1. John
Steed
The Avengers debuted in
1961, before the James Bond movies captured the world's attention. But back
then, the ultra-suave, bowler-hatted super-spy John Steed wasn't the main
character, and it was more a flashy police procedural than an espionage
adventure. It wasn't until a few years later, after 007 became an iconic
figure, that the popularity of The Avengers exploded and
John Steed made his transformation from rough-and-tumble cop to dashing
international man of mystery. Even then, it took the addition of science-fiction
elements—and a rotating cast of ass-kicking lovelies—to fully flesh
out what would become one of the longest-running spy shows of all time. As the
series went on, John Steed, played with deadly élan by Patrick Macnee, became
more Bond-like, and while co-stars Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg both went on
to spend time with 007, Rigg's catsuit-favoring Emma Peel became Steed's most
iconic sidekick.
2. Harry Palmer
Len Deighton introduced the
character-to-be-known-as-Harry-Palmer as the nameless protagonist of The
IPCRESS File in
1962. Conceived as the antithesis of Bond, he got a name and an unmistakable
look from Michael Caine in the 1965 film adaptation of IPCRESS. Working-class and
schlubby, Palmer takes no pleasure in his job, which mostly involves a lot of
tedious observational work broken up by outbursts of paranoia and violence. But
he still seems determined to make the best of it, taking pleasure in classical
music, and in one memorable scene, the most seductive meal canned vegetables
can create. Deighton wrote five more novels featuring his nameless spy, two of
which were turned into Palmer movies starring Caine, who reprised the role
again for a pair of TV movies in the '90s.
3. James Bond Junior
The protagonist of the 1967 novel 003 1/2: The
Adventures Of James Bond Junior isn't, as the name suggests, the son of James
Bond, but his nephew. Young Master Bond's adventures proved short-lived,
however, as the series never spawned any sequels. (It did inspire an early-'90s
cartoon series.) The most intriguing aspect of the project may be the true
identity of its author, "R.D. Mascott," whose real name has never been
revealed.
4.
Maxwell Smart
There had been a few isolated spoofs of James Bond
when ABC producer Daniel Melnick got the idea to put a super-spy parody on the
air, but his turned out to be the most lasting. His original intent, explained
to two relatively unknown network writers named Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was
to roll into one character the suave super-agent and the bumbling Inspector
Jacques Clouseau, both of whom were incredibly popular at the time. The part
was handed to a stand-up comic named Don Adams, whose hysterical, incompetent
self-confidence is what made Agent 86 so memorable. Watching the series today,
it holds up amazingly well, largely because it's such a pitch-perfect parody of
Bond—from the international settings to the colorful villains to the
crazy gadgets—that keeps with Brooks' intent to take the original 007
oeuvre and "stretch it half an inch." This year's remake failed to capture the
spirit of the original in spite of reprising some familiar elements.
5.
Austin Powers
Mike Myers' temporally displaced
super-spy/super-swinger became so ubiquitous—and his lines so endlessly
parroted by would-be funny guys—that it's easy to forget that Austin
Powers: International Man Of Mystery wasn't a huge hit when it was
released. And no wonder: It's a curiously timed comedy, coming a good 30 years
after James Bond parodies were anything close to culturally relevant. It also
came at a rotten time in Myers' career, following two huge duds, So I
Married An Axe Murderer and Wayne's World 2. It's hard to
believe the movie's simple concept took him a full four years to develop, even
given his alleged perfectionist tendencies, but it all paid off in the end: The
movie became a big hit on its video release, and its sequel, The Spy Who
Shagged Me, was a box-office monster. In one of those goofy show-business
ironies that crop up from time to time, it may have even helped rejuvenate the
James Bond franchise by sparking interest in the super-spy genre among younger
audiences.
6. Derek Flint
A sort of Austin Powers from the heart of the era
the Powers
movie sent up, Derek Flint served as the protagonist of 1966's Our Man Flint and its 1967 sequel In
Like Flint.
James Coburn (and his blinding teeth) played Flint, an agent of Z.O.W.I.E., and
like Get Smart,
the Flint films found humor in stretching the Bond formula just a little.
Coburn plays a marine biologist/art collector/karate expert/you get the joke by
now who lives with beautiful women devoted to his happiness and well-being,
when he isn't saving the world via amazing gadgets like a lighter with 82
different functions. Or 83, actually, if you count lighting a cigar.
7.
Sydney Bristow
Alias has all sorts
of hip modern elements, as one might expect from its impish creator, J.J.
Abrams. There's the tortured family drama, the betrayal of trust, the divided
loyalties, the suppressed romantic yearnings, and the mysterious Italian
prophet/inventor. Yeah, yeah. The real appeal of the show, and its
ass-kicking, name-taking heroine, Sydney Bristow, is that she's James Bond for
the Lost generation. The parallels are so obvious, they're painful: the
mildly disapproving head man, the mildly incomprehensible gadget man, the
shadowy enemy organization with impenetrable goals, the international
jet-setting, the barely maintained disguises, the elaborate pre-credit action
sequences: the whole show simply screams "Bond." Jennifer Garner spent a little
more time crying than 007 ever did, but at least Anna Espinosa was easier on
the eye than Jaws.
[pagebreak]
8.
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Both versions of Nick Fury were a
product of uncanny trend-spotting by Marvel Comics head honcho Stan Lee. First
introduced in 1963, in Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos #1, Fury was
intended to capitalize on the then-popular genre of World War II comics, and
his rambunctious band of fightin' dogfaces proved popular. But before long, Lee
sussed that super-spies would be the next big thing, and only a few months
later, Nick Fury showed up in modern-day Fantastic Four stories as
the top agent of the awkwardly named S.H.I.E.L.D., an espionage organization
under the command of the United Nations. Given a superhero-style outfit, and
tricked out with super-spy weapons and gadgets, the new Fury came across as a
mixture of James Bond and Captain America. Eventually becoming a fixture in the
Marvel Universe, Fury became the star of his own title, and was briefly written
and drawn by the legendary Jim Steranko in what's generally recognized as one
of the most artistically stunning accomplishments of the Silver Age. In the 21st
century, Fury was revamped as a Samuel L. Jackson look-alike for Marvel's
Ultimate line, which led in turn to Jackson playing Fury in Marvel films,
beginning with Iron Man. He's such an enduring character that he even
survived being played by David Hasselhoff in a TV movie.
9. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
From 1964 to 1968, Robert Vaughn and David
McCallum played international crime-fighters facing off against the
world-domination-craving agents of THRUSH, with the help of Bond-like gadgetry
and wall-sized computers. Like The
Wild, Wild West
and Mission: Impossible, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fetishized nonexistent technology, integrating its
fountain-pen communicators, pencil-thin air rifles, and triangular badges so
fully into the show that they became as important as the plots. U.N.C.L.E.'s biggest gimmick was
McCallum's character: a Russian fighting alongside the good guys. McCallum's
presence sent a message to Americans that bitter Cold War enemies could come
together to fight the death-ray-wielding super-crooks that were the world's real threat.
10. Steve Victor (a.k.a. The Man From O.R.G.Y.)
Swinging super-spy Steve Victor provided the
prolific writer Ted Mark with a meal ticket from 1965 to 1981 via adventures of
a slightly more explicit nature than Bond's in books like Dial "O" For
O.R.G.Y.
and The Square Root Of Sex. Victor starred in one movie adventure, The
Man From O.R.G.Y.,
in 1970. Robert Walker Jr. starred as Victor (alongside co-star Slappy White)
but the film wasn't a hit and has since fallen into obscurity, leaving behind
only an intriguing New York Times review that noted its "plump, often pretty girls"
with "piled-up hairdo's" and "frightened eyes."
11. Agent Cody Banks
Kiddie knockoffs of James Bond have restrictions
on gunplay, fast cars, and hot women, for obvious reasons, so that leaves a
junior CIA agent like Cody Banks with an excess of the other Bond trademark: high-tech
gadgets. On the heels of Spy Kids, Agent Cody Banks and its quickie sequel, Agent
Cody Banks: Destination London brought super-spy fantasy to 10-year-old boys at
a conspicuously modest price. Among Banks' toys: X-ray sunglasses (fitted with
a V-chip, to make them less fun), a holographic cell phone, a wristwatch with a
shock button, and a fleet of Segway scooters, which were already considered
lame from the moment they were unveiled as the next big thing. Star Frankie
Muniz has a bright, winning what-have-I-won expression, but he can only look so
cool posing on a snowboard on a bluescreen projection of a mountain.
12. and 13.
Tony Rome and Matt Helm
James Bond's weakness for booze, broads, and
brawling made him a kindred spirit with the testosterone-crazed overgrown lads
in the Rat Pack. So it isn't surprising that when Bond began cutting in on the
Rat Pack's playfully debauched territory, the fellas fought back with
Bond-style franchises of their own. 1967's Tony Rome introduced Frank Sinatra
as the title character, a two-fisted Miami P.I. who lives on a houseboat and
has a weakness for the fairer sex. It was followed a year later by Lady In
Cement.
Not to be outdone, Dean Martin lent his boozy
persona to four, count 'em, four adaptations of Donald Hamilton's ongoing
series about U.S. government counter-agent Matt Helm: 1966's The Silencers, 1966's Murderer's Row, 1967's The Ambushers, and 1969's The
Wrecking Crew. Rome
and Helm made for two of the coo-coo craziest, most ring-a-ding crime-fighters
ever to battle villains, enjoy a drink, or woo a dizzy dame.