James Bond

Unless Bond exposes the villain's collusion with the other villain and how their dead causes a rift?

But that would have to be very public, even for Bond. And I think he's still supposed to be a secret agent. Although I guess that ship has sailed literal decades ago...

I'm just suggesting, nothing else.

Even when they fought North Korea, the whole "satellite laser cannon" thing was hushed up by all sides.

Someone has added a WMG headliner mentioning all the Bond films on every film's page. I don't think this is a good idea, I find it quite ugly and unnecessary on the pages.

James Bond's Casting Director Thinks Young Actors Don't Have What It Takes

On that, I agree. The way I see it, James Bond works better as a military veteran who elevates to the ranks of the government's agency, and would be in his 30s as a minimum.

Yeah James Bond is a wish fulfillment type of character and even Daniel Craig who was a more grounded version of him still did cool shit.

He does need to have a certain experience to him to feel like Bond. Craig was pushing it since we start with him becoming 007. But even before getting the codename he's still a hardened killer.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 16th 2023 at 8:22:45 PM

Well, if they want young actors they could do a spin-off about Bond’s nephew or something.

We don't talk about that.

Yeah, a 20-something James Bond just doesn't make much sense.

Unless you wanna play it as someone so young yet so deceptively experienced.

You could but honestly that's the kind of thing that turns a "wish fulfilment" character more into a classical Mary Sue type. Bond being this badass spy and assassin based on experience and knowledge is one thing. Him being some kid who is Just That Good is another.

Kinsman kind of did the latter route but notably both times the young hero was backed up by an older and more experienced agent in the finale, which isn't really the vibe Bond has gone for so far but could work if you made Mathis or Leiter into more Obi-Wan style mentors, I guess.

On the flipside, how old can Bond be without stretching credibility too much?

Personally, I always saw Bond as an eternal 36-39.

Besides certain exceptions like Rodger Moore and Daniel Craig in No time to die.

A younger Bond could work (there's even a young Bond book series, I don't know how good it is), it would just have to be a very different style and story from the classic bond formula, that's all. Of course, if you stray too far from formula, it might get a response of this is 'bond in name only' but there are people who will reject anything anyway so...

This is the first time I've heard anyone say "James Bond should be restricted to a certain kind of actor" and this website actually agreed.

Hilarious.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 16th 2023 at 1:06:41 PM

Finally emphasizing Bond's rank and background as a Commander in the Royal Navy would be good.

I'm somewhat unclear if Bond was actually in the Navy, or if that's just his cover story for what he really does since MI6 business is classified. In the books he's a WWII veteran but I can't recall if it was mentioned what branch he was in. Anyone refresh my memory?

Edited by HamburgerTime on Apr 16th 2023 at 2:40:26 PM

Since people brought up James Bond Jr., I have this pet theory on how that series can bridge the gap between Craig's Bond and the Bonds who came before.

Assume that Connery through Brosnan are all the same Bond, with their changing appearances being something you either don't think about too much, or Hand Wave away as MI6 using plastic surgery to keep their least low-profile agent at least somewhat anonymous.

If this Bond was around 30 during Dr. No, they'd be 70 by the time of Die Another Day, about the point where they're gonna be forced to retire. But when Judi Dench M goes looking for a replacement 007, the fondness they begrudgingly developed for Bond naturally leads them to Bond's nephew, also named James. (You'd also have to assume something similar happened at the CIA with Felix Leiter.)

You might be saying that doesn't hold water, since the Craig movies also have a rebooted Blofeld and SPECTRE, introduced as completely new players.

Ah! But while the James Bond, Jr. cartoon had young James facing a lot of their uncle's old foes, they never fought SPECTRE or Blofeld - due to rights issues, they instead fought the sinister organization SCUM and its leader SCUM Lord. So for this James, the events of Spectre are indeed their first encounter with these baddies.

What about the rebooted Blofeld, then? Well, this theory actually has the "My name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld" scene finally make sense. Now it's not just a random alias that Bond's foster brother chose - they deliberately named themself and their organization after the previous Bond's archenemy, knowing how much their hated foster-brother idolized the first 007. You can't say that's out of character for this version of Blofeld.

But, really, the main reason I like this theory? It's fun to imagine that the dour, gritty, sick-of-this-shit Craig Bond was, in their youth, the quippy, carefree, Junior James Bond of the cartoon, who used tons of sci-fi gadgets and went on far-out adventures. Like, that scene in Skyfall where Q gives them a meager offering of gadgets - it's just amusing to attribute Bond's disappointment to remembering all the so-much-cooler stuff they had to play with in their youth.

Navy. He was officially ranked as "Commander Bond" and part of a commando group of some sort IIRC. It did come up in Thunderball that he had actually served as well, it wasn't purely a cover story.

Tina Turner, who sang the eponymous song for Goldeneye, dies at 83.

So, what do you think of the chances that Christopher Nolan gets to direct the next Bond film?

Next to nil considering I believe his condition is he gets to cast Bond. Given what happen with Danny Boyle and No Time To Die I can't see the franchise management taking their hands of the reins to that extent.

So in a hypothetical new Bond series, what are the odds we'll see SPECTRE as the main antagonists?