James Bond will be back later this year after a five-year hiatus, with 007's latest adventure appearing to be one of his trickiest yet. The British spy has battled many formidable foes over the years ever since his first appearance on the big screen way back in 1962 and, this time around, will be pitted against another tough enemy.

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So we now take a look back at the previous Bond movies and pick the best - and the worst - when it comes to bad guys within the franchise.

Best: Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Chances are when you think of James Bond; you also can't help but think about Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The schemer will be a part of No Time To Die with Christoph Waltz primed to reprise his role, five years on from appearing as the character in 2015's Spectre.

Blofeld has appeared in seven previous James Bond movies and, while his outing in Spectre left much to be desired, he's been a significant part of 007's story. We're looking forward to seeing what dastardly antics he gets up to this time around - particularly given how confident the character appears in the trailer.

Worst: Kamal Khan

Octopussy is a James Bond movie that, most of the time, doesn't sit anywhere near the top of anybody's rankings. And that is partly because of Kamal Khan, a forgettable bad guy who lacked the one thing every great villain needs - charisma.

EON Productions wanted to tone things down, given how divisive Moonraker was. That's fair enough, but Kamal just wasn't interesting, and the movie, given how fun Moonraker had been four years previously, didn't have the same entertainment factor. It's a shame that an actor of Roger Moore's caliber had to bow out on such a low note.

Best: Jaws

Sure, Moonraker was widely considered as a movie where the boundaries were just pushed too far. But that doesn't mean it didn't have it's redeeming moments, and one of those came in the form of Jaws, who had previously appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me.

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With his big metallic grin, huge size and formidable fighting skills he's now considered an icon when it comes to Hollywood villains. He was more than a match for James Bond, too, and only gave up on killing the British spy because he fell in love instead.

Worst: Hugo Drax

However, while Jaws is a brilliant villain, he's not actually the main antagonist of Moonraker. Instead, that honor went to Michael Lonsdale, who played Hugo Drax. Drax's aim is to kill everybody on earth, all while he can live in outer space.

With a plot like that, you'd think Drax would be highly-rated. That isn't the case, however, with Jaws outshining him and stealing the spotlight instead. He must have done something right, though, with the character appearing in the last James Bond video game - 2012's 007 Legends.

Best: Auric Goldfinger

You can tell a villain has something about him where it takes just a single scene to make them iconic. And that's what happens with Auric Goldfinger, whose decision to encase Jill Masterson in gold instantly made him one of Hollywood's most-memorable names.

Goldfinger is cunning and ruthless, somebody you certainly wouldn't want to trifle with. It takes everything in Bond's locker to thwart his plan, which involves breaking into Fort Knox. The villain ends up dying, but to this day, Auric Goldfinger is regarded as being among the very best bad guys the franchise has given us.

Worst: Brad Whitaker

Brad Whitaker Living Daylights

Who? That's something you might be asking. And that's because Brad Whitaker, despite being played by an actor as talented as Joe Don Baker, just doesn't do anything of note to live long in the memory.

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He's not on a par with Bond when it comes to fighting or intellect. He was a bad guy who, like many others on this list, simply wasn't given a big enough storyline. That's unfortunate, but it meant that in his first outing as 007, Timothy Dalton was able to showcase why he'd been perfect for the role. With a tougher villain, he may have found it tougher to leave a lasting impression.

Best: Alec Trevelyan

Alec Trevelyen GoldenEye - Most Dangerous James Bond Villains

Goldeneye is widely considered to be among the best James Bond movies, with Pierce Brosnan's first appearance as the iconic character meeting the lofty expectations of both fans and critics. The villain Alec Trevelyan, played by Sean Bean, is one of the reasons for this.

Trevelyan starts off the movie working alongside Bond and appears to die. However, in a dramatic twist, he stays alive and is hellbent on bringing the world to war. He very nearly succeeds, too, which makes him so dangerous. And Trevelyan's relationship with Xenia Onatopp is absolutely blockbuster to watch, with Famke Janssen's character being nearly as threatening as the former spy himself.

Worst: Dominic Greene

Dominic Greene sitting with his hands together in Quantum of Solace

Expectations were certainly high when Quantum of Solace hit screens in 2008, despite Hollywood's Writer's Strike throwing the movie into chaos. Daniel Craig's first outing, Casino Royale, had got the rebooted franchise off to a flying start. Could the sequel follow?

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Unfortunately, the answer was no. Dominic Greene was a lousy villain compared to Le Chiffre. He hasn't got charisma, he isn't threatening, and his plan (to take control of Bolivia's water supply) certainly pales in comparison to other foes over the years.

Best: Raoul Silva

Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva in James Bond Skyfall

While Quantum of Solace was an average blockbuster, Skyfall was significantly better. The movie came out in theatres back in 2012 and pitted James Bond up against former MI6 agent Raoul Silva, who is out for revenge on M after she'd left him to die in horrifying circumstances many years before.

Silva is rare in the sense that he actually achieves his main goal of killing M, shooting her just before Bond can save the day. He himself ends up perishing, but he goes out on a high note, and Bond is clearly mentally damaged from having to witness the death of somebody so close to him.

Worst: Gustav Graves

Has there been a more bonkers Bond movie than Die Another Day? It came out in 2002 promising to up the stakes and give Pierce Brosnan a big send-off in the process. But Sony just went wild on the script, angering die-hard fans of the franchise as a result.

Gustav Graves isn't a good villain, either. The character is actually in the Korean military but spends thousands on getting himself a new face after faking his death. He goes on the front foot, determined to make the world pay, but ends up dying by getting sucked into an airplane engine. It's a nasty way to go - and a befitting way for such a crazy and eccentric character to meet his end.

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