James Bond is a changed man in his latest film – but No Time To Die is already leaving some people shaken and stirred.
The spy has ditched sexism and is more socially-aware than ever, yet his nemesis still carries the scars of a classic Bond baddie.
Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek plays the pock-marked villain Safin – and some believe that he is reinforcing negative stereotypes about people with facial disfigurements.
TV’s David Baddiel wrote online: “I note the trailer keen to show off new levels of diversity for Bond, all good.
“But one thing that will never change in this kind of storytelling is: people with facial scarring – people who do not conform to conventional facial attractiveness – are villains.”
Another said: “Please stop using scars to denote so many of your villains. Yours, a person with scars.”
Many Bond baddies have been disfigured.
In 1967, Donald Pleasence’s Blofeld in You Only Live Twice had huge scar down his forehead and past his eye.
Le Chiffre, played by Mads Mikkelsen in 2006’s Casino Royale, wept blood and Skyfall’s Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem in 2012, was also disfigured.
But it is not just the villain’s faces that are different.
In 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun, Christopher Lee played Scaramanga who had three nipples.
No Time To Die is Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond and the spy’s 25th movie.
Feminist comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge was drafted in to work on the script and the film has strong female characters.
Lea Seydoux returns as Dr Swann, Bond’s love interest in his last film Spectre, and Ana de Armas is CIA agent Paloma.
There is even the first black 00 agent, played by Lashana Lynch.
Fleabag creator Waller-Bridge was personally approached by Craig to add humour to the script and help make Bond more relevant in the #MeToo era.
No Time To Die’s release has been pushed back to November.
