Big villain: Karl Stromberg
The plan: To get NATO and the Soviets to destroy the world, and then to create “a new and beautiful world beneath the sea”. Like in The Little Mermaid.

Give him his due, Stromberg was ahead of the curve – they didn’t start wearing those one-tone military suits in North Korea until the ‘90s. Then again, his plan to restart civilisation from a giant underwater spider smacks of weird. It is also cribbed directly from Blofeld in You Only Lived Twice, adding plagiarism to a lengthy rap sheet.

Giveaway speech: “Within minutes New York and Moscow will cease to exist, global destruction will follow and a new era will begin. I’m not interesting in extortion, I want to change the face of history. Today, civilisation as we know it is corrupt and decadent. Inevitably it will destroy itself – I’m merely accelerating the process.”

What he should have done: Shot him.