Typically, spy movies have very capable protagonists, renowned for their mental and/or physical capabilities. Movies about espionage will usually put these central characters in incredibly tense and difficult situations, with the thrills coming thick and fast through seeing how they save the day or simply survive whatever they've been thrown into. With capable heroes, however, comes the need for capable villains to match them.
The following characters all serve such a purpose well within the following movies, some of which stretch the definition of "spy movie," more so being about espionage, conspiracies, political issues, or paranoia. Naturally, there will be a good many James Bond villains featured here, but only a handful, in the interest of keeping things a little more varied overall while also acknowledging that there's more to the spy genre than the sort of action/adventure elements foregrounded in that series.
10 Phillip Vandamm 'North by Northwest' (1959)
Alfred Hitchcock directed his fair share of spy-related movies, with North by Northwest being one of his best... and, honestly, just being one of his greatest works in general. The central character is an advertising executive pulled into a complex series of events and forced to go on the run after he's mistaken for a spy and thereby targeted by some very shady people.
Said shady people are headed by another spy named Phillip Vandamm, who's played by the always great James Mason. Owing to North by Northwest being generally light-hearted and not as dark as some of the other Hitchcock films made during the end of the director's career, Vandamm isn't as menacing or ruthless as some other spy movie villains, but he fits this kind of story well, and Mason's more than up for excelling in the role.
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Release Date December 18, 1959 Director Alfred Hitchcock Cast Cary Grant , Eva Marie Saint , James Mason , Jessie Royce Landis , Leo G. Carroll , Josephine Hutchinson Runtime 136 minutes 9 Alexander Pierce 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (2014) Close
Sure, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is first and foremost a pretty great superhero movie, but it also fits within the spy genre quite neatly, especially during its first two acts. Paranoia and conspiracies play a major part in the narrative here, with the titular Captain America forced to confront some harsh truths about S.H.I.E.L.D., the spy agency he'd been working for as an agent.
It's a movie that tries to capture the kind of tension found in conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s, with the casting of Robert Redford - who appeared in paranoia-heavy movies like All the President's Men and Three Days of the Condor - helping further that feel. Redford's surprisingly great in a rare villainous role here, proving both charming, at least at first, and then quietly menacing once the nature of his character, Alexander Pierce, becomes more apparent.
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Release Date April 4, 2014 Director Anthony Russo , Joe Russo , Joss Whedon Cast Chris Evans , Samuel L. Jackson , Scarlett Johansson , Robert Redford , Sebastian Stan , Anthony Mackie Runtime 136 minutes 8 Dr. Evil 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery' (1997)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a very silly spoof of spy movies, particularly the early entries in the James Bond series, but that doesn't mean that it's unclassifiable as a spy movie itself. Indeed, the titular character is a comically capable and purportedly irresistible spy/lady's man, and his nemesis is the more than appropriately named Dr. Evil.
And it's just too hard to go past someone named Dr. Evil, because how much more evil can you get? Mike Myers is perhaps at his best here, in the first movie, focusing on just playing Austin and Dr. Evil, whereas the sequels saw him taking on some cruder and more disgusting characters. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is still crude and silly, but it feels the most direct of the bunch when it comes to parodying spy movies, and yes, for as goofy as it is, Dr. Evil is still a super memorable antagonist.
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Release Date May 2, 1997 Director Jay Roach Cast Mike Myers , Elizabeth Hurley , Michael York , Mimi Rogers , Robert Wagner , Seth Green , Fabiana Udenio , Mindy Sterling Runtime 89 Minutes 7 Raoul Silva 'Skyfall' (2012)
Going from a James Bond spoof to an actual James Bond movie now, Skyfall sits right in the middle of Daniel Craig's run as 007. Across five movies, Craig's Bond had some formidable villains to contend with, but perhaps the best of the bunch was Raoul Silva from Skyfall, in large part due to the fact that he was played by Javier Bardem, who's frequently reliable in antagonist roles.
This is probably best demonstrated by his terrifying performance in No Country for Old Men, but that's not a spy movie... and, in any event, Silva's a close second. He's twisted and compelling in all the best ways, and one gets the sense that he inflicts some lasting damage on 007, particularly so far as his psychological well-being is concerned.
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Release Date October 25, 2012 Director Sam Mendes Cast Daniel Craig , judi dench , Javier Bardem , Ralph Fiennes , Naomie Harris , Berenice Marlohe Runtime 143 6 Owen Davian 'Mission: Impossible III' (2006)
The Mission: Impossible series seems most concerned with its hero, Ethan Hunt, and the increasingly dramatic things his actor, Tom Cruise, does as far as stunts are concerned. And it is Cruise's series, by and large... though the one time he was potentially upstaged by another actor came in Mission: Impossible III, an otherwise decent spy film that was considerably elevated by Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance.
The other films in the series haven't had bad villains, by any means, but Hoffman stands out as the most menacing and memorable, and does so in a film that's otherwise not quite as impressive as most of the other ones. There's a real intensity to Owen Davian as a character that adds a considerable amount of dread to the usual spy movie fun, and it's yet another film featuring Hoffman where the late actor stole every scene he was in.
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Release Date May 5, 2006 Director J.J. Abrams Cast Tom Cruise , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Ving Rhames , Billy Crudup , Michelle Monaghan , Jonathan Rhys Meyers , Keri Russell , Maggie Q Runtime 126 minutes 5 Harry Lime 'The Third Man' (1949)
While The Third Man doesn't neatly fit into the confines of what a traditional spy movie might be, it does certainly have characteristics associated with films of such a genre. The entire thing is heavy on mystery, paranoia, and potential conspiracies, following a man as he uncovers various unexpected truths about a friend of his who's seemingly dead.
Sorry to spoil a 75-year-old movie, but it turns out this friend isn't dead. However, since he's played by Orson Welles in what's now one of his best-known roles, most will likely know certain things about Harry Lime before the movie's big reveal. But there is a good deal more to The Third Man, and the twisted past of Welles's character, all of which still pack a punch all these decades later, making it undoubtedly one of the finest films of the 1940s.
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Director Carol Reed Cast Orson Welles , Joseph Cotten , Alida Valli , Trevor Howard , Paul Hörbiger Runtime 93 Minutes 4 Auric Goldfinger 'Goldfinger' (1964)
Jumping back almost half a century from the aforementioned Skyfall, Goldfinger is often considered one of the very best James Bond movies, if not the best one in the series' lengthy run. Sure, Sean Connery at his best as 007 is a big draw, but Goldfinger is also home to one of the best of the 007 villains - and the film's title character, in effect - Auric Goldfinger.
His plan in Goldfinger involves trying to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy by targeting Fort Knox, a complex and ambitious scheme he almost succeeds in pulling off. If that's not enough, he's also not shy about getting his hands dirty and killing various people if he has to (or just wants to, really), and also drops some immortal dialogue, including the famed, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
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Release Date September 20, 1964 Director Guy Hamilton Cast Sean Connery , Honor Blackman , Gert Fröbe , Shirley Eaton , Tania Mallet , Harold Sakata Runtime 112 3 Dr. Christian Szell 'Marathon Man' (1976)
Marathon Man is tough and gritty like many great 1970s thrillers, though, like The Third Man, it's more loosely in step with the spy genre than directly associated with it in the same way the James Bond movies are, for example. The main character is a Ph.D. candidate who's very much not a spy, but gets wrapped up in a plot that certainly feels spy-adjacent.
Dustin Hoffman's typically good in the lead role, but Marathon Man is particularly memorable because of Laurence Olivier in an all-time great villain role, playing a Nazi war criminal named Dr. Christian Szell. The most infamous scene in the film involves dental-related torture, but even without this part, Szell is incredibly menacing throughout. Olivier makes a huge impression and adds immensely to the feeling of tension that's palpable all through Marathon Man.
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Release Date October 8, 1976 Director John Schlesinger Cast Dustin Hoffman , Laurence Olivier , Roy Scheider , William Devane , Marthe Keller , Fritz Weaver Runtime 125 minutes Main Genre Thriller 2 Mrs. Eleanor Iselin 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962)
As previous examples might've demonstrated, spy movies are typically male-dominated, with heroes often being men - for better or worse - and their villains often being of the same gender, too. That makes The Manchurian Candidate (released the same year as the first James Bond movie) stand out, because the central villain ends up being played by the usually kindly and endearing Angela Lansbury.
She plays the surprisingly ruthless Mrs. Eleanor Iselin, the mother of one of The Manchurian Candidate's central characters who ends up using her son to do some pretty terrible things. It still feels subversive having a character like this ultimately feel as menacing and threatening as Iselin is here, but it's a testament to The Manchurian Candidate's strengths as a thriller - as well as Lansbury's performance - that it ends up working wonders.
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Release Date October 24, 1962 Director John Frankenheimer Cast Frank Sinatra , Janet Leigh , Angela Lansbury , Henry Silva Runtime 126 minutes 1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld The 'James Bond' series
It all comes back to James Bond whenever spy movies are being considered, doesn't it? And there's no villain in the history of the series quite as iconic as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who's a continually recurring antagonist and 007's nemesis. He's appeared in a ton of James Bond movies, starting as far back as 1963's From Russia with Love, technically speaking (though that was more of a cameo).
Blofeld gets to shine in a more central role in You Only Live Twice, where he's played by Donald Pleasence. Pleasence is far from the only great actor to play Blofeld, given Max von Sydow (Never Say Never Again), Telly Savalas (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and Christoph Waltz (in Spectre and No Time to Die) have, too. He's a continually reliable thorn in Bond's side, and always bad news whenever he shows up... not to mention, he also clearly inspired the aforementioned character of Dr. Evil.
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Release Date June 13, 1967 Director Lewis Gilbert Cast Sean Connery , Akiko Wakabayashi , Mie Hama , Tetsurô Tanba , Teru Shimada , Karin Dor Runtime 117
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