James Bond 26 (& Beyond) Needs To Forget The Worst 007 Villain Trope Forever
Villains with facial disfigurements are one of many common James Bond tropes — but it's one that must end with Bond 26. Even the most fervent 007 fanatic would have to admit social progressiveness isn't among James Bond's specialist skills. Across 25 official Eon film releases between 1962 and 2021, James Bond has been accused of containing rampant sexism, racial stereotypes, and toxic masculinity. Daniel Craig's quintet of James Bond adventures have made a noticeable attempt to modernize, improving representation, bringing female characters to the fore, and making Bond more emotionally vulnerable. There's still work to be done, but progress is happening.
Alas, recent James Bond movies have made absolutely no effort to address the outdated trope of villains with some kind of facial disfigurement. Ernst Stavro Blofeld typically bears an eye scar, Lago wears a patch, the Pierce Brosnan era's Renard and Alec Trevelyan both display facial scarring, and that's just a taster of offending antagonists. In Daniel Craig's James Bond output alone, Le Chiffre has an eye injury, Raoul Silva's jaw is prosthetic, and Blofeld returns with the same disfigurement as his predecessors. Even in No Time To Die, Rami Malek's Safin shows significant scarring across his entire face. Many other film franchises are guilty of perpetuating the same tired trope, but few do so as consistently and visibly as James Bond.
Related: Tom Hardy's Best James Bond 26 Role Isn't Playing The New 007
Some might defend the trend, suggesting facial disfigurements can subtly allude toward a villain's backstory - visually depicting their damaged personalities and violent pasts. But since those character traits apply just as readily to James Bond himself (who
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