Why Do People Think Blofeld is Coming Back?

edited October 2013 in Bond 26 & Beyond Posts: 1,092
I'm really curious as to why so many people here consider this is a done deal or even a possibility. Did I miss something? How do we even know he exists? SMERSH doesn't. The Cold War has been over for decades and this is not retro Bond. SPECTRE has pretty much been replaced by Quantum so we don't know that they even exist. I know this isn't necessarily an alternate universe here with the rebooted timeline, but having Blofeld be involved... it doesn't seem to me like it will ever happen or should ever happen.

Make a case for his inclusion.
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Comments

  • Posts: 1,052
    The only case I can really make, following on from the hair thread really is that it would make a nice change to see someone in a Bond film who isn't wearing a wig.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    John Logan's comment really set this thing off into motion and since then it hasn't died down. A shame really, as I too wish those people would let it go.
  • Posts: 14,797
    Unlike SMERSH, Blofeld is not as closely identified with the Cold War. (That said even SMERSH could be modernized, but this is another debate). I think the main reason is the Logan comment, added to this the fact that they not only reintroduced Q and Moneypenny, but they also brought back the old office of M and the DB5. It is enough to have people speculate.

    For the record I don't think he's coming back, I also agree that Quantum should be used first, that said I wouldn't rule it out.
  • Posts: 2,400
    The only case I can really make, following on from the hair thread really is that it would make a nice change to see someone in a Bond film who isn't wearing a wig.

    Oh god my sides!
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Because we want Blofeld and SPECTRE back. That's the only real argument I can see.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    edited October 2013 Posts: 987
    Blofeld is James Bond's Moriarty, at some stage in the future he will return, and it's not all just wishful fan thinking. EON now own (or at least have direct access to) the rights to both Blofeld and SPECTRE and Kevin McClory is not around to cause trouble. Maybe this won't happen for a while as we have a criminal organisation substitute in QUANTUM and some recent successfully written villains, but at some stage we will be in another rut like the Brosnan era where the scriptwriters struggled to find new and interesting enemies, when this does happen, I foresee that it would be tempting to reintroduce Blofeld. After all every Bond film in recent years has had a hook in the plot to get people into the cinema, now that Bond's development has been fully explored what greater hook could there be than a Blofeld origin story?
    Of course this is sometime off and everything we now hear or read regarding it is pure speculation, but Babs and MGW won't be oblivious to the attention and interest in this character and I would happily put money on the return, at some date, of Ernst Stavro.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Nobody watched a Bond movie for Blofeld. Besides 75% of today's audience wouldn't know who Blofeld is. So I say. Stick with Quantum and create a new original villain.

    Blofeld is just a relic now.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    Posts: 987
    Murdock wrote:
    Nobody watched a Bond movie for Blofeld. Besides 75% of today's audience wouldn't know who Blofeld is. So I say. Stick with Quantum and create a new original villain.

    Blofeld is just a relic now.

    So was the Aston Martin DB5, but how the general public cheered when it appeared in every cinema screening of SF that I went to, 60's nostalgia is a powerful force in selling these films and Blofeld is very much an icon of that era.

  • Posts: 6,396
    Murdock wrote:
    Nobody watched a Bond movie for Blofeld. Besides 75% of today's audience wouldn't know who Blofeld is. So I say. Stick with Quantum and create a new original villain.

    Blofeld is just a relic now.

    You could apply the same logic to General Zod. Most of the movie going public identify Lex Luthor being the main villain in Superman but Zod was very well received by audiences in Man of Steel.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Murdock wrote:
    Nobody watched a Bond movie for Blofeld. Besides 75% of today's audience wouldn't know who Blofeld is. So I say. Stick with Quantum and create a new original villain.

    Blofeld is just a relic now.

    You could apply the same logic to General Zod. Most of the movie going public identify Lex Luthor being the main villain in Superman but Zod was very well received by audiences in Man of Steel.

    But only Bond and his supporting characters were rebooted. Not his villains. That's like saying. Bond 24 is going to be Dr No 2. or someone said in another thread that since DAD was the 40th anniversary film it would be like, Dr No coming back from the dead and make Graves the henchmen. It wouldn't work out too well.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    I'm looking forward to people halting talking about it. Why would we went a return of SMERH or Blofeld when we have a perfectly capable terrorist group with Quantum, and we haven't even met the head of the group? Leave Blofeld alone. You know if you ended up getting it in an upcoming Bond film, you'd say "Wait, how did Blofeld return?!"

    Let's just introduce a new head to Quantum and finish out/continue the storyline so Craig has another shot at them.
  • Posts: 14,797
    Murdock wrote:
    Murdock wrote:
    Nobody watched a Bond movie for Blofeld. Besides 75% of today's audience wouldn't know who Blofeld is. So I say. Stick with Quantum and create a new original villain.

    Blofeld is just a relic now.

    You could apply the same logic to General Zod. Most of the movie going public identify Lex Luthor being the main villain in Superman but Zod was very well received by audiences in Man of Steel.

    But only Bond and his supporting characters were rebooted. Not his villains. That's like saying. Bond 24 is going to be Dr No 2. or someone said in another thread that since DAD was the 40th anniversary film it would be like, Dr No coming back from the dead and make Graves the henchmen. It wouldn't work out too well.

    Not his villains yet. If there is one villain that needs a reboot it is Blofeld. And the fact that the character from the source material has not been properly adapted yet (only fragments of the movies' Blofeld were akin and worthy to the novels', basically FRWL, TB and OHMSS). Like Saunders said, he is Bond's Moriarty. If no Blofeld, then a Blofeld-like character. Heck, I'd be happy to see a modern take on General Grubozaboischikov and I'd settle for him. But I would love to see Blofeld return, providing it is done properly: perfect puritan, ruthless criminal with a staunch work ethic. Older than Bond, more experienced, resourceful and also more intelligent. And able to stand his ground on a fist fight against a 00. And perfectly cast, which is maybe the biggest obstacle to his return.Maybe not for the rest of Craig's tenure, I do think the Quantum arc needs to be finished, but if they need a hook for the tenure of his successor, then Blofeld would most definitely be the way to go IMO. P

    Oh and I am the one who did the Dr No analogy with DAD. But this was a completely different argument: I was saying putting Dr No in DAD would not have made the movie any better, that would have been a lousy idea, in the context. But Dr. No as a character (and a movie) was done to perfection by Joseph Wiseman. Blofeld has only been done in fragments, as I said. And also turned into a caricature. His voice was done to perfection by Erich Pohlmann, Savalas was a capable "physical" Blofeld, but even he lacked something that made Blofeld so great in the novels. Like Heath Ledger redefined the Joker, I think you can find the definitive interpretation of Blofeld.
  • Posts: 1,817
    Perhaps one should look in the long term (even after Craig's tenure) and there are lots of possibilities there. Reboots in other frachises are having their great villains returning (Batman, Star Trek) so I don't believe it's that far-fetched.
    Now, regarding my personal wishes, I'm not looking forward in the short term. It's more fun to have new adversaries.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 12,837
    People want Blofeld back because the reboot means they can bring him back, and he's a good character with lots of unexplored potential. He's meant to be Bonds arch nemesis but I never really got that feeling from the films he was in.

    Why not bring him back and use one of the novels as the inspiration? Why not have him be the head of Quantum? There are lots of directions they could take.

    It doesn't have to be a bald bloke with a white cat and he doesn't have to bring SPECTRE with him.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    I'm not sure which one of those discussions to continue in, so I'll add another reply:
    People want Blofeld back because the reboot means they can bring him back, and he's a good character with lots of unexplored potential. He's meant to be Bonds arch nemesis but I never really got that feeling from the films he was in.

    Why not bring him back and use one of the novels as the inspiration? Why not have him be the head of Quantum? There are lots of directions they could take.

    It doesn't have to be a bald bloke with a white cat and he doesn't have to bring SPECTRE with him.

    Both of those latter suggestions will just concoct confusion with fans, such as how he is a leader of one organization in past films and now a leader of another, or why he used to be bald with his white cat and whatnot, and now he has a completely different appearance. Things like that will just add ridiculous debates when they could go with a brand new supervillain.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Here's an idea. Call him Ernesto Blofeldio. 8-|

    Sarcasm by the way.
  • @Creasy47 I really don't think anyone will be confused. CR being a reboot is pretty much common knowledge.

    It didn't confuse fans when Joker turned up in The Dark Knight did it?
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Luckily Craig has battled Blofeld in the Gaming realm so I doubt Blofeld will ever appear in a film again.
    Blofeld_(007_Legends)_Profile.png
    Thanks 007 Legends. :)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    @Creasy47 I really don't think anyone will be confused. CR being a reboot is pretty much common knowledge.

    It didn't confuse fans when Joker turned up in The Dark Knight did it?

    But there haven't been (from what I've seen, anyway) discussions on the different universes just like the famous "is 007 a code name or is he always the same man?" thing. I just feel the latter will get more confusing for people who question that if Blofeld returns. But, as a reboot, I suppose I wouldn't see why not, I'd just prefer someone new and fresh.
  • Posts: 14,797
    @Creasy47 I really don't think anyone will be confused. CR being a reboot is pretty much common knowledge.

    It didn't confuse fans when Joker turned up in The Dark Knight did it?

    Exactly. And outside the fan community, who knows who Blofeld is? And, and, AND Blofeld had very different appearances in the original continuity.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    It still boils down to the ultimate question: why do people want Blofeld to return? Why don't they want a new super villain to head Quantum, if it ever does make its return?
  • Posts: 14,797
    Creasy47 wrote:
    @Creasy47 I really don't think anyone will be confused. CR being a reboot is pretty much common knowledge.

    It didn't confuse fans when Joker turned up in The Dark Knight did it?

    But there haven't been (from what I've seen, anyway) discussions on the different universes just like the famous "is 007 a code name or is he always the same man?" thing. I just feel the latter will get more confusing for people who question that if Blofeld returns. But, as a reboot, I suppose I wouldn't see why not, I'd just prefer someone new and fresh.

    Believe me, I had to explain to many moviegoers that the Batman of Nolan was NOT the Batman of the same continuity as Burton's movies. Moviegoers get confused no matter how clear things are, how much the director, scriptwriter, actors and whole production spell it out.
  • Posts: 14,797
    Creasy47 wrote:
    It still boils down to the ultimate question: why do people want Blofeld to return? Why don't they want a new super villain to head Quantum, if it ever does make its return?

    Well, for the record I DO want Quantum to be featured again. But I also do hope Blofeld returns. In the novels, SPECTRE took over SMERSH and USSR as recurring adversary, then when Blofeld died, the East became the Enemy again. Recurring adversaries are good, if done properly. They are resilient, they allow for more continuity, they also bring a kind of menace that stand alone adversaries do not. And every hero needs his nemesis. Blofeld happens to be Bond's. And as he was dispatched rather frustratingly, a shadow of himself in the former continuity, why not give him justice?

    But yes, by all means, let's finish the Quantum ark first.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,368
    In the end, I want Quantum to return. If Blofeld is the head, so be it. I just don't want Quantum to disappear for good.
  • Posts: 14,797
    Creasy47 wrote:
    In the end, I want Quantum to return. If Blofeld is the head, so be it. I just don't want Quantum to disappear for good.

    Oh I do want Quantum to return. Proper retribution needs to be done for Vesper's blackmail and their crimes.
  • Posts: 14,797
    I think another reason that makes people think Blofeld may return is the reappearance in recent cinematic history of recurring adversaries in various popular franchises. The League of Shadows in Nolan's Batman (and the Joker would have returned I think had Ledger lived) for example. Or Magneto in the X-Men. Now that does not mean Blofeld will necessarily return, but there is an interest for recurring adversaries as opposed to stand alone villains. And Blofeld happens to be such villain. Of course Quantum has this role too, but both are not mutually exclusive.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    People want Blofeld back because the reboot means they can bring him back, and he's a good character with lots of unexplored potential.
    Agreed. Blofeld is iconic (like it or not) and the reboot offers a chance to see him again.

    Creasy47 wrote:
    It still boils down to the ultimate question: why do people want Blofeld to return? Why don't they want a new super villain to head Quantum, if it ever does make its return?
    Personally, I'd rather not see him again. While Quantum was no doubt influenced by SPECTRE, bringing Blofled back would really make Quantum a cheap, pale imitation of the original. I've seen enough of Blofled. Let's take a new path, shall we?
  • Creasy47 wrote:
    In the end, I want Quantum to return. If Blofeld is the head, so be it. I just don't want Quantum to disappear for good.

    I agree with this. QUANTUM needs to be finished before we jump into rebooting old villains that only the hardcore fans care about. It's been 30 years since we last saw the Blofeld character, and 40 since his name was even mentioned (and please don't bring NSNA into this, only a fraction of the hardcore fraction even likes this film, yet alone the masses), so just bringing him back out of left field is at best ill advised without plenty of advance publicity that EON doesn't easily give away. QUANTUM is the organization more familiar to the general public, and as much as some would like to pretend that no one cared enough about QOS and that the idea is broke, the public does remember and would want a logical conclusion before moving on. I know Logan is well aware of Blofeld and has mentioned that he likes the idea of renewing their feud, so the idea of his return isn't dead and I think that as well that some sense of nostalgia is also driving the idea. The best chance for reviving him is not going to be cold, it needs to be done in the context of QUANTUM to have it's best chance of success, as well as an actor willing to reprise the role. People prefer continuity to the revolving door that hurt the concept the first time around.
  • Posts: 12,506
    Bond should be first and foremost! Not a villain from the past as much as I like him! This will not happen in the Craig era if at all? QUANTUM should be the target now for DC's Bond to deal with!
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