The James Bond universe is filled with supervillains, henchmen, and secret weapons, but none of those are meant to be an even opponent to 007 himself. Still, when looking back on it, there have been so many characters in the Bond universe with above-average mental and emotional intelligence and great strategic minds. Whether allies or enemies, James Bond wouldn’t have become the hero he’s considered to be without them.
Though it might seem like Bond always deals with some genius criminal masterminds, not all super-savvy characters in the Bond universe are bad. Some of the best and most intelligent characters are 007’s cooperators and allies, making him a wise strategist and a great character evaluator who understands who to keep close and who to keep even closer. These ten clever characters from the Bond universe show how challenging (and great) it is to be a Secret Service agent.
10 Miss Moneypenny
Played by Lois Maxwell, Caroline Bliss, Samantha Bond, and Naomie Harris
Just a secretary to some and a love interest to others, Miss Moneypenny is an underestimated Bond character often because of the two attributes. But, in You Only Live Twice, it’s uncovered that Moneypenny is the Second Officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, an organization of women in the Navy with various roles, from mundane tasks to high intelligence and weaponry. Many believe Moneypenny’s most intelligent move was not falling for Bond and his flirtatious ways, but the secretary to the Head of Intelligence (known as M) is more than a Bond girl after all.
Moneypenny gets a bigger background story in Skyfall, where she’s portrayed by Naomie Harris. This is the first time the character has also been given a first name: Eve. In Skyfall, Eve Moneypenny is an MI6 field officer, skilled with a gun and with exceptional observational skills; the fiercest Moneypenny iteration was the original, played by Lois Maxwell. This was mainly due to Maxwell herself, whose attitude and refusal to back down from her preferences for the character depicted Moneypenny as a woman with attitude and intelligence.
Release Date September 20, 1964
Director Guy Hamilton
Cast Sean Connery , Honor Blackman , Gert Fröbe , Shirley Eaton , Tania Mallet , Harold Sakata
Runtime 112
9 Donovan “Red” Grant
Played by Robert Shaw in ‘From Russia With Love’
Image via United Artists
Donovan “Red” Grant is one of the agents of SPECTRE, hired to mimic and follow James Bond. These skills were intended to help Grant catch Bond unprepared and deliver him to SPECTRE. Grant’s skills of shadowing Bond were unmatched; he was clever enough to be unseen and to hatch plans that would never point to him. Though Grant was merely a henchman, he was to many, the cleverest and most apt henchman in any of the Bond films.
Played by the charismatic Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love, Red Grant was also very physically similar to James Bond, which was intentionally done by SPECTRE. Red was the best of the bunch and a worthy adversary who showed patience, a calculating mind, and high physical skills in fights. To many fans of the Bond movie series, the fight between Grant and Bond on the Orient Express is one of the best fights in any of the Bond movies.
From Russia With Love
Release Date October 10, 1963
Director Terence Young
Cast Sean Connery , Daniela Bianchi , Pedro Armendáriz , Lotte Lenya , Robert Shaw , Bernard Lee
Runtime 115
Watch on Apple TV+
8 Octopussy
Played by Maud Adams in ‘Octopussy’
Image via MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
The wealthy businesswoman known only as Octopussy is also a highly skilled jewel smuggler and the head of an organization known as the Octopus Cult. The Octopus Cult is a group of women who no longer have homes and need community and protection. Octopussy gathers such “stray” women, sheltering them and teaching them everything, from becoming business-savvy to being able to defend the cult in times of need.
Octopussy leads with savvy; she knows where her potential allies are and is intelligent enough to deceive people into trusting her. Her array of legitimate businesses in the hotel, shipping, and carnival industries show how skilled Octopussy is at juggling real incomes with her passions, even if those passions include stealing expensive jewels. Maud Adams portrays Octopussy in the Bond movie of the same name, and though her memorable dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes make her one of the most beautiful Bond girls, she’s also an underrated ally who only wishes to run successful businesses and not try to assassinate anyone to achieve it.
Octopussy
A jewel-encrusted Fabergé egg surfaces at a London auction, catching the attention of MI6. James Bond is dispatched to investigate its origins, leading him to the mysterious and opulent world of exiled Afghan prince, Kamal Khan, and his accomplice, the enigmatic and resourceful circus leader, Octopussy.
Release Date June 10, 1983
Director John Glen
Cast Roger Moore , Maud Adams , Louis Jourdan , Kristina Wayborn , Kabir Bedi , Steven Berkoff
Runtime 131 minutes
7 Elektra King
Played by Sophie Marceau in ‘The World Is Not Enough’
Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Another gorgeous criminal mastermind, Elektra King, wasn’t immune to Bond’s charms, either, but her success before meeting Bond was what attracted him to her in the first place. Elektra is a smart, resourceful, and confident woman who was always underestimated because of her looks and gender. Considered only as a daughter of an oil tycoon and a collaborator of a dangerous terrorist, Elektra was only meant to be a small hurdle for Bond.
However, she learned to step into the role everyone assumed her to have, just to do business on her own terms later on; for many people, the terrorist Renard was her henchman, not the other way around. Elektra is ruthless and unaccustomed to getting ‘no’ for an answer, but her intelligence far outranks anyone in The World Is Not Enough. Played by the famous French actress Sophie Marceau, Elektra is a fan favorite and the first official female antagonist of the Bond movie series.
The World is Not Enough
Release Date November 17, 1999
Director Michael Apted
Runtime 128
6 Alec Trevelyan/Janus
Played by Sean Bean in ‘GoldenEye’
Image via MGM/UA Distribution Co.
James Bond’s former friend and a double-o agent at MI6, Alec Trevelyan, faked his death and escaped the ranks, just to be reborn as Janus and form his crime syndicate, which would help him exact revenge on Britain. Joined by an array of henchmen and trained assassins, Trevelyan gained confidence in becoming a mastermind. His above-average intelligence and masterful manipulation tactics gained him a great advantage in stealing the GoldenEye space weapon and convincing the loyal Russian General Ourumov to betray his own country.
Trevelyan often appears as a physically fit, unstoppable killing machine, which is mainly due to his longtime training in the British Secret Service. Played by everyone’s favorite film villain, Sean Bean, Trevelyan’s greed, underestimation, and mockery of Bond got the better of him. Even in his final moments, he doesn’t plead Bond for mercy but instead mocks him for his undying loyalty to the Crown and the Secret Service. The scene where Bond and Trevelyan confront each other in GoldenEye is one of Sean Bean’s most iconic on-screen deaths.
Release Date November 16, 1995
Runtime 130
Watch on Prime Video
5 Dr. Julius No
Played by Joseph Wiseman in ‘Dr. No’
Image via United Artists
“The successful criminal brain is always superior,” said the most memorable James Bond villain, SPECTRE agent Dr. Julius No. Due to his mixed descent (German-Chinese), he grew up working for a large Chinese criminal organization; after taking a large fortune from them, he escaped and funded his criminal activities. Dr. No has above-average intelligence and is highly specialized in nuclear and atomic energy. This knowledge helped him create bionic arms for himself and create a lab in which he’d test out various nuclear experiments.
The biggest downside for Dr. Julius No was his absolute belief that his intellect was superior to those of others; despite this probably being true, the conviction couldn’t save him from a more physical threat and Bond’s dexterity. Played by Joseph Wiseman, Dr. No is memorable for his appearance—he would always wear gray and beige high-collared suits, with his hair slicked back and slim figure. His appearance in one of the franchise’s most visually stunning movies, Dr. No, directly inspired the appearance of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films, one of the best parodies on the Bond films.
Dr. No
A resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.
Release Date October 7, 1962
Director Terence Young
Cast Sean Connery , ursula andress , Joseph Wiseman , Jack Lord , Bernard Lee , Anthony Dawson
Runtime 110
Watch on Apple TV+
4 Madeleine Swann
Played by Léa Seydoux in ‘Spectre’ and ‘No Time to Die’
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
Madeleine Swann is no ordinary, tragic Bond girl. She’s a leading lady, the first woman Bond has a child with, and the first crucial woman to the story spanning multiple movies. Though many would argue Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) was the defining Bond girl, Madeleine mentions and acknowledges her significance to Bond, making her more defining to his development outside the Secret Service. Besides her impact on Bond, Madeleine is an intelligent and wise woman who is, beyond her career as a psychiatrist, resourceful and fearless.
Even if she’s sometimes overcome by fear, Madeleine never allows herself to freeze; she’s learned how to react, evade, and defend herself. Her quick thinking was often a saving point for Bond. Madeleine is the daughter of a SPECTRE member, but she spends most of her life successfully escaping the organization’s claws, which is a title only carried by Bond so far. Léa Seydoux plays Madeleine; her calming voice and presence help shape Madeleine Swann into the fierce woman she’s shown to be.
No Time to Die
Release Date September 29, 2021
Director Cary Fukunaga
Runtime 167
Watch on Prime Video
3 Le Chiffre
Played by Mads Mikkelsen in ‘Casino Royale’
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
Le Chiffre is, undoubtedly, one of the most aggressive and psychopathic Bond villains in the movie series, but his intelligence is barely outranked by most other villains. Le Chiffre was born a mathematical genius and used those skills to survive living on the streets since childhood (a story that Mads Mikkelsen, who portrays him, seemingly thought of himself). Le Chiffre manages to keep his pulse on all financial matters around the globe; his main goal is to get as rich as possible, though his malevolent nature often gets the better of him.
Being like a superhuman computer didn’t help Le Chiffre in overtaking Bond in Casino Royale, but it did lead him to establish himself as a major player in the criminal organization Quantum. Winning poker games and getting large sums of money while dressed in a slick, all-black suit puts Le Chiffre as one of the coolest Bond villains. It could be that, or simply Mads Mikkelsen’s presence and confidence in portraying him; it’s most likely the combination of both.
Release Date November 14, 2006
Runtime 144 minutes
Watch on Hulu
2 Raoul Silva
Played by Javier Bardem in ‘Skyfall’
Image via MGM
The most powerful antagonist in the Daniel Craig era of Bond movies is undoubtedly Raoul Silva in the almost perfect Skyfall. Silva is a cyberterrorist and a criminal mastermind whose only mission is to capture and kill M (Judi Dench). M and Silva worked together in Hong Kong during the 80s and 90s, but M noticed Silva engaged in some high-risk, high-difficulty hacking of the Chinese systems. She found him unreliable and exchanged him for six agents held captive by the Chinese. Silva was held captive for five months, and after escaping, he vowed to destroy M and exact revenge on her.
Silva’s hacking skills grew as he became angrier and more unpredictable. His eccentricity and flair are seemingly a cover-up for the trauma he endured; however, his high intelligence, brilliant hacking skills, and flawless strategic planning speak of his notoriety a lot better than his looks. Silva’s most successful plan happened when he managed to outwit even Q, whose regular day of checking out Silva’s computer allowed Silva to hack the Secret Service. Javier Bardem portrayed Raoul Silva in Skyfall, delivering one of his most memorable roles.
James Bond’s loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Release Date October 25, 2012
Director Sam Mendes
Runtime 143
Watch on Prime Video
1 Q
Played by Desmond Llewelyn, Ben Whishaw, and John Cleese
The one ally who appears in every Bond movie, Q, is also the most intelligent character in all the movies (though hardcore fans would argue he’s the worst in Skyfall). Q is MI6’s quartermaster or head of the research and development center. Q is always the one introducing James Bond to various gadgets and innovative hidden weapons in mundane things; one of his best weapons was the versatile and deadly Attaché Case from the Sean Connery-ledFrom Russia With Love. Q is also in charge of Bond driving the iconic Aston Martin.
The late actor Desmond Llewelyn portrayed Q—whose real identity is Major Boothroyd—in eighteen films. He was succeeded by John Cleese, who introduced a goofier side to MI6’s greatest weapon-maker in Die Another Day. Ben Whishaw portrays the current iteration of Q, which is the first time Q is younger than Bond. Whishaw gives Q a modern twist; he’s incredibly intelligent but sensitive, preferring gadgets to people most of the time. Q’s intelligence is best described by Q himself in Skyfall, when he first meets Bond and tells him, “I can do more damage on my laptop, sitting in my pyjamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.”
Die Another Day
James Bond is sent to investigate the connection between a North Korean terrorist and a diamond mogul, who is funding the development of an international space weapon.
Release Date November 22, 2002
Director Lee Tamahori
Runtime 133 minutes
Watch on Apple TV+
KEEP READING: Every James Bond Movie of the 21st Century, Ranked
