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From Maxwell Smart to Black Widow, spies have been a part of pop culture for ages. Viewers love the fun gadgets, suave characters, and well-crafted action set pieces that are hallmarks of the genre. Plus, the fun of following a franchise over the years makes for engaging fan theories and long-planned character development. The James Bond and Mission: Impossible series are the most well-established and still-underway franchises of our modern era. Both titles continuously pump out new spy stories for the masses.
As these two franchises have grown, their cast of characters, notably their portrayal of women, has also increased. Women in these films have a substantial impact on public perception of female action roles due to the films’ popularity and reach with audiences. Each franchise has dealt with its powerful women in different ways, with differing audience responses. What is the current state of women in these large Hollywood franchises, and how might the landscape for these powerful women be improved in future installments?
Mission: Impossible
Based on the 1966 television series of the same name (( Sobczynski, Peter. “A Lit Fuse: The History of the Mission: Impossible Franchise.” RogerEbert.com, 25 July 2018. )), the Mission: Impossible film franchise has become primarily well-known for its awe-inspiring and fear-inducing stunts performed by star Tom Cruise. The present six films, beginning in 1996 with Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible, follow the adventures of agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and other team members of the Impossible Missions Force (which is the best name of a spy team to exist, ever, even if characters don’t use the full name often).
While these missions may be slated as “impossible,” Hunt and his team make them possible, all the while showing off a rotating cast of characters and still leaving enough screen time for Hunt to jump out of a plane or something. Additionally, this franchise humanizes its female characters and ensures they are not left out of the action.
Jane Carter
Making her first (and, sadly, only) appearance thus far in the fourth installation Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011, Brad Bird), Jane Carter (Paula Patton) makes her mark as an IMF agent. While her story begins with cliche when her fellow agent-plus-lover dies, she is instantly a capable member of Ethan’s team. Carter gets to play a significant role in each operation, working first to break Hunt out of a Russian prison and impersonating a tourist, an assassin, and a party guest as the film continues.
She is haunted throughout the movie by the assassin who killed her lover, but her grief is understandable. It does not make her less powerful; instead, it means she acts more impulsively in her fights with said assassin (portrayed by Léa Seydoux). She does the wrong thing by kicking Seydoux’s character out of a tall building during a fight scene, but it is unclear that this is purely an emotional reaction and not pure instinct. The series has a history of its male protagonists being emotionally manipulated by the villains through using their relationships against them, so Carter’s characterization is not much different than her other spy colleagues. Jane Carter was a fresh addition to the IMF team, and given that William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) was introduced in the same movie and stuck around for the next, it’s too bad that we haven’t seen her again since then.
Ilsa Faust
MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) is one of the best additions to the franchise thus far, with her complex loyalties and utterly badass spy skills making her an intriguing player in the IMF’s world. Introduced in the fifth movie, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015, Christopher McQuarrie), Faust is initially an adversary of Hunt when he wakes up having been captured by villain Solomon Lane’s (Sean Harris) henchmen. Faust helps him escape but stays behind: she is undercover in Lane’s organization and cannot afford to reveal herself yet. As the story goes on, Faust plays her hand well, cautious of giving out any information to put herself in danger. She thrives in show-stopping scenes of action and suspense, including a motorcycle chase and an opera assassination. Her mysterious air makes her an engaging character that demands attention, with the audience never truly sure of her motivations until later in the film.
Thankfully, Faust returns in the next film, Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018, Christopher McQuarrie). Faust has made it out of Lane’s organization but is tasked to kill him in order to prove her loyalty to MI6. This directive puts her into conflict with Hunt, who tries to keep Lane alive to get information to help quash a new threat to humanity. Faust’s loyalties, though clearer here, are still engaging since they do not align completely with those of the protagonist, making her a fully-formed character that is not simply part of the story to help Hunt. While she has less of a standout role in this movie, Ilsa Faust blends well with the rest of the IMF team, a testament to the versatility of her character that she can act dangerously both on her own and in a group.
James Bond
James Bond has been an inextricable part of the literary canon since he debuted in Ian Fleming’s 1953 book Casino Royale. The spy is a double-oh agent for Britain’s spy service, MI6 — meaning that he is licensed to kill. The first Bond movie was Dr. No (1962, Terence Young), and the franchise currently has 25 movies. Bond has been portrayed by multiple actors, with recasting being a trademark of the character. While the character and franchise have been rightfully criticized for their depiction of women (( Andrews, Farah. “The problem with Bond and women – feminism shouldn’t have to be ‘snuck in’ in 2019.” The National, 04 June 2019. )), there have been some more positive portrayals, especially in recent years.
M
M, portrayed by Judi Dench in a fitting seven 007 movies, is the head of M16. While she may not be high-kicking bad guys, M’s power rivals that of any active agent: after all, she’s in charge of all of them. Having a female character as “the boss” in these movies showcases a different kind of power, a power of words and control instead of physical strength. Not to say that she isn’t crafty: she helps booby-trap James Bond (Daniel Craig)’s old house when bad guys come to kill her in Skyfall (2012, Sam Mendes), and while her past is unclear, she must have had an eventful one to be head of Britain’s spy agency.
M is not afraid of making tough decisions, which rightfully creates some enemies of her, but her faith in Bond despite his shortcomings depicts a nuanced view of right and wrong. Her nuanced portrayal elevates the character above the trope of the “snooty female boss” into a woman who carefully considers every option while having the self-confidence to go with her gut.
Eve Moneypenny
While the character of Miss Moneypenny has been around in the Bond films since the first movie in the series, the current iteration Eve Moneypenny, portrayed by Naomie Harris, is given a bit more to do beyond acting as a secretary. Her first appearance in the recent Bond films was in Skyfall, where she was introduced as a field agent working with Bond. After a mission goes awry and she mistakenly shoots Bond instead of an adversary, the two meet again at a casino in Macau, where she acts as a backup and saves Bond’s life. The two have some chemistry, paying homage to the traditional flirtatious relationship between the characters. Still, overall Moneypenny has more power and agency as a field agent, and she deftly dodges Bond’s innuendos while answering through some of her own.
Moneypenny chooses to be M’s secretary at the end of Skyfall, content that the field is not the best place for her, which is a shame seeing how she was a capable agent. However, this shift does not only call back to Moneypenny’s traditional job but keeps her as an integral part of the next two films in the series. The recent Bond series has leaned into using an ensemble of characters, including M (Dench and, later, Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw), and Moneypenny herself, which results in her presence in integral scenes. Overall, while it would have been nice to permanently see a Moneypenny in the field, at least Harris makes the character her own by portraying power and control.
Nomi
A new character in the most recent James Bond movie, No Time To Die (2021, Cary Joji Fukunaga), Nomi (Lashana Lynch), the first Black female double-oh agent in the movie series (( Coyle, Jake. “Lashana Lynch on making history as 007 in ‘No Time To Die.‘” APnews.com, 08 October 2021 )), is the new holder of the codename 007 after Bond’s retirement from MI6. As Bond gets roped back into spy work to help his friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and the CIA, he and Nomi clash before eventually coming to a mutual respect. Lynch plays Nomi as an ambitious, clever agent who is also “anxious” about living up to her expectations of herself (( Francisco, Eric. “Lashana Lynch Doesn’t Want To Be The Next James Bond. She’s Thinking Bigger.” Inverse, 11 October 2021. )). Before the movie’s climax, Nomi asks for Bond to be given the codename 007 once again, in what feels like a cheapening of her role to just someone secondary to Bond.
Lynch faced online harassment after news came out that a Black woman would take on the title of 007, resulting in her stepping away from the public eye for a week (( Daley-Ward, Yrsa. “Lashana Lynch on making history as the first Black female 007.” Harper’s Bazaar, 28 September 2021 )). While the resulting movie did show the character positively, taking away her title for even a while feels wrong in the wake of so many clamoring that she shouldn’t have it at all. Hopefully, Nomi will return in the Bond movies to come, with all of her skill, charisma, and fresh perspective.
Paloma
Another new face in No Time To Die, Paloma, doesn’t get much screen time, but wow, does she make the most out of it. Ana de Armas’s character is a new CIA agent who, self-admittedly, doesn’t have much training. This doesn’t show in her moves, however, and she and Bond together help to take down a meeting of bad guys in Cuba while smuggling out a captured scientist. Paloma is goofy in the best way possible, bursting with excitement for her job while having skills comparable to the solemn James Bond. While she is only present for one scene in the movie, Paloma is memorable, a great example of how movies can — and should — diversify their side characters just as much as their leads.
The Power Of Representation Without Assimilation
As Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond comes to an end, much of the internet has been discussing who should be the next actor to take on the mantle. Fans have thrown out all kinds of names for speculation, including Henry Golding, Regé-Jean Page, Dev Patel, and Lynch (( Seth, Radhika. “Who Will Be The Next James Bond?” Vogue, 31 August 2021 )). These suggestions likely reveal the increasing popularity of diversifying the character that has only been played on-screen by white men. To the question of who should play James Bond, Craig said
“There should simply be better parts for women and actors of color. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”
in agreement with the producer of the Bond movies Barbara Broccoli (( Sharf, Zack. “Daniel Craig: ‘Why Should A Woman Play Bond?’ Create Other Female Roles ‘Just As Good’.” IndieWire, 21 September 2021. )).
Lynch herself said that she didn’t know if she would want to portray James Bond, saying that if she did, “‘I would want to talk about the black female experience to the high heavens. I don’t know if people are ready for that.” (( Austin, Ellie. “Lashana Lynch Is The Bond Star We’ve Been Waiting For.” Vogue UK, 02 October 2021 )).
Creating more good spy roles for women should certainly be a priority in Hollywood. In fact, new movie The 355, releasing in 2022 and following a team of five female spies, seems like a step in the right direction. Actress Jessica Chastain proposed the movie because of her love for franchises including Mission: Impossible and the Bourne movies (( Fleming Jr., Mike. “Hot Cannes Package ‘355’: Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Lupita Nyong’o Form Spy Sisterhood.” Deadline, 01 May 2018. )) However, these new roles don’t come with the built-in audience of a long-running movie franchise based on established books or a television series.
Franchisees don’t have to completely recast their lead roles since women deserve their own characters to make shine, but the least they can do is portray female characters in their own movies with power, skill, and agency — and portray women as often as possible. This allows female spies to gain more popularity in the market at large, which may, in turn, promote more development of female spies. The James Bond franchise, with all of its faults, has occasionally promoted female characters with just as much action prowess as Bond. In Tomorrow Never Dies (1997, Roger Spottiswoode), Pierce Brosnan’s Bond teams up with Chinese spy Wai Lin, portrayed by Michelle Yeoh.
Wai Lin gets to show off her fighting prowess and works with Bond, straying from the “damsel in distress” trope. Future movies should prioritize giving women influential roles, not only because it results in a more entertaining film, but because it can help with popularizing these roles for women in their own movies as well.
Spying Towards The Future
Thankfully, there is plenty of time and opportunity for women to be given a part in these movies, as both are theoretically planned to continue (yes, even James Bond). Experienced spy actress Hayley Atwell will appear in the next Mission: Impossible movie, along with Rebecca Ferguson returning as Ilsa Faust. As for 007, continuing characters like Nomi and Moneypenny while leaving room for more roles like Paloma and Wai Lin will spin the franchise in a positive direction. We love spy movies because, for a few hours, we feel the tension and excitement of being a spy. By diversifying these roles, more people can see themselves in the characters as they lose themselves in the story.
