Top 20 James Bond Kills

“You Only Live Twice” (1967)


The fifth James Bond film really ramped up the cartoonish factor, and when the Bond franchise is being parodied, it’s mostly scenes and ideas from “You Only Live Twice.” For example, Dr. Evil and his pool of mutated sea bass is taken directly from this film, which contains Blofeld and his pool of piranhas. These piranhas play a large role in the movie’s climax. While fighting Hans in the elaborate room, Bond ducks a punch and tosses his opponent over his shoulders. Hans lands in the green pool and is quickly devoured by the piranhas. Bond really will utilize anything to dispose of his enemies - even fish.

“Goldfinger” (1964)


Some of the best Bond kills display his quick thinking and the ability to utilize surroundings to his advantage. This is perfectly portrayed in the opening sequence of “Goldfinger.” Firstly, he uses a woman as a human shield after seeing an assailant reflected in her eye. He then one-ups the assailant and pushes him into the bath, but he’s forced to think quickly on his feet when the man reaches for his gun. Noticing a nearby electric lamp or heater, Bond throws it into the bath and electrocutes the man to death. It’s smart, it’s badass, and it gives us one of the greatest one-liners in the history of Bond cinema.

“The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977)


Many fans like to rag on Roger Moore for his comedic and goofy portrayal of James Bond, but he actually comes equipped with some of the most heartless kills of the entire series. Case in point - killing Sandor in cold blood after he had given up information. Sandor nearly falls off a roof and grabs Bond’s tie in a desperate bid to save himself. Bond gets the info he needs and promptly slaps his tie away, sending Sandor to his death below. Seeing Bond act in such a cruel and unforgiving manner is quite shocking, especially when it’s coming from the typically sappy Moore.

“Thunderball” (1965)


Sean Connery’s Bond had a thing for shielding himself with the bodies of women. While he does so in “Goldfinger,” that attack is not fatal. That is certainly not the case for Fiona Volpe. Volpe is an assassin sent by SPECTRE, and she personally meets with Bond in the Bahamas. Volpe and Bond are dancing when Bond notices a gun poking out from some curtains. He pivots Volpe in front of him, and she dies from taking the bullet. Not only that, he continues dancing with her dead body before sitting it down at a nearby table with some unsuspecting people. Connery’s Bond really was something else, and modern viewers may be surprised to learn about his inherent darkness.

“Moonraker” (1979)


In many James Bond films, Bond tensely fraternizes with the enemy before all the violence breaks out. It’s one of the most popular tropes of the series, and “Moonraker” contains one of its best examples. Drax takes Bond hunting and asks him to shoot some birds. Unbeknownst to Bond, there is an assassin hiding in a nearby tree. Bond takes a shot at some birds and misses, prompting Drax to make a snide remark. But Bond gets the last laugh when the assassin falls from the tree, revealing that Bond knew he was there all along. It’s all just so ridiculous and hilarious, and it gleefully represents the tongue-in-cheek tone of the Moore era.

“For Your Eyes Only” (1981)


This movie is known for literally getting the Bond franchise back on solid ground after it went to space in “Moonraker.” The films are obviously very different, and that includes a far darker portrayal of Bond. This can be seen in the movie’s climax, when Moore provides another shockingly brutal and cold-blooded kill. Bond shoots Locque in the shoulder, causing his car to nearly careen off a cliff. He then taunts Locque before kicking the car off the side and sending it crashing into the rocks below. It’s surprisingly dark and ruthless, and it’s probably the closest that Moore’s Bond ever came to Connery’s.

“Quantum of Solace” (2008)


A study by the University of Otago proved that “Quantum of Solace” was the most violent film in the franchise, featuring 250 acts of violence in just 106 minutes. It ends on a suitably dreary tone with Bond’s most personal kill. After capturing and interrogating Dominic Greene, Bond leaves him stranded in the desert with a can of motor oil. While we don’t see his demise, we later learn that he did indeed drink the oil. Bond doesn’t directly kill Greene, but he leaves him for SPECTRE’s agents and tortures him in the process, so he might as well have. Daniel Craig is often praised for his gritty portrayal of Bond, and it doesn’t get much grittier than this.

“From Russia with Love” (1963)


This movie is in the top tier of Bond films, and it contains one of the greatest brawls of the whole series. Even today, the train fight between Bond and Red Grant is brutal, well-choreographed, and exciting. And it contains a suitably grisly conclusion. Being garroted, Bond grabs a hidden knife from his suitcase, stabs Grant in the arm, and proceeds to strangle him with his own garrote. This represented a far more grounded and vicious tone than “Dr. No,” it established Connery’s Bond as a hardy agent, and it remains one of the most iconic kills of Bond’s sixty year career.

“Moonraker” (1979)


With “Moonraker” being set in space, it was only natural that the main villain got ejected into the dark and cold vacuum. It was either that or get shot with a laser or something. Like the tree death seen earlier in the film, Drax’s demise is pure Moore. Bond raises his hands in feign surrender, only to shoot Drax with a cyanide dart. Bond then scoots past him and politely opens the airlock, gently pushes him in, and ejects him into space. The relentless quips only add to the comedic tone, featuring three goofy one-liners in the span of thirty seconds. There’s no denying that the Moore era was fun. Stupid fun, but fun, nonetheless.

“A View to a Kill” (1985)


Today, Moore’s final outing is best remembered for the Duran Duran title song and, infamously, Moore being 57 when the movie was released. But it contains one of the most unique climaxes of the series, taking place atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Bond gets the upper hand in a brawl, and Max Zorin falls hundreds of feet into the water below. It’s a well-filmed death, as the camera follows Max from the top of the bridge all the way to the water in one unbroken shot. The dummy is rather obvious, but the fall is still quite exciting, and it provides a great sense of scale. It’s a suitably epic way for Christopher Walken to go out.

“Dr. No” (1962)

We’re going way back over 50 years to the very first Bond film for this entry. In this movie, Bond finds Dr. No trying to sabotage a manned space launch with his nuclear radio beam. It sounds kind of goofy, but his death is oh-so-memorable. After Bond pushes the reactor to its limit, a fistfight ensues, with No left to boil to death in the cooling vat. Another graphic death, this one is memorable not only because it was the very first villain death but also because of its sheer brutality.

“The World Is Not Enough” (1999)


This nineteenth Bond adventure sees him in Istanbul as he uncovers a scheme to raise the world’s petroleum prices via a nuclear meltdown. We’re sure villain Renard didn’t have this in mind when he stored nuclear rods aboard a submarine. After a fight, the nuclear rod impales Renard through the chest, finally killing the un-killable man. It’s a graphic death, but in typical Bond fashion, is not shown in a graphic way. We have to say, being impaled through your chest by a nuclear rod is one awesome way to go out.

“For Your Eyes Only” (1981)

This movie, about Bond trying to find a secret missile command system, has perhaps one of the most famous, or infamous, depending on who you ask, villain deaths in the Bond canon. After several years, Bond finally dispatches who we are led to believe is his arch nemesis, Blofeld, by picking up his wheelchair with a helicopter landing stick, then promptly dropping him down a smokestack, killing him once and for all. Regardless of its slight anticlimactic nature, Blofeld’s death is very memorable in its creativity and execution. No pun intended.

“Licence to Kill” (1989)

This Bond entry, arguably the darkest of the entire series, finds Bond not on a mission but on a personal vendetta to avenge the maiming of Felix Leiter and the death of his friend and fellow agent’s wife. He does this at the end of the film by setting villain Franz Sanchez on fire and letting him walk into a tanker, which promptly explodes. This is perhaps one of the darkest and most cold-blooded of all the Bond kills, but we love it for those very reasons. It’s a far cry from the Moore era, that’s for sure.

“Skyfall” (2012)

In this 21st century entry of the Bond franchise, Bond has to protect his mentor M as a former agent tries to take revenge on her. Unfortunately, Bond is not fast enough and M is fatally wounded, but vengeance is taken when Bond pitches a knife into Raoul Silva’s back. This death is memorable due to the sheer drama of the scene, as it comes on the heels of M’s stabbing and features Silva walking towards Bond after being stabbed. The Bond franchise has certainly matured since Craig took over, hasn’t it?

“The World Is Not Enough” (1999)

What can we say? There were some really memorable kills in this movie. In this scene, Bond and M are both held hostage, and after freeing M, Bond returns to take care of business. After Elektra disobeys Bond, he shoots her point blank in the chest, killing her without a blink or a hint of remorse. This kill again sees Bond at his coldest, as he kills an unarmed woman at point blank range. Yes, she deserved it, but it’s memorable due to the sheer shock effect of the kill.

“Goldfinger” (1964)

While Goldfinger’s death-out-of-the-airplane was memorable in and of itself, it is Odd Job’s demise that proves even more so to us. In this movie, Bond tries to protect Fort Knox against the thief Goldfinger, and in the finale, fights his henchman Oddjob. After a fistfight, the Korean manservant’s steel hat gets stuck in the vault’s bars. As he reaches for it, Bond touches a loose electrical wire to the steel bars and this causes Oddjob to cook like a steak. His fall forward is just icing on the cake.

“GoldenEye” (1995)

After a six-year hiatus, Bond returned with this film where he attempts to stop an arms syndicate from using the titular satellite to destroy London. While Xenia Onatopp’s death earlier in the film deserves a mention, it’s the killing of agent 006 that takes it. Alec Trevelyan’s death comes at the end of the movie, and it is a brutal one. After a fistfight, Bond coldly drops Trevelyan hundreds of feet down onto the floor of the satellite. After somehow surviving this, Trevelyan watches as the entire exploding cradle falls towards him, during which he screams out in fear as it crushes him to death. Damn.

“Live and Let Die” (1973)

In this first Roger Moore-era film, Bond tries to stop drug lord Mr. Big from distributing large amounts of heroin without cost. In the finale, 007 finally kills Big – who is actually immoral Caribbean Prime Minister Dr. Kananga - by putting a shark gun pellet into his mouth, causing the villain to literally blow up like a balloon, shoot out of the water, and explode upon impact with the ceiling. It’s every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, but we can’t help but be entertained by the sheer ridiculousness of the scene. Welcome to the infamous Moore era.

“Casino Royale” (2006)

The first in the Bond franchise with Daniel Craig-as-Bond sees our hero going up against millionaire Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game. At the film’s beginning, we see Bond in an office telling the story of how he killed his first target, Dryden’s underground contact Fisher, to Dryden himself. This he did by drowning him in a sink and finally shooting him. Immediately after the story ends, Bond coldly shoots the disloyal Mi6 section chief himself point blank. While not as creative as previous deaths, these ones have significant thematic importance, as they are what make Bond a 00 agent and therefore they’ve earned the top spot. You can’t get more important than that.