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We’ve been absolutely shameless in proclaiming our love for Britain’s Most Dangerous Weapon and the film franchise that he is a part of, so it’s with zero surprise to ourselves that we have decided to take it upon ourselves to write about the Bond Villains that have yet to be. We and countless others have waxed hypothetical on who should (or should have) play superspy James Bond in the fifty-six years since Sean Connery first lit his cigarette at the baccarat table in 1962’s Dr. No, and many of the would-be 007’s have been great choices to be the man who carries the Walther PPK in his shoulder holster (we and many others are still holding out hope for Idris Elba, of course.

But the character whom we have seen a dearth of, almost as anticipated as the man himself (as well as the Bond girls, gadgets, and theme song,) are the actors chosen to step into the shoes of the Bond Villain. There have been multiple Blofelds, the eponymouse and aforementioned Dr. No, Scaramanga, Silva, Kirilenko, and one of our favorites, Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan, who in fitting Sean Bean/Bond Baddie fashion, uh…dies.

Though we’ve seen dozens of adversaries face off with Bond simply to be bested, be often think of who else would be a perfectly evil foe to give ol’ Commander Bond a run for his martini; there are absolutely zero shortage of actors who, accomplished thespians in their own right, just make absolute perfect sense to sit in the chair at the head of the table, stroking their white cat, looking to foil our hero. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far to be the ones to don the grey jumper.

John Malkovich – Has he ever not looked villainous, angry, terrifying., annoyed, or just plain evil? Not that we’ve ever seen. The perennial and archetypal bad guy, John Malkovich’s career should be the sole reason there is a “Best Villain” category at the Oscars. Putting him in the role of the main Bond villain couldn’t be more of a no-brainer for a director.

Willem Dafoe – We’ve seen him play both good guys and villains (Platoon, Spider Man,) and have always been huge fans of this guy. Dafoe has more character in his face than most actors have in their entire repertoire, and it’s served him well throughout his career. He’d be the perfect Bond baddie in that he has Oscar-caliber acting chops and one of Hollywood’s most menacing looks that would serve as a perfect foil to Bond.

Bill Nighy – Great in Hot Fuzz. Great as Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Also…British, which doesn’t hurt. Certainly has the stern look of a disappointed uncle or the head of SPECTRE.

Ralph Fiennes – Yes, we know he’s the current M, but how awesome would a post-Voldemort Fiennes be as a villain? Quite frankly, we’re much more accustomed to wanting him to play villains, The English Patient be damned. You don’t find much darker moments in history than the Holocaust, and Fiennes’ portrayal of Amon Goeth in Spielberg’s beautiful epic/tear fest Schindler’s List gives us evil incarnate the likes which we probably haven’t seen since. Putting him in the role of a villain would frankly be easier for us to buy than as the head of MI-6.

Benedict Cumberbatch – Yes, we know he’s mostly loved for his Sherlock role (among others,) but his turn as one of the all-time great supervillians Khan in the rebooted Star Trek franchise gave us the type of villain that makes for the perfect Bond foe: Intelligent. Ruthless. Powerful. It just makes sense.

Tom Hardy – Touted by many as a possible Bond replacement, we think Hardy would be more suited to go against British Intelligence as a formidable and powerful opponent for Bond. Early-career Hardy may have been believable as an asset to The Crown, but Tom has grown (literally) into what would be an amazing adversary to pair Daniel Craig and his successor with.

Tilda Swinton – We’ve had a female M, as well as other female assassins and villains who have faced off with Bond over the decades. Tilda Swinton would bring her unique brand of androgyny to the role, giving it an added dimension of danger, sexuality, and madness required for a convincing Bond baddie. Though she brings subtlety to every roles she’s inhabited thus far, we can TOTALLY see her as a cold, calculating mad(wo)man who would hold the world ransom just for the hell of it on the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Gary Oldman – I really miss seeing him play the bad guy. While in recent years he’s gone to the good side as true heroes (Jim Gordon, Sir Winston Churchill,) the chameleonic Oldman did his best work in the early ’90s as some of the best bad guys to ever be on screen. Do yourself a favor and watch True Romance for his brief, but brilliant, role, as well as his turns in The Professional and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Jeremy Irons – A bit of a dark horse candidate here, but we think that’s kinda the idea. The Oscar winner has played his share of villains, most notably as Scar in The Lion King and as Simon Gruber, brother of Hans (our favorite movie villain ever,) in the third Die Hard chapter with the perfect mix of suavity and malevolence, which are the two top requirements when it comes to this type of role.

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