Fan Theories Wiki
Register
Advertisement

James Bond is a Codename

The Gist of It

Not all fiction has to exist in the same continuity. James Bond has been a 30-something year old spy in the cold war-era, fighting Russians, and a 30-something year old spy in modern times, protecting the world from post-9/11 terrorism. However, this theory states that there is a canon timeline where most of the James Bond films exist in, and that "James Bond - 007" is simply not just a name, but a codename given to special agents each generation.

There are currently six James Bond canons: Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, and Craig. One can argue that some of the actors are playing the same canon character, but, besides physical appearance, there are some clear differences in personality and events between the six canons.

James_Bond_as_a_Time_Lord,_Connery_to_Lazenby_Regeneration

James Bond as a Time Lord, Connery to Lazenby Regeneration

Evidence

BOND_IS_A_TIMELORD!!!!!

BOND IS A TIMELORD!!!!!

Craig's Bond is a reboot of the franchise. However, "M" is played by Judi Dench, who played the same role during the previous Brosnan-era. In the Brosnan films, "M" refers to as James Bond as a Cold War relic and chasitses him for it, whereas Craig-era "M" says how she misses the Cold War. Going by that this "M" is the same person, it explains how James Bond can remain ageless. Going from Brosnan-era to Craig-era, Craig is eleven years younger, whereas "M" maintains a constant growth.

Counter-Evidence

This theory is notorious for being hated by many fans of the James Bond crowd. They feel like it resulted from people digging too deep, and giving James Bond a meaning that's clearly not there. The people that tried to prove this theory did not manage to try and refute evidence against it. Different Bonds have links to each other.

  • George Lazenby still has Sean Connery-era gadgets, such as the watch.
  • In the opening of 1981's For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore visits the grave site of Tracy Bond, Lazenby's wife.
    • Furthermore, if "James Bond" is a codename, why does Tracy have a last name "Bond" on her gravestone?
  • Similarly, Timothy Dalton's Bond is known by Felix Leiter to have an abrupt marriage; Leiter explains this to his wife in the opening of the 1989 film Licence to Kill.
    • Additionally in this film, Dalton was still called "James Bond" after he went rogue, and they never set a replacement "James Bond" for him.
  • Pierce Brosnan's Bond references the death of his wife in the 1999 film The World is Not Enough.
  • Moore was recognized by a friend from his Cambridge days (set way before the first film in 1962, Dr. No).
  • Brosnan says to Elektra "The world is not enough" is the Bond family's motto (in the 1999 film of the same name, The World is Not Enough); this was first revealed in the 1969 film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which starred Lazenby (and the motto appears in its Latin, "Orbis non sufficit").

Conclusion

Some will argue that Judi Dench was cast as "M" for retaining the novelty of the character and is supposed to be a completely new charcter from the Brosnan-era.

However, Craig is the only Bond that is explicitly new, and if Dench's "M" is confirmed to be the same character in both eras, then the theory could be right, with there being at least two Bonds.

Advertisement