Bond 26 villain/ plot ideas
As an amateur screenwriter I can’t help but think of some cool plot ideas and/ or villain ideas for the next 007 adventure- interested to hear any other ideas that my fellow Bond enthusiasts have come up with. I’d like to see a little more espionage/political thriller thrown in, and I’d love a proper female villain, like the great Viola Davis playing a highly corrupt American bureaucrat.
Comments
I pick up a comment I recently posted about the Cold War. If you get interested in geopolitics, you can notice the global context of this first quarter-century is weirdly reminiscent of what happened back to the early 1980s, with explicit tensions between the US and former or current communist nations like Russia, China and even North Korea in some way. We could also refer to one or two recent events involving Belarus for instance.
The Trump mandate and the way of dealing with issues like these in terms of diplomatic relationships can be seen as a modern version of the Reagan years, and it's still relevant with the Biden administration, which leads me to the following question: what if the Cold War never really ended ? Isn't the current situation one of the consequences of some "hidden" mutations of the conflict over the past three decades ?
Given Bond is a genuine product of the Cold War, isn't he more relevant than ever nowadays ? Such a topic would be so interesting to explore!
The main thing I expect from Bond 26 is a pure spy story like in FRWL, FYEO, and TLD, with an incredibly clever and insane strategic villain, like a high-ranking officer, a powerful politician, an influential businessman...I do believe international issues and espionage are not obsolete concepts at all (perhpas that's why I expected something else from the Craig era).
I just hope there won't be any central romance between Bond and a female character. After the last fifteen years with Vesper and Madeleine, I think it would be the best way to "overdose".
It can be argued the cold war has returned or never completely went away. If this is true the situation now is more fluid. Maybe the most relevant change to the Bond series is that Bond movies are shown in Russia and China now and make up important market. This makes it difficult to have the new cold war as a central plot point. Countries like North Korea and Venezuela can be used, but the reason is because they're so weak. At least in the case of Venezuela it'll easily look like picking on the little guy.
Yes that's true but I guess these countries know what the concept of James Bond is based on. The villains are often showed as insane and unaware of their megalomaniac/utopian ambitions, no matter their nationality. Take the example of General Orlov. When he lays out his project of invading Western Europe, Gogol immediately calls him to order, underlining his madness. It is, in some way, the best proof he doesn't represent The Soviet Union. I think the local audiences are able to understand that and to avoid any amalgam with a fictional character which is not supposed to symbolize at all the way these countries are seen from a western point of view...
The thing just consists in using geopolitics to build a story, nothing more. Do you get my point ?
I think I do, but I think that sort of thing is hard to do in a movie blockbuster today.
It's a shame because I think it's essential for Bond to come back within a spy story built on the current geopolitical aspects. Perhaps they can create fictitious states to deal with this issue.
It’s sad to take business and all these market things into account while basically, we are just talking about the story and what we would like Bond’s next mission to deal with.
By "diplomatic relationships", do you mean "late night tweets"? 🤣
A more serious comment: I think the new cold war can be the backdrop of new James Bond movies, but not the main plot. The plots can acknowledge the international situation, but not have China or Russia be the villans of the movies. This is much like the series handled the cold war in the 60's, 70's and 80's. An important change is that back then they avoided making the Soviet Union the real enemy pretty much out of politeness (I'm oversimplifying). Now the two countries are important markets for the movies.
I used to write fan fiction when I was younger. One idea I have if I were to ever do a fan fiction again would be either a Nobel Prize winning scientist or somebody within the Prime Minister’s government has Britain’s nuclear codes and threatens release them or tell them to Britain’s enemies for ransom.
The guilty party would be anonymous at first, and it would be up to Bond and MI6 to find the guilty party.
I think Bond26 should have a strong link to the navy. It shouldn't start with Bond IN the navy and transfering to MI6 and the 00-section because we don't need a new origin story now. But I'd like to see Bond with strong links to the navy and the SBS, working with the service and people there. This will be a "cheat" origin story. They don't say Bond fairly recently came from the navy, but it's sort of implied. Using the navy will also set the new Bond apart from CraigBond who we never saw in uniform and working with the Royal Navy. It could also offer a spectacular way to present the new Bond to the public that was suggested here in 2006. Helicopter the press to one of the two new RN aircraft carriers, put the new actor on the gigant lift that transports planes to the flight deck and reveal him to the cameras in an epic way!
It could work. The main issue is to make sure there will be no link with the 2006-2021 reboot. I want to look at the face of the new actor with thinking this man will not be vaporized by a nuclear missile one day. I am just waiting for a confirmation that this iteration of the character will be completely different from Craig's one, which means the story has to be settled within a brand new timeline: nothing neither before CR06 nor between QoS and SF for instance...
I want to identify with the version of Bond who lives on (I have no sympathy at all for heroes who die).
@Number24 it could work. The main issue is to make sure there is absolutely no link with the 2006-2021 reboot (neither a story taking place before CR06 nor between QoS and SF for instance), otherwise it would simply mean the next iteration of Bond is actually the same as Craig's one, and I just don't wish that. I want to look at the new actor's face thinking to myself: "this man will not be vaporized by a nuclear missile one day". I want to identify with the version of Bond who lives on again (I have no sympathy at all for heroes who die).
I'm glad there's appetite for a more "traditional" spy thriller with geopolitical affairs woven in. My "hook" would be that the central villainous organization of the piece is a major terrorist group out of Africa, wherein the apparent leader is a western-educated freedom-fighter type militant who has a chip on his shoulder because he lost his eldest sister to violence brought about by western/European conflict and meddling. The hook is, the eldest sister isn't actually dead, and has instead been masquerading as a high-level official in the United States DOD and using her leverage to help the group sow discord. I'd have Viola Davis in this role, and perhaps a great actor like David Oyelowo as the "apparent" villain.
This also sets the stage to bring bond to Washington, D.C. towards the latter half of the film, which I don't think has ever been done. There's a huge luxury mall outside of the district which would make such a cool background for an action scene. I'm also picturing a very cool shootout and chase in the deserts of Africa after Bond attempts to infiltrate the organization.
For my opening PTS, I was thinking an attempted terrorist attack by the group during Christmas at Burlington Arcade. Think lots of gunmen shooting and Bond has to intervene.
As to who should play Bond- Paige, Rege Jean Paige.
I agree it's about time sub- Sahara Africa is used in a Bond movie. I haven't heard of Burlington Arcade before, but I googled it and it looks great. As far as I know (and in this case that's not far at all) the place hasn't been used in a movie either.
If it's true that Boyle/Hodges left Bond25 because they wanted a different ending from the one we saw, is it possible EON will use (elements of) their script for Bond26? EON obviously saw a lot of potential in that story since the duo was hired and sets were buildt.
The concept art for the Boyle/Hodges script looks very good in my opinion. I understand the plot was at least partly about the new cold war between NATO and Russia, something that's very topical. Maybe such a movie could be a compagnion piece to GE, both being new Bond actors tackling the relationship to Russia? Another question is Boyle himself. If we assume his depature was because he didn't want the ending of NTTD we got, can Boyle direct Bond 26?
I just lurked a bit in the other place looking for good movie titles. I liked:
- Red sky at night (I remember it was mentioned as a title for SF)
- Death before daybreak
- Commander Bond (especially if the movie focuses on his connection to the navy)
- For queen and country.
Especially because we are getting a new Bond and a soft reboot I like “License Renewed”
What do you think of simply:
Commander
My gut tells me they should bring back Martin Campbell. I’m on board with Denis Villeneuve also but I do worry that his movies might be more of a slow burn than I’m looking for in my next 007 outing. I also like David Mackenzie and Sam Hargrave ( he who helmed Extraction)
Campbell is a wondeful director to start a new cycle because he understands the world of Bond and what a spy movie is supposed to deal with. He's some kind of John Glen 2.0, a man who considers the plot's relevance is more important than the way of filming. I always thought the best films of the series were made by good craftsmen and not necessarily by famous directors who desperately seem to consider letting their own print is a necassary condition to make a memorable movie (I don't think it's the case). I belong to those who give much more credits to the quality of the script than the filming itself.
As an example, Skyfall is a masterpiece in terms of aestheticism (Mendes and Deakins did a wonderful job) but I don't feel any "bondian pleasure" when I watch it because of the atmosphere. It reminds me The Dark Knight (Mendes admitted he took inspiration from Nolan), a movie that I consider overrated and not faithful enough to the Batman universe (I greatly prefer Begins and Rises but that's another debate). In SF, the only part I find absolutely brilliant is Macau because it is typically the kind of ambiance we can find in Fleming's novels...For the rest, I just didn't enjoy the movie at all (to be honest I would even say I hated it).
Given my top 10 is composed of DN, FRWL, GF, OHMSS, TSWLM, FYEO, TLD, LTK, GE and CR06, it's not difficult to guess the kind of directors I wish for Bond 26.
I think people like Philip Noyce, Rod Lurie and Roger Donaldson can be considered as some of the heirs of Young, Hamilton, Hunt, Gilbert, Glen and Campbell.
Are you 100% sure a soft reboot is the way to go after NTTD?
I’m not sure what else they could possibly do after that NTTD ending. It seems like there’s no other viable option, which is my big issue with the ending- it puts the franchise in an awkward posture.
Do you agree that they started telling the story of James Bond from the start again in CR? It's the same man as in the earlier movies, but without the same memories and ready for new experiences and adventures. They started a new timeline. The same was done with Batman in Batman Begins. It was Batman, just like in Batman Returns, Batman & Robin etc. But they wanted to start fresh with telling stories about him. All of Nolan's Batman movies are a new timeline and I assume the upcoming The Batman will start another. It doesn't matter of Bruce Wayne lives or died at the end of Nolan's third Batman movie, Robert Pattinson's Batman will probably not have the history of Christian Bale's Batman. They Are seperate Batman timelines.
Bond26 will almost certainly start a third Bond timeline with Craig's Bond movies as a seperate second timeline.
I just had an idea. It's so new I don't know what to think of it, but here it is:
Two 00-agents are on a mission. Something goes wrong and one of them ends up missing, presumably dead. The other one is a very experienced agent and gets promoted to M. The missing 00-agent has to be replaced and James Bond becomes 007. Bond goes on a mission and miraculously saves the missing agent. What follows is basically the start of TMWTGG. The returning 00-agent has a meeting with M in his office. The agent has been brainwashed. The fact that one agent gets promoted to M and he gets caught, tortured, and even replaced within a few weeks made it easier to turn him against MI6 and the new M. Maybe the circumstances of his capture were such that it looked like the present M left him to get killed or captured? The brainwashed 00-agent tries to kill M, but M and Moneypenny stops him. The rest of the story is about Bond finding and stopping whoever is responsible. Killing M was just a part of a bigger operation.
What do you think?
I wouldn't be at all surprised if crypto-currencies feature strongly in one of the upcoming Bonds.
I'd love to see them do a story in Dubai. I'd even go as far as setting it in one setting; a tower (kind of like a "bottle episode").
Essentially, keep the villain small for the next Bond's first outing.
What if the villain is taking advantage of an economic situation where a town or city is trying to rebuild its economy following a natural disaster or even a pandemic. The villain presents as an altruistic entrepreneur but he wants the city for strategic purposes; to hide his illegal assets, along with having a safe haven for offshore funds.
I think the closest a Bond movie should get to a "bottle episode" is something like "High time to kill" by Raymond Benson where much of the plot takes place while climbing a mountain in the Himalayas.
Dubai could work because you still have a variety of settings within the "bottle".
Firstly, you'd have the tower which would consist of:
But, Dubai itself could be used where Bond may need to speak to a Sheik out in the dessert.
Not to mention there's bound to be some kind of underground facility that runs on battery cells and power generators.
I forgot to also point this out; the film I envision is only around 90 minutes in length. Pulpy, punchy, and to the point. Think of it as a palette cleanser from the lengthy and meaty last two Craig outings.
You make your case well, but it still sounds more like Die Hard than Bond.