Paddy Considine
The Villain: Down-to-earth bloke with the darkest of dark sides: see Dead Man's Shoes , My Summer of Love , etc. Also a Bourne veteran, albeit cast against type as a Guardian journalist.
Bond Backstory: Sociopathic braniac who has invented a super-laser and wants revenge on the Establishment who tried to stymie his work.
Bond Villain Quirk: He whistles the Tetris theme while he's kicking people's heads in.
Sergi Lopez
The Villain: Veteran Spaniard best-known for his sadistic fascist in Pan's Labyrinth and his amoral people-trafficker in Dirty Pretty Things .
Bond Backstory: A classical musician who went mad after a 00-agent actually shot off his hand during a shoot-out, and now vows personal vengeance against the British.
Bond Villain Quirk: He still plays the violin, with a metal bow he had surgically attached instead of a hand.
Ryan Gosling
The Villain: The indie purist's choice of star - Half Nelson , Blue Valentine - who swore he'd never do a major Hollywood blockbuster. But the Bond films are sort of British, so surely that counts as indie, eh, Ryan?
Bond Backstory: Militant eco-warrior so sickened by mankind's lack of respect for the Earth that he decides to pull the plug for good by blowing up the polar ice caps.
Bond Villain Quirk: He's built an undersea zoo to save the animals.
Edgar Ramirez
The Villain: Rising Venezuelan star who went head-to-head with Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum before anchoring all five hours of Carlos with strutting confidence.
Bond Backstory: A ex-Quantum henchman who has stolen valuable secrets and gone rogue to head up his own, even more dastardly off-shoot.
Bond Villain Quirk: He uses only diamond bullets.
Ben Mendelsohn
The Villain: Acclaimed Aussie actor - yes, he was in Baz Luhrmann's Australia - about to become one of 2011's hottest breakout stars thanks to cops 'n' crims thriller Animal Kingdom .
Bond Backstory: A skewed take on Wikileaks - a global whistleblower intent on provoking World War Three via leaked documents.
Bond Villain Quirk: He buries his enemies alive with all of the files he's kept on their dodgy dealings.
Frank Langella
The Villain: Veteran character actor and one-time Dracula who has entered a late period of stardom thanks to the creepy-crawly duo of The Box and Frost/Nixon .
Bond Backstory: Exiled dictator whose controversial arrival in London, using diplomatic immunity, is a pretext for blowing up Parliament.
Bond Villain Quirk: His henchman wears a spiked gimp suit.
Naomi Watts
The Villain: Aussie with leftfield tastes - Mulholland Dr. , 21 Grams - but not averse to blockbusters if the project is right ( King Kong ). Too sharp to be wasted as a Bond girl.
Bond Backstory: Folksy populist politician whose ditzy, gaffe-strewn exterior hides a ruthless agenda to stem the tide of progress by provoking global war against America.
Bond Villain Quirk: Warpaint.
Ricardo Darin
The Villain: Argentinian star of Nine Queens and The Secret In Their Eyes , who is frankly long overdue a Bardem-style crossover to English language movies.
Bond Backstory: A crooked lawyer who gets dangerous killers acquitted on false evidence and then forces them to work for him.
Bond Villain Quirk: He suffocates witnesses using his lawyer's wig.
Toby Kebbell
The Villain: An indie sensation in Dead Man's Shoes and Control , before Rockunrolla' s swaggering Britpop star got him noticed by Hollywood for sidekick duties in Prince of Persia .
Bond Backstory: A Derren Brown-style illusionist sending coded messages via his Twitter feed to turn the world's population into anarchists.
Bond Villain Quirk: He's painfully weak as a result of persuading everybody else to do his bidding.
Sad Taghmaoui
The Villain: Vincent Cassel's La Haine co-star is Hollywood's go-to guy for nuanced Arabic villainy ( Three Kings , Vantage Point ) but has never had a true leading role.
Bond Backstory: A Middle East terrorist whose bombing campaign inadvertently thwarts Quantum's own plans, making him a target for 007 and Quantum.
Bond Villain Quirk: Mini-bombs disguised as candy.
