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• Aside Glance: Verging on Breaking the Fourth Wall when she's deflecting Q's questions about abusing the VR system in Die Another Day.
• Boyish Short Hair: She sports this hairstyle in the Brosnan movies that followed GoldenEye.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In GoldenEye, Moneypenny is introduced as going to work after a date, with a traditionally feminine appereance, but at the same time eschewing the usual Unresolved Sexual Tension with Bond, and stating that she can sue Bond for sexual harassment. In the rest of her appereances, she has Boyish Short Hair, and switches towards more familiar teasing.
• Kiss Me, I'm Virtual: She is the first Moneypenny ever to have kissed Bond on screen in the series^note she did in the non-Eon film Casino Royale (1967)... but it was only virtual, as she used Q's Augmented Reality goggles to satisfy some wild thoughts in Die Another Day.
• Last-Name Basis: Like the previous Moneypennys, her first name is never mentioned.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In GoldenEye, Bond compliments her black evening dress, calling it "lovely" and pondering if she's "dressed to kill."
• Smoking Is Not Cool: In The World Is Not Enough, Bond gives her a cigar as a souvenir from his trip to Bilbao; the first thing she does is toss it in the garbage can.

Naomie Harris

Eve Moneypenny

"Sometimes the old ways are the best."

Played by: Naomie Harris

Appearances: Skyfall | Spectre | No Time to Die

The first two Daniel Craig era films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, didn't include Moneypenny. She was eventually reintroduced in the series with Skyfall.

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• Action Girl: This Moneypenny starts as an MI6 field agent who worked along side Bond before she decided to take a desk job as Gareth Mallory's secretary. Before leaving the field work, she proved that she is a trained sniper, drives like a stuntwoman, took out two mooks with her heels and a metal suitcase and went on to shoot a few more before eventually deciding that fieldwork isn't for her, undoubtedly because of (or largely influenced by) her accidentally shooting Bond in Istanbul.
• Adaptational Badass: Easily the most action-capable version of Moneypenny to date.
• Ascended Extra: This Moneypenny has a bigger role in the plots of several movies she's been in, which is more than all of the previous Moneypennies:
  • She's introduced as an Action Girl and actively participates in the Istanbul and Macau missions in Skyfall.
  • In Spectre, she provides some help to Bond (bringing him clues from the burned ruins of Skyfall Lodge and helping him identify Oberhauser) and M (being one of his very few loyalists in the climax).
• Canon Character All Along: She's only known as Agent "Eve" for most of Skyfall, but reveals her last name at the end when she becomes M's secretary.
• Did They or Didn't They?: Skyfall leaves it ambiguous over whether she had sex with Bond in Macau.
• Drives Like Crazy: Granted, they were in a chase, but James needs to have a word with her about driving in crowded streets.
• Given Name Reveal: In Skyfall, she's first known as simply "Eve" for most of the film, until her full name is revealed at the end. She's the first Moneypenny to be given a first name in 50 years worth of films.
• Living a Double Life: It is revealed she has a boyfriend in Spectre, and she doesn't let him know about her true job.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She ends up shooting Bond by mistake while he struggled with Patrice atop a train, allowing Patrice to get away with the hard drive containing the identities of undercover NATO agents. Bond doesn't hold any grudge afterwards, as he perfectly knows she did it by mistake with a moving target and in a highly stressful situation. She was also ordered to shoot by M even though she warned that she didn't have a clean shot.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: After accidentally 'killing' Bond she's taken off fieldwork, likely forever.
• Race Lift: The previous Moneypenny actresses were all Caucasian. Now she's played by Naomie Harris, who's of mixed (predominantly Afro-Caribbean) ancestry.
• Retired Badass: She decides that she's done with field work after the events of Skyfall that almost caused Bond's death, so she takes a transfer to become M's secretary. It still doesn't stop her from taking to the field in Spectre when push comes to shove.
• The Reveal: At the end of Skyfall, she states she is not fit for field work, and will remain only in a desk job at MI6. As Bond says that they have not been properly introduced, she says her full name is Eve Moneypenny.
• Secret Relationship: To Bond's utter surprise, she has a boyfriend in Spectre.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In Skyfall, Bond tells her "You look beautiful in that dress".
• Took a Level in Badass: Skyfall shows her outside of office / communication work for the first time in the history of the franchise, to say nothing of driving a car during a chase and firing a gun in combat.

Q

"Q" is a Code Name for "Quartermaster". He is the head of the Q Branch, the MI6 Research and Development division, and provides James Bond and other MI-6 agents with all the weapons and gadgets that can come in handy for their dangerous missions.

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The Character in General

• Code Name: Q is the code letter for "Quartermaster".
• Deadpan Snarker: All the Qs are snarky to some degree, but Ben Whishaw takes the cake in Skyfall and Spectre. Overall, Q consistently snarks at Bond and stealthily castigates him for repeatedly returning most of his equipment in pieces (or not at all).
• Expy: Of Charles Fraser-Smith, Gadgeteer Genius for the Special Operations Executive during World War II.
• Funny Background Event: Scenes set in his lab are full of these, seeing random gadgets go off/be tested. Sometimes with his assistants suffering some mishap.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He provides MI6 agents with gadgets designed and built by his team.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Both in in the books (where he doesn't appear until Dr. No) and the films (Desmond Llewellyn's version of the character first appears in From Russia with Love and Ben Wishaw's version first appears in Skyfall).
• Meaningful Name: Refers to "Q-devices", the Special Operations Executive's technical term for spy gadgets, which in turn refers to "Q-ships", the disguised warships the Royal Navy used to protect supply convoys from German submarines during World War I.
• Mr. Fixit: When a piece of equipment is broken, it's Q who repairs or replaces it, although not without plenty of annoyed snark at Bond for breaking it in the first place.
• Put on a Bus: Like Moneypenny, Q was not part of the Continuity Reboot in Daniel Craig's first two movies, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. And like Moneypenny again, he was reintroduced in Skyfall.
• Shoe Phone: The reason Bond is the single most well-known user of such items in fiction, which spawned countless copycats and parodies. Listing and describing all the gadgets/weapons disguised as innocuous items that Q gave to Bond would take up the whole page.
• Small Role, Big Impact: In most of the films, he only appears in a single scene to equip Bond with his gadgets and vehicle, which help him save the day in the end.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Any scene Q shares with Bond inevitably turns into this.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Bond argue quite a bit, but Q's gadgets have saved Bond's life at least once per movie, proven by this line from Q in Licence to Kill.
  Q: If it hadn't been for Q Branch, you would have been dead long ago.
• Watch the Paint Job: A great number of the cool weaponized cars Q gives to Bond end up severely wrecked or utterly destroyed, very much to his annoyance.

Peter Burton

Major Boothroyd / The Armorer

"Walther PPK. 7.65 mm with a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window."

Played by: Peter Burton

Appearances: Dr. No

The very first quartermaster in the film series.

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• Arbitrary Gun Power: He accuses Bond's beloved Beretta 1934 of being underpowered, despite the .380 ACP M1934 being actually superior in stopping power to the PPK's .32 ACP chambering. This is because of the straight adaptation from the novel, where Bond's first gun in question was a Beretta 418 chambered in .25 ACP, the stopping power of which was indeed inferior to that of the PPK.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: He's more of a gunsmith / weapons specialist than a Gadgeteer Genius, as the only thing he does is introducing the Walther PPK to Bond. Also, M never addresses him as "Q", calling for "the armorer" on his office's phone instead.
• Expy: While the other Q's are more or less based on Charles Fraser-Smith, this one was directly inspired by Geoffrey Boothroyd, a British firearms expert who gave advices about his field to Ian Fleming (the change from the Beretta to the Walther PPK, most importantly). The real Boothroyd was not a Major, however.
• Iconic Item: He introduces the franchise' iconic PPK to Bond, saying that "the American CIA swear by them" and mocks Bond's beloved Beretta as "Nice and light... in a lady's handbag. No stopping power".
• Small Role, Big Impact: He's never heard of again once he leaves M's office, but he's the guy who provides Bond with his legendary handgun, the Walther PPK. ^note The prop was actually a Walther PP in Dr. No, a genuine PPK prop was used in From Russia with Love and for most of the film series afterwards.
• Tuckerization: Named after Geoffrey Boothroyd, the firearms specialist who advised Ian Fleming.

Desmond Llewelyn

Major Boothroyd / Q

"Now pay attention, 007!"

Played by: Desmond Llewelyn

Appearances: From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Diamonds Are Forever | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill | The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill | GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough

Q: I've always tried to teach you two things. First, never let them see you bleed.
Bond: And the second?
Q: Always have an escape plan.

Certainly the best known Q. He appeared for a very long time, in seventeen out of the eighteen Bond pictures released between 1963 and 1999 — Live and Let Die was the only exception — alongside five out of six Bond actors.

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• Ascended Extra: He was just the replacement for Peter Burton in From Russia with Love, with the gadgets he gives to Bond being relatively mundane and realistic in that film. In Goldfinger, he introduces the first (and still most iconic) Weaponized Car in the franchise and trades snark with Bond, and becomes a core character of the cinematic Bond mythos, having at least one gadget presentation scene per film afterwards, and additional appearances in some further films.
• British Stuffiness: Q is a rather cranky version of this trope.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Now, pay attention, 007!", when he's about to explain something to Bond (and the audience).
  • "Now this, I'm particularly proud of!" crops up a fair bit, but doesn't really signify that a gadget is going to be more important than the others.
  • If he's describing a Cool Car, he'll add that it has "All the usual refinements."
  • He picks up "Grow up, 007!" in Brosnan's first two films.
• Character Aged with the Actor: Desmond Llewelyn's Q was the sole element that made the transition from the classic Cold War-era films to the Brosnan films due to his exceptional longevity in the role, to the point of talking about his retirement in what indeed ended up being his last appearance.
• Characterisation Click Moment: His appearance in Goldfinger cemented his character dynamic with Bond, that of a disgruntled teacher dealing with an unruly pupil.
• Cool Old Guy: His age started to show in the late 1970s films, and, coincidentally, the gadgets he tested in his lab started becoming increasingly silly. He still enjoyed setting pranks to his hapless lab employees in old age, and kept providing Bond with the coolest and most cutting-edge gadgets till his retirement.
• A Day in the Limelight: In two films.
  • In Octopussy, Q helps Bond break into the villains' lair and even stops a thug from killing some of Octopussy's girls. They seem to be very grateful to him afterwards.
  • In Licence to Kill, he goes against the MI6 hierarchy by taking a leave to secretly help a now-rogue Bond in his quest for revenge in Isthmus, at the behest of Moneypenny. It speaks volumes on how he cares about Bond, and means he also gets to play a larger, more active role in the plot for once.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: His appearance in From Russia With Love is much like Peter Burton's take in Dr. No. He gives a rundown of Bond's new attaché case and then leaves. He also is less firm than he usually is with Bond, complimenting him on correctly opening the case with the tear gas cartridge armed while Bond treats the instruction seriously. In Goldfinger, we see Q in his lab as he works on his gadgets and his character dynamic with Bond becomes established.
• Given Name Reveal: In The Spy Who Loved Me, Anya Amasova addresses him by "Major Boothroyd".
• Grumpy Old Man: He has his moments of this, especially in the Pierce Brosnan era. Though when dealing with someone like James Bond it's hard not to get annoyed sometimes.
• Lost Food Grievance: In GoldenEye, he's quite annoyed when Bond grabs the sandwich he brought for lunch (but manages to take it back).
• Mad Scientist: He shows elements of this occasionally. Some of the gadgets during the Roger Moore era, such as an umbrella that closes like a Venus flytrap when wet, exploding bola ropes and a climbing pole fashioned from a snake charmer's basket that extended when played are just a few of the ideas he comes up with that take a special kind of madness to come up with.
• Mr. Exposition: His scenes have him giving the rundown of Bond's vehicles and gadgets, explaining how they work and any hidden surprises. In the Moore-era, he often participated in the briefing scene with M to fill Bond in on his mission.
• Not So Above It All:
  • For all that he complains to Bond about keeping his gear in pristine order, when he takes on the field in License to Kill, he casually tosses aside his concealed radio when he's done with it.
  • He boasts about "not making jokes about his work" to Bond several times when Bond thinks he is joking about what the gear can do, but in GoldenEye, he and Bond exchange jokes about the exploding pen.
  Bond: [when presented with the pen] You know what they say about the pen being mightier than the sword.
  Q: Thanks to me, they were right!
  Q: [after demonstrating the pen, vaporizing the demonstration dummy] Don't say it!
  Bond: …the writing's on the wall?
  Q: (chuckling) Along with the rest of him!
• Passing the Torch: In The World Is Not Enough, Llewelyn's Q was planning to retire and appoint John Cleese's "R" as his successor, and was shown training him. "R" became the new Q in the next film. In a sad coincidence, Llewelyn was killed in a car accident a few weeks after the film was released.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He becomes one of the main humor-providing characters in Licence to Kill, probably the darkest and bloodiest Bond film before the Daniel Craig era. Moreover, his gadget presentation scenes often contain a gag.
• The Prankster: In some of his later movies, he sets up pranks to his hapless employees, such as trapping one in an automatic sofa in The Living Daylights, or having one other trapped in a phone booth with an airbag in GoldenEye. Or even triggering the airbag-jacket on R in The World is Not Enough.
• Tuckerization: Like his predecessor, he was somehow also named after Geoffrey Boothroyd, the firearms specialist who advised Ian Fleming.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Sean Connery's Bond. The two really don't get along. Starting with George Lazenby, it warms up into...
• Vitriolic Best Buds: This Q and Bond show that they really care about each other, despite Q being often annoyed by Bond's handling of the gadgets and cars and snarking about it. It is best seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (with Q attending Bond's wedding, and being the only film he called Bond "James"), Licence to Kill (with Q braving dangers and his hierarchy to help Bond) and The World Is Not Enough (the poignant goodbye between the two of them). He and Roger Moore's Bond exchange the snarkiest barbs.
  Q: It (a balloon) runs on hot air.
  Bond: Oh, then you can definitely fly it.

John Cleese

Q (formerly known as "R")

"As I learned from my predecessor, Bond, I never joke about my work."

Played by: John Cleese

Appearances: The World Is Not Enough (as "R") | Die Another Day (as Q)

A character introduced in The World is Not Enough as Desmond Llewelyn's Q's assistant who became the new Q in Die Another Day following Llewelyn's Q's retirement (due to Llewelyn's real-life death).

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• Butt-Monkey: As R in The World Is Not Enough, he gets constantly interrupted and bossed around by Llewelyn's Q. It culminates with him being a victim of the airbag-jacket. Originally, he was supposed to grow into the role and become less of a Butt-Monkey as time went on, but with Llewelyn's untimely death, this trait disappears between movies, but this doesn't mean he's entirely safe from Bond's antics in Die Another Day.
• The Comically Serious: Unlike Desmond Llewelyn's Q, he never had time or even the persona to do pranks. He never even smiles.
• Dumbass No More: In The World is Not Enough, he was quite buffoonish and provided some Butt-Monkey comic relief in the Q gadget presentation scene. In Die Another Day, he's assumed the mantle of Q and is quite competent and serious, though he still provides humour.
• In-Series Nickname: When introduced to the John Cleese Q and told he's the Desmond Llewelyn's Q's assistant, Bond immediately brands him "R". He was even listed with that name in the credits and a few other pieces of related media before eventually being given the title Q in Die Another Day. Apparently, Pierce Brosnan had real trouble keeping his English accent when saying the word "R".
• Legacy Character: He was previously the assistant to the old Q before the torch was passed on to him.
• No Name Given: He has never been named onscreen outside of his code names.
• Rank Up: Between The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day, he got promoted from Q's assistant to the Q rank after Desmond Llewelyn's Q's retirement.
• Straight Man: It's John Cleese we're talking about, after all. His comically serious demeanour perfectly sets up Bond's jokes during their Snark-to-Snark Combat in Die Another Day.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Brosnan's Bond, though not at first. He's not shy about making barbed comments to Bond in their first meeting, and even somewhat maliciously taking Q's instructions very literally to demonstrate how the jacket works to Bond as if he were explaining it to a toddler. By Die Another Day, they trade snark, but when he reveals the Aston-Martin Vanish, a very impressed Bond finally acknowledges him as Q (before shooting through the car's manual in about three seconds).

Ben Whishaw

Q (The Quartermaster)

"Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled."

Played by: Ben Whishaw

Appearances: Skyfall | Spectre | No Time to Die

"Can I just have one nice evening, please, before the world explodes?"

Q didn't appear in the first two Daniel Craig era films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. He was eventually reintroduced in the series with Skyfall.

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• Action Survivor: Downplayed but still present in Spectre, with him going into the field himself to assist Bond, also putting himself at risk (not that he knew it at the time) and uses nothing but his wits to escape the Spectre goons pursuing him. Later in the film, he even accompanies M, Tanner and Moneypenny to stop Denbigh's plans and abort the uploading of the Nine Eyes. Later, in No Time to Die, he flies with Bond and Nomi aboard the plane from which they deploy to their mission at the Heracles factory, but remains on board to act as Mission Control.
• Adaptational Sexuality: This incarnation of Q is either gay or bisexual, as revealed in No Time To Die, where he sets his house up for what is clearly a date and, when interrupted by Bond, he informs him of his expected guest by saying that "he'll be here any minute".
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: No Time to Die confirms that he is either gay or bisexual.
• Ascended Extra: He does considerably more than just give Bond his gadgets. He is in charge of Mission Control for instance and actively helps Bond in his investigation on Spectre in the eponymous film.
• The Baby of the Bunch: He is the youngest of Bond's MI6 colleagues in Skyfall (Whishaw was 32 as of the film), though that doesn't count for the following films anymore with both his Character Development and the arrival of Nomi (Lashana Lynch is 7 years younger than Whishaw).
• Bad Liar: In No Time To Die, when he sees Bond in M's office, he pretends to be surprised Bond is coming out of retirement, even though they were working together on cracking the top-secret nanotech case the night before. M already knows and tells Q to drop the act (not that he was all that convincing in the first place).
• Boring, but Practical:
  • He provides Bond with much more mundane (but still effective) equipment for espionage in Skyfall, dismissing the classic exploding pens with "We don't really go in for that anymore".
  • Subverted in Spectre, where he does give Bond an explosive disguised as a mundane object (a wristwatch).
• Brainy Brunette: A tech-savvy brunet man.
• Brick Joke: In Skyfall, he tells Bond his service doesn't make exploding pens anymore. The gadget he gives to Bond in Spectre? An explosive wristwatch.
• Character Development: He undergoes some pretty radical personality changes between Skyfall and Spectre. By the time of Spectre, he lost most of his Insufferable Genius tendencies and became a big case of Dork Knight.
• Dork Knight: He's become quite dorky by the time of Spectre, contrasting his Insufferable Genius demeanor in Skyfall. His computing and hacking talents are still intact, however.
• Hollywood Hacking: His specialty in addition to giving Bond his gadgets.
• Insufferable Genius: In Skyfall, the incoming Q shows disdain for field agents like Bond, believing his computer and hacking skills are more valuable for espionage in the modern age, although he does admit that "every now and then a trigger has to be pulled". He also mocks the idea of fantastic gadgets like an "exploding pen", instead opting to give Bond simple (but useful) gadgets instead. However, he has significantly mellowed down by the time of Spectre.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As seen in the trope above, his bragging about informatics skills in Skyfall is intended to be taken as an insult towards Bond. Despite mellowing out in Spectre, he is proven right when he single-handedly prevents the Nine Eyes from going online.
• Just a Kid: Bond's opinion of him in Skyfall, when they meet for the first time. Ben Whishaw was in his early 30's during his tenure as Q, but it's implied that the character is even younger, since he never disputes Bond's comments about his apparent youth.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: In Spectre, Q reminds Bond that he'd prefer not to be fired because he has a mortgage and two cats to feed. We actually get to see the cats in No Time To Die.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: In Spectre as he shows the Aston Martin DB5 being rebuilt after its destruction in Skyfall.
  Q: Mind you, there wasn't much left to work, only a steering wheel. I believe I said, "Bring it back in one piece", not "Bring back one piece". (laughs)
• Legacy Character: He is explicitly mentioned by M to be "the new Quartermaster".
• Mirror Character: Between him and Daniel Craig's Bond. They are both very talented, but they both started out in MI6 without that much experience, which makes people question if they are too young to be in their positions initially.
• Mission Control: He operates the majority of MI6's computers and verbally guides the agents through their missions from afar.
• Nerd Glasses: He's got glasses, and he's nerdy.
• No Badass to His Valet: Tends to be very nonchalant and snarky around Bond, showing no fear or hesitation to reprimand him for destroying equipment.
• No Name Given: He has yet to be named onscreen outside of his code name.
• Non-Action Guy: He does take part in on-site actions in Spectre and No Time to Die, but he limits himself to hacking/computing in the former and close-range Mission Control in the latter.
• Not So Above It All: He is this per his Character Development in Spectre. With him cracking some jokes at Bond regarding his often-destroyed equipments.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He is very much devastated by Bond's death and is even on the verge of tearing up.
• Pretty Boy: Of the cute and nerdy variety.
• Queer Establishing Moment: In No Time to Die, he's seen preparing for a romantic evening with a "he" before Moneypenny and Bond storm in needing to have the flash drive decrypted. It's not shown if he ever gets to have that dinner.
• The Smart Guy: He designs all of the agents' gadgets, runs MI6's Mission Control, and tells Bond point-blankly that he can destroy someone's life without getting out of his pajamas in the morning. He plays a key role in the climax of Spectre by aborting the launch of the Nine Eyes surveillance system while Bond and M deal physically with the bad guys.
• The Stoic: Whishaw's Q typically doesn't show much emotion, and even when he does panic (like in Skyfall where he mutters, "Oh shit, shit, shit, shit. He hacked us"), his reaction is still fairly muted considering how urgent the situation has become. However, in No Time to Die, he is on the verge of tears when he permanently loses Bond.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He is introduced as an Insufferable Genius in Skyfall. By the time of Spectre, he isn't quite the same, and the disdain he had for field agents like Bond has seemingly vanished.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: This Q and Craig's Bond seem to be shaping into this in Skyfall, shaking hands at the end of their first scene together. They all but say to each other "I respect you now because you held your own in our verbal bout". The two following films build further on this.
• Younger and Hipper: A younger and more fashionable version of the gadget master compared to the old men who came before him.

Felix Leiter

A CIA agent and James Bond's American friend and counterpart. He's usually there to provide informations and various kinds of support to Bond whenever the CIA and MI6 are cooperating against common enemies, or simply when Bond asks him for help.

Minus two exceptions lasting more than one film, the role of Felix Leiter has been regularly recast between consecutive films, reportedly because the former Eon Productions heads (Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman) wanted to avoid him becoming too much of an Ensemble Dark Horse to American viewers (which was somehow seen as a possibility back in the day), although there were some contract disputes involved as well.

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The Character in General

• Abled in the Adaptation: So far, no movie version of Felix Leiter ever had a Hook Hand. Whilst suffering the same shark attack that disfigures him in the novels, his arms are left attached
• Adaptation Dye-Job: He's described as having straw-coloured hair in the novels. None of the actors who played him have been blonde.
• Adaptation Name Change: In Casino Royale (1954)^note a television movie/episode of the anthology series Climax!, he is named "Clarence Leiter" (played by Michael Pate).
• Adaptational Nationality: He was British in Casino Royale (1954), whereas Bond was made an American and got renamed Jimmy.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Most of his film appearances have him as relatively handsome, on par with Bond. However, he is significantly less attractive in the Guy Hamilton-directed films Goldfinger (where he appears to be older than Bond, whereas every other Felix was of around the same age) and Diamonds Are Forever.
• Adapted Out:
  • Felix appears in the novel version of The Man with the Golden Gun, but doesn't in the film adaptation.
  • Felix never showed up in the Pierce Brosnan films, with his role being replaced by a new CIA operative called Jack Wade. Perhaps understandable in that his last appearance before the Brosnan films involved his wife being killed, and him being mauled by a shark, two justifiable reasons to call it a day.
• Deadpan Snarker: He always has one or two snarky comments in store for Bond, specially about 007's methods of action.
• Depending on the Writer: In addition to being regularly subjected to invokedrecasting, the movies' Felixes have never really been written the same way between films before the Daniel Craig continuity, apart from some similarities in the early ones. It was very possibly due to the different directors' taste.
  • In the Terence Young films (Dr. No and Thunderball), he's portrayed as a cool, slick sunglasses-wearing American equivalent to Bond.
  • In the first two Guy Hamilton films (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever), Felix is more of a bureaucrat, as well as much less attractive and slightly more comical and exasperated.
  • His characterization in Timothy Dalton's two films as James Bond are night and day. In The Living Daylights, he is relatively young and spends his entire screentime as a Spies In a Van type, commanding opperations on a pleasure craft (though admittedly him being a Non-Action Guy was the usual portrayal of him up to that point), and while his relationship with Bond is cordial, it's not different from that of any other contact Bond has. In Licence to Kill, not only is he portrayed as a seasoned veteran (to the point of bringing back the actor who played Leiter in Live and Let Die) that commands an operation to arrest a drug lord in the field, but when the drug lord escapes and retaliates against Leiter, his friendship with Bond is deep enough that Bond becomes a Rogue Agent hellbent on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• The Lancer: Acts as Bond's foil of the closely allied variety in the films and novels he appears in.
• Mr. Exposition: He usually provides Bond with informations on his targets.
• Non-Action Guy: Licence to Kill is the only film in the series where Leiter is clearly seen in action (in the opening, leading the DEA team to arrest Franz Sanchez, with Bond accompanying them). Before that, whenever he didn't entirely leave it to Bond to defeat the bad guys, it was usually The Cavalry Arrives Late.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: A subversion for the most part, since his job is usually to provide CIA support for Bond while MI6 handles the mission. It's played straight in the Daniel Craig films, however.

Literary

Voiced by: Lloyd Owen (Goldfinger, BBC Radio 4, 2010), Josh Stamberg (BBC Radio 4 Dramas from 2015's Diamonds Are Forever onwards)

• Artificial Limbs: In Diamonds Are Forever, he has a hook for his missing hand and a prosthetic leg after losing them in Live and Let Die. The Dynamite comics depict him with a more sophisticated cybernetic hand.
• BFG: In Goldfinger, when arriving to rescue Bond at the battle of Fort Knox, he wields a special bazooka modified for his hook to hold.
• Black-and-White Morality: In the novel version of The Man with the Golden Gun, he criticizes Bond's slight admiration for Scaramanga, saying that as far as he is concerned, an enemy is just an enemy.
• The Friendly Texan: In the original novels he's from Texas. (Where he is from in the movies is anyone's guess as he as been played by a multitude of actors with accents ranging from Massachusetts (David Hedison) to California (Rik Van Nutter)). On first meeting Leiter in in Casino Royale, this is Bond's reaction:
  Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and that most of them seemed to come from Texas.
• Handicapped Badass: In the later novels, after being partially eaten by a shark in Live and Let Die. He acquires a hook hand as well as a prosthetic leg.
• Private Detective: After losing a leg and his hand to a shark attack, he left the CIA and joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He's later called back to service every now and then.
• Semper Fi: In the books, he served in the Marine Corps during World War II and eventually became Captain.
• Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Casino Royale compares him to Frank Sinatra, mainly in how he wears his suit.

Jack Lord

"Felix Leiter, Central Intelligence Agency. You must be James Bond?"

Played by: Jack Lord

Appearances: Dr. No

The first film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He investigates the activities of Dr. No's network in Jamaica with the help of Quarrel and Puss Feller, and Bond bumps into them.

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• The Cavalry Arrives Late: He shows up on a patrol boat to pick up Bond and Honey Ryder after Bond destroyed Dr. No's facility on Crab Key all on his own.
• Cool Shades: He wears sunglasses, which adds to the badass image.
• The Kindnapper: Leiter holds Bond at gunpoint after the latter has being threatened by Quarrel and Puss Feller and kicked their butts. Then he reveals to Bond that he's from the CIA, that he's been spying on him ever since his arrival in Jamaica, and that Quarrel and Feller work with him [Leiter].
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a suit as snappy as Bond's. He brings up the fact that his suit was made by "a guy in Washington" after Bond said that his was tailor-made in Savile Row, London.

Cec Linder

"I thought I'd find you in good hands."

Played by: Cec Linder

Appearances: Goldfinger

The second film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He investigates the activities of Auric Goldfinger, which leads Bond to cooperate with him.

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• The Cavalry: He shows up alongside the US army at Fort Knox in the climax. They're right on time to trap and stop Goldfinger's army, but not on time for the atomic bomb, and it's up to Bond to defuse it.
• Faking the Dead: He's among the many "victims" of Goldfinger's Deadly Gas... which has been replaced by an innocuous gas thanks to Bond's effort to rally Pussy Galore to their side. Like the soldiers in the base of Fort Knox, Felix fakes death until Goldfinger and his goons are in the vaults, then moves to trap them.
• Friend on the Force: Provides Bond with some CIA informations about Goldfinger once he gets to the USA.
• Sorry to Interrupt: Shows up to Bond in Miami right as he was having a nice massage session by Dink (played by pin-up model Margaret Nolan) by a swimming pool in a hotel resort.

Rik Van Nutter

"That's a fine way to treat the CIA..."

Played by: Rik Van Nutter

Appearances: Thunderball

The third film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He helps Bond against Emilio Largo in the Bahamas, since the USA are also targeted by SPECTRE's nuclear blackmail.

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• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: On the receiving end of it. Just as Bond is about to find Quist (one of Emilio Largo's mooks, who's waiting in the bathroom to ambush Bond), Felix knocks at the door. As Bond opens the door, Felix starts uttering Bond's codename, and Bond punches and shushes him before he's finished saying it, so Quist won't hear it.
  Felix: That's a fine way to treat the CIA...
  Bond: Sorry about that Felix, but you were just about to say "Double-O-Seven".
• Cool Shades: Just like the Dr. No version (which was also directed by Terence Young), he wears sunglasses sometimes.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: About as snappily dressed as the Dr. No version of Felix, per the director's taste.

Norman Burton

"Do you mind if we find Blofeld first?"

Played by: Norman Burton

Played by: William Sabatier (European French)

Appearances: Diamonds Are Forever

The fourth film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He helps Bond smuggle diamonds and the corpse of Peter Franks into the USA, and helps Bond in his efforts to stop Blofeld.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: For some reason, he's far more curt with Bond than other incarnations of the character, being constantly annoyed at Bond's light-hearted approach to the mission, whereas in other films Felix just rolled with it.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: When Felix and his CIA team get to the house where Willard Whyte is detained, Bond has already defeated Bambi and Thumper, the two She-Fu-practitioning ladies who were tasked to guard Whyte.
• Friend on the Force: Provides Bond with CIA informations once he comes to America.
• Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: In order to allow Bond to transfer the body of Peter Franks (with a shipment of stolen diamonds hidden in the coffin) safely into the USA, Felix disguises himself as a customs agent at the airport.

David Hedison

"I knew you wouldn't pass up a chance to get away from where the 'real' action is."

"Hey, 'observer'! You're trying to get yourself killed?!"

Played by: David Hedison

Dubbed by: Francis Lax (European French, Live and Let Die), Daniel Russo (European French, Licence to Kill)

Appearances: Live and Let Die | Licence to Kill

The fifth film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He was the first to appear in more than one film. In Live and Let Die, he spies on the activities of Kananga in New York City. In Licence to Kill, on the day of his wedding with Della Churchill, he arrests drug lord Franz Sanchez, who immediately escapes and bloodily retaliates on Felix and his wife, which in turn triggers Bond's quest for vengeance.

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• Abled in the Adaptation: Mild example. The scene where he gets fed to a shark in Licence to Kill is lifted from the novel version of Live and Let Die, where he loses both a leg and an arm after falling in the pool. Here, he only loses a leg, because he was lowered in the pool by his chained hands.
• An Arm and a Leg: He gets his leg fed to a shark in Licence to Kill. Perhaps as a result, he never appears again until Casino Royale (which is a reboot of the series) and is substituted by another American agent, Jack Wade, in the Brosnan era.
• Ascended Extra: He has a more important role in Licence to Kill than he had in Live and Let Die. He is shown to be a very close friend to Bond, up to making him his Best Man at his wedding, and his role is crucial to the plot in that his maiming at the hands of Sanchez and the rape and murder of his wife on their very honeymoon is the catalyst for Bond's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• The Bus Came Back: 16 years between his two appearances, with another incarnation popping up briefly in the interim.
• Fed to the Beast: Upon escaping custody, Sanchez kidnaps Felix and has him lowered into the hidden Shark Pool of Milton Krest's marine facility, while Dario tells him about what he did to his wife before killing her. Felix doesn't die of it however, the sharks only ate his left leg before Sanchez decided to lift him and bring him back at his home in a bag, where Bond finds him, with a message reading "He disagreed with something that ate him".
• Hero of Another Story: He'd been investigating Franz Sanchez well before the beginning of Licence to Kill.
• Not Quite Dead: Happens in Licence to Kill when Franz Sanchez feeds him to a shark, leaving him for dead in his home with the body of his wife. Bond assumes the worst when he sees his body bag and it's only because of Bond's timely arrival that Felix lives to tell his story.
• Punny Name: Phonetically punny, that is. Bond makes a joke about the microphone concealed as a car lighter in Live and Let Die.
  Bond: A genuine Felix Lighter, illuminating!
  • It comes full circle in Licence to Kill, where he and his newlywed wife gift bond with a lighter, which Bond later uses to kill Sanchez in revenge for having Della raped and murdered and leaving Felix for dead.
• Trauma Conga Line: In Licence to Kill, Felix not only loses one of his legs, but his new wife is raped and killed.
• Widowed at the Wedding: His wife Della is raped and killed on the very night of their wedding day, and himself barely escapes death on that same day.
• Worst Wedding Ever: Licence to Kill opens on his wedding day, with Bond as his Best Man. He is informed that drug lord Franz Sanchez is in the Bahamas and steps in to arrest him. Which leads Sanchez to take revenge immediately, by having Felix's newlywed wife Della raped and killed and Felix himself fed to a shark, triggering Bond's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

John Terry

"What the hell are you trying to do, Double-O-Seven?! Starting World War Three?!"

Played by: John Terry

Appearances: The Living Daylights

The sixth film incarnation of Felix Leiter. He spies on the network of arms dealer Brad Whitaker in Tangier, Morocco.

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• The Kindnapper: In Tangier, he has Bond kidnapped at gunpoint by his two sexy female underlings after the apparent assassination of Pushkin by Bond, thinking 007 has gone crazy. Then Bond explains him he helped Pushkin faking his death to prevent Whitaker and Koskov from assassinating him.
• Spies In a Van: More like "spies in a pleasure craft".
• Spy Ship: When in Tangier, he uses a spy boat full of electronic devices and camouflaged as a pleasure craft.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He has by far the least screentime and plot impact of all the Leiters, with only two brief scenes; one in which Bond can explain to him (and the audience) that he didn't actually kill Pushkin, and then another near the climax where he helps Bond break into Whittaker's compound.

Jeffrey Wright

"Harder to tell the good from the bad, the villains from the heroes these days."

Played by: Jeffrey Wright

Appearances: Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace | No Time to Die

"I should have introduced myself, seeing as we're related. Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."

The seventh film incarnation of Felix Leiter. In Casino Royale, he takes part to the Casino Royale Texas hold'em tournament in order to arrest Le Chiffre. In Quantum of Solace, he's part of a shadowy deal between the CIA and Dominic Greene, who Bond works to expose. In No Time to Die, he recruits a retired Bond for a secret mission in Cuba.

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• Adaptational Dye-Job: He's the only incarnation to have a beard and by No Time to Die, he's bald.
• Back for the Dead: After a two-film absence, he is killed by a traitorous Logan Ash in No Time to Die.
• Bad Liar: In Quantum of Solace, when shown a picture of Bond on a phone by his colleague Gregg Beam onboard Dominic Green's plane, Leiter pretends not to know him. Then Beam is quick to identify Bond, and lets a veiled remark out about Leiter's obvious lie.
• Best Friend: Pretty much the only person outside of his MI6 colleages that Bond considers a friend. James said it best after Leiter's death in No Time to Die before killing Logan Ash.
  "I had a brother. His name was Felix Leiter."
• Black-and-White Morality: He takes exception to the CIA working with Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace as long as he thinks the deal can benefit his country. Kind of subverted since as soon as he sees that Bond is working to expose Greene, he begins to realize the deal is fishy and doesn't do anything to stop Bond, unlike his corrupt colleague Gregg Beam.
• The Bus Came Back: He comes back in No Time To Die, returning thirteen years after Quantum of Solace. (He was absent from both Skyfall and Spectre, though he did get a mention in the latter.)
• The Cynic: Subverted in Quantum of Solace. He puts on the façade trying to justify his superior's corrupt deal with Dominic Greene, but Bond sees right through it, saying that Felix is not as cynical he appears to be.
  James Bond: [sarcastic] That's what I like about US intelligence. You'll lie down with anybody.
  Felix: Including you, brother. Including you.
• The Ghost: Leiter doesn't appear in Spectre, but he is mentioned. Bond tells Lucia Sciarra to contact Leiter so she can get to the American embassy and demand protection, as she's now on Spectre's hit list.
• Put on a Bus: He did not appear in either Skyfall or Spectre, and was barely mentioned in the latter. He eventually returned in No Time To Die. In Skyfall, this is justified, since the plot involves an internal attack on MI6, and thus there would be no reason for the CIA to be involved.
• Race Lift: Beginning with Casino Royale, Felix is African-American, whereas he was always portrayed by white actors in the film series before. Jeffrey Wright is not the first African-American to portray Leiter however, that distinction goes to the non-Eon Productions film Never Say Never Again, in which Felix was played by Bernie Casey.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He goes against the CIA's shadowy deal with Dominic Greene by doing nothing to stop Bond and informing him about the place where Greene has a meeting with General Medrano, fully trusting Bond about Greene's true intentions.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: He helps Bond the best he can in his mission (and personal revenge) against Quantum leader Dominic Greene, but otherwise he has to sit back and not involve the CIA in any capacity against Greene, since the CIA (mostly his colleague Gregg Beam) made a shadowy deal with Greene about Bolivia's resources.

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