The Bond Villains: Francisco Scaramanga

FRANCISCO SCARAMANGA

When a golden bullet with James Bonds code number 007 engraved in it is received by MI6 in London, “M” assigns Bond to find the man who sent the intimidating object: Francisco Scaramanga, a highly skilled assassin who charges one million dollars per kill. His signature weapon is a specially designed Golden Gun that he can assemble from a fountain pen (the barrel), cigarette lighter (the bullet chamber), cigarette case (the handle) and cuff link (the trigger).

Beside killing James Bond, whom he considers to be an equal to him, Scaramanga´s evil scheme is to get his hands on the Solex Agitator, a device used in solar power plants which could end the energy crisis. Scaramanga assassinates the British scientist Dan Gibson who invented the Solex as well as crime lord Hai Fat who hired him for the kill. From his remote private island somewhere off the coast of south-eastern China, Scaramanga tries to sell off the acquired technology to the highest bidder – with a powerful solar beam cannon as an added bonus.

Francisco Scaramanga is one of the most recognizable villains of the James Bond franchise right after Auric Goldfinger, Emilio Largo and Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He also has one of the most iconic weapons ever featured in the history of 007: the Golden Gun. As many other villains had some form of anatomic abnormality, Scaramanga has a “superfluous areola” – a third nipple. Bond uses this information and a third nipple made by “Q” to impersonate Scaramanga when he meets Hai Fat. Killing for money has undoubtedly made Scaramange an incredibly rich man – he owns a private island as well as a junk. Different from fellow villains, he doesn´t employ a huge amount of minions to work for him. His manservant Nick Nack is in charge of business affairs, mistress Andrea Anders runs errands and a technician named Kra maintains the solar power plant on Scaramangas island.

“You see, Mr Bond, like all great artists I want to create one indisputable masterpiece: the death of 007.” – Francisco Scaramanga

In many ways, the character of Scaramanga is one of the best developed of the James Bond series. While he appears as mysterious and unpredictable at first, he rapidly turns into a frightening character when he proposes a duel between him and Bond. He is a confident man with an extravagant passion for killing who wouldn´t have finished 007 off cowardly. In the end, he paid with his own life for challenging James Bond.

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