We may not learn who the new James Bond is for some time, but one thing's for sure: he will have some very cool gadgets to play with. Throughout the franchise's more than 60 years, the gadgets have left as much of a mark as whoever plays 007, from the most ordinary-looking everyday appliance with a deadly twist to the most outlandish and unique devices, each of them the brainchild of the creative, innovative, and tech-savvy geniuses at MI6's Q Branch.
With 007: First Light having recently brought back some of them, fans are getting a taste of what it's like to play with these gadgets, but the question inevitably arises: what really is the best ever? To answer this, let's look solely at the gadgets used by Bond in the movies, since that's where they usually originate (besides the original Ian Fleming novels, of course) and determine the ones we'd like in our arsenal, shall we?
10 The Palm Print Pistol
‘Skyfall' (2012)
Image via Sony Pictures ReleasingA twist on the character's traditional Walther PPK pistol, Q (Ben Whishaw) issues this variant to Bond (Daniel Craig) in Skyfall, when they meet at the National Gallery. The weapon is coded to 007's palm print alone, meaning only he can fire it. As Q tells 007, it's "Less of a killing machine, more of a personal statement." For someone as full of himself as Bond, that's perfect.
Funnily enough, the pistol is never fired throughout the movie; Bond himself never finds an opportunity for it, as his action sequences are mostly hand-to-hand combat. During the fight scene at the Macau casino, one of Raoul Silva's (Javier Bardem) henchmen gets the pistol, but, although he pulls the trigger, it obviously doesn't fire — it's a statement only Bond can make.
9 Little Nellie
'You Only Live Twice' (1967)
Image via MGMThe 007 franchise is filled with cool, yet somewhat quirky gadgets, with Little Nellie being one of the best. She is an autogyro, a single-person tiny helicopter that makes quite a show in You Only Live Twice, and is deployed as Bond (Sean Connery) investigates SPECTRE's presence in southern Japan. Q (Desmond Llewelyn) equips it with quite an arsenal, which proves useful later on.
What most viewers don't know is that Little Nellie is a real vehicle designed by former RAF Wing Commander Ken Wallis. In fact, it's Wallis himself who flies Little Nellie during the action sequence in the movie. Her name comes from a World War II tradition of nicknaming people named Wallis or Wallace "Nellie," after British music hall star Nellie Wallace.
8 Dentonite Explosive Toothpaste
Licence to Kill (1989)
Image via MGM/UA Distribution Co.
As serious and complex as some of Q Branch's gadgets may be, others are straight up silly, but no less awesome. In Licence to Kill, Bond (Timothy Dalton) has a mission of his own and is found by Q, who is worried and wants to help. Among other trinkets, he hands 007 a tube of Dentonite toothpaste, which "is to be used sparingly," as "it's the latest in plastic explosives."
Bond does use it later on when trying to assassinate Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi). The detonator itself is disguised as a pack, and the explosion removes the bulletproof glass in the villain's room, allowing Bond a long-distance shot. Ultimately, the attempt fails, as he is approached by enemies who knock him unconscious. Still, explosive toothpaste is as quirky as it is effective.
7 Bell Rocket Belt
'Thunderball' (1965)
Image via MGMA jetpack is always among anyone's most desired gadgets — who wouldn't want to simply fly away sometimes? In Thunderball, Bond gets to do just that. In the pre-credits sequence, he attends the funeral of SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar (Bob Simmons), who was posing as his grieving widow. When Bond kills Bouvar for real, he blasts off in his jetpack back to his signature Aston Martin DB5.
The jetpack is a real appliance made by Bell-Textron in the late 1950s, and the filmmakers considered it something the Q Branch might assign MI6 agents in their missions. Indeed, the Bell Rocket Belt proved so popular, it made a cameo in 2002's Die Another Day, when Q (John Cleese) takes Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to an old underground warehouse.
6 Wet Nellie
'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977)
Image via MGMThe concept of a car turning into a submarine will never not be incredible, but The Spy Who Loved Me takes it to the next level. During a car chase in Sardinia, Bond (Roger Moore) drives his Lotus Esprit S1 into the water for cover, turning it into a compact submarine for him and Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to escape. Later, he casually drives it out of the water, much to the locals' astonishment.
Besides the obvious modifications (it's literally a submarine), the car also features heavy weaponry, including the missile launcher used by Bond to destroy the helicopter searching for them underwater. The Esprit is also fondly referred to as Wet Nellie, a nod to the original Little Nellie. Only two Esprits were used in filming the chase, with empty shells being produced for the underwater scenes.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
FIND YOUR PARTNER →
01
You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had.
ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been.
REVEAL MY PARTNER →
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 Ericsson JB988
'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997)
Image via MGMThe 1990s saw a significant leap in mobile technology, and the Q Branch certainly took advantage of it. In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond (Brosnan) uses a cellphone onscreen for the first time, an Ericsson JB988. It hides many useful features, like a fingerprint scanner, a taser, and even a remote control with a built-in camera for his BMW 750iL. Bet your smartphone can't do all that.
Around that same time, product placement became much more evident in 007 films, with most of his signature branded gadgets being chosen around that time. Ericsson isn't in the mobile phone business anymore, but, for a long time, it supplied Bond with his cellphones, until other brands came along. The JB988 is purely fictional, however, and was never officially sold.
4 Attaché Briefcase
'From Russia with Love' (1963)
Image via MGMBefore cellphones could conceal most useful gadgets into a single device, Bond had his trusty Attaché Case. A "smart-looking bag," as M (Bernard Lee) describes it, it's a Swaine and Adeney black leather briefcase put together by the Q Branch for Bond on his mission to the Orient Express in From Russia with Love. It proves to be incredibly useful, as it helps him take down multiple SPECTRE agents.
As Q explains it to Bond, the briefcase has many secret features: 20 rounds of ammunition, a flat-throwing knife, a foldable AR-7 sniper rifle with infrared, 50 gold coins, and an anti-tampering mechanism with a hidden tear-gas cannister. There isn't much more a field operative like Bond would need, but it can also function as, well, a briefcase should Bond need to carry anything else.
3 Omega Wristwatch
The Pierce Brosnan Era
Image via MGMBack to brands immediately associated with 007, the Omega watches have become a constant on Bond's wrists since 1995's GoldenEye. Before that, he wore many different brands, including Rolex, Seiko, Breitling, and TAG Heuer, but it was from Pierce Brosnan onward that the Omega Seamaster became Bond's signature wristwatch, and, on many occasions, his lifesaver, too.
In GoldenEye, Bond's watch features a laser cutter, but was changed for the following three movies for a different Seamaster model. In The World Is Not Enough, its most celebrated feature, a miniature grappling hook, was introduced. Bond goes on to wear other models until Daniel Craig's final Bond outing, No Time to Die. Whoever comes next, there'll definitely be wearing one, too.
2 Explosive Pen
'GoldenEye' (1995)
Image via MGMBack to more "traditional" spyware gadgets, GoldenEye's explosive pen is an undeniable fan-favorite. This time, there are no fancy brands or product placement, just a plain clicking pen that's actually a class IV grenade. Three clicks arm it, and another three clicks disarm it, with a four-second fuse in between. It may not be particularly powerful, but it's still deadly and dangerous.
The pen grenade provides GoldenEye with one of its tensest scenes. It eventually finds its way into the hands of short-fused Russian hacker Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), who nervously clicks it while trying to program the GoldenEye satellite to target London. Bond is the only person aware of the danger, as Grishenko's clicking builds tension towards an unpredictable, yet inevitable explosion.
1 Aston Martin DB5
"Goldfinger"
Image via MGMThe absolute and undeniable best. The Silver Birch Aston Martin DB5 is synonymous with James Bond, having appeared in eight franchise films. Curiously, though, only three Bond actors have driven it onscreen: Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball, Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Daniel Craig in all his movies but Quantum of Solace.
Bond's DB5 is almost like a mini tank, given how many gadgets and modifications it conceals. It features bulletproof windows and chassis, the iconic ejector seat, battering rams, machine guns, rear smokescreen, mine dispensers, radars, communications systems, and certainly much more we never see. With so many added features, the DB5 never ceases to surprise us, a Q Branch masterpiece.
Goldfinger
Release Date September 20, 1964
Runtime 110 minutes
Director Guy Hamilton
Writers Paul Dehn, Ian Fleming, Richard Maibaum, Berkely Mather
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Gert Fröbe
Auric Goldfinger
English (US) ·