Who do you think is the best 'Dark/Anti-Bond'
I started this discussion in the regular James Bond IMDB board as well, but since it seems like some different users use either board I thought I'd post this discussion here as well to geth the widest range of answers:
Red Grant ("From Russia With Love"): Like Bond he is a top field agent for his respective agency who appears to be his equal in skill, that group naturally being MI6's (in the films) staunch rival SPECTRE. Sort of a representation if what if Bond played for the other team. Unlike the rest of the villains on this list, he also correlates with Bond in how he isn't his own boss. The others are either freelance or run their own organizations. Grant like Bond is the loyal blunt instrument to his respective organization. And in that light he in the Bond canon is actually the only one of these characters generally considered a "Bond Henchman" rather than a "Bond Villain" seeing as at the end of the day he was neither the man in charge of the villainous plot or the main antagonist of the film. Like Bond he also seems to use gadgets in his arsenal, or at least one primarily gadget (the wrist cable device that becomes his undoing).
In Short: Grant is like Bond if he fought as an agent for the other side. (An idea proposed to him in "Dr. No" interestingly enough)
Francisco Scaramanga ("The Man With The Golden Gun"): As he says in the film, he and Bond are two of a kind given that they're two of the worlds greatest professional killers. Both also recieved training from a professional espionage organization, which in Scaramanga's case was the KGB. However Scaramanga doesn't serve a nation like Bond does as he is out for himself, and also embraces and relishes his killer instinct. Something Scaramanga says Bond had done as well, and even wants him to admit it. Bond refuses to do so, claiming that he only kills those who themselves are killers in the service of his nation, while it doesn't matter for Scaramanga as long as he's rewarded for it. He also like Bond is naturally a fan of the ladies, and even keeps a mistress with him who he controls through intimidation. Sex and violence are two of Bond's biggest things, and Scaramanga in the film directly links them. Consistently doing one right before each of his missions to heighten his senses for the other. And also like Bond he acts with a suave and sophisticated demeanor.
In Short: Scaramanga is like Bond if he decided to become freelance and out for himself whilst embracing the killer side of him.
Alec Trevelyan ("GoldenEye"): Like Bond he was one of MI6's greatest agents, and even was one of Bond's closest friends. And as Trevelyan himself points out, both of them were orphans. And that naturally had a great impact on them for the rest of their lives and set them down their ultimate paths. Fighting together against the soviets, toppling dictators and regimes, etc. And matching him in terms of skill. However where they differ is how they deal with time and change. Both were as M put it "sexist misogynist dinosaurs" and "relics of the cold war". While Bond is intrinsically an archaic character, he is shown to adapt greater than Trevelyan. Though the older films perhaps didn't vilify the Soviets quite as much as this film makes it sound like they did, but according to the film he's willing to work with his old rivals and enemies including the likes of former KGB rival Valentin Zukovsky. Trevelyan on the other hand is motivated by a wrong done upon his people from decades beforehand, and also felt betrayed by the government for allowing everything they had fought for to be made void politically speaking with how the nations of the world became set up. Not to mention he still goes with the "kiss her until she likes it" routine that Connery's Bond was shown doing in the earlier films in the train scene with Natalya, again harkening back to a mindset of the past. While Bond at the core hasn't changed, he's adapted. Trevelyan refuses to and had become further jaded and disillusioned by change in the political climate since he feels everything he fought for in MI6 "was for nothing". He leaves and becomes his own boss with his Janus organization that he uses to enact his own diabolical schemes rather than remaining a subordinate agent like Bond.
In Short: Trevelyan is like Bond if he remained stuck in the past and became jaded and bitter because of the changing world and political climate surrounding him and thus went out for himself.
Raoul Silva ("Skyfall"): The story of "Skyfall" is a very personal one that surrounds a core trio of character. Bond, Silva, and M. Both having seen the latter as a surrogate mother-figure. Both also being two of her best agents during their service for MI6. But there eventually comes a point where M betrays the two of them in the line of duty in morally grey situations where a harsh judgment call is to be made. With Silva it's when she handed him over to the Chinese when she figured out he was hacking them and thus going beyond his jurisdiction in order to help free a group of other captive agents as well as secure the peaceful transition of Hong Kong whilst she ordered a dangerous unclean shot to be taken at an enemy he was fighting and not giving him the chance to complete the mission himself. Leading to him almost dying from being shot, and falling off a bridge. Bond is angry enough to leave MI6 but eventually his conscience brings him back and he winds up revealing he can forgive M because he can understand the position she was in. Silva does not have the ability to forgive her, and not only becomes angry but turns both vindictive and violent. Another theme of the film deals with the Old Ways vs the New Ways. As said before Bond is an archaic character, and naturally doesn't completely jive perfectly with the computer age. Silva however completely embraces it, and becomes a great computer wiz/hacker to the point that he put too much faith in and grew too dependent on modern technology, partiuclarly the computer. Feeling confident enough in that he can do almost anything from there whilst rarely going out into the field (though he is definitely no pushover whilst out in the field), while Bond is thematically seeking out to prove how field agents like him are still relevant. And in the end Bond manages to beat Silva after he pulls him out of his primary element and into a straight on confrontation akin to the old days.
In Short: Silva is like Bond if he became too invested in and dependent on technology like computers and was also unwilling to forgive for a wrong done upon him stemming from a morally gey decision made for the greater good whislt in the line of duty.
So with this thread the main idea is mainly about who do you think works the best thematically as Bond's "Shadow" as it were, or perhaps even rank/discuss each of them, and if you want to go there who you think is the best character overall, etc. Do you think there's a character I'm missing from this list who fits the same villain archetype? Are there any character parallels I'm missing between any of these villains and Bond? I'm just curious as I haven't seen much talk about this concept before and I think it's an interesting one given all the choices there are.