The standout character in every James Bond movie tends to be James Bond himself. Whether he’s played by Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig, 007 is the shining star of all his adventures. But the ice-cool tuxedo-clad gentleman spy often has to share the spotlight with supporting players, from eccentric villains to mysterious love interests.
Brosnan’s Bond shared the spotlight with femme fatale Xenia Onatopp and badass secret agent Wai Lin, while Craig’s Bond shared the spotlight with chilling baddie Le Chiffre and hilariously reckless CIA operative Paloma.
GoldenEye – Xenia Onatopp
Pierce Brosnan’s first Bond movie, GoldenEye, got his tenure off to a fantastic start with two of the franchise’s greatest villains. Alec Trevelyan, a former 00 agent who turned his back on Her Majesty’s Secret Service, has a personal connection to Bond that adds an emotional layer to their conflict. But his henchwoman is an even more compelling character.
Played brilliantly by Famke Janssen, Xenia Onatopp is a literal femme fatale. She seduces enemy spies and then crushes them to death during sex. She’s a cross between a “Bond girl” and a Bond baddie.
Tomorrow Never Dies – Wai Lin
Brosnan’s second 007 adventure, Tomorrow Never Dies, was criticized for its on-the-nose critique of mass media (although it’s since been reappraised as prescient satire). But it was praised for its action sequences, largely thanks to the contributions of screen icon Michelle Yeoh in the role of Wai Lin.
Yeoh gave an unforgettable turn in Tomorrow Never Dies. She’s an even more competent and badass secret agent than Bond himself, constantly showing him up.
The World Is Not Enough – Victor “Renard” Zokas
In The World is Not Enough, 007 faced the most wanted terrorist on Earth, KGB agent-turned-high-tech international criminal Victor “Renard” Zokas. Robert Carlyle brings the same authentic unsettling quality to Renard that he brought to his infamous Begbie character in the Trainspotting movies.
Renard has a unique quirk that makes him an unforgettable villain. A bullet lodged in his brain has made him impervious to pain, which gives him a valuable advantage over 007 in their hand-to-hand combat.
Die Another Day – Jinx Johnson
Halle Berry gives a fierce performance as the main “Bond girl” in Die Another Day, NSA agent Jinx Johnson. Berry proved her action movie chops in this iconic role. Nicknamed after the fact that she was born on Friday the 13th, Jinx gets in on all the movie’s most exhilarating action sequences.
An equal to Bond in both movie-star charm and competence in the field, Jinx was primed for a spin-off that unfortunately never happened.
Casino Royale – Le Chiffre
Craig completely reinvented the Bond mythos with his turn in Martin Campbell’s refreshingly gritty reboot Casino Royale, but he shared the spotlight with Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen gives a truly chilling performance as the villainous Le Chiffre.
The actor made Le Chiffre just as terrifying as his acclaimed portrayal of Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. The scene in which he brutally tortures a naked 007 on a seatless chair is one of the most disturbing (and captivating) sequences in the whole Bond canon.
Quantum Of Solace – M
Quantum of Solace is generally considered to be the weakest Bond film from Craig’s tenure. The villain, Dominic Greene, is a generic industrialist, and neither of the movie’s “Bond girls” are particularly memorable. But it has some great scenes for Judi Dench’s M.
M was given a much larger role than previous movies in Quantum of Solace. This movie established the maternal relationship she shares with 007 that would be explored in more depth in Skyfall.
Skyfall – Raoul Silva
Skyfall is full of great supporting characters. Moneypenny is reinvented as a field agent. Q is reinvented as a nerdy hipster fresh out of college. Judi Dench’s M gets a heartbreaking conclusion to her arc as a spiteful former MI6 operative exacts revenge against her. But that ex-operative steals the spotlight from all of them.
Javier Bardem became the first of three consecutive Oscar winners to play Bond villains with his performance as Raoul Silva. Bardem’s portrayal of Silva walks a fine line between flamboyant and sinister. He’s one of the few Bondian baddies with a sympathetic personal motivation for their diabolical scheme.
Spectre – Mr. Hinx
Dave Bautista gave the Craig era of the Bond series its most memorable henchman with his portrayal of SPECTRE goon Mr. Hinx. Hinx harks back to the strapping henchmen of classic Bond adventures that were ripped from the pages of pulp fiction prior to Casino Royale’s gritty reinvention of the franchise.
Mr. Hinx even beats 007 to a pulp on a speeding train in an homage to the Orient Express brawl between Sean Connery’s Bond and Red Grant in From Russia with Love.
No Time To Die – Paloma
There are a bunch of great supporting players in No Time to Die, from Lashana Lynch’s Nomi, the new 007, to Rami Malek’s understated turn as the villainous Lyutsifer Safin. But Ana de Armas’ Paloma blew them all out of the water.
Paloma only appears in a couple of scenes, but she effortlessly steals the show. She’s a CIA agent who assists with Bond’s infiltration of Blofeld’s birthday party in Cuba. Paloma is hilariously reckless. She claims to have just three weeks of training and it shows in her borderline-slapstick antics.