4. Spectre (2015) – It Was Blofeld All Along
It really should go without saying that the James Bond franchise is primarily rooted in nostalgia at this point. Originally based on the works of Ian Fleming, the series has run out of novels to adapt. Its attempts at originality have still borrowed elements from Fleming’s stories, which, generally, is a sound idea. That is, when it doesn’t give way to increasingly obvious plot twists.
The soft reboot of the Daniel Craig era of Bond was refreshing, to say the least. More grounded stories felt like a new spin on the traditional spy formula. Then, along came Spectre, and undid it all with one especially stupid twist. The villain, Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) reveals himself to be none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the spy’s iconic nemesis. Then, he announces that he’s the mastermind behind everything that happened in Craig’s previous movies, and that he also happens to be Bond’s long-lost brother.
It’s a twist that cheapens all of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies, and it’s lifted directly from spy spoof franchise Austin Powers. Exactly why it was done is anyone’s guess – it was both predictable and utterly bonkers, and didn’t fit the tone of the modern franchise at all. The combination of these factors makes it one of the dumbest plot twists ever conceived, and it still feels insulting even years later.