Thanks to No Time To Die's Super Bowl commercial, it's become clear that one classic James Bond villain Rami Malek won't be playing in the project is Dr. No. Like most aspects of this 25th James Bond movie, Malek's character, named Safin, has been shrouded in intense mystery. The actor has been open on how his work on Bohemian Rhapsody inspired him to take original creative choices with the role, while it's also been revealed that the character will have a massive intellect and no ties to any real-world religious affiliation. Otherwise, the next James Bond villain has been kept as vaguely-defined as possible prior to No Time To Die's release.
What is known about No Time To Die is that it will be the final outing for Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond. It will also see the past of Bond's lover, Dr. Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), catch up to both her and Bond, while cast members of previous 007 movies, like Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Jeffrey Wright, returning to the fold. No Time To Die will also see Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, and the aforementioned Malek playing brand-new characters, with Malek playing the primary villain.
A revelation about that villain managed to emerge through No Time To Die's Super Bowl commercial. At the 0:23-second mark, viewers get a clear glimpse of Safin's hands. Those hands are clearly not metallic, putting to rest a long-standing fan theory that Malek would be playing a new version of the classic James Bond villain Dr. No. Given that Dr. No is known for having metal hands and Malek's Safin doesn't have any, it doesn't appear likely that No Time To Die plans to revisit this iconic 007 antagonist.
Given that this is Craig's last James Bond movie, it's understandable that speculation would emerge that the franchise would pay homage to its early days by revising a classic villain like Dr. Julius No. It's the kind of circular logic many franchises, including Star Wars, have employed for their final installments. However, this was always an unlikely development for No Time To Die given that Craig's James Bond movies have, with the exception of Christoph Waltz's Blofeld, been more interested in creating new villains rather than rehashing old ones.
Thus, Dr. No was always a long-shot to appear as the villain of No Time To Die even before this brief footage from the Super Bowl ad outright debunked the idea. Given how mysterious Malek's villain still is, it's not impossible for the character to turn out to some other previously-existing James Bond adversary. This is especially a possibility given that the aforementioned take on Blofeld by Waltz was claimed to be an original character for months prior to the release of Spectre. However, the non-metallic hands of Malek's No Time To Die villain are a clear sign that, even if a classic James Bond foe ends up being the primary villain of the production, such a foe won't be Dr. No.