The Shark Tank is an aquarium for housing various breeds of shark, as well as an impromptu apparatus for carrying out executions. A gruesome staple of the James Bond franchise since Ian Fleming's 1954 novel, Live and Let Die, shark pool have featured in EON Productions' 1965 James Bond films Thunderball, Live and Let Die (1973), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Licence to Kill (1989).
History[]
Literary History[]
Live and Let Die (novel)[]
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John McLusky's depiction of the Shark Tank
SMERSH operative, Mr. Big, maintained a shark pond at his front-business, Ourobouros Worm and Bait Shippers Inc. in St Petersburg, Florida. Ostensibly doing business with foreign zoos, Ourobouros held Great White, Tiger and Hammerhead sharks on its premises. Located directly below the warehouse, the pond could be accessed via a rotating trapdoor set in the floor. CIA agent, Felix Leiter, was maimed in the pond by Big's subordinate, The Robber. The henchman eventually met the same fate at the hands of James Bond.
Black Box[]
Borrowing heavily from established 007 tropes, the villain of Dynamite Entertainment's 2017 comic arc, Black Box, also made use of a shark tank for executions. The tank was part of an aquarium in an underground Yakuza casino in the Shinkuku district of Tokyo. After his cover is blown, Saga Genji attempts to feed James Bond to the fish; but is foiled by the intervention of an assassin named Selah Sax. In the chaos Bond and a henchman fall into the tank, during which the latter is devoured. Sax rescues him from the tank by rupturing it using a pair of Grenade Bracelets - flooding the casino with water.
Film History[]
Thunderball (film)[]
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An aerial view of Palmyra's Shark Tank
- Largo: "I collect big game fish for various marine institutions. Magnificent creatures!"
- Bond: "Charming."
- Largo: "The notorious Golden Grotto sharks. The most savage, the most dangerous. They know when it's time for them to be fed."
- ―Thunderball.[src]
High-ranking SPECTRE operative, Emilio Largo, kept Golden Grotto sharks in a pool at his headquarters, Palmyra. They were often used as a method of execution for those who displease him. According to Largo, they were very perceptive and knew "when it is time for them to be fed". The shark tank connected to the main pool via an underwater tunnel.
Live and Let Die (film)[]
Dr. Kananga had a shark pool in his subterranean headquarters on San Monique. He devises an impromptu method of execution for James Bond and Solitaire by tying them to a hoist used to transport heroin, slit 007's arm, and dipping them into the shark-infested water.
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)[]
A shark tank is among the devious features of Karl Stromberg's oceanic citadel and marine research laboratory, Atlantis. The facility's elevator system linked directly into the tank below; allowing the villainous Stromberg to dispose of unwelcome visitors at the push of a button. He kills his assistant after discovering that she was attempting to sell the plans of his Submarine Tracking System to competing international governments. He later try to kills James Bond using the pool; however is thwarted by the perceptive agent, who notices the trap floor of the elevator. Later, as he attempts to escape the complex, 007 confronts Jaws in the shark tank chamber and uses an electromagnet to dump the hulking assassin into the water below. Unlike so many other victims, Jaws emerged largely unscathed.
Licence to Kill (film)[]
The Sanchez Cartel operates a shark-handling legitimate front business. Set in the floor of the Ocean Exotica warehouse was a collapsing trap door leading into a shark cage (containing a Great White shark) below. After escaping DEA captivity, Latin-American drug lord, Franz Sanchez, kidnapped one of the men responsible - Felix Leiter - and throw him into the pond as revenge. James Bond would later avenge his friend by dunking the DEA traitor who betrayed him.
Gaming appearances[]
In the first level of the 2001 video-game, Agent Under Fire, the villainous Nigel Bloch successfully tricked 007 into inadvertently rescuing an malevolent clone of CIA agent, Zoe Nightshade, from a watery death by sharks. The clone's execution was held in the submarine dock inside Identicon's offshore research lab in Hong Kong. Bound to a submarine's mast, the vessel was to be slowly submerged into the shark-infested water after a five minute countdown. If Bond fails to rescue Zoe within the allotted time the submarine will dive, resulting in a "game over".
Gallery[]
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