| James Bond character | |
 |
|
| Karl Stromberg | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Self-employed |
| Status | Deceased |
| Role | Villain |
| Portrayed by | Curd Jürgens |
Karl Stromberg is a fictional character in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg was portrayed by Austrian actor Curt Jurgens. The character Stromberg was created specifically for the film by writer Christopher Wood. The novel The Spy Who Loved Me, written by Ian Fleming wasn't told from Bond's perspective, but rather a Bond girl that is in love with him. The entire plot of the film has actually nothing to do at all with the plot of the novel. This was at Fleming's request; when he sold the rights to his novel to EON Productions he requested only the title be used. Stromberg has the distinction, therefore, of being the very first major James Bond villain to be created specifically for the movies.
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Bio
The webbed-fingered Karl Stromberg is a successful self-employed businessman as head of his own shipping firm. Stromberg's obsession and passion is the ocean where he lives in his palace, named Atlantis, that could submerge itself underwater so as not to be seen or detected. Located off the coast of Sardinia, Italy, Atlantis has everything to support life above and below water for any length of time. In fact, Atlantis is more like a city, able to support dozens if not hundreds of people. Stromberg also owns a huge tanker, named Liparus, that serves as his headquarters away from Atlantis. Aboard the tanker he has a small army of soldiers clad in orange jumpsuits. In Christopher Wood's novelisation of the film, Stromberg's is Swedish and the first name Sigmund.
Scheme
Although Stromberg has a passion and love for the ocean and its various species, he despises the human race, not unlike Jules Verne's Captain Nemo. Stromberg, however, is much more diabolical and has no interest in benefiting the world. He has a congenital condition in which his hands are webbed like those of aquatic birds or mammals. It is his personal mission to start over with a new civilization underwater. After contracting two scientists to create the technology to track nuclear submarines, Stromberg uses this technology to capture a Soviet nuclear submarine and a British submarine. By tracking the subs, Stromberg's tanker, Liparus, sneaks up on the subs and capture them inside the tanker. His plan calls for the firing of nuclear missiles from these subs at Moscow and New York City, thus framing each other's government and starting a nuclear war, which would wipe out every last human being on Earth. Among Stromberg's many minions were an assistant who betrayed him by selling the plans for the submarine tracking system, and a professor and a doctor who were to help him operate the tracking system after it was complete. He killed the assistant by feeding her to sharks, and killed the professor and the doctor by blowing up their helicopter. This scheme is actually a recycled plot from a previous film, You Only Live Twice, which was similar in that by stealing space capsules it would start a war between the Soviets and the Americans. The idea of commandeering two nuclear missiles and threatening to fire them at two major cities likewise recalls the plot of Thunderball. The scheme in which the villain wishes to destroy mankind to create a new race or new civilization was also used in Moonraker, the next film after The Spy Who Loved Me. In Moonraker, the villain Hugo Drax has an obsession with restarting human civilization in outer space. The film Moonraker was also written by Christopher Wood. Both featured Jaws as a henchman.
Prevention
Stromberg's scheme is foiled after Bond is taken aboard the Liparus as a prisoner from a recently captured American submarine. With Bond's help, the crews from the submarines escape and overtake the tanker. With the tanker under their control, Bond is able to order the stolen submarines, which were crewed by Stromberg's men, to fire their nuclear warheads at each other. Prior to this, however, Stromberg had abducted Bond's partner, the Russian agent Anya Amasova, and escaped to his city-ship, Atlantis. Bond pursues Stromberg, and after two failed attempts by Stromberg to kill him, Bond exercises his licence to kill by shooting Stromberg dead. Atlantis is later torpedoed and sunk, giving Stromberg a burial at sea.
Henchmen
- Jaws
- Naomi
- Sandor
Quotes
- "I'm somewhat of a recluse. I wish to conduct my life on my own terms, and in surroundings with which I can identify. That is a privilege of wealth."
- "Farewell, Mr. Bond. That word has, I must admit, a welcome ring of permanence about it."
- "Observe, Mr. Bond, The instruments of Armageddon."
- Anya Amasova: "That does not justify mass murder."
- Stromberg: "For that, major, I will accept the judgment of posterity.
Last Words:
- Bond: "Your time's up, Stromberg."
- Stromberg: "Yours too, Mr. Bond, yours too... and faster than you think."
The Blofeld connection
In early drafts of the screenplay, the villain of The Spy Who Loved Me was going to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE and Bond's mortal enemy from previous films, but legal wrangling over the rights to the character required the creation of a new villain. A passing reference in the film to the death of Bond's wife (killed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in a drive-by shooting conducted by Blofeld himself) could be a remnant of this earlier script. Indeed Stromberg and Blofeld have many similarities, both in terms of characterization, and in the fact that they have small armies of thugs at their disposal. Stromberg's plan to end civilization is also similar to Blofeld's plan to start a Third World War in You Only Live Twice.
