With last year's No Time To Die being Daniel Craig's last outing at James Bond, the hunt is on for a new 007. Only the best of the best can earn 00 status and a license to kill, as it takes two kills to be upgraded to the designation per Casino Royale. Thunderball and The World is Not Enough featured meetings with all the 00's, but none of them were named or given dialogue.
MI6 has employed many 00's over the past 50 years. Bond is obviously the most well known, but there are numerous other agents who have crept their way into the films. They too deserve to be celebrated and right now is a great time to look back on the 00 agents of the past.
002 John
John was one of the three agents selected for a special training exercise in Gibraltar in 1987's The Living Daylights, the others being 004 and 007. In a scene invented for the James Bond film, Actor Glyn Baker portrayed this version of 002 who parachuted out of an airplane after receiving a briefing for Robert Brown's M.
Dressed in all black, he was immediately spotted by a sentry while parachuted down onto the rock of Gibraltar. The guard shot 002 with a paintball gun as soon as he landed, eliminating him from the exercise.
004
The unnamed 004 also participated in the Gibraltar exercise along with 002 and 007. While parachuting down, he was spotted by an assassin who had infiltrated the area. 004 throw a rope up a cliff and began climbing it.
The assassin appeared at the top and dropped down a note that said SMIERT SPIONOM, "Death to Spies" in Russia. The assassin then cut the rope and sent 002 to his death. The assassin was not actually from Russia, but a thus hired by Brad Whittaker to instigate trouble between Britain and the Soviets.
Bill Fairbanks 002
This version of 002 was the first named 00 aside form Bond in the series. Though not in the book version, he was mentioned in the 1973 film The Man With the Golden Gun. He had been assassinated by Francisco Scaramanga, the man with the golden gun, while with a cabaret dancer named Saida in Beirut. It's unknown who hired this his, but they paid 1 million dollars for it so he must have been pretty good.
Saida put the bullet in her belly button and used it as her lucky charm while belly dancing. Bond lifted it from Saida, accidently swallowing it in fact, and used it as a clue to track down Scaramanga.
003 (1985)
003 was involved in a mission in Siberia in 1985. He stole an EMP-resistant microchip from them which was manufactured by Zorin Industries. This clue would eventually led MI6 to investigate industrialist Max Zorin, but 003 was killed in Siberia.
James Bond traced 003's homing beacon and recovered the microchip hidden inside his locket. He then made a daring snowboard escape in this James Bond film with the help of some Beach Boys music.
Jack Mason 003
Another 003 appeared in the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing. The game was Pierce Brosnan's final performance as Bond and also featured the voices and likenesses of stars like Willem Defoe, Heidi Klum, Judi Dench, and John Cleese. He was portrayed by James Arnold Taylor, better known as the animated voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
003 was sent to Peru to investigate Nikolai Diavolo and developed a romantic relationship with Shannon Elizabeth's Serena St. Germaine. 003 is fatally shot but lives long enough to give 007 vital information. In the handheld version he actually teams up with Bond for the mission.
009 (1983)
009 appeared in he catalyst scene of 1983's Octopussy. Dressed as a clown, 009 fled from Octopussy's circus while being pursued by the knife-throwing brothers Mischka and Grischka. He received a fatal knife in the back and fell into a river.
Despite being in the process of dying, 009 managed to make his way to the British embassy. He died right in front of the ambassador with a counterfeit Fabergé egg in his hand. This set in motion the events of the film and Bond's investigate Kamal Kahn.
009 (1999)
When the terrorist Renard kidnapped Electra King, M sent 009 to find and kill Renard. He eventually did find him and put a bullet in his head, however Renard survived the encounter. The bullet was lodged in his brain killing his senses and allowing him to push himself harder and longer than any normal man.
In the same film, Bond investigates the death of an MI6 in relation to swiss banker Lachaise, it's unclear whether this is the same agent or not. In 2015's SPECTRE another 009 was mentioned as having a gadget-laden Aston Martin DB10 made for him by Q. Bond stole the vehicle and found that one of the gadgets marked "atmosphere" would play Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York".
Nomi 007
After Bond's retirement from MI6 following the events of SPECTRE, Nomi received the designation of 007. Lashana Lynch played the character in her first on screen mission, a 2020 Nokia Commercial. She then appeared in No Time To Die.
In the film, she tracks down Bond and puts him in contact with M. During Bond and Paloma's CIA mission in Cuba, she drops in and grabs Dr. Valdo Obruchev, though the other agents manage to recover him. While tracking Logan Ash, she provided life saving information for Bond and his family. She and Bond also infiltrated Safin's island together at the end of the film.
008
008 has often been mentioned in Bond films as the agent who could replace Bond should he fail. When Bond is captured in Goldfinger, he informs his captor that 008 will take on the mission should he be killed.
In 1989's Licence to Kill, M states that 008 follows orders, not instincts, and mentions that he will recall him from Hong Kong for Bond's mission in Istanbul. The video game James Bond 007 and the comic VARGR each mention a 008, in both cases is killed. According to scoopwhoop, he was named Bill Timothy.
Alec Trevelyan 006
Trevelyn was the son of 2 Lienz Cossacks. After the Cossacks were betrayed and killed by the British, His father and mother committed suicide. MI6 thought Alec was too young to have remembered and approved him as a 00. Alec would eventually fake his death and was the main villain of Goldeneye.
But before his betrayal, 006 had been an outstanding agent. When teaming up with Bond for a mission in Arkangel, he took Bond by surprised and teased him for being late. When going toe-to-toe with Bond in the film's finale he had Bond dead to rights and told him "I was always better," thought Bond cleverly dodged the bullet. He was played by Sean Bean who had previously auditioned for the role of Bond, as reported by eightieskids.
James Bond 007
Who else could be the greatest MI6 agent than Bond, James Bond? Debuting in Ian Fleming's 1953 novel Casino Royale, James Bond has featured in over 25 films and countless books, comics, games, and more. One of the most iconic characters of all time, he had been played by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and others.
Bond has repeatedly been referred to as the best agent in MI6, let alone the world. Whether using Q-branch gadgets or not, he always finds a way to escape and usually in spectacular style. Well, except for that one time. Countless ingenious schemes by highly intelligent villains have been foiled by him and he always gets the girl. Fans are eager to know who the next James Bond will be in the upcoming Bond 26.