James Bond always completes his mission and gets his target but in the pre-Daniel Craig era, there was one villain 007 failed to kill: Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The 25th Bond film, No Time To Die, will conclude Daniel Craig’s incredibly successful run as James Bond - although, in 2015’s Spectre, Craig’s secret agent also failed to kill his greatest enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). But Bond’s story with Blofeld isn’t over yet and 007 did kill the villain’s henchman, Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), during Spectre’s spectacular train fight sequence.

Colorful supervillains are a staple of the James Bond franchise and their henchmen - and henchwomen - are every bit as memorable. In 1964’s Goldfinger, Auric Goldfinger’s (Gert Frobe) chauffeur Oddjob (Harold Sakata) was the true physical threat to Sean Connery’s 007 thanks to his martial arts skills and his ability to throw his razor-bladed hat with deadly accuracy. Roger Moore’s James Bond faced the diminutive henchman Nick Nack (Herve Villechaize) in 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun, but the best heavy Moore battled was Jaws (Richard Kiel). A silent giant with metallic teeth, Jaws proved so popular in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me that he returned (and turned good) in 1979’s Moonraker, making him the first henchman to appear in back-to-back Bond movies. And who could forget Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), the henchwoman of Alec Trevelyan AKA 006 (Sean Bean) who could crush men between her thighs, in 1995’s GoldenEye?

However, none of those devious criminals ever hurt James Bond (George Lazenby) the way Irma Bunt did because she murdered his wife Tracy Bond (Diana Rigg) at the conclusion of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. In fact, Bunt pulled the trigger during the drive-by shooting she and Blofeld (Telly Savalas) staged that killed 007’s new bride. After OHMSS, George Lazenby quit the role of James Bond, allowing Sean Connery to return in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, which began with 007 on a global manhunt for Blofeld (now played by Charles Gray). Bond seemingly got his revenge on Blofeld at the end of that film and, in the pre-title sequence of 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore’s 007 killed Blofeld once and for all and finally got vengeance for Tracy. But after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Irma Bunt was never mentioned again.

Irma Bunt is a rare instance of James Bond failing to use his license to kill on a villain - especially one who made it personal. After all, Bond has no qualms about killing henchwomen; he coldly dispatched SPECTRE’s Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) at the end of 1963’s From Russia With Love, for example. But there was never an explanation in the Bond movies for why Irma Bunt escaped Bond’s wrath for killing Tracy and Bunt’s crime was completely forgotten as 007’s vengeance became purely focused on Blofeld. Perhaps the real reason that Irma Bunt was written out of the Bond films was that the German actress who played her, Ilse Steppat, died shortly after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was released. Diamonds Are Forever also mostly ignored the events of OHMSS to focus on that film’s main story and Bond’s revenge for Tracy was merely implied.

In Ian Fleming’s novels, however, Bond did get his revenge on both Blofeld and Irma Bunt. The literary sequel to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was You Only Live Twice (whereas in the films, the release order is reversed and You Only Live Twice came out right before OHMSS). In the novel, Bond traveled to Japan to get revenge for Tracy and found Blofeld living in a castle posing as Dr. Shatterhand, with Bunt pretending to be his wife. Irma is believed to have died when Bond destroyed Blofeld’s castle in the book. But in the original James Bond movie continuity, 007 failed to exact revenge on the woman who pulled the trigger on Tracy so Irma Bunt will always be the villain who got away.

Next: Why Sean Connery’s Never Say Never Again Isn’t A REAL Bond Movie

  • Bond 25 Release Date: 2021-10-08