James Bond’s 25-film run has seen a huge amount of characters come and go over the course of over 60 years. Speaking strictly of the EON films, that is.As with any film series, some of these characters are going to be memorable, well-written, and iconic. Others, not so much.Indeed, many007films have seen characters that are annoying, poorly-written, or just downright forgettable, making them easily the worst parts of the films they appear in.
The movies they’re in might not even be that bad, heck, they might even be amazing. But it’s safe to say very few people missed these characters, most of whom only appear in one film, thankfully.Ask any 007fan who their least favorite character in the series is, and odds are, they’ll give you one of these answers.
10Mary Goodnight
‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ (1974)
Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) is a character that was done dirty when she transcended from the page to the screen. In the originalThe Man with the Golden Gunnovel, Goodnight is actually quite smart and is a huge asset, silly name aside. However, the filmmakers opted to go in a completely different direction. In the film, she is a dolt portrayed as having her head in the clouds. It’s kind of insulting not just to her character, but toSir Ian Fleming, too, who was surely rolling in his grave upon the movie’s release.
In contrast,The Man with the Golden Gunactually has some great characters too, such asSir Christopher Lee’s portrayal of the villainous Scaramanga. Lee is so good in the film that it actually makes Goodnight’s role in the story kind of off-putting.Actress Britt Ekland isn’t to blame for this lackluster character–the blame falls to the people who wrote Goodnight for the silver screen and envisioned her as being nothing more than a cardboard cutout with an IQ to match.
The Man with the Golden Gun
James Bond is pitted against the world’s most expensive assassin, Francisco Scaramanga, who uses a distinctive golden gun. Bond’s mission to retrieve a crucial solar energy device leads him to a deadly duel on Scaramanga’s private island, where he must outsmart and outshoot the lethal adversary.
9Tiffany Case
‘Diamonds Are Forever’ (1971)
Diamonds Are Foreveris a good movie, but still the worst in theSean Conneryera, and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) is just one of the reasons why. As if her name weren’t corny enough, nearly everything she says and does is equally corny. Some people like that, and that’s fine, but for others, it resulted in multiple eye rolls while watching the film.
This is another character who was absolutely destroyed by the filmmakers.Her literary equivalent is very smart, aware, and down-to-earth, whereas the film version of her is naïve, ditzy, and extremely greedy. Although her wise-cracks can often be funny, they’re overshadowed by her more irritating qualities, giving her a spot amongst the worst characters to appear in the franchise.
Diamonds Are Forever
James Bond infiltrates a diamond smuggling ring, uncovering a plot by his arch-nemesis Blofeld to build a space-based laser weapon. From Amsterdam to Las Vegas, Bond faces off against Blofeld’s henchmen and foils the plan, ensuring the diamonds return to their rightful owners.
8Lyutsifer Safin
‘No Time to Die’ (2021)
Look, when you get an actor as good asRami Malekto play your villain, you’ve got to be able to make use of their talents. Sadly,No Time to Diecame up short in that department. While Malek delivers an amazing performance as always, the character suffered from being poorly-written. There was nothing outwardly memorable or amazing about him, aside from his awesome name, which is meant to sound like “Lucifer.”
Ultimately, not even Rami Malek could salvade the writing. As far as Bond villains go, Lyutsifer is one that needed to be fleshed out way more in order to match the calibre of the actor playing him. The result of this lax character development isa Bond villain that is unrefined and just downright forgettable. It’s a real shame that he comes as a beacon of wasted potential, because Malek has proven before that he can make a fantastic movie villain.
No Time to Die
7Dominic Greene
‘Quantum of Solace’ (2008)
On the subject of forgettable villains, let’s talk about Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). He is, without question, one of the most uninteresting characters in the entire franchise. There’s nothing really threatening about him, and he’s not unique in anyway. It’s honestly kind of hard to describe what his personality is like because it rarely shows. This isn’t the actor’s fault, it’s just a result of the writing ofQuantum of Solacenot being the best.
Quantum of Solaceis often regarded as being one of the weaker Bond films, and one of the main reasons is its mediocre villain. It wouldn’t matter who played this role, no one would have been able to make it better.Overall, Greene is far from fleshed out, unthreatening. and lacks any of the typical “oomph” one can expect from a Bond movie.
Quantum of Solace
‘The Living Daylights’ (1987)
Bond villains are supposed to be intimidating, which makes it all the more impressive when Bond defeats them, right? Apparently the makers ofThe Living Daylightsdidn’t get the memo, because the main villain, Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker) is a bumbling idiot. There is no question in anyone’s mind thatTimothy Dalton’s Bond could easily take him down, especially given everything the superspy has been through up to that point.
Whitaker is also extremely hateable, and not in a way that feels intentional.He’s crude and chauvinistic, and he’s just a pig in general. It’s understandable to make villains hateable, but this turns the hate factor up to ridiculous levels to the point where it doesn’t even feel believable.This is a sharp contrast from other Bond villains, who may be extremely evil, but sometimes have understandable motives. Lastly, some felt Baker was miscast in this role, though this is very much up for debate.
The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights: British secret agent James Bond is tasked with aiding a Soviet general’s defection to the West, but a complex web of deception soon leads him into a global conspiracy involving arms deals and assassinations. Amidst political intrigue and high-stakes espionage, Bond relies on his skills to unravel the truth.
5Dr. Christmas Jones
‘The World is Not Enough’ (1999)
For whatever it’s worth,Denise Richardsactually won a Razzie award for the Worst Supporting Actress for her role as Dr. Christmas Jones inThe World is Not Enough. Her character is nothing short of a disaster. The writing choices just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Mainly, she is a nuclear physicist, which is fine, but what nuclear physicist is running around in a tank top and shorts in the potential presence of nuclear materials? It becomes pretty obvious that this look was inspired by Lara Croft from theTomb Raiderfranchise.
On top of that, Jones went through way too many changes during pre-production, from her ethnicity to her occupation. She was even recast not once, but twice.The result of this indecisiveness is a character that comes off as being just too much.She’s also kind of cringy, especially during the “romantic” moments withPierce Brosnan’s James Bond. While she’snot the worst Bond girl,she’s a far cry from being the best, that’s for sure.
The World is Not Enough
4Stacey Sutton
‘A View to a Kill’ (1985)
Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) appears in 1985’sA View to a Kill, whereRoger Moorestars as the British superspy. Overall, her character can be a bit annoying, but beyond that, she is just plain boring. Even Roger Moore himself stated that he felt no chemistry between Bond and Sutton, or between himself and Tanya Roberts.Sutton didn’t really embody the Bond girl archetype very well, which is typically a role filled with romantic tension.
Instead, Sutton came off as a side character more than just a Bond girl. In fact,Entertainment Weeklymagazine rated her as being among the very worst Bond girls, as they felt Tanya Roberts was miscast in the role, and that Sutton didn’t really have a lot of personality, especially considering the fact that the Bond girl role is usually full of inherent qualities.
A View to a Kill
3Boris Grishenko
‘GoldenEye’ (1995)
Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) is a Russian hacker who serves as the tertiary antagonist ofGoldenEye. He’s a bit of an egghead, which isn’t too much of a problem on account of the fact that the 007 movies have featured multiple similar characters without any trouble. Grishenko’s biggest problem is his overdone catchphrase.
He can often be found shouting the dreaded “I am invincible!' multiple times throughout the film. And to be honest, it gets really old, really fast. Fans who were annoyed by him can’t even breathe a sigh of relief has he dies, as his catchphrase are the last words he ever utters, or rather, shouts. Clearly, he is not, in fact, invincible, but that’s besides the point. The point is thatGrishenko is one of the most hated characters due to this stupid catchphrase which is used throughout the film way too often to be bearable. He’s easily the worst part of an otherwise masterful movie.
2Gustav Graves
‘Die Another Day’ (2002)
Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) is a character thatjust doesn’t make any sense. Initially, he was a North Korean military official known as Tan-Sun Moon (Will Yun Lee), but assumed the alias of Gustav Graves after receiving advanced plastic surgery which appeared to have changed his ethnicity entirely. Quick question: why? There was no reason to write this into the plot.
It’s also a bit insulting to actor Will Yun Lee, who could’ve done well in the film had his role not been effectively swapped to include Toby Stephens instead.The main villain’s ridiculous backstory and transformation are part of the reason whyDie Another Dayisconsidered one of the worst James Bond movies in the entire series.
Die Another Day
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1Sheriff J. W. Pepper
‘Live and Let Die’ (1973)
Sheriff J. W. Pepper (Clifton James) is the Jar Jar Binks of the007franchise. He was conceived as a comic relief character, but was executed poorly, resulting in a character that is not only extremely annoying, but just plain unfunny. He first appeared inLive and Let Dieas a rootin'-tootin' cowboy type sheriff embodying Southern stereotypes with a flair for the flamboyant.007films are certainly no strangers to wacky, over-the-top characters, but even Sheriff Pepper seemed ridiculous in contrast.
He is nothing more than a caricature of a person, almost as if he were generated by a poorly-functioning AI that was told to create a character for the “dim-witted Southern Sheriff” trope. Fans were relieved when the movie was finally over, so imagine the disappointment when they had to watch him come back inThe Man with the Golden Gun.Overall, while Clifton James is a great actor with a lot of good roles, this one stands as his worst due to just how cringey it is.
