Atomic Bomb

Atomic Bomb
Equipment information
Created by	Soviet Union (and post-Soviet Russia), NATO, People's Republic of China, United Kingdom USA Other
Production	Varies
Type	Weapon of mass destruction
Dimensions	Varies
Weight	Varies
Behind the scenes
First seen	Moonraker (novel)
Last seen	007 Legends

The Atomic Bomb is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reaction, releasing large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Such weapons of mass destruction take various forms in the 007 franchise, from suitcase nuclear devices, to jury-rigged warheads stripped from ballistic missiles. In the non-Eon film Casino Royale (1967 film), this takes a more eccentric form, namely an atomic pill which one of the antagonists swallows. Normally, they are to be found as warheads mounted on ICBMs.

Nuclear war was a very present threat to the world between the 1950s, when the Bond novels were written, and the late 1980s, when Cold War nuclear tensions began to ease off. As such it forms a major part of many Bond plots.

Film History

Goldfinger (film)

"Mr. Ling, the Red Chinese agent at the factory. He's a specialist in nuclear fission. But of course! His government's given you a bomb!"
"I prefer to call it an atomic device. It's small, but particularly dirty."

― James Bond and Auric Goldfinger

Auric Goldfinger is a gold smuggler and obsessed with the substance. He plans an attack on Fort Knox, Kentucky, one of the largest gold reserves in the world, where the USA's national stock is kept. His hope is that by irradiating this gold with a "dirty bomb" that will raise the value of his own copious supples, as Fort Knox's supply will be unusable.

Upon arriving at Fort Knox, James Bond is handcuffed to the Atomic Bomb and left inside the vault by Goldfinger. However, when a gun battle begins outside, Kisch loses his nerve and is killed by Oddjob, giving Bond the chance to find the key to the handcuffs on Kisch's body. Having freed himself and killed Oddjob, Bond then attempts to stop the bomb, attempting to pull out the wiring. However, Bond is stopped by the Atomic Specialist, who moves him aside and turns off the bomb with a switch, much to Bond's relief.

Thunderball (film)

"Two atomic bombs, numbers four, five, six and four, five, seven, which were aboard NATO flights seven, five, nine, are now in the possession of SPECTRE. Unless within the next seven days your government pays to us one hundred million pounds sterling, in a manner to be designated by us, we shall destroy a major city in England or the United States of America. Please signal your acceptance of our terms by arranging for Big Ben to strike seven times at pm tomorrow."

― Ernst Stavro Blofeld

The main plot of Thunderball features the theft of British nuclear weapons, and "Thunderball" itself is a codename for sich a weapon. These are mounted on one of the RAF's Vulcan aircraft which is then crashed into the sea, whence the missiles are later retrieved.

Emilio Largo attempts to carry out this operation on behalf of SPECTRE using his yacht the Disco Volante.

Diamonds Are Forever (film)

The PLA guarding missiles which are destroyed by Blofeld.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld buys up large numbers of diamonds to create a Diamond Satellite, which he then uses to hold the world hostage. He uses it to destroy a number of things including a nuclear armed submarine of Soviet Navy, and a line of nuclear missiles being guarded by the Red Chinese People's Liberation Army. After the missiles are destroyed a mushroom cloud can be seen briefly above the Chinese base.

The Spy Who Loved Me (film)

"Observe, Mr. Bond, the instruments of Armageddon."

― Karl Stromberg's most famous line.

Karl Stromberg, a shipping magnate and eugenicist, aims to start a nuclear war between the east and west by "kidnapping" nuclear submarines. His aim is that the ensuing firefight will wipe out most of mankind, while he and his cohorts will shelter underneath the ocean in his base. He succeeds in capturing Soviet, American and British vessels, and replacing their crews with his own men.

Bond manages to thwart the plan, and sends the stolen American and Soviet submarines the wrong launch codes so that they end up destroying one another rather than the human race.

For Your Eyes Only

The British vessel the St. Georges is deliberately sunk in the Ionian Sea with an ATAC device on board. The importance of this is that whoever gets the ATAC will know the location of all the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines, which are a key part of their nuclear deterrent.

Timothy and Iona Havelock are marine archaeologists working for the British government, who are asked to retrieve the ATAC and are assassinated before they can do so.

Bond and Melina Havelock try to regain the device, which is removed from the wreck of the St Georges. General Gogol also wants to buy the device for the Soviet Union, and flies into Greece to get it. However, Bond eventually obtains the device and ends up throwing it off a cliff, saying it is "détente, comrade". Neither side gets the ATAC and the nuclear balance is restored.

Octopussy (film)

"General, there's a bomb in that cannon!"
"Sure, where else would a bomb be?! Great clown bit!"
"I'm deadly serious, I'm a British agent."

― James Bond and Lieutenant General Peterson

General Orlov, a belligerent member of the Soviet élite tries to persuade the politburo of his plan for the Warsaw Pact to take Western Europe, which he believes is weak and decadent. The politburo disagrees, especially General Gogol and the Soviet premier who believes in spreading socialism by less deadly means.

Nonetheless Orlov persists in his campaign, and works with a number of Soviet traitors, and outside interests to plan a false flag nuclear detonation on a NATO base in West Germany. His belief is that the explosion will cause such a public outcry that the Americans will be forced to remove their nuclear weapons from Western Europe, which will in turn allow the Soviet Union to invade without the same threat of reprisals.

Orlov is gunned down by border guards and called a common criminal by Gogol. However, Bond must enter the circus and find the hidden bomb, preventing it from detonating.

Tomorrow Never Dies (film)

Elliot Carver, a news magnate, creates a false flag event to try and start a war between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, both of which have nuclear weapons.

The World Is Not Enough (film)

Renard works with Arkov, a nuclear physicist. Renard wants to steal a nuclear weapon from Kazakhstan in order to use it to blow up an oil pipeline.

Bond accompanies Renard's men to Kazakhstan, where a decrepit Soviet underground nuclear weapons facility is being inspected by the UN and prepared for decommissioning. Bond meets the head of the project, Dr. Christmas Jones, who is removing all the radioactive material from the warheads. Bond goes down into one of the silos and finds Renard and his men stealing an active warhead. Bond briefly captures Renard, and tries to force the criminal to reveal his plan. Renard resists, feeling no pain from Bond's blows. Bond also notices that one of Renard's men has removed the tracking card from the bomb.

Bond gives M the tracking card from the bomb, but not before the incident escalates.

Non-Eon productions

Casino Royale

Casino Royale is levelled by an atomic explosion

In this film Dr. Noah swallows a minaturised nuclear bomb given to him by the Detainer, which eventually detonates destroying both Casino Royale and most of the characters.

Never Say Never Again (film)

In this film which is tied into Thunderball Jack Petachi uses his position as a pilot, and the president's eye pattern to circumvent security, Petachi infiltrates an American military base in England and orders the dummy warheads in two cruise missiles replaced with two live nuclear warheads, which SPECTRE captures and uses to extort billions of dollars from the governments of the world.

In this case Maximillian Largo uses his massive private yacht, the Flying Saucer to retrieve the warheads, and hides them away in a cave in North Africa, while SPECTRE blackmails the world.

Warhead 2000

This unmade Kevin McClory film would have also featured the theft of nuclear weapons in line with the original plot of Thunderball.

Literary History

Moonraker (novel)

The Moonraker rocket, as depicted on the cover of the Pan paperback edition of Moonraker (1959).

The novel which differs significantly from the film of the same name makes Sir Hugo Drax a manufacturer of rockets and ballistic missiles such as the Moonraker. Although Drax works ostensibly for the British government, in reality he plans to launch the rocket and its atomic warhead into the heart of London.

Dr. No (novel)

Bond discovers that Dr. Julius No working with the Soviets and has built an elaborate underground facility from which he can sabotage American ICBM tests at nearby Cape Canaveral, which would potentially carry nuclear warheads. No is also looking into means of retrieving them. Unlike the film, there is no SPECTRE involvement.

Goldfinger (novel)

Similar to the film, Goldfinger depicts an Auric Goldfinger who is obsessed with gold and seeks to irradiate the US' reserves at Fort Knox to raise the value of his own stock. He enlists a number of people to help him including the "lesbian organisation" run by Pussy Galore, known as the Cement Mixers.

Thunderball (novel)

There is uproar at MI6 when they receive a communiqué from an unknown terrorist organization called SPECTRE (the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion). SPECTRE has hijacked a new military aircraft, the Villiers Vindicator, by bribing the NATO observer on board, Giuseppe Petacchi, to kill the crew with poisonous gas and redirect the plane. SPECTRE threaten to destroy a major city in the United States or United Kingdom, unless a ransom of £100,000,000 is paid. This plan is dubbed "Plan Omega" by Blofeld, head of SPECTRE.

No one at MI6 knows who SPECTRE is, but M knows of some indications of an independent organisation at work in Europe. The letter's details about the aircraft are accurate, and the government believes SPECTRE does have the nuclear weapons. The plane was manned by a small crew and a NATO observer, an Italian pilot with a good war record, was revealed to be the insider.

The Facts of Death

Twelve years prior to the events of The Facts of Death, Brigadier General Dimitris Georgiou, a Greek military officer and Number Five of a mathematic cult called The Decada, stole an American-made solid-fueled two-stage ballistic missile - the Pershing 1a, or MGM-31A - from a NATO base in France. Nearly thirty-five feet long with a three-and-a-half-foot diameter, it has a range of 100 to 460 miles, and is one of the most successful mobile nuclear missiles ever created. The Decada intended to start a major war between Greece and Turkey by launching the weapon from Greece into Istanbul; equipping it with a nuclear warhead procured through a Russian mafia contact, Number Four.

Video Game History

James Bond 007: Goldfinger

To be added

James Bond 007: The Stealth Affair

To be added

James Bond 007

To be added

Agent Under Fire

To be added

Nightfire

To be added

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

To be added

From Russia with Love

To be added

007 Legends

To be added

James Bond: World of Espionage

To be added

See also

• Moonraker (Rocket)
• Ballistic missile