Lyutsifer Safin

Evil-doer
Full Name	Lyutsifer Safin
Alias	L'homme masqué Invisible God Doctor
Origin	No Time to Die
Occupation	Bioterrorist Anarchist Bio-scientist
Powers / Skills	Very high intelligence Master of weaponry Combat skills
Hobby	Planning world domination. Harassing Madeleine Swann.
Goals	Kill Ernst Stavro Blofeld and destroy Spectre in revenge for the deaths of his family (succeeded). Kill James Bond (posthumously succeeded). Kill Madeleine Swann. Unleash Valdo Obruchev's Heracles Virus to eradicate millions of people. Take over the world (all failed).
Crimes	Organized crime Terrorism (including bioterrorism) Mass murder Breaking and entering Conspiracy Theft Sabotage Usurpation Blackmail Stalking Hate crimes Kidnapping Psychological abuse Abuse of power Child abuse False imprisonment Attempted bioweapon dealing Attempted nuclear destruction Attempted world domination Attempted omnicide Torture Crimes against humanity
Type of Villain	Vengeful God Wannabe

“	The thing that no one wants to admit is that most people want things to happen to them. We tell each other lies about the fight for free will and independence, but we don't really want that. We want to be told how to live and then die when we are not looking. People want oblivion and a few of us are born to build it for them. So here I am, their Invisible God..., sneaking under their skin.	„
	~ Lyutsifer Safin to James Bond about his motives.

Dr. Lyutsifer Safin (Russian: Люцифер Сафин) is the final antagonist of the rebooted James Bond film series, serving as the main antagonist of the 2021 film No Time to Die, while also being a character previously mentioned in the 2015 film Spectre.

He is a sinister and elusive bioterrorist whose family originally worked as poison manufacturers for Spectre until their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld ordered the murders. Left as his family's sole survivor, Safin grows up to seek a campaign of revenge against the organization, eventually acquiring Project Heracles, a programmable bioweapon made by MI6 which he reverse-engineers and mass produces into a virus that toxifies the DNA of its targets and anyone related to them with nanobots, and he uses it to initiate a new world order by unleashing Heracles in order to enact the systematic murder of millions.

He was portrayed by Rami Malek, who also played Tahno in The Legend of Korra, Joshua Washington in Until Dawn, Elliot Alderson/Mr. Robot in Mr. Robot, and Tom Voze in Amsterdam.

Trivia

• Producer Barbara Broccoli described the character as "the one that really gets under Bond's skin. He's a nasty piece of work.", while Malek described the character as someone who considers "himself as a hero almost in the same way that Bond is a hero". Fukunaga described Safin as "more dangerous than anyone Bond has ever encountered" and a "hyper-intelligent and worthy adversary".
• Safin is fascinated with plants and botany, running a Poison Garden with various plants that have varying capabilities.
• Prior to the film's release, some theorized that Safin could be the rebooted series' adaptation of Dr. Julius No due to the film's title, which some interpreted as a threat from Bond himself prior to the movie. Additionally, the two characters share similarities:
  • Both have a secretive island lair.
  • Both have extreme god complexes that are challenged by Bond.
  • Both villains are involved in biochemical warfare.
  • Both have injuries/scarring relating to a biohazardous accident.
  • Both villains wear clothing with a Japanese aesthetic; Safin wears a kimono, vaguely resembling Dr. No's Nehru jacket. Additionally, Safin's mask is inspired by the Noh and Kabuki-style Japanese masks.
  • Additionally, in No Time to Die, Safin is referred to as "Doctor" by several of his subordinates, despite there being little evidence to suggest he is one. A popular theory was that Safin was Dr. No in an earlier draft of the film where Heracles was intended to be a biological virus instead of a nanobot weapon, and the reason why this may have been rewritten was due to the COVID-19 pandemic (to avoid poor-taste comparisons to a real-life deadly virus), which resulted in the film being delayed multiple times.
• A limited number of Safin's mask replicas are available for sale on the official 007 store for £295.
• Safin's first name is pronounced as Lucifer, better known as Satan, the ruler of Hell.
• To date, Safin is the only villain in the entire 007 franchise to kill Bond (albeit indirectly), something that all the others in the past (including Blofeld, whom Safin also killed) have failed to do.
• Rami Malek had to be aged with makeup to appear years older than Lea Seydoux, as in real life he is only four years older than her.
• With No Time to Die being the last of Daniel Craig’s Bond Sega, Safin is the final antagonist to die in the series.