If James Bond is meant to be the best secret agent in the world, how come all the bad guys in the World seem to know who he is?
Last Updated: 19.06.2025 00:41
Being recognized for your work also makes you feel good, so why not go all the way in by making James Bond known and feared by evil-doers around the world? Isn’t it great to be feared by villains? Let’s face it men (and boys), can you honestly say that you never, not even once, fantasize the Bond life? I’m not going to pretend that I never.
Other people here are suggesting that “he’s an assassin, so he doesn’t have to disguise himself”. That doesn’t mean he has to be very flashy about his lifestyle or identity either. You don’t see many military snipers going out of their way to disclose who they are when they’re in service (afterwards that’s a different story).
The easiest explanation is the out-of-universe one: James Bond was created as the ultimate male fantasy character. A badass operative who goes around the world to exotic locations, get to know (in both sense) sexy women, and fight evil up close and personal. He was created in post-World War 2 Britain where the conditions were rather dreary, so he was an escape from reality and as such was never meant to be realistic.