Daniel Craig’s 10 Best Bond Villains, Ranked

Alongside Sean Connery and Roger Moore, Daniel Craig certainly had one of the more respectable runs as 007. With five films spent fleshing out the character (rare for the franchise), Bond certainly isn’t the only truly interesting character in these films.

Craig’s Bond got to run up against some of the long-running series most formidable adversaries. Not all of them are equally compelling, nor are they equally dangerous, but they do have their particular place on 007’s villainous roster.

10 Primo (Dali Benssalah): No Time To Die (2021)

If No Time to Die isn’t Craig’s best Bond, at least it has one of the more tenacious bad guy sidekicks in the history of the franchise. Primo was a mercenary with one specific trait: a fake eye.

The audience is led to believe that he’s in league with Lyutsifer Safin. However, what he really is is a proxy for the incarcerated Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Primo’s fake eye actually serves the purpose of letting Blofeld see what’s going on in the outside world from captivity. It was a new direction to take the movies’ secondary antagonists, and it worked.

9 Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric): Quantum Of Solace (2008)

As far as primary antagonists go for Craig’s Bond, Quantum of Solace‘s Dominic Greene easily finds himself at the bottom of the pack. He was a smug billionaire claiming to be an environmentalist. In reality, he was deeply in league with SPECTRE.

Greene’s goal is basically to secure and monopolize the oil supply in Bolivia. It’s a fairly real-world motivation that would click better with the remainder of the film if Greene were a remotely intimidating presence. Mathieu Amalric is a phenomenal actor, but against the burly 007, he’s difficult to take seriously.

8 Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz): Spectre (2015) & No Time To Die (2021)

Everything Blofeld has done is in an effort to set up No Time to Die. He’s cunning and manipulative, with a disregard for human life should it get in the way of him getting what he wants.

Of every Blofeld rendition, Christoph Waltz’s is probably the weakest. It’s not so much to do with his acting prowess or presence as it is with the writing. Blofeld is written as so brilliant that a lot of his plan seems cobbled together and convenient. This is especially true in regards to his taking credit for the villains of the first three Craig films. This Blofeld feels like he was thought up after the fact, to give Bond a true main villain regardless of logic (particularly in regards to the bizarre sibling connection).

7 Dr. Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek): No Time To Die (2021)

There was a lot of potential in casting Rami Malek as a Bond villain. Unfortunately, Lyutsifer Safin is almost certainly the least interesting aspect of No Time to Die.

It’s Bond’s film, through and through, as well as a respectful goodbye to Craig and his time in the role. This doesn’t leave much for Safin’s development, and he reads more as a quiet enigma than destructive genius. He’s a bioterrorist with the goal of destroying SPECTRE to avenge his murdered family. But this interesting motivation is swept aside for a Moore-era plan where Safin will toxify the DNA of innocents with nanobots. Safin could have been great. Instead, he’s shrug-worthy.

6 General Medrano (Joaquín Cosío): Quantum Of Solace (2008)

Quantum of Solace‘s secondary antagonist, General Medrano, managed to be more memorable than its primary one, if only by a slim margin. He’s a radical Bolivian General pushed away by his own government for the extreme methods displayed in his work.

General Medrano’s most intimidating moments are shared with Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko). He shows he doesn’t even have to be a sadistic warlord to be worthy of scorn. His rancid, sexist personality makes him more than worthy of it already.

5 Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista): Spectre (2015)

Along with introducing one of the James Bond franchise’s best female characters, Spectre also (briefly) gave audiences time with Mr. Hinx. Played by Dave Bautista, he’s a wrecking ball of a man and quite possibly the most physically intimidating adversary Bond has ever faced (with the exception of a certain Moore-era metal-mouthed henchman).

Mr. Hinx isn’t the most objectively memorable tough guy in Bond history, but that’s partially what makes him so interesting. Within a two-and-a-half-hour movie, Bautista utters one line. Viewers know nothing about him save for the fact that he’s loyal to Blofeld (as well as a killing machine). When it comes to Bond henchman, that’s all that needs to be known.

4 Mr. White (Jesper Christensen): Casino Royale (2006), Quantum Of Solace (2008), Spectre (2015)

Mr. White went through a lot of changes throughout Craig’s run as Bond, yet he’s never prominently featured. That in and of itself is the appeal to Mr. White. SPECTRE is intimidating when neither Bond nor the audience knows who is truly pulling which strings. Mr. White makes it seem like he’s pulling all of them, yet he’s obviously not.

But really it’s a character-rich moment in Spectre that makes Mr. White stand out. He’s the father of Madeleine Swann, who would go on to become a major part of James Bond’s life (and death).

3 Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen): No Time To Die (2021)

No Time to Die is in the middle of the pack when it comes to ranking every James Bond actor’s final 007 film. However, it does have a subtle ace in the hole in the form of Billy Magnussen’s Logan Ash.

Having a CIA operative serve as a secret mole is nothing new, but Magnussen’s performance makes the character seem like he’s having so much fun doing things that are so very bad. He’s a murderer with a smile, and the viewer gets the sense he’d sell out his mother for a bigger chunk of whatever profits lie in store.

2 Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem): Skyfall (2015)

It wasn’t surprising to learn that No Country for Old Men‘s Javier Bardem made a great Bond villain. He has the cold charisma required to suck the positive energy out of a room without uttering a single word.

When Bardem’s Raoul Silva does open his mouth in Skyfall, however, it’s a constant stream of wishful vengeance. Silva reaches for the top of the Craig villain pack because his motive is based on being betrayed. He’s less loathsome than other Bond adversaries because he’s not out to hurt just to hurt. He’s out to hurt because he’s been hurt.

1 Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen): Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale has a fair claim to the title of Craig’s best Bond film. It possesses gritty energy not seen in the remainder of not just his installments but the series at large.

The realism seen throughout the film is also a major part of the appeal to its villain: Le Chiffre. He’s a banker who got in over his head, financing the last people you want to get in bed with. The fact that this led to his swift, unexpected execution feels tonally in line with how Casino shook up the series. Whereas every other Bond film saves the villain’s death to the bombastic end, Craig’s first outing subverted long-held audience expectations and gave them something truly memorable.

About The Author

Ben Hathaway
(298 Articles Published)

Ben Hathaway is a Senior Writer (Lists) for Screen Rant. A former Therapeutic Day Treatment counselor, Ben is now a career writer. When not working, he is writing and self-publishing (on Amazon) novels under the name Scott Gray. In his spare time, he’s reading on the porch or watching every film under the sun. Ben can be contacted at [email protected].

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