Following our special two-parter podcast on the villains of Bond, we’ve decided to rank each of them using our official, tiered rating system. The rules are simple: 4 villains per tier with each villain placed in order of preference.
So JBR listeners, are you up to the challenge of making your very own Bond villain ratings list? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments area below.
We should stress that these ratings are purely based on the characters themselves and not the actors who played them. For example, you could put the character of Francisco Scaramanga at the bottom of your list but still love him as an actor.
Let the mayhem begin…
[two_column_block style=”1″] [content1]
CHRIS
Tier 1:
- Auric Goldfinger
- Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
- Dr. No
- Rosa Klebb
Tier 2:
- Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
- Franz Sanchez
- Max Zorin
- Francisco Scaramanga
Tier 3:
- Raoul Silva
- Hugo Drax
- Emilio Largo
- Dr. Kananga
Tier 4:
- Le Chiffre
- Elektra King
- Kamal Khan
- Karl Stromberg
Tier 5:
- Alec Trevelyan
- Dominic Greene
- Georgi Koskov
- Blofeld (Gray – DAF)
Tier 6:
- General Orlov
- Elliot Carver
- Brad Whittaker
- Aris Kristatos
Tier 10:
- Gustav Graves
[/content1] [content2]
TOM
Tier 1:
- Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
- Dr. No
- Auric Goldfinger
- Rosa Klebb
Tier 2:
- Le Chiffre
- Francisco Scaramanga
- Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
- Dr. Kananga
Tier 3:
- Emilio Largo
- Raoul Silva
- Franz Sanchez
- Max Zorin
Tier 4:
- Elektra King
- Hugo Drax
- Alec Trevelyan
- Kamal Khan
Tier 5:
- Blofeld (Gray – DAF)
- Karl Stromberg
- Georgi Koskov
- General Orlov
Tier 6:
- Elliot Carver
- Aris Kristatos
- Brad Whittaker
- Dominic Greene
Tier 10:
- Gustav Graves
[/content2] [/two_column_block]
23 Responses
Poor Gustave Graves must feel lonely down there.
There are some hard choices when you pack together some if the best vilain, and put some other less memorable ones in other Tier.
Anyway, here is my list :
Tier 1:
Auric Goldfinger
Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
Rosa Klebb
Dr. No
Tier 2:
Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
Franz Sanchez
Francisco Scaramanga
Max Zorin
Tier 3:
Raoul Silva
Dr. Kananga
Emilio Largo
Hugo Drax
Tier 4:
Le Chiffre
Elektra King
Kamal Khan
Alec Trevelyan
Tier 5:
Dominic Greene
Georgi Koskov
Karl Stromberg
Blofeld (Gray – DAF)
Tier 6:
Gustav Graves
Elliot Carver
Aris Kristatos
Brad Whittaker
General Orlov
Hi guys, I’ve been listening for a couple of weeks and I thought I’d join in. I’ve always liked villains who look like they can have a chance at taking Bond physically, so if you can’t be a megalomanic or a SPECTRE leader then they should be close to his equal.
Tier 1:
Auric Goldfinger
Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
Dr. No
Rosa Klebb
Tier 2:
Franz Sanchez
Le Chiffre
Max Zorin
Fransisco Scaramanga
Tier 3:
Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
Raoul Silva
Alec Treveleyan
Emilio Largo
Tier 4:
Dr Kananga
Elektra King
Aristotle Kristatos
Georgi Koskov
Tier 5:
Kamal Khan
Hugo Drax
Karl Stromberg
Bolfeld (Gray – DAF)
Tier 6:
Gustav Graves
Elliot Carver
Dominic Greene
Man, this was still difficult to rank. Plus, I feel this list is going to change after future re-watches.
Tier 1:
Blofeld (Savalas)
Auric Goldfinger
Le Chiffre
Rosa Klebb
Tier 2:
Franz Sanchez
Blofeld (Pleasance)
Dr. No
Max Zorin
Tier 3:
Francisco Scaramanga
Emilio Largo
Dr. Kananga
Elektra King
Tier 4:
Blofeld (Gray)
Raoul Silva
General Orlov
Alec Trevelyan
Tier 5:
Aris Kristatos
Kamal Kahn
Brad Whittaker
Hugo Drax
Tier 6:
Dominic Greene
Georgi Koskov
Karl Stromberg
Elliot Carver
Tier So Large Of A Number It’s Barely Worth Putting It On This List:
Gustav Graves
Almost impossible to do. Your tier system works a lot better than all those weird top 10 lists. I mean, how can you choose between Blofeld or Goldfinger? They’re different, but both awesome! There are so many great villains that it’s impossible to rank them in a top ten list. Same with everything else 007 related.
So, mine would be like this:
Tier 1 (007’s greatest foes):
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Donald Pleasance incarnation)
* Auric Goldfinger
* Dr. No
Tier 2 (right up there) :
* Le Chiffre
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Telly Savalas incarnation
* Francisco Scaramanga
* Emilio Largo
* Max Zorin
* Rosa Klebb
* Franz Sanchez
Tier 3 (great memorable villains):
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Charles Gray incarnation)
* Alec Trevelyan
* Hugo Drax
* Mr Big
* General Orlov
Tier 4 (solid territory):
* Karl Stromberg
* Aris Kristatos
* Kamal Kahn
* Dominic Greene
Tier 5 (could have been better):
* General Koskov
* Brad Whittaker
* Elektra King
Tier 6 (mwa):
* Elliott Carver
* Raoul Silva
Tier 10000 (awful):
* Gustav Graves (the least said, the better)
Mine would look like this:
Tier 1
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Donald Pleasance incarnation)
* Auric Goldfinger
* Dr. No
* Le Chiffre
Tier 2
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Telly Savalas incarnation)
* Francisco Scaramanga
* Emilio Largo
* Rosa Klebb
Tier 3
* Max Zorin
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld (in the Charles Gray incarnation)
* Alec Trevelyan
* Franz Sanchez
Tier 4
* Hugo Drax
* Mr Big
* General Orlov
* Karl Stromberg
Tier 5
* Kamal Kahn
* Aris Kristatos
* General Koskov
* Dominic Greene
Tier 6
* Brad Whittaker
* Elektra King
* Elliott Carver
* Raoul Silva
Tier 10000 (awful):
* Gustav Graves (the least said, the better)
As Telly said in those 1970s ads, “who loves ya baby?!” I love his Blofeld but still can’t put him above Goldfinger. Bringing up the rear, Elliot Carver bumps Gustavo Graves out of the sewer.
Here’s how I rank ’em:
Tier 1
Auric Goldfinger
Blofeld (Savslas-OHMSS)
Le Chiffre
Blofeld (Pleasance-YOLT)
Tier 2
Dr. No
Franz Sanchez
Rosa Klebb
Raul Silva
Tier 3
Francisco Scaramanga
Kamal Kahn
Emilio Largo
Max Zorin
Tier 4
Hugo Drax
Dr. Kanaga
Blofeld (Gray-DAF)
Alec Trevelyan
Tier 5
Electra King
Aris Kristatos
Dominic Greene
Karl Stromberg
Tier 6
Brad Whitaker
Gustav Graves
Elliot Carver
How would you classify Cigar Girl? Hench-person? Yet she comes as close as anyone in the entire series to handing Bond his ass…
Really interesting to see how much we can all differ on
Alright, here’s my list! I must admit I was surprised to see how I ranked some of them when it came down it. Don’t know if everyone did it this way, but they are all ranked in order, even within the tiers. Otherwise I may have found it slightly easier.
Tier 1
Dr. No
Goldfinger
Blofeld (Pleasance)
Silva
Tier 2
Le Chiffre
Elektra King
Zorin
Drax
Tier 3
Blofeld (Savalas)
Klebb
Kananga
Largo
Tier 4
Scaramanga
Blofeld (Gray)
Stromberg
Sanchez
Tier 5
Orlov
Khan
Trevelyan
Carver
Tier 6
Greene
Koskov
Kristatos
Whittaker
Tier 10
Graves (I kinda felt like I had to…peer pressure and whatnot)
Alright, after much deliberation and contemplation, here’s my list. This was a hell of a lot of fun!
Tier 1:
Auric Goldfinger
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Pleasance)
Dr. No
Rosa Klebb
Tier 2:
Le Chiffre
Raoul Silva
Francisco Scaramanga
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Savalas)
Tier 3:
Dr. Kananga
Max Zorin
Elektra King
Franz Sanchez
Tier 4:
Alec Trevelyan
Hugo Drax
Emilio Largo
General Orlov
Tier 5:
General Koskov
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Gray)
Kamal Khan
Karl Stromberg
Tier 6:
Elliot Carver
Brad Whittaker
Kristatos
Dominic Green
Tier 10:
Gustav Graves
This was really difficult to do and I’m not really satisfied with the outcome… Oh well. Give Elliot Carver some love! His “There’s no news, like bad news” speech is solid-mad!
Tier 1:
Auric Goldfinger
Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
Max Zorin
Raoul Silva
Tier 2:
Franz Sanchez
Francisco Scaramanga
Hugo Drax
Rosa Klebb
Tier 3:
Elliot Carver
Le Chiffre
Dr. Kananga
Dr. No
Tier 4:
Emilio Largo
Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
Elektra King
Kamal Khan
Tier 5:
Alec Trevelyan
Blofeld (Gray – DAF)
Georgi Koskov
General Orlov
Tier 6:
Dominic Greene
Aris Kristatos
Karl Stromberg
Brad Whittaker
Tier 10:
Gustav Graves
This is the way I rate them:
Tier 1
Auric Goldfinger
Blofeld (YOLT)
Blofeld (OHMSS)
Dr. No
Tier 2
Hugo Drax
Karl Stromberg
Emilio Largo
Blofeld (DAF)
Tier 3
Rosa Klebb
Francisco Scaramanga
Dr. Kananga
Le Chiffre
Tier 4
Eliot Carver
Alec Trevelyan
General Koskov
Dominic Greene
Tier 5
Max Zorin
Raoul Silva
Elektra King/Renard
General Orlov
Tier 6
Brad Whittaker
Aris Kristatos
Kamal Khan
Franz Sanchez
Left Out In The Cold:
Gustav Graves
Can’t believe you both have Dr Evil in tier 1! Just can’t take him seriously. Having said that, I’m going to have to put a bit of thought into this…!
Love everyone’s contributions so far – thanks all for making this so much fun to do! Anyway, my table is thus:
.
T1: Sanchez, Kananga, Blofeld (Savalas), Le Chiffre
T2: Klebb, Scaramanga, King, Trevelyan
T3: Largo, Silva, Goldfinger, Kristatos
T4: Drax, Dr No, Khan, Orlov
T5: Blofeld (Pleasence) (but where are the ill-tempered mutated sea bass – with fricking lasers on their heads?); Stromberg, Greene, Zorin
T6: Whitaker, Koskov, Carver, Graves (hah!)
T7: Blofeld (Gray – in drag, really?)
Disect at leisure!
Have a feeling in 12 months time we’ll be adding Oberhauser/Blofeld? to the Tier 1 list. In the meantime…
Tier 1 – Goldfinger, Blofeld (Pleasance), Klebb, Le Chiffre
Tier 2 – Kananga, Blofeld (Savalas), Largo, Sanchez
Tier 3 – Silva, Scaramanga, Dr. No, Zorin
Tier 4 – Electra King, Orlov, Trevelyan, Drax
Tier 5 – Khan, Stromberg, Koskov, Kristatos
Tier 6 – Blofeld (Gray), Greene, Whitaker, Graves
And finally…
Tier 7 – Carver, Tamahori, McClory, Cleese
Sorry, but it felt mean to have Carver in a tier on his own. And I fInd it easy to enjoy Dr. Evil as a comedy character and appreciate Blofeld (Pleasance) as the iconic villain that he is. Good fun…
Love all the list, lets be honest, there isn’t much between the top 16 villains at least :-). Its also good that for a series of films everybody has different options & I like reading them all. Also as some have stated the list can change after re-watching the films.
Tier 1 – Auric Goldfinger, Raoul Silva, Blofeld (Pleasance YOLT) & Le Chiffre.
Tier 2 – Blofeld (Savalas OHMSS), Dr. No, Alec Trevelyan & Francisco Scaramanga.
Tier 3 – Franz Sanchez, Max Zorin, Rosa Klebb & Hugo Drax.
Tier 4 – Dr Kananga, Elektra King, Kamal Khan & Emilio Largo.
Tier 5 – Elliot Carver (Never trust the press), General Orlov, Karl Stromberg & Dominic Green.
Tier 6 – Bolfeld (Gray DAF), Georgi Koskov, Brad Whittaker & Aris Kristatos.
Tier 7 (Wooden Spoon) – Gustav Graves.
Honorable Mention Tier 3.5 – The unseen Bolfeld in the earlier films.
Looking forward to seeing other peoples list.
Right ladies and chaps my turn to get involved in this.
My list based in order of ruthlessness and diabolical “fiendishness”
T1: Sanchez (vicious killer and mass killer via world wide drug exports),
Drax (wants to destroy the World – cant get more diabolical than that),
Blofeld (Savalas) (wants to wipe out humanity via a honey trap – sexy diabolical), Zorin (out and out lunatic and psychotic killer)
T2: Blofeld (Pleasence) (creepy dude who wanted to start world war 3), Stromberg (creepy dude with webbed hands that wanted to start world war 3), Carver (white haired fella without a cat who wanted to start world war 3)Goldfinger (wanted to kill thousands and detonate a nuclear device!!!)
T3: Kananga (wanted to get millions hooked on drugs – and not for the right reasons)
Largo (willing participant in a nuclear attack on Washington)
Dr No (the chap responsible for the whole craze of stealing nuclear weapons)
King (the first woman who wanted to set off a nuclear weapon in the series)
T4: Orlov (another who wanted to set off a nuclear device and start world war 3 – how many times has this been used as a plot???),
Silva (cyber villain though more dangerous to his own men),
Le Chiffre (didn’t kill anyone but funded world terrorism through the stockmarket)
Khan (teamed up with Orlov to detonate a nuclear device)
T5: Klebb (iconic and just plain nasty)
Greene (the thirstiest villain of the series)
Kristatos, (double crossed Bond tut tut)
Scaramanga (killer but only one at a time)
T6: Whitaker (no real threat), Graves (not saying a word), Trevelyan (thief), Koskov (seems like a nice bloke)
T7: Blofeld (Gray) the least terrifying villain of the entire series
Right that’s my 2 cents worth let me know what you think
Thanks for doing the correlation, spreadsheet boy! Pretty happy with the results.
I think you’re right about Austin Powers rubbing off (!) negatively on Donald’s Blofeld. But also you only really see him right at the end of the film. With Telly he’s much more of a presence in the movie and more involved in the plot. The physicality also adds something, which is why I rated him higher.
Not happy about King and Trevelyan being so far back though. :-/
Tier 1:
Auric Goldfinger
Le Chiffre
Franz Sanchez
Dr. No
Tier 2:
Blofeld (Savalas – OHMSS)
Max Zorin
Rosa Klebb
Raoul Silva
Tier 3:
Dr. Kananga
Kamal Khan
Dominic Greene
Alec Trevelyan
Tier 4:
Georgi Koskov
Emilio Largo
General Orlov
Aris Kristatos
Tier 5:
Blofeld (Pleasance – YOLT)
Elliot Carver
Blofeld (Gray – DAF)
Francisco Scaramanga
Tier 6:
Gustav Graves
Brad Whittaker
Karl Stromberg
Hugo Drax
Tier 7:
Elektra King
Thanks for making the league table, Chris. I (like Ms. Zhu) am outraged at Trevelyan’s low ranking. I absolutely love him!
I am SO outraged that I have been inspired to submit my own list.
T1
Goldfinger
Le Chiffre
Trevelyan
Dr. No
T2
Silva
Stromberg
Sanchez
Zorin
T3
Blofeld (YOLT)
Klebb
Largo
King
T4
Carver
Scaramanga
Greene
Kananga
T5
Blofeld (DAF)
Blofeld (OHMSS)
Drax
Khan
T6
Graves
Koskov
Orlov
Kristatos
T7
Whittaker
Sorry guys, but I am that outraged Gustav Graves fan you didn’t believe existed (okay, I’m not a groupie or anything, but there’s no way he should be ranked so low).
I’ve touched on this before, but there are reasons that make me warm to the character. Most of all, it is how I believe he is based on the Sir Hugo Drax character from the Moonraker novel: he is a flame-haired British hero and self-made millionaire who turns out to be not who he seems, and in fact grew up amongst, and remains affiliated to, the enemy. The ultimate double agent. Not only that, but both characters are building an immense weapon which is believed to be for the common good, but is in fact planned to hurt Britain from within.
I’m a sucker for those original Fleming characters and was gutted with the Drax from the movie. I know some love him, but I find him a charisma-less monotone bore who doesn’t look villainous, but more like someone’s stuck a fuzzy felt beard on an egg. And for that reason – plus his ludicrous plot which really belongs in an unused Lost In Space script- he is probably my least favourite villain (even more so than Kristatos, who looks like the head of your local swinging club).
In defence of Graves, he’s a bad guy who is also snide, a cheat at sport (a bit like the novel’s Drax when it comes to cards), ruthless and physically tough. He’s no button-pushing bad guy, he’s hands on and intelligent. And that sneer is pretty cool too.
Basically, he’s by no means a top tier villain, but he’s not the worst by a long shot. If anything, he’s the victim of being surrounded by arguably the lamest Bond elements of all time. From the theme tune to Madonna’s cameo, from the awful birdwatching dialogue to Halle Berry and Denise Richards being about as classy as a fart at a funeral, and stopping off at Mr Kil, an invisible car, too many nods to the past – including the Union Flag parachute, secret filming in a hotel room and bikini scene – a Face Off rip off and a power suit that looks like it was borrowed from The Running Man… there’s so much to hate. But don’t make Graves guilty by association, in another film he’d be a thoroughly well loved baddie.
And in case anyone hasn’t fallen asleep yet, I’m also a big fan of Dominic Greene. He’s a weasly, physically weak coward, but proof that anyone can rise to the top through villainy, skulduggery and ruthlessness.
He may not live in an underground paradise or a hollowed-out volcano, but his backstabbing business deals are making him powerful. He’s more akin to the wealthy and dislikable gits that we can find in control of governments, big business and the like. He’s not flashy or a superpower, but very much a modern day villain and a precursor to the warnings in Skyfall of how the enemy now lives amongst us. Plus that “then why is he looking at me?” moment is spinechillingly brilliant.
Anyway, sorry to go on. Love the show and website.
Guys – I included Brandauer’s Largo from NSNA, as I thought he did a pretty decent job. I know I have some highly respected villains in the middle of my list, but that just indicates how well the franchise has done in this area. Can’t wait for Spectre – 2 months, and counting…..
Level 1
Le Chiffre
Silva
Blofeld (Pleasance)
Zorin
Level 2
Goldfinger
Emilio Largo (Celli)
Kananga
Scaramanga
Level 3
Rosa Klebb
Dr. No
Blofeld (Savalas)
Renard / Electra King
Level 4
Kamal Khan/Orlov
Franz Sanchez
Emilio Largo (Brandauer)
Elliott Carver
Level 5
Dominic Greene
Hugo Drax
Blofeld (Gray)
Gustav Graves
Level 6
Koskov/Whitaker
Kristatos
Stromberg
Alec Trevelyan
I just listened to the Villains of Bond episode of JBR, and here is my villain ratings:
Tier 1
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Savalas)
Doctor Julius No
Francisco Scaramanga
Emilio Largo
Tier 2
Sir Hugo Drax
Auric Goldfinger
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Pleasance)
Franz Sanchez
Tier 3
Dr. Kananga
Colonel Rosa Klebb
Alec Trevelyan
General Orlov
Tier 4
Le Chiffre
Karl Stromberg
Raoul Silva
Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Gray)
Tier 5
Prince Kamal Khan
Elektra King
Aris Kristatos
Max Zorin
Tier 6
Elliot Carver
Brad Whittaker
Gustav Graves
General Georgi Koskov
Tier 10
Dominic Greene