Pitched somewhere between the critical acclaim of the Sean Connery era and the critical panning of the Pierce Brosnan era, Roger Moore’s James Bond movies were generally considered to be hit-and-miss. Moore starred in some of the greatest Bond films, like Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me, but also some of the worst, like Octopussy and A View to a Kill.

RELATED: Ranking Every Villain In Sean Connery's James Bond Movies

Megalomaniacal villains are a classic staple of the Bond formula. Across his seven movies, Moore’s 007 faced both iconic villains like Jaws and Scaramanga and forgettable ones like General Orlov and Max Zorin.

Kamal Khan

Kamal Khan looking upset in Octopussy

Louis Jourdan appears in Octopussy as Kamal Khan. A one-note secondary villain opposite Steven Berkoff’s General Orlov, Khan is an exiled Afghan prince who gets roped into a nefarious scheme.

He’s not pure evil like most James Bond villains – he only helps the main bad guy to earn back jewels that were stolen from him in the first place by the Kremlin – but he’s not particularly memorable. The most notable thing about this character is that the writers were one letter away from predicting the alter ego of Ms. Marvel.

Max Zorin

Christopher Walken as Max Zorin smiling in A View to a Kill

Christopher Walken played psychotic tycoon Max Zorin, the villain in Moore’s final Bond movie, A View to a Kill. The result of a genetic experiment by the Nazis, Zorin plots to destroy Silicon Valley with an earthquake so he can monopolize the microchip industry.

Walken’s eccentric acting style should make him a perfect choice for a 007 baddie, but he makes the common Bond villain actor mistake of hamming up his performance. Still, Zorin gets a chilling death scene as he slips and falls from the Golden Gate Bridge.

General Orlov

General Orlov pointing out of a window in Octopussy

Kamal Khan is just the secondary villain in Octopussy. The movie’s main villain is General Orlov, played by Steven Berkoff. Octopussy as a whole is one of the most polarizing Bond entries, but Berkoff gives a fantastic performance. He’s noted for his heightened acting style, dubbed “Berkovian theater,” which was perfect for the role of a Bond villain.

RELATED: 9 Ways Roger Moore's Bond Movies Still Hold Up Today

Orlov has a classic nefarious plot for Bond to foil: he wants to detonate a nuclear warhead on a U.S. Air Force Base in West Germany, paving the way for a full invasion of Western Europe.

Aristotle Kristatos

Aristotle Kristatos looking serious in For Your Eyes Only

Eon followed up the controversial space adventure of Moonraker with grounded revenge thriller For Your Eyes Only. The villain is Aristotle Kristatos, a Greek smuggler who plans to get rich quick by selling a stolen ATAC device to the KGB.

Aris isn’t the most iconic Bond villain, but Julian Glover gives a memorable enough performance. Glover is renowned for playing similarly smarmy villains for George Lucas, like General Veers in The Empire Strikes Back and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Hugo Drax

Hugo Drax wearing a suit in Moonraker

In response to the success of Star Wars renewing interest in science fiction, the Eon producers sent Bond to outer space in Moonraker. He ends up in space in pursuit of Hugo Drax, played by Michael Lonsdale, who plans to wipe out humanity on Earth so he can repopulate the planet from his space station in orbit.

Drax is just one of many unscrupulous tycoons faced by Bond, but this character is helped by a memorably sinister performance by Lonsdale and the fact that the grandiosity of his plan far outweighs any of his peers because he’s the only one to go to space.

Mr. Big

Yaphet Kotto in his lair in Live and Let Die

Moore’s stint in the role of Bond kicked off with Live and Let Die. His first Bond film established his trend of exploring new genres outside spy fiction. The Man with the Golden Gun is a kung fu Bond movie, Moonraker is a sci-fi Bond movie, and Live and Let Die is a blaxploitation Bond movie.

The villainous Dr. Kananga, also known by his drug lord alias “Mr. Big,” is a pitch-perfect homage to the bad guys of blaxploitation classics like Foxy Brown and Black Caesar. Yaphet Kotto gives a terrific performance as the pimpmobile-driving baddie.

Karl Stromberg

Karl Stromberg with his fingers poised in The Spy Who Loved Me

Arguably Moore’s best Bond movie is The Spy Who Loved Me, the ultimate take on the 007 formula. It sticks pretty closely to the familiar structure, but also perfects that structure. Played by Curt Jürgens, Karl Stromberg is a quintessential Bond villain for a quintessential Bond movie.

RELATED: 10 Ways The Spy Who Loved Me Is Roger Moore's Best Bond Movie

Stromberg is a classic megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur, hoping to spark World War III so he can start a new society underwater. He gets an unforgettable death scene at the end of the movie as Bond shoots him in the crotch before shooting him in the head.

Francisco Scaramanga

Christopher Lee as Scaramanga with the golden gun in The Man with the Golden Gun

On the whole, The Man with the Golden Gun is one of the weaker entries in the Moore-era Bond canon. It’s far from a great movie, but it does have a great villain. Played by Hammer Horror legend Christopher Lee, Francisco Scaramanga is the anti-James Bond. He’s an assassin who’s just as skilled as Bond, but has even fewer scruples.

Interestingly, Lee was a step-cousin and frequent golf partner of Bond creator Ian Fleming. The Man with the Golden Gun culminates in a subversive finale. Instead of a large-scale battle sequence, the climactic set-piece is a one-on-one gun duel between Bond and his rival Scaramanga.

Jaws

Jaws chewing on a ski lift cable

Easily the greatest Bond villain from the Moore movies is a henchman as opposed to a main antagonist. Played by Richard Kiel, Jaws is a strapping enforcer with metal teeth that can bite through anything, including ski lift cables and great white sharks.

After being introduced in The Spy Who Loved Me, Jaws was brought back in Moonraker due to his overwhelming popularity among fans. Jaws might be the most iconic Bond henchman. He’s certainly up there with Oddjob and Red Grant.

NEXT: Ranking Every Villain In Daniel Craig's James Bond Movies