SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a fictional organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, as well as the films and video games based on those novels.
After the death of his beloved boss M (Dame Judi Dench), James Bond (Daniel Craig) receives a posthumous message which sends him on the hunt for a deadly assassin. But then a mysterious symbol appears on a ring which sends Bond on a personal vendetta which started in Mexico City.
He is the founder and leader of the criminal organization Spectre, as well as James Bond's foster brother and archenemy — manipulating behind the scenes of many of Bond's past run-ins, including Mr. White, Le Chiffre, Dominic Greene, and Raoul Silva.
What does SPECTRE mean? SPECTRE is an acronym standing for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. It is a fictional global terrorist organization featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming and prominent in the 1960s James Bond films.
SPECTRE itself also continues to pose a threat to Bond at the beginning of the film, with the criminal organisation clearly paying no heed to his wishes for a quiet retirement – and is at least partly responsible for bringing him back into the espionage fold.
The plot of Spectre also linked the events of Skyfall to Craig's first two Bond movies by revealing antagonist Raoul Silva to be associated with Spectre reverting Skyfall's initial solo story status.
Nigh-Omnipotence/Divine Empowerment: As a servant of God, The Spectre is granted limitless power, being capable of nearly any feat within his imagination. The Spectre is said to be the most powerful, being second to only The Presence. As a result of his previous failures, Spectre had been temporarily punished by God.
Q is a fictional character in the James Bond films and film novelisations. Q (standing for Quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch (or later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.
What does M stand for? M is the head of MI6 and stands for for "Missions" – to identify that the incumbent is the head of the Missions Department. M is not one character, but rather a role that has been held by various characters across the 25 films.
Bond's first encounter with Oberhauser has the villain cry "cuckoo". This is a reference to Bond being a "cuckoo in the nest", the foreigner disrupting the happiness of Oberhauser's family life. Franz Oberhauser is supposed to be the son of the Fleming-created character, Hannes Oberhauser.
Madeleine is the daughter of SPECTRE agent, Mr. White and his wife. In 1998, Lyutsifer Safin came to the White house in Nittedal, Norway to kill Mr. White; who had murdered his entire family on orders from SPECTRE leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
In the first novel, Casino Royale, and the 2006 film adaptation, the 00 concept is introduced and, in Bond's words, means "that you've had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some assignment". Bond's 00 number (007) was awarded to him because he twice killed in fulfilling assignments.
Blofeld is head of the global criminal organisation SPECTRE and is commonly referred to by the codename Number 1 within this organisation.
2, Emilio Largo. This time, the device is more octopus-like, presumably symbolising SPECTRE'S reach and omnipresence. The outer tentacles curve round to enclose the others, perhaps as much to fit the circular frame of the ring as for aesthetic reasons. The facial features of the octopus are reduced to alien-like eyes.
Once the heroes wear the Spectre down, Eclipso confronts his old nemesis and seemingly kills him by cleaving the Spectre in two.
A shot from the Spectre Blu-ray (left) has yellow colour grading while a production still (right) shows truer colours. The yellow gives the false impression that Mexico City is a hot place, while in reality the climate is similar to London's.
And in 'Skyfall', Kincaid the groundskeeper refers to her as Emma, although many fans believe this is because he believes Bond to be calling her 'Em'.
The man behind the famous Bond gadgets is called Q, for Quartermaster. (A quartermaster is the military officer who supplies troops with matériel.) In the Dr. No novel, he's called the Armourer, but his real name — Major Boothroyd — is the same as in the movies.
Taylor-Johnson and Cavill are both given +225 odds, or an implied 30.8% chance to be the next Bond. They are the clear favorites, but there are still a few others who stand as legitimate long shots. Rege-Jean Page is given +650 odds, or an implied 13.3% chance to be the first black James Bond.
The character of Q, a technology expert, has always been played by a man in the Bond films. Speaking at the Women in IT awards on Wednesday, Mr Younger said: "The real-life Q is looking forward to meeting you and I'm pleased to report that the real-life Q is a woman."
Skyfall wasn't a real building (or really Scottish)
The name Skyfall comes from the name of Bond's ancestral home in Scotland. That wasn't a real building, though. It was a full-scale model made of plaster and plywood. In fact, it wasn't even built on Scotland.
Spectre was eventually acknowledged as one of the mightiest beings in the DC Universe, even more so than the Silver Age Superman. About the only beings stronger were The Phantom Stranger (though pretty much Depending on the Writer) and God himself.
The Spectre is an extremely dark anti-hero from DC Comics who was infamous for exacting extremely graphic and often torturous punishments on others during his early years and continued this trend on and off into the modern age as the embodiment of God's Wrath.
Superman gets angry but the Spectre merely warns him that he must stop because the realm before him is one which no living mortal may enter. Unable to persuade the Spectre to let him by, Superman tries to fight his way past him, but his powers are totally ineffectual against those of the Ghostly Guardian.