Fanboys Anonymous

The title to the latest installment in the James Bond franchise has been revealed today: SPECTRE.


The 24th film will star Daniel Craig in his fourth outing as agent 007 with returning Skyfall director Sam Mendes helming the movie once more.

The featured car in the film will be an Aston Martin DB10.

No official announcements were made with regard who will perform the main title song, although current rumors point to British singer Sam Smith as a possible frontrunner for the job. Thomas Newman is returning for the score. (One of my only disappointments, as I prefer David Arnold.)

Regarding the cast, almost everyone from Skyfall is returning as expected, such as Ben Whishaw as Q, Ralph Fiennes as M, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, and Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner. Our new cast members are as follows:

• Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann
• Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra
• Andrew Scott as Denbigh
• Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx
• Christoph Waltz as Oberhauser (but we'll get to that in a moment).

Fans of the Bond franchise should not only be delighted with the title of the film, but they should also know what's going on here with the story and the cast. For newer fans who are not as familiar with the title, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is the primary evil organization that 007 has battled numerous times, spanning multiple films. They are led by "Number 1," also known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, whom we can assume will be Christoph Waltz's character, even though more material has been referencing him as Oberhauser, so it remains to be seen.

Supporting him will be Bautista's Hinx character, the big, physically threatening henchman. This is yet another callback to the older elements of the series, where villains such as Jaws and Oddjob were commonplace.

Andrew Scott's character Denbigh isn't confirmed to be on Bond's side or not, but it's more than possible that he will be the primary villain of the piece, with Waltz's Blofeld pulling the strings in the background, similar to how he carried himself in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Diamonds Are Forever before being killed off in the opening credits of For Your Eyes Only.

As far as our new ladies go, more often than not, there is one villainous woman and one on Bond's side. Léa Seydoux would obviously be better suited for the adversarial femme fatale, as she has already proven herself capable of such a role with her performance in Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol. Monica Bellucci, therefore, is likely the Bond girl we can assume will find herself in bed with Bond by the end of the movie.

I'm personally pumped about this in more ways than one. I previously expressed my interest in the return of this criminal organization being led by Christoph Waltz, so you can read my opinions about that in this previous post.