Daniel Craig will hang up the Bond Walter PPK after No Time to Die, but he'll also have one last chance to become the deadliest 007. A report in The Times recently broke down the franchise by the numbers, tallying which Bond actor was the highest-grossing at the box office, who drank the most alcohol and other fun statistics. Among these, the title of most lethal Bond is up for grabs come the release of the franchise's 25th installment. Just as Craig has a good shot at second place—and an outside chance at first—when it comes to earnings, he can also set a record in the killing contest.
Six actors have brought James Bond to the big screen, beginning with Sean Connery in 1962 up to the current occupant Craig, whose tenure is up after this fifth outing. Between them, George Lazenby made one appearance in 1969, Roger Moore starred in seven installments during the '70s and '80s, Timothy Dalton added two of his own, while Pierce Brosnan took the franchise into the new millennium across four features. Over the course of a total 24 films, the composite Bond has killed 401 bad guys on the big screen, but the distribution of those executions is hardly even.
As the franchise tallies its 25th film, the kill count read thus: Brosnan holds a commanding lead with 135 kills, Moore comes in second at 90, while Craig rounds out the top three ahead of his final appearance with 76. Behind him is Connery's 72, while Dalton and Lazenby put up a pacifistic 23 and 5 respectively, owing in no small part to the brevity of their 007 tenures. For Craig to earn the silver, he'll have to tally 14 kills in No Time to Die—a very reachable figure. Gold will take a more exceptional effort, as 59 additional kills would nearly double his current four-film total in a single outing.
Craig is currently averaging 19 kills per movie. That's good enough to eclipse Moore if he keeps pace with No Time to Die, but would leave him well short of Brosnan, who boasts nearly 34 per entry. Moore's seven appearances mark his per-film average at just under 13, while Dalton reaches 12.5 and Connery a flat 12. Craig's numbers do show an increase in pace leading into his fifth and final Bond film, as compared to the curve of Brosnan's graph, but similar shapes in Connery and Moore's trend lines may suggest a tapering off in the last entry.
For Craig to reach the 59 kills necessary to claim the deadliest Bond title, he'll have to put forth a Herculean effort in his final outing No Time to Die, setting a record for most kills in a single Bond film. While second place is well within his reach, there's every chance this phase of the storied franchise goes out with a bang. All it would take is an extravagant and well-executed stunt from Craig in the third act, and he could send scores of henchmen to the great beyond, thereby sending himself to the top of the podium.
