For WMGs specific to a work, go to the following:
Films
- Goldfinger
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Moonraker
- For Your Eyes Only
- Octopussy
- A View to a Kill
- Licence to Kill
- Quantum of Solace
- Skyfall
- Spectre
- No Time to Die
Others
Franchise-wide
- Jossed in Spectre, since Franz Oberhauser is Bonds foster brother, renaming himself Blofeld. In the original films, Bond didn't knew who Blofeld was until You Only Live Twice, making the Craig films origin stories for his Bond, but not for the others.
- Some still have continuity between each other, such as Dr. No and From Russia with Love; The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker; and the Craig era as a whole.
- Somewhat jossed. Other films have connections as well, such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service and For Your Eyes Only and all of the Brosnan films, with characters returning. An alternate way of seperating films is by era. There is the first era, which lasted from 1962-1985, with Connery, Lazenby, and Moore being Bond. His age is consistant, being about 30 in Dr. No, and around 53 by A View to a Kill. Then there is the second era, with Bond being played by Dalton and Brosnan, lasting from 1987-2002. Again, his age works, being in his early 30's in The Living Daylights and about 45 by Die Another Day. Then there is the current series, starting with Casino Royale (2006), and ending at an undefined point. Those films have the closest continuity to each other, and work better overall. Whether each series represents the start of a new continuity, or a different Bond is left up to the viewer to decide.
- Some still have continuity between each other, such as Dr. No and From Russia with Love; The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker; and the Craig era as a whole.
- At least, That's what Alan Moore implied in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier.
- And confirmed in Century: 2009.
- So Skyfall was the second time she died in his arms?
- But all the Bonds have links to each other:
- Lazenby is seen fiddling with Connery-era gadgets like Grant's watch.
- Roger Moore visits the grave of the Lazenby Bond's wife, Tracy Bond.
- Timothy Dalton's Bond is known by Felix Leiter to have had an abrupt marriage.
- as well, it's the same actor playing Leiter as did in Live And Let Die, the only example of this happening in the pre-Craig Bonds.
- Brosnan's Bond noticeably references this in The World Is Not Enough.
- It's not impossible to retcon these into the theory. Lazenby received Connery's watch as part of his cover (to pass down certain objects between the agents to keep up the impression that they're one guy). Moore could have visited Tracy's grave as a mark of respect to his short-lived predecessor. Perhaps the man who became known as Dalton's Bond, like the man who became Lazenby's Bond, was also married at some point. As was Brosnan's. Also, any knowledge of previous missions the current Bond has could simply be something he read about in reports and profiles.
- But there's also an earlier reference Tracy Bond in the Moore era films: In The Spy Who Loved Me, Anya Amasova mentions Bond's wife who was killed, and this clearly brings back some painful memories for Bond, as he angrily asks Amasova to stop talking about her. If it was merely the wife of his predecessor Amasova was talking about, I don't think Bond would have reacted the way he did. Amasova even comments that it's unusual for Bond to be so sensitive about a woman.
- It's also possible that not every new actor indicates a new Bond. Perhaps there have been no more than three James Bonds. Exactly when number one retired is another question.
- Three Bonds works. The first Bond is played by Sean Connery, George Lazenby and Roger Moore — his age is fairly consistent throughout (born circa 1930) and the links between these three are much more solid. The second Bond is played by Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan — again, the age is fairly consistent (born circa 1950) and the callbacks to previous Bonds (the "abrupt marriage" referred to above) are ambiguous enough that it's not necessarily the same person. The third Bond (Born circa 1970) is played by Daniel Craig, and this is the first time we explicitly see that it's a new person. This also allows Daniel Craig's Bond to be in the same continuity as the others.
- But in the The Living Daylights, there are several references of Dalton's Bond having been in this job for a long time. For example, Bond mentions to M that he's known General Pushkin, the new KGB chief, for quite a while; when the two meet in the movie, Pushkin recognizes Dalton as James Bond without him having to introduce himself, and the two treat each other as long-time worthy opponents. Similarly, Felix Leiter and a concierge at a hotel in Tangier (where Bond apparently stays whenever he's in town) both recognize Dalton as James Bond, an old acquaintance. Most likely, these meetings wouldn't play out the way they do if Dalton was a new guy who'd replaced the old "James Bond" within the last two years.
- This article
does a fairly good job pointing out why this theory is flawed, and how Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan are the same Bond. Lazenby is clearly familiar with Connery gadgets, and Connery is seen at the beginning of Diamonds Are Forever to be tracking Blofeld in revenge for the death of his wife (Also, if he was different, why would he come back?). Moore was recognized as James Bond by a friend from his Cambridge days in The Spy Who Loved Me (Set way before Dr. No), and is shown to be delivering flowers to his dead wife and finally killing Blofeld in revenge. Dalton was still called "James Bond" even after he quit in Licence to Kill, and they never send a replacement "James Bond" after him. If he was playing a different guy, they would refer to his real name, and not his code name, after he quit. GoldenEye's prologue takes place "9 years ago", before The Living Daylights, making Dalton and Brosnan the same Bond. Thus, all the pre-Casino Royale Bonds are the same guy.
- Lazenby's Bond could be familiar with Lazenby's gadgets since Q Laboratories likely provides gadgets for all MI6 agents and not just this one guy. Revenge for the death of Tracy could be a sort of respect deal, like maybe Connery's Bond respected Lazenby's or was even friends with the guy, and there's also the fact that Blofeld is the leader of an extremely dangerous terrorist organization and therefore a person who should be killed at any given opportunity (like this one). Moore's could have simply been recognized, though not called by name (I gotta admit, I haven't seen the flick in a while), and his leaving flowers for Tracy could be a sign of respect for his predecessors as well as understanding the symbolism inherent of how being Bond means you're not allowed to get too close to anyone. As for killing Blofeld ... again, Blofeld was the leader of an extremely dangerous terrorist organization and therefore a person who should be killed at any given opportunity (like this one), and besides, Blofeld started it. Despite Dalton's license being revoked, MI6 still codenamed him "Bond" since they had no one else at the time to take up the mantle (keep in mind that there was a six-year gap between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye, meaning it took six years for the new Bond to step in) and it was just a convenient codename for other spies to use in code communication. The last one is this troper's famous "plot hole" to explain: the prologue of GoldenEye does indeed take place one year before the events of The Living Daylights, but remember that in the prologue the mission ends in disaster and Bond is deeply scarred by what happened. In the scene after the intro, set nine years later, Bond is being checked by a government worker to see if he is fit for duty. The timeline goes that after Moore resigned (due to old age, presumably?), Brosnan stepped in as the new James Bond. However, after the failed mission in 1986, he was unfit for the highly stressful and demanding job of James Bond and Dalton replaced him. MI6, remembering the trouble they had finding a new Bond to suddenly take Lazenby's place (Connery had to come out of retirement before they discovered Moore), kept Brosnan on a watchlist. Once Dalton's license was revoked, they simply put the Bond program on hold or even canceled it, seeing it as a failure. Six years later, the new M (Judi Dench) revived the Bond project and Brosnan was finally well enough to become the fifth Bond - James Bond.
- Never Say Never Again is not offically canon, and thus could be another Bond. Casino Royale (2006) was specifically stated to be a "reboot". The only thing connecting the two timelines is the fact that Judi Dench plays M, which the makers actually stated was simply because Judi Dench was such a recognizable M that Rule of Cool won over continuity.
- Lazenby refers to "the other fellow" (albeit in a Fourth Wall-breaking moment). Clearly his Bond isn't Connery's.
- The most notable evidence is that he and Blofeld don't recognize each other after being together in You Only Live Twice. While Blofeld is known for changing his appearance via plastic surgery, there's no such evidence for Bond. The actual reason was that they adhered too closely to the novel which takes place prior to the two meeting face to face.
- Could also be a case of I Know You Know I Know, where both Bond and Blofeld are simply trying to out-gambit each other, with Blofeld trying to see how much Bond knows, and Bond trying to uncover a deeper plot.
- Connery's Bond later shows up in The Rock.
- Also, take the example of the new Casino Royale: Craig's Bond is explicitly new on the job, but M is the same as she was for Brosnan's.
- Problem with that, though, is he's referred to as "James Bond" before he's officially made a Double-0.
- It might simply be procedure at MI6 to screen potential James Bonds by first granting them the name and then assigning them the official number only after they've proven themselves in the field.
- Or perhaps everyone at MI-6 has a codename: after all, we have seen more than one Q, more than one Moneypenny, more than one M. It could be that "James Bond" is just a randomly assigned name - or they assign names by psychological profile or something.
- The other problem with trying to fit Craig's Bond into any kind of continuity is that Casino Royale is a franchise reboot.
- Franchise reboot, but the exact same M as the last Brosnan films? Riiight....
- Yes, "riiight". Reboots don't have to be complete wipes of everything single thing that came before to be reboots.
- Not the same M, just the same actress.
- Very possible. Brosnan's era M refers to Bond as a Cold War relic and chastises him for it, whereas Craig's era M states that she misses the Cold War.
- That's not necessarily a discontinuity. It could be "you're a relic, while I've moved on." Or it may simply be "the grass is greener". If you consider the year each film was written/produced as the year it's set in, all of Brosnan's stories happened before 9/11. (Die Another Day just squeaks under - it was produced throughout 2001 and released in 2002). Casino Royale (2006) is the first one explicitly set after that. You might miss the Cold War too, an era (in Hollywood History) where the good guys and bad guys were much more clear cut and the politics considerably less messy. Different era, different sentiments, like a person who longs for cooler weather at the height of summer and dreams of summer in the middle of February.
- The filmmakers actually said that because Judi Dench was such a memorable M (anyone who went into the James Bond series during the Brosnan era will definitely recognize Judi Dench as M) that they included her anyways. Rule of Cool won over continuity.
- Although it doesn't appear in the movie itself, tie-in material to GoldenEye gives M's name as Barbara Mawdsley; however, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot in Skyfall gives M's name as Olivia Mansfield. Although it's probably unintentional, it could be taken as evidence that the Brosnan-era M and Craig-era M are two separate characters who happen to be played by the same person.
- Problem with that, though, is he's referred to as "James Bond" before he's officially made a Double-0.
- Fun fact: there are three Bonds who look like Sean Connery. (The first one, the one between Lazenby and Moore, and the one in "Never Say Never Again.")
- At least one of which was really Henry Jones, Sr.
- Or it could have just been Connery's Bond who was convinced to come back for a couple missions.
- This actually works very well, for the skip between "Twice" and "Diamonds." He retired and was replaced, but the new man fell in love, got married, and his wife was murdered, forcing his resignation. Without time to train a new man, they bring back the old one, who was friends with his temporary replacement (perhaps having trained him), and who was on one last revenge mission to avenge his friend's loss before reporting for duty.
- This would make Miss Moneypenny seem a lot less insensitive, when she asks Connery for a diamond (engagement) ring. Not very nice for a guy whose wife just died.
- My theory is that if you're gonna get hung up on all that stuff, you'll drive yourself crazy. Let's just say that Casino Royale has no relation to any of the other Bond films. They just hit the reset button and started a new series, without being hampered by anything from the other films. They simply cast Judi Dench because she's a good actor and was available at the time.
- This seems the most likely. Pre-Craig, the producers did not care a whit about continuity beyond the basics of "Bond is a spy and he works with M, Q, and Moneypenny." Pre-Craig Bond takes continuity about as seriously as the Adam West Batman did, while Craig era is like the Nolan Batman.
- Judging from the last two films, hiding the true names of MI-6 personnel may be standard practice for the agency. Casino Royale (2006) portrays Judi Dench's M as being quite upset that Bond has discovered her name and home address. Quantum of Solace, meanwhile, reveals that "Rene Mathis" is only a cover name for that character, though he apparently continued to use it after his "retirement" from MI-6.
- Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan were all the same person. The apparent lack of aging (or at least very slow aging) is justified by a sliding time-scale, similar to that of the Pre-Crisis DC Comics. Craig, on the other hand, assumed the identity upon the former's retirement, which explains why M & Q look so different than they did at the start of the series.
- Presumably, they're all required to introduce themselves the same way, have essentially the same basic personalities, and order vodka martinis, shaken not stirred. Not buying it.
- Personalities can be a result of spy training, and martini is just an advice (Bond at least once order something else - mojito), the introduction is something first Bond used, and the rest follows because they think it's cool.
- I never said the martini was Bond's only drink. But he does seem to have a clear preference for it. What about all the references to Tracy and her death? Or the fact that both Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby have the same family motto, The World Is Not Enough? Here�s my counter-theory. Actors age. They get new different guys to take over the role. Further clarification isn't required.
- Personalities can be a result of spy training, and martini is just an advice (Bond at least once order something else - mojito), the introduction is something first Bond used, and the rest follows because they think it's cool.
- Considering Moore and Lazenby the same person helps out a lot. Lazenby and Moore do look quite a like, actually. We can say Lazenby's quit for a while, Connery's came back, and over the time, Lazenby became Moore.
- At least one of the Bonds is James Bond Jr..
- This theory is Jossed by Skyfall, where we learn that Daniel Craig's character's real name is James Bond, as the movie shows he was called that before he became an MI6 agent. We also see the grave of his parents, and his father's surname is "Bond" too.
- Perhaps not; all the "James Bonds" are different agents that just happen to really be half-Scottish men named James Bond.
- With the same family motto, too? ("The world is not enough.") The motto is referenced in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The World Is Not Enough, and Skyfall.
- The World Is Not Enough, or Non Sufficiat Orbis in the original Latin, is the motto of the real-life Bond family (after whom Bond Street in London is named).
- This troper's preferred solving of that problem: the original Bond (Connery) was actually named James Bond. Others were given the codename (and cover details like the signature drink order, family motto, and Aston Martin) to keep the bad guys fearing him. Craig is also actually named James Bond because Connery was his grandfather, and he's named after him. His parents' car crash may have been an accident, or it may have been a strike against Connery but the important part is that it lets all six James Bonds be different guys in the same continuity. Hell, Moore and Dalton reacting to references to their marriage is just them keeping up their cover too; they are spies, after all.
- Alternatively, to use a bit of a retcon, the other Bonds were the previous 007's, but weren't named James Bond in this continuity.
- So, essentially, you would need to mess with the continuity (assume the previous James Bonds weren't actually James Bonds) to justify a theory that was originally coined to explain messes in the continuity? Sounds a bit pointless, no? Wouldn't it be easier to just say that before Craig, there was only one Bond who existed in a Comic-Book Time type of continuity, and this continuity was rebooted with Casino Royale, with Craig being only the second iteration of the character?
- Another possibility: James Bond is a codename, but every James Bond is brainwashed to believe it's his real name. Specifically, they're brainwashed by Dr Albert Hirsch, AKA "Kincaid", AKA Albert Finney, who runs the Skyfall facility (which is mothballed between Bonds). Whenever a Bond starts wondering where he comes from, he goes back to Skyfall, and the story of an orphan who couldn't bear to return home. And if he does visit, he finds an empty house, a couple of inexplicable tunnels (the actual facility is well hidden), a helpful old retainer, and a grave with appropriate dates on it.
- Interesting theory, but why exactly would MI6 go through all the trouble? What do they gain from the brainwashing? Also, if this theory were true, why does a character in The Spy Who Loved Me recognize Moore as "James Bond", the person who went to Cambridge with him? Back when Moore was a student on Cambridge, Connery (or the person preceding him) would've been the official 007/James Bond, so why was Moore called James Bond too? Also, why would people who aren't working for MI6 play along their brainwashing game? For example, as mentioned above, in The Living Daylights Felix Leiter, General Pushkin, and a hotel concierge all recognize Timothy Dalton as "James Bond", an old acquaintance. But if the brainwashing theory was true, this "old acquaintance" is actually a totally new guy. Maybe Leiter has some reason to humor the MI6 and act as if the new Bond is the old Bond, but why would Pushkin and some random concierge do the same?
- Possible alternate theory- MI6 organizes simulations based on previous 007 cases and puts the "new Bond" through them as a test. Would explain discrepancies between books, and different adaptations of the same films.
- The director of Die Another Day supports the theory of James Bond being a code name and seeing as how he didn't work on the Daniel Craig films, the theory about it being true in the ones before Daniel Craig might make sense.
- This might be implied in No Time to Die, as there's reportedly a scene where the new OO7 is introduced—and it's a black woman. Not the same name, obviously, but it strongly suggested that the code numbers are passed on should an agent die or retire.
- Perhaps not; all the "James Bonds" are different agents that just happen to really be half-Scottish men named James Bond.
- Roger Moore's Bond started out as Simon Templar and was later recruited to MI6 when Connery's Bond retired.
- Whereas Brosnan was... uh... "not" Remington Steele.
- Connerys Bond retires or is given a staff job at headquarters after the events of You Only Live Twice. He is replaced by Lazenbys Bond. Lazenbys Bond is clearly more sentimental than Connerys Bond, showing that he is a separate person, and even makes reference to the other guy. After the death of his wife at the end of the film, Lazenbys Bond suffers an emotional breakdown and is forced to retire from the field. Connerys Bond briefly returns to avenge his successors wife and finish off SPECTRE once and for all. With SPECTRE finally defeated for good after Diamonds Are Forever, Connerys Bond once again enters retirement, satisfied that his mission is complete. Moores Bond replaces him. At some point before For Your Eyes Only, MI6 finds out Blofeld is still alive and is planning to send a helicopter to kidnap Lazenbys Bond while he is visiting his wifes grave. In order to get rid of Blofeld for good without putting Lazenbys retired Bond in danger, they have Moore (he being the current Bond) pose as Lazenbys Bond so that the helicopter will kidnap him instead and take him to Blofeld. Of course, its all part of the plan for Moores Bond to be taken to Blofeld so he can kill him. Blofeld is finally killed off after being dropped into the chimney. After A View to a Kill, Moores Bond, now in his 60s, retires and is briefly replaced by Brosnans Bond (as seen at the beginning of GoldenEye, set in 1986). However, Brosnans Bond is so distraught over the death of his friend Alec Trevelyan, that he is deemed unfit to hold a license to kill and is demoted. He is replaced by Daltons Bond. Daltons Bond is forced into retirement after the events of Licence to Kill (while M was willing to forgive him, its not hard to imagine that the higher ups in MI6 would not want a rogue agent working for them and would overrule M). Another Bond presumably serves from 1990-1994 and is probably killed in action. Judi Denchs M probably takes office after this, hence the discussion about whether or not she has the guts to send a man to his death. At the beginning of post-credits GoldenEye, we see Brosnans Bond undergoing psychiatric evaluation in Monte Carlo. This is the point where he is deemed mentally fit to once again hold a license to kill, and is repromoted to 007. Since we know from Skyfall that Denchs M was not above deceiving her agents, its probable she already knew that Janus was the former Alec Trevelyan, and purposely assigned this mission to Brosnans Bond as a final psychological test, or to help him get rid of his inner demons. Sometime between Everything or Nothing and Casino Royale (2006), Brosnans Bond either retires or is killed in action. In Casino Royale (2006), we see Craigs Bond undergoing training to become the new 007. Around the same time, a new terrorist organization starts to form, and calls itself Spectre after the original organization. Its founder, whose real name is Franz Oberhauser, adopts the alias Ernst Blofeld in honour of the original mastermind. Since Craigs Bond was not around during the Cold War, he has never heard of the original SPECTRE (the existence of which was presumably kept secret by MI6). However, M was around during the Cold War (even if she wasnt serving as M at that time), and so has heard of it. She is thus very concerned by this new Spectre organization, and leaves a video message for Bond giving him the pieces he needs to find out about it and topple it before it can grow into the big organization it once was. Craigs Bond, who is shown to have grown tired of killing, probably quits after Spectre, which would coincide nicely with Daniel Craigs claim that he doesnt plan to return as Bond.
- All the named characters at MI6 are using aliases, including Boothroyd (Q), Bill Tanner and Moneypenny. Both the original Q from Dr. No and Desmond Llewelyns Q were referred to as Boothroyd. In Skyfall, Eve revealing her last name to be Moneypenny comes as a revelation, even though they have apparently known each other for a long time. The implication is that Bond knows Moneypenny is the alias of Ms secretary, and he prompted her into revealing her new job title. Also, the original Moneypenny (played by Lois Maxwell) was a redhead who was never shown wearing glasses. In her last few appearances, they directly reference the fact that she is getting old and nearing retirement. However, come The Living Daylights, she is suddenly young, blonde and wears glasses. The change of appearance is too drastic to be ignored.
- Further proof: 1) Connerys Bond and Moores Bond do not seem angry when they are getting revenge on Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and For Your Eyes Only; they treat it more with amusement. This is in stark contrast to Lazenbys Bond, who was completely devastated by her death, and Daltons Bond, who would have hunted him down like a revenge-fueled psychopath. 2) Recurring actors playing the same characters from one era to another discredits the idea that they are reboots. 3) References to previous Bond films from different eras further solidifies this. Even Skyfall references GoldenEye. 4) On the other hand, Bond does not age from Connerys era to Brosnans era, discrediting the idea that they are the same character. 5) Apart from physical appearances, the different Bond actors also have very distinct personalities (see below) 6) Lazenby referring to the other guy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. 7) In Skyfall, Silvas real name is revealed to be Tiago Rodriguez. This is proof that MI6 gives it's agents permanent aliases. Presumably, then, Raoul Silva is the official alias of whatever 00 agent he was. 8) In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Blofeld acts like this is the first time he has met Bond, even though he previously met Connery's Bond in You Only Live Twice 9) In The Living Daylights, Saunders tells Dalton's Bond, in a condescending tone "He's under the impression you're the best", with emphasis on "under the impression." If this were the same Bond from the previous films, Saunders would have no reason to doubt his ability. The implication is that, while Koskov thinks James Bond is one man, Saunders knows this Bond is a rookie.
- Answers to possible objections: 1) Brosnans M criticizes him for being a relic of the Cold War, but Craigs M misses the Cold War. They are two separate people. Answer: In the 1990s, there was wide spread optimism that, with the Cold War over, world peace had finally been achieved. M was reflecting this mood. 9/11 and subsequent terrorist attacks crushed that optimism. Now, everyone was paranoid about domestic terrorism, and cyber-spying had become a major issue. Ms optimism had also been crushed, and she now missed the more simplistic days of the Cold War. 2) References to Bonds dead wife. Answer: Ive already addressed For Your Eyes Only. Every other reference beyond that is vague. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Anya briefly mentions Bond's wife before Bond cuts her off. It is likely that Anya did not know there were separate Bond's, and Moore's Bond cut her off so she wouldn't ask him any questions about Tracy that he didn't have the answers to. Brosnans Bond is simply mentioned to have lost a loved one. Who hasnt? That could even be referring to Carvers wife in Tomorrow Never Dies. Daltons Bond is mentioned to have had a short lived marriage that he doesnt like to discuss. He may have coincidentally had a wife who died, or his marriage could have simply ended in divorce, and he doesnt like to talk about it because hes felt lonely ever since. 3) The Bonds recognize gadgets from previous films. Answer: This doesnt mean anything. If a gadget had proven to be useful in the field, then Q Branch would have every reason to reuse it. The other Bonds had presumably served as secret agents before being promoted to 007, and so would be familiar with gadgets. 4) They have the same catchphrases. Answer: Could just be a Gag Echo that has no greater significance, or it could be that each Bond is mentored by the previous Bond. One Bond told his protégé you should try vodka martinis, theyre great. Just be sure to get them shaken, not stirred, and it became a thing. 5) The gravemarker in Skyfall. Answer: It was faked to help keep Bond's real identity secret. 6) The different Bonds have the same personalities. Answer: Actually, they dont. Not at all. This point is actually in favour of the different Bonds theory. Connerys Bond is very chauvinistic and a bit sexist, but hes also by far the classiest of the Bonds. Lazenbys Bond is far more sentimental and more of a Nice Guy. Then Moores Bond is very cheeky, childish and unprofessional compared to the previous Bonds. Hes more of a Manchild, and doesnt have the classiness of Connerys Bond. Daltons Bond is very mature, introverted and professional. Hes much more serious and edgy. Brosnans Bond has Moores childishness, but hes also more mature and serious when he needs to be. Craigs Bond is very different. While he does seduce women when the job calls for it, hes not nearly the womanizer that the previous Bonds were (a lot of fans have complained about that). His loyalty to MI6 is also much more wavering (as shown in Skyfall and Spectre) then the previous Bonds, and he is shown in Spectre to not be particularly fond of killing. Not to mention that hes even hinted to be bisexual in Skyfall. One need only compare the way the Bonds interact with Q to see that they are different people. Connerys Bond likes to fiddle with the gadgets, but he remains quiet and actually listens to Q. Moores Bond, on the other hand, is constantly making cheeky remarks, and it is very evident that Q finds him more irritating than the other Bonds. Daltons Bond behaves very mature and respectfully around Q, and in turn, Q treats him with a great deal of respect.
- There are still numerous details that disprove this WMG. Some of them were already mentioned above, but let's repeat them here and rebuke some of the other evidence for this theory:
- In The Spy Who Loved Me, Roger Moore's Bond meets an old university mate of his, who recognises him as "James Bond". But back when Moore was in university, according to this theory either Connery or a predecessor of his would've been the official "James Bond". So Moore would've still had his original name, yet this guy knows him as James Bond.
- In the The Living Daylights, there are several references of Dalton's Bond having been in this job for a long time. For example, Bond mentions to M that he's known General Pushkin for quite a while. When the two meet in the movie, Pushkin recognizes Dalton as James Bond without him having to introduce himself, and the two treat each other as long-time worthy opponents. Also, Felix Leiter and a random concierge at a hotel in Tangier both recognize Dalton as James Bond, an old acquaintance. These meetings shouldn't play out the way they do if Dalton was a new guy who'd replaced the old "James Bond" within the last two years.
- In Licence to Kill, Dalton's character is still called "James Bond" even after he quits. If he was playing a different character, at this point the MI6 should refer to him with his real name, not his codename.
- Recurring actors playing the same characters doesn't really mean anything. There's no rule that if the same actor plays the same character in two different movies, they must be in the same continuity. For example, Connery plays James Bond in Never Say Never Again, which is clearly not set in the same continuity as the other Connery Bonds.
- Similarly, the fact that Moneypenny's appearance changes between A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights doesn't really prove anything. Either the latter movie is a partial reboot (with some characters changing while others remain the same), or the movie-makers simply didn't care about consistent continuity that much.
- The idea that the grave in Skyfall was faked by MI6 to conceal Bond's identity doesn't make sense. The grave is situated at the ancestral family estate of Daniel Craig's character, so if someone managed to follow Bond's tracks that far back, they would already know who he really is. A grave with a fake name wouldn't fool anyone who's come this far. Also, Kincade, the gamekeeper who resides in the family manor, has known Bond since he was a kid and refers to him by his name. If Bond's real name wasn't "James Bond", why would Kincade play along the charade and use the fake name when he has no reason to do so?
- In Spectre, Oberhauser, who also knew Bond when he was a kid, calls him "James". If "James Bond" is a fake identity, he would have a different name as kid. So why would Oberhauser humour him and not use his real name, which he knows?
- The ring with the octopus symbol in Spectre is treated as a mystery that Bond needs to solve. However, if the movie was in the same continuity as the older Bonds, surely the current James Bond would be familiar with his predecessors' work and would immediately recognise the symbol as referring to the organisation they fought against in the 1960s and 1970s? And if for some reason he didn't know about that history, surely a quick database search for the symbol by Q would reveal it? But as it is, no one seems to know or refer to this long history between MI6 and SPECTRE, and SPECTRE is treated as totally new adversary.
- Towards the end of Spectre, Oberhauser is wounded and gets a similar facial scar as the original Blofeld had. If the earlier Blofeld existed in the same continuity, it's quite an amazing coincidence that Oberhauser just happens to be wounded in the exact same way his predecessor was.
- Response:
- He could remember Bond, but with so many years having passed by, just doesn't remember what he looked like exactly
- As already stated in the theory, the 00 agents have presumably served as traditional secret agents for many years before they get promoted to 00 agent
- Rauol Silva was also still called by that name many years after he defected, even though it wasn't his real name
- Films from different Bond eras do, in fact, reference events from previous Bond eras, confirming that they are set in the same continuity
- That would have to be a pretty big continuity error, and it's not just her appearance, it's also the fact that the previous films referenced her getting older and nearing retirement
- The facial scar on Oberhauser is no more coincidental than M having a male secretary named "Penny" in Casino Royale, only for a female named "Moneypenny" to also get the job in Skyfall. Either way, there are coincidences to be had
- The rest of the points can be explained by the theory (discussed elsewhere) that Craig's Bond has been raised and manipulated by M since childhood into believing that he really was "James Bond." Silva does imply that this was the case with himself, and hints that it was the case with Bond as well, calling him a "brother" and noting their similar backstories (Was the island he talks about his own version of Skyfall? Was his "grandmother" his own version of Kinkade, both secretly working for M?).This would also offer an interesting take on why Craig's Bond seems less loyal to MI6, and more put off about killing, then the previous Bond's. Whereas the previous Bond's chose that life, Craig's Bond was manipulated into it by M ever since he was orphaned.
However, after the wall fell and 911 hit, the enemy changed. No longer was it the agents of a world power who could afford both the silly tech and whose leader felt the simple solution was just boring and viewed the whole ordeal as a game more than anything else. Now the villains don't hold back, will only avoid shooting you if you have something they need, and care more about the ends than the means. Wristwatch lasers, Moon bases, invisible cars, all of these things are pretty much useless against bad guys who go back to the basics and and hold nothing back.
- If deniability is the name of the game, there would need to be at least three active Felix Leiter agents; two (or more) in the field and one who works at Langley and is always accounted for.
- The only rub is that Hedison's fiance/wife referred to him as Felix. Would he really marry under a cover name?
- No, but by the time he got round to telling her his real name she had got used to calling him Felix. And in times of stress (like a wedding, or a horrible murder) she reverted back to her old habit.
- If deniability is the name of the game, there would need to be at least three active Felix Leiter agents; two (or more) in the field and one who works at Langley and is always accounted for.
- Blofeld and Bond never really saw each other face to face until On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Remember, Blofeld wasn't directly involved in any of those schemes. It was one of his henchmen that was running the show in the previous movies.
- The most likely reason they don't recognize each other, I believe, is bad editing. In the novels, OHMSS is indeed when they first met; someone failed to do a continuity check?
- In Diamonds Are Forever, Blofeld appears to be able to surgically alter doubles so convincing that he's not even sure if he's the real Blofeld
- The Blofeld seen in From Russia With Love and Thunderball is indeed the real Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The one in You Only Live Twice (Donald Pleasence) is just a stand-in, and died during the eruption. The real Blofeld (Telly Savalas) and Bond finally come face-to-face in On Her Majesty's Service That can explain why they do not recognize each other. After killing his wife, Blofeld goes into hiding, and puts another stand-in in charge. (Charles Gray) The stand-in is killed in the opening teaser, as HIS stand-ins are left in charge. That wold explain why Blofeld acts so strangely in Diamonds Are Forever. He's just an actor suddenly in charge of a terrorist organization. Finally, the Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only is the real Blofeld again, notice the heavy similarities between that one and the Telly Savalas Blofeld, last time we saw him. Bond finally has his revenge on Blofeld, dropping him down the smokestack.
- Blofeld and Bond never really saw each other face to face until On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Remember, Blofeld wasn't directly involved in any of those schemes. It was one of his henchmen that was running the show in the previous movies.
- This fits Real Life; "dogs have owners, cats have servants". Just check out the heyday of the newsgroup alt.cats.world.domination (yes, it exists) to see this WMG in action.
- Something similar happens in Cats & Dogs (a cat is an evil mastermind but humans mistakenly think his owner is the real villain.)
- The actual quote is "...not to break the traffic laws." So, perhaps if he's killing someone he gets a sort of diplomatic immunity to parking tickets?
- Except for Bond being a ridiculously good gambler who always walks away with more money than he started with...
- In her stories he's a great gambler. In real life, he could be awful.
- They also have to justify the property damage he commits.
- Why does it just have to be Bond's outrageous expenses? Why would M go out of the way to cover for the drunken antics of just one guy? James Bond's sexed up stories is the excuse for ALL of the outrageous drunken parties, casino runs, prositutes that everybody, including M, is partipating. "Prime Minister, James Bond had to stop a man with a... a GOLDEN GUN, yeah, a golden gun... on the very beautiful island of Ko Tapu that he had went alone without anyone else from M-I6 coming with him, saving the world by blowing up the island in what obviously wasn't an attempt to hide evidence of our agency gambling $25 million dollars, my three Thai male escorts, and an umbrella away.
- The British government must have some kind of a hit team on call. They did
back in the Troubles.
- Alternatively, there is a real-life 00 project, but it has nothing to do with the books and movies; the agents involved are just James Bond fans who named their organization after the franchise as a homage.
- If so, Fleming's fictional "00s" may have came about due to the very probable "James Bond is actually semi-autobiographical" theory below.
- Why would a totalitarian government want such a loose cannon? Seems more the sort of guy a resistance would be after.
- The simulation has been hacked. This explains why he can be shot from close range with a machine gun and evade every bullet.
- Either this or the Metal Gear and James Bond universes are one and the same.
- Bond teaming up with Solid Snake would be so awesome, the universe would dance in joy. Seriously speaking, though, Bond has already been established as a fictional character in the Metal Gear universe. But, seeing how the truth behind famous missions or people like Big Boss is Shrouded in Myth, maybe there is a real Agent 007 carrying out black ops missions, but passed off as a fictional character rather than being covered in legends.
- ...What's so punny about "Oddfeld"?
- Only he will be renamed Liefeld.
- As for the 'Deputy Director of Operations' speculation above: Mr. White's role in "Casino Royale" is to arrange an introduction for Le Chiffre to one of Quantum's terrorist clients, and then to dispose of Le Chiffre and recover Quantum's financial losses when Le Chiffre proves unreliable. These are activities normally performed by mere field agents, and mere field agents do not get to attend Board of Directors meetings. For that matter, Quantum doesn't need Le Chiffre's financial network; Dominic Greene's own corporate fronts were far more extensive money laundering and financial fraud operations. So the only way Quantum's involvement in "Casino Royale" makes sense is if Le Chiffre is being considered as a candidate member of Quantum's hierarchy. This is entirely probable, as Le Chiffre (had he not been fatally addicted to dipping into the till) would have been an excellent recruit for such - and supervising the final field test of and then cleaning up after the failure of a candidate for a senior management position is something that would logically be handled personally at directorate level.
- JOSSED. Blofeld exists as the alias of a person person, Quantum is nearly a subsidy of Spectre, and Mr. White ate Bond's gun in the third movie.
- Didn't Flemming Confirm this somewhere? Also, Cracked had an article about this too.
- Actually, this makes perfect sense. It explains the different appearances AND all the continuity nods to past Bond movies. This might also be a reason why they rebooted the franchise: Daniel Craig is a new Bond because the old one had reached his regeneration limit (which means that Connery wasn't his first incarnation and that "James Bond" actually is a code name, but for different Time Lords, who, as we all know, can regenerate twelve times).
- I was just thinking this as I watched my first Daniel Craig Bond movie. Glad to see someone else is on the same wavelength.
- Perhaps James Bond is a British super-soldier made from a combination of DNA obtained from The Third Doctor when he was banished to earth and the original Sean Connery James Bond. The dates correspond quite well. It explains his longevity, changes to appearance and personality. Also his general tenacity to improvise and survive. Previously they kept their memories but the British government after Dalton went AWOL decided to wipe it with Brosnan. That's why Brosnan's bond is relatively unburdened with the history with the wives. More recently he has been regenerated and memory wiped into Daniel Craig. Perhaps the coincidence with Dalton and Rassilon is the side effect of some Morphic field.
- A different interpretation of the dates match: Connery's James Bond is an alternate version of the Third Doctor, and the other Bonds are his subsequent regenerations note . When the Second Doctor is forced to regenerate, he is given a choice of several faces- in an alternate timeline, he chooses Connery (Who could have been the face the Doctor remarks is "too young") instead of Pertwee. During his exile on Earth, he joins MI6 instead of UNIT.
- It's shown up as fanfic
before.
- That's the best explanation I've heard so far. I'll also say that Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Felix Leiter are Time Lords, and that Miss Moneypenny is a Time Lady.
- I see your WMG and raise you a slightly more elaborate version:
Other critics have used words like "self-congratulatory" and "self-indulgent" against it. That's the whole point: the film we're watching is Bond's "happy place" where he's trying to escape about the horrifying traumas of this particular regen. (Think "Allan and the Sundered Veil," the short story from "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1.) I imagine him being skewed and stretched in all directions as he plummets through the Nightmare Child, actually...
He ends up coming out of it quite unstable, and he has to be retrained and re-earn his rank of 007. It was so bad, in fact, that having blond hair was the least of his worries! (Addendum, 12/9/13: It is also quite possible to imagine everything past "Brosnan!Bond slows his heart(s)/regenerates" as "a still-cooking Craig!Bond running around like an escaped lunatic through Hong Kong in hospital pajamas, grabbing whatever bits and pieces he can find and assembling them into some kind of narrative. Jinx, the NSA operative, just happens to be undercover on something else, but he drags her into his story. Meanwhile, M has assembled her operatives with orders to 'nudge' Bond into the right position wherever possible.")
... * Brick'd*
- Correct. People like Kerim Bey or Dikko Hendersen are the real spies, the people who stay in a certain place long term and try to build up an information network about everything that goes on in those places. Bond doesn't do that. He's an assassin, not a spy. "Troubleshooter" might be a better word, as you said.
- As far back as Dr. No, this was implied by M's line "Unless you'd prefer to return to standard intelligence duties." The 00s are definitely not normal spies and much more like elite assassins.
- More specifically, he could be a White Court Vampire (as in the Dresden Files), as many feed on sex, and have few to no supernatural powers other than the general superhuman abilities (super strength, speed, etc), and don't burn up in the sun.
- Well, they have some freaky mojo (their blood is one hell of a drug), they can induce emotion (though JB's ability to bed women might be because of that), and they can drain people for personal power, but otherwise, most supernatural abilities they have shown in the books are from external sources.
- Then why has he never regenerated?
- He has, assuming that the armorer form Dr. No—you know, the guy who makes fun of Bond and then equips him with a new weapon for his upcoming mission—regenerated into the guy who does the very same thing in every other movie until Die Another Day.
- It is also possible that R is really future Q.
- Then why has he never regenerated?
There is only one way that Casino Royale could be James Bond's origin story while still fitting into the same continuity as the previous twenty films: time travel. That's right � at some indeterminate point in the 21st century, Daniel Craig's Bond travels back in time to the 1960s, arrives a couple of years before the events of Dr No, and becomes the Sean Connery Bond. Over the following decades, he goes on to become the George Lazenby Bond, the Roger Moore Bond, the Timothy Dalton Bond and the Pierce Brosnan Bond. This makes Casino Royale a sequel in the chronological sense, but a prequel in the sense of character development, as it shows how Bond acquired the iconic characteristics he displayed throughout the previous films. This circular timeline makes it comparable to such time-travel stories as Terminator Salvation.
How and why did Bond travel back in time, you ask? Well, who can say? Perhaps our hero's temporal displacement was the result of some villain's elaborate scheme. Maybe MI6 had something to do with it � that would explain why they recognised? their agent from the future. Hey, maybe Bond even volunteered to be sent back. In any case, this would mean that, during the events of Casino Royale, the ancient time-travelling Pierce Brosnan Bond is still out there somewhere, perhaps enjoying a well-earned retirement.
Needless to say, this theory is fully compatible with the one which postulates that James Bond is a timelord � in fact, it is enhanced by it, as it would explain the whole 'time travel' aspect very nicely.

- There's a fairly good chance that all the Bonds worked on construction projects while in the Navy.
- That was intentional.
- Q does indeed have a grandson, in James Bond Jr., but the less said about that, the better.....
- Clearly it has to be "Mary".
- Except "Lee Christmas" is almost certainly an alias as well.
- Alternately, he has dozens of kids, but his status as a covert operative allows him to duck responsibility for them.
- At the end of You Only Live Twice (the book, not the film), Kissy is revealed to be pregnant by Bond but she doesn't tell him. By the start of the next book, The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond has returned to London and this plot-line is pursued no further.
- In fairness, we don't exactly get "money shots" of Bond's encounters, he could very well use condoms religiously. Not to mention the various forms of medical contraceptive the women could be using. In GoldenEye, he cracks a joke about "safe sex", so he is at least familiar with the concept.
- It's quite possible he's had a vasectomy.
- Jossed. He has a child as of No Time to Die.
- Just in case I do: both Spaniards with identical servants. Both live on private islands. Both provide discreet, expensive services. This can't all be coincidence.
- He doesn't age and changes forms. He's also using magic to deflect bullets.
Related to the above - that James Bond is a cover identity used by multiple agents. Massive extrapolation and huge Skyfall spoilers to follow.
The 00 programme was started during the cold war to provide the 'perfect covert operative'. Individuals displaying the right combination of physical prowess and mental malleability were taken by MI6 to a series of training camps around the world, where they were systematically brainwashed, trained to the peak of physical perfection and combat skill, and indoctrinated with complete loyalty to the United Kingdom in general, and to M in particular. They were imprinted with new identities, carefully constructed to support the brainwashing. Skyfall was one of these training camps - an abandoned manor house, where the identity of "James Bond" was constructed - each agent there was given to believe he was the actual James Bond, whose parents had died in a climbing accident, who had served in the navy, and who had joined MI6. Whenever a 007 died or retired, a new agent was selected, sent to Skyfall for brainwashing and imprinting on whoever was M at the time, given an evaluation period, and sent into the field.
Connery!Bond was the first, and showed it was working perfectly. In You Only Live Twice, his cover-story marriage to Kissy Suzuki actually blossomed into love, which put a strain on Bond's programming to be a perfectly cold 'governmental blunt instrument' - he was pensioned off, still thinking he was James Bond, put on a lovely island somewhere under MI6 supervision, and replaced with Lazenby!Bond. Lazenby!Bond got married on his first mission - when his wife died, Lazenby!Bond lost his mind, and committed suicide. This was a fairly significant embarrassment for the 00 programme - the 007 identity was, hereafter, modified to include a marriage that ended in death, and the next operative, Moore!Bond, began training. Meanwhile, Connery!Bond is brought out of retirement for One Last Mission - the events of Diamonds Are Forever.
By then, the new and improved James Bond personality Mark II had been developed - the addition of his wife's death to the mix to psychologically bar him from developing deep personal relationships with women, and a less callous, more suave personality, emerged. Moore!Bond had a long and successful career with MI6, but was physically aging - by the time of his final mission (the events of A View to a Kill) he was getting too old for the kind of missions expected of a 00.
There was a slight modification to the James Bond personality for the next 007 they imprinted, Dalton!Bond. It was the 80s by now, the cold war was visibly coming to a head, and they needed an agent more professional and combat-oriented for this difficult time. We see Dalton!Bond's first combat exercise in Gibraltar at the beginning of the Living Daylights. However, it wasn't long before Dalton!Bond went rogue, during the events of Licence To Kill, and set off on a personal vendetta. At the end of that film, M contacts him to say he has his job back - this is not the case. We never see Dalton!Bond again.
Immediately as Dalton!Bond goes rogue, they begin screening another candidate - Brosnan!Bond is created more along Moore!Bond lines to replace Dalton!Bond, and actually carries out his first mission (GoldenEye pre-credits) during the 1980s, during the period that Dalton!Bond is rogue. Brosnan!Bond is later assigned to kill Dalton!Bond.
Around this time, the Cold War has ended, and MI6 has a bigger problem - rogue 00s. Dalton!Bond went off the rails, and before long, Bean!Trevelyan goes rogue too. There are problems with loyalty that need to be ironed out of the current batch of 00 personality imprints. Brosnan!Bond's career goes fairly swimmingly, with no major wobbles, until Die Another Day, when a mission goes awry, and he is captured. Upon his return. M suspends his 00 status and - surprise surprise, goes rogue. It doesn't help that the handler M sent to watch him (Miranda Frost, played by Rosamund Pike) turned out to be a mole. At the end of the film, Brosnan!Bond faked his death, and escapes with a whole chunk of unregistered blood diamonds.
While Brosnan!Bond was in captivity in North Korea, M helmed a review into the 007 personality. The result was the most major overhaul since the creation of the personality imprinted on Moore!Bond. More violent, more callous, and less suave and sophisticated than any Bond personality previously, but also, a hell of a lot more loyal.
Craig!Bond was hauled off to Skyfall, made to believe he was James Bond, and sent off to Casino Royale to deal with Le Chiffre. Of course, he falls in love with Vesper Lynd, the earliest-identified Achilles Heel of the Bond personality. She dies, and rather than killing himself like the Lazenby!Bond did, he swore himself to revenge - on MI6's behalf, no less, a grave improvement in the personality from MI6's point of view. The layer of impermeable suaveness did not develop properly, but Craig!Bond soldiered along, and in the events between Quantum of Solace and the start of Skyfall, was doing quite well as Bond. Of course, the opening of Skyfall happens, and he drops off the radar - but again, he comes back, where previous Bonds would have stayed gone. Of course, the conditioning is still not 100%. In the extreme trauma of his near-death experience, he subconsciously begins to realise that he is not James Bond - that it is an imprinted personality. On some level, he is aware of what has happened to him - attempting to numb the pain of that truth with alcohol and pills, like so many before him.
When he returns to duty, he is psychoanalysed to test this - during an otherwise routine word association exercise, the word Skyfall is dropped in, and Craig!Bond finally realises that his life is a lie.
However, he decides to continue upholding it anyway. The pivotal moment for Craig!Bond in Skyfall is when he pulls the bullet out of his shoulder - that night, he realises that, as a person, he's not real - but he decides to carry on in the mission. M knows that he has failed his evaluation, but puts him through anyway - she knows that he now knows the truth about himself.
The villain of Skyfall, Raoul Silva, is another 00, who, like Craig!Bond, has realised that the Raoul Silva personality is a lie, during the extreme trauma of his botched suicide attempt. However, unlike Craig!Bond, his loyalty to M is replaced with a strange mix of love and hatred for the figure he has imprinted on.
At the end, Craig!Bond chooses Skyfall because it is the only home he has ever known - the old Scottish building where he, like five others before him, lost the man he was before, only to take up the name of an automaton, a person created only for killing. His line, "I always hated this place," is typical Bondian understatement in these circumstances.
By the end, Craig!Bond has burned Skyfall to the ground, and knows the truth about the 00 programme. The M he was imprinted on is dead. Everything he does from here on in is his own choice. Until Skyfall is rebuilt, and Ralph Fiennes' M needs to replace him.
- It's worth noting that, in all likelihood, the men inducted into Skyfall were already promising members of MI-5 or the British military proper. Dedicated soldiers open to risk-taking would more readily volunteer for a mysterious "program" upon invitation from their superiors, even without full knowledge of what would be involved. It's also possible that at some point some person or persons within the American intelligence system got the bright idea to attempt to copy the success of this procedure with their own reprogrammed agents. Whereas Felix Leiter was merely a code name passed down, Jason Bourne was a fully realized identity.
- How would this theory explain the fact that each Bond is clearly set in the present day of its release year? The end of the Cold War is a significant part of the plot of GoldenEye, but in the timeline suggested here Bond would inexplicably move from the post-Cold War era to the Cold War era, Russia would turn back into the Soviet Union, technology level would suddenly regress, etc.
- The part about the Bond timeline matching up after Skyfall has been Jossed by Spectre, which has retconned Blofield's character so much that the pre-Casino Royale films can't be in the same continuity as the Craig-era Bond films. And as mentioned above, unless one was to disregard GoldenEye, doing so would contradict the timeline, for the reasons mentioned above.
- Since the Craig Bonds clearly take place in the 00s, and Never Say Never Again is clearly set in the 80s, how is this possible?
- Presumably, this happens after Everything or Nothing, as that particular video game is considered canon.
- So that would mean he was born in 1916 (the year Rasputin died) or earlier? I don't think he's that old...
- Instead of that then, James Bond is Rasputin (since he's a time lord) and is just one of his incarnations?
- The original novels state he was born in 1924 (He lied about his age to enlist in the Navy at age 17 in 1941).
- Although it hasn't been made official, if the Young Bond books are canon, this one is jossed, since Bond is established to be 13 at the time of SilverFin takes place, and it's stated that the events of Silverfin take place on Easter of 1933, meaning that Bond was born in 1920 - 4 years after Rasputin died. Although it's possible that Rasputin donated sperm to a sperm bank and Bond was conceived using said sperm, the odds of doing so are very unlikely, since Bond's mother is stated to be Swedish, and had no reason to be in Russia at the time of Rasputian's death, much less use sperm from a Russian sperm bank. Although as noted above, this does somewhat contradict the original novels (Although it does only contradict the year he was born; the events of the epilogue of Double or Die do line up very nicely with Bond being in the Navy).
- Adele: A second song from her would be great for posterity and make her closer to the legendary Shirley Bassey.
- Sarah Brightman OR Idina Menzel: Both are experienced Broadway singers who could handle doing a Shirley Bassey style song
- Michael Bublé
- Coldplay, for a lighter theme.
- Gotye
- Miranda Lambert: Either as the next Goldfinger/Goldeneye or something similar Tomorrow Never Dies
- Justin Timberlake: He'd either perform it similarly to Paul McCartney for Live And Let Die OR as a Suit And Tie styled song
- Lady Gaga: She'd do a jazzy, avant garde song.
- Kanye West: He'd be performing as the villain, because really wouldn't that explain everything?
- Iron Maiden Because they're as British as heavy metal gets. And Eddie in the title sequence would sweeten the deal.
- Conchita Wurst: She already sings very Bond-style songs.
- Gackt, if another Bond film set in Japan was made. Given the aforementioned WMGs about Bond being a Timelord, and Gackt having connections to a
- certain franchise that gets compared to Doctor Who sometimes, it would be a good fit.
- Bastille could do something with appropriate levels of passion and menace.
- The Script could do a more melancholy theme.
- Aviators is a smaller name, but he's done James Bond style music before so he has expirence.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic, for a more lighthearted entry (bonus points if he does a Call-Back to Spy Hard
)
- Beyoncé
- So THAT'S where he gets all those wonderful toys...
- let's what for John De Lanice to play one
- Alternatively, they're all the same member of the Q Continuum. He changes his appearance every so often to avoid people getting suspicious.
- If she was openly gay she'd have lost her job. So she pretended to be waiting for James Bond (knowing he wasn't really interested in her) and no other man dared compete with him. It's a more cheerful idea then her really waiting forever for a man who wasn't interested, anyway.
- Bond tells Dent that "That's a Smith & Wesson and you've had your six" when Dent carries an M1911A1, which has a seven round capacity. Bond, being an expert on firearms, knows this, but Dent likely doesn't. Bond knows that Dent has one round left, but bluffs him into thinking that his weapon is spent so Dent will hesitate.
- Assuming Hollywood's interpretation of nuclear radiation, Bond's DNA was altered in Dr. No when he and Honey Ryder were exposed on Crab Key. This manifests itself as the ability to rejuvenate every few years with a new face.
- All records related to this operation went to the grave when the old M passed away however, so when Trevelyan signaled that the operation was commencing (by firing Goldeneye), MI6 was completely unaware of what was going on, so they sent in Bond and we all know what happens; Bond destroys the Janus Syndicate and takes out Goldeneye. Trevelyan never broke his cover this entire time though, and admirably performed his duties to the very end for Queen and Country.
- Even though he couldn't reveal what was really happening, Trevelyan still managed to help Bond in his own way. He made sure the Russians weren't able to get their hands on a fully functioning stealth helicopter, he deliberately left behind a working computer terminal in the Train (and told Bond how long he had before it blew up), and because he knew Boris would re-calibrate the Satellite Array, he 'shot' at 007 to make him hurry up.
- Le Chiffre is gluttony. He is known to spend his clients' money in large sums (which is why he sets up the poker game at Casino Royale because he is in need of money) and uses an inhaler for no purpose but for pleasure.
- Dominic Greene is greed. He intends to make a monopoly off the water in Bolivia.
- Raoul Silva is wrath. He is on a vendetta because of the pain M brought him.
- Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld is envy. He was jealous of Bond because of the relationship between Bond and Oberhauser's father.
- Mr. White is sloth. He rarely takes action in the plot unless he is negatively affected by it.
- Yusef Kabira is lust. His job is to seduce beautiful government women and con them, then move on to the next.
- Supposedly, this makes Safin pride, as he compares himself to Bond as though they are mirrors.
The second Bond, in an entirely different continuity, was played by Dalton and Brosnan, and went from The Living Daylights in 1987 to Die Another Day in 2002. There was a change in administration when the role of M was taken over by Judi Dench. She makes explicit reference to her predecessor. Plus the opening scene in Goldeneye took place in 1986, the year before Dalton played Bond.
Finally, the Daniel Craig Bond is, again, in an entirely different universe as the earlier films. Bond becomes a 00 at the start in Casino Royale and dies in No Time to Die.
- Or... each Bond actor has a universe of his own. Desmond Llewelyn's Q can be the same in five universes, Lois Maxwell can be the same in three etc.
The tragic, shocking death of Tracy never really left Bond. Years later, he's still haunted by his greatest loss and will never get over it, even after he got his revenge on Blofeld.
But Tracy never really left him either.
After her death, she chose to become Bond's guardian angel, using her various new abilities to protect him from any potential threats. It's why despite every Death Trap his opponents can cook up, no matter how well-armed the mooks are, 007 always comes out alive and ready for the next job. It's why Bond can save himself in the tensest situations. Although he sadly can't feel her presence, Tracy is always with him, helping him when he's at his most desperate or when there's seemingly no chance of escape.
And Tracy's motive for all this? She had a pretty terrible life and experienced loss in the worst ways, with her previous husband cheating on her and dying, and her only child dead at an early age. But Bond, despite all his flaws, ultimately managed to turn her life around and make her happy for the first time in years, even if it only was a short while.
Tracy had already lost two of the people she loved. And now she's going to make damn sure that the world will not lose the one man who truly loved her, who would fight an entire army to get to her and who was willing give up everything to be with her for the rest of his life.
- This theory works if the "Every agent holding the post of 007 is just using the name of James Bond as an alias" WMG above is false, but there's one problem: this theory doesn't work for Daniel Craig's Bond, since not only has said Bond never married as of yet (admittedly, this troper has not seen Spectre, but from what he has heard, Bond did not get married in that film), for all we know, Tracy doesn't exist in the reboot universe.
- This would explain the ending of No Time to Die...
In the end, this has benefited Bond in ways he's not aware of. In voodoo tradition, Baron Samedi is the loa of the dead; he greets souls at the crossroads between life and death to escort them to the afterlife, and makes corpses rot faster so they cannot be turned into zombies. He is also a giver of life, who can cure disease and heal injuries. This is why James Bond has seemingly lived for so many decades, constantly surviving injuries that would have killed the strongest of men; he unknowingly enjoys the protection of Baron Samedi, because Samedi feels a debt of gratitude for Bond for liberating him from being Kananga's slave.
Sometime prior to Dr No (around 1950), Bond fathered a child with one of his flings. This child was named James Bond, after his father, and raised by his mother and a step-father until their death in a climbing accident. MI 6 intervene to help fund his education. James Bond II grows up to be similar to his birth father, even experiencing a similar heartbreak when his wife dies, although the tragedies of his past haunt him and he is more prone to insubordination. As an adult (played by Dalton and Brosnan), he is recruited by MI 6 to train as a spy, bonding with fellow orphan Alec Trevelyan, and eventually takes over his father's 007 codename in 1986, not long before the mission at Arkhangelsk. He works alongside Admiral Hargreeves and Major Boothroyd as his father did; Hargreeves, meanwhile, takes on a new assistant who is also given the Moneypenny name. Hargreeves later retires and is succeeded by Barbara Mawdlsey, while Boothroyd is eventually succeeded by the so-called 'R' (played by John Cleese).
Felix Leiter is the same individual in every appearance, who works with the CIA for around 30 years. Between Live and Let Die and The Living Daylights, Leiter meets the young Bond in the field and shares stories of the older Bond with him, which helps cement their friendship. Leiter retires from the CIA after losing his leg.
- EON would use the same actors in different roles, recast Blofeld from movie to movie, and yet also had callbacks to earlier movies. Why? Because they had no idea that people would be dissecting them decades later. The producers would have had no concept of home video until The Spy Who Loved Me at the earliest, so they couldn't have imagined people taking notes or making up bizarre theories to tie everything together.