Quantum (James Bond)

Quantum is a fictional criminal organization, featured as the antagonists in the James Bond films Casino Royale, and its sequel, Quantum of Solace. The organization prefers to remain in the shadows, and is known to contract third parties to avoid implicating itself. It is connected to the highest circles of government and corporate power in the world; among its known leaders, two are major business magnates, one a well-connected environmental activist, and one a special adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Concept and creation

Quantum filled in for SMERSH from the Casino Royale novel, and subsequently became a sort of successor or revision to both SMERSH from the early novels and SPECTRE from the early years of the film series. Their name derives from the short story "Quantum of Solace" published in For Your Eyes Only, which was also used as the film's title. One of the organization's trademarks is that the leaders of Quantum mostly are chauffered around in black Jaguar XJs

Appearances

Main articles: Casino Royale (2006 film) and Quantum of Solace

In Casino Royale, Quantum is featured in the background but not named; it is represented only through its middleman, Mr. White. The film's main villain, Le Chiffre, is a private banker for international terrorists with connections to the organization. At the beginning of the movie, Mr. White introduces Le Chiffre to Steven Obanno, a feared leader in the Lord's Resistance Army, who entrusts him with his money. Le Chiffre then loses the money while playing the stock market, and again in a high stakes poker game with Bond; Mr. White hears of this and executes him towards the end of the movie, stating that "money's not as valuable to our organization as knowing who to trust." In reality, he executed Le Chiffre to allow Bond (the only person who knew the password to the money) to remain alive so they could steal it.

However, these events alert the American CIA and British Secret Intelligence Service to Quantum's existence. One of the organization's moles inside the British government, Vesper Lynd, falls in love with Bond and gives him information on Mr. White before committing suicide. At the end of the movie, Bond tracks down and captures Mr. White, shooting him in the leg and putting him in the trunk of his car. However, he quickly escapes at the beginning of the next movie with the help of a blackmailed MI6 agent who shoots up the room they're in, after warning M that "the first thing you should know about us is that we have people everywhere."

Quantum of Solace features Bond chasing Dominic Greene, one of Quantum's top leaders. Greene plans to create a coup d'état in Bolivia, installing his associate General Medrano as the country's new dictator, in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land on the Atacama desert, which will give Greene and Quantum complete control of the nation's water supply. The coup is thwarted just in time by Bond and Camille Montes of Bolivian Intelligence. Bond interrogates Greene and then abandons him in the middle of the desert; Greene is later found dead with two bullets in the back of his head, presumably killed by Quantum for his failure.

By the end of the movie, Bond and MI6 are aware of Quantum's name and finally have one of its members, Yusef Kabira, in custody; however, Mr. White is still at large and the organization has not been dismantled.

Known members and associates

See also: List of James Bond henchmen in Casino Royale and List of James Bond henchmen in Quantum of Solace

Bond's major Quantum antagonists are bolded.

• Dominic Greene – leader of Quantum's Tierra Project and a major player in the organization. Ran an environmentalist corporation called Greene Planet. Assassinated for betraying Quantum.
  • Edmund Slate – a freelance assassin hired by Greene to murder Camille Montes. Stabbed in the neck and then the leg with scissors by Bond.
  • Elvis – Greene's main subordinate. Blown up.
• Mr. White – Quantum's representative between Obanno and Le Chiffre. Still at large.
  • Le Chiffre – private banker to major terrorists who are introduced through Quantum, until Mr. White executes him. Shot in the head.
  • Adolph Gettler – a Quantum operative with a Jericho 941 and one darkened eyeglass lens sent to retrieve money coerced from Vesper Lynd; Mr. White's second-in-command. Shot in darkened lense with a nail gun by Bond once his security team is decimated in a colapsing venetian palazzo.
  • Craig Mitchell – a deep cover Quantum operative who deceived both M and Bond. Shot by Bond after a tense standoff in a Siena art gallery when Mitchell wasn't quick enough retrieving his SIG-Sauer P226.
  • "Tall Man" – Gettler's subordinate in Venice. Crushed by elevator.
• Yusef Kabira – a Quantum operative who functions as a honeypot to deceive foreign intelligence agents (first Vesper Lynd, then Corrine). Arrested.
• Guy Haines – Quantum leader among those identified by Tanner using Bond's photos from the Tosca opera; private advisor to the Prime Minister. Still at large.
• Gregor Karakov – Quantum leader among those identified by Tanner using Bond's photos from the Tosca opera; former minister, now owns most of the mines in Siberia. Still at large.
• Moishe Soref – Quantum leader among those identified by Tanner using Bond's photos from the Tosca opera; former Mossad, now telecom giant. Still at large.
• "Man with Gift Bag" – a Quantum member at the Tosca opera; Bond incapacitates him and uses his earpiece to spy on the organization's leadership.
• Numerous heavily armed henchmen and sleeper agents.

See also

• List of James Bond villains
• SPECTRE