For all the James Bond films in the franchise, only a few villains truly stand out from the pack, such as Auric Goldfinger, Jaws, Le Chiffre, and Francisco Scaramanga. However, there’s only one Bond baddy that 007 has faced multiple times: Ernst Stavro Blofeld. From his first appearance in From Russia with Love, where only the lower part of his body—and his trademark white cat—are visible, to his final pre-Daniel Craig-era appearance in the non-canon entry Never Say Never Again, he remains top of the heap. So, when Christoph Waltz was announced as the antagonist in Spectre, the buzz around town was that the actor would join the ranks of those bringing the iconic villain to life. Only he wasn’t, as he was playing the villainous Franz Oberhauser. Definitely not Blofeld. Until he was Blofeld.
This should have been a monumental moment in the Daniel Craig era, but they blew it. The first two appearances of Blofeld in Bond films are sadly anti-climactic; however, the producers of You Only Live Twice nailed it with the character’s full reveal by bringing in Donald Pleasance. He is the definitive version of the character—a menacing, legitimately scary (and slightly camp) anti-Bond, with a distinctive facial scar—willing to use whatever tools he has at his disposal to see his evil plans come to life. Pleasance’s iteration of the character would later inspire Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil, The Simpsons’ Mister Burns, and Inspector Gadget’s Dr. Claw. Pleasance would be a one-and-done with the character, while Blofeld’s next four appearances in the Bond films would each be played by different actors, most notably Max von Sydow and Telly Savalas. Each actor contributed a unique portrayal of the character, playing into Ian Fleming’s vision of Blofeld as a supervillain who regularly shifts his appearance to remain an enigma.
Blofeld stands as Bond’s most devious—and dangerous—archrival throughout the franchise, and although he was last seen in 1983, he was never completely forgotten. More specifically, Donald Pleasance’s Blofeld cast a long shadow. If anyone could redefine the character for a new generation, it would have been Christoph Waltz, who had already proven his ability for deliciously evil villainy with his legendary portrayal of Austrian SS officer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. If he was indeed playing Blofeld, it would have been an undeniable slam dunk—an iconic Bond villain revived by an actor capable of matching Daniel Craig’s reimagined 007.
Unfortunately, this opportunity was squandered. For starters, the denial before the release of Spectre that Waltz was indeed playing Blofeld dampened the moment. It was a poorly kept secret; therefore, producers would have been wiser to introduce Waltz as Blofeld from the beginning, creating excitement for the film rather than relegating the reveal to an anti-climactic moment within the film itself. Even then, the reveal could have worked, but they fell prey to the “villains need a backstory” trope.
The minions surrounding Blofeld present a different dilemma. Blofeld couldn’t simply be evil for evil’s sake, orchestrating chaos to turn Quantum into Spectre. Instead, he was given a convoluted backstory wherein his family cared for Bond after the death of his parents, resulting in the two becoming adoptive brothers. However, the perception that his father favored Bond over him was too much for Oberhauser, leading him to kill his father and fake his own death. Afterward, he adopted the Ernst Stavro Blofeld moniker and founded Spectre, bent on avenging himself against Bond. This backstory was ridiculous and entirely unnecessary, as was the need to show how Blofeld received his iconic facial scar during the film’s lackluster finale. They had a golden opportunity to divert from the stereotype of the physically disfigured Bond villain but instead embraced it.
At least Blofeld had some screen time in Spectre. In No Time to Die, however, Blofeld, imprisoned and barely present, reveals that he masterminded Bond’s heartbreak from the events of Casino Royale before being killed by nanobots. The iconic Bond villain is only revealed as such in the back half of Spectre, only to meet a disappointing end after merely five minutes of screen time in its follow-up. To his credit, the failure of Blofeld in the Daniel Craig films doesn’t lie with Waltz, who delivers an excellent performance in both films, but rather with those who could have reinvented Blofeld as they did with Bond.
You only live twice, as they say, but here’s hoping that Bond’s best baddy gets a chance for revival. The failure to maximize the potential of such a renowned villain is a missed opportunity that echoes through the franchise and leaves fans with a lingering sense of frustration and despair.
