The James Bond series of films has a number of iconic elements that reappear in nearly all of them. One of the most iconic is the use of gadgets, versatile tools, and weapons disguised as mundane, everyday items that inevitably end up being required to get Bond out of his latest scrape.
Recent films, for a time, downplayed the gadgets, with Skyfall making a joke out of the new Q giving Bond a gun and a radio, without anything fancier. Nonetheless, they have returned, and the new Q has shown himself to be capable of building and maintaining tech that matches not just the older Bond films, but gadgets from other franchises as well.
10 Alex Rider’s Versatile Games Console
The Alex Rider franchise, consisting of books, graphic novels, a film, and a TV show, makes no secret of its heavy Bond inspiration, with the character being name-dropped at least once per book, if not more. One of the many tropes it lifts from its inspiration is the gadgets, sometimes going even more wild than the quirkiest Bond films.
In his very first outing, in Stormbreaker, Alex is given a Nintendo GameBoy (updated to a DS in the movie) as his primary gadget, being denied outright weaponry. Each of the games put into it causes it to fulfill a different function, from a bug detector to a smoke grenade, to an outright explosive. Q might prefer something with more somber aesthetics, but he could definitely manage such a versatile device.
9 Mission Impossible’s Mask-Making Computer
The Mission: Impossible franchise is one of the other world-famous spy franchises, but its reliance on gadgets is more typically limited to one that is used time and time again. The most iconic piece of technology used by the Impossible: Missions Force is their computer that scans human faces, and makes hyper-realistic latex masks from them.
It is through this technology that the IMF is able to infiltrate areas and manipulate their foes. The computer may be of limited use to Bond, who tends to take a more overt approach to his operations, but Q could definitely reconstruct the scanning technology for MI6.
8 Kingsman’s Concealed Knife Shoes
Kingsman: The Secret Service is another film that draws openly from Bond, seeking to deconstruct the franchise’s tropes and premise, and then reconstruct it in its third act. As a result, gadgets are prevalent.
James Bond isn’t much of a knife-fighter and avoids using poison—not least after being targeted with it in Casino Royale. However, even he may see the benefit of a shoe that contains a hidden knife that can kill with a scratch, and matches his suit to boot, and Q likely wouldn’t even struggle.
7 Sam Wilson’s Falcon Wingsuit
The gadgets Q makes tend to be either of the vehicle variety or of the smaller, person-carryable type that can be snuck into almost any environment. As a result, Sam Wilson’s superhero gear, a wingsuit that contains a jetpack and covers much of the torso, may be outside his wheelhouse.
Nonetheless, assuming he had access to the materials required to create such sturdy and flexible wings, Q likely could recreate the design—experimental air force tech in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and save Bond from having to parachute in somewhere every couple of films.
6 Johnny English’s Explosive Cotton Bud
Parodies, rip-offs, or deconstructions of Bond films are common fare in British cinema, with Johnny English being one of the more recent attempts, having Rowan Atkinson play a spy with a similar prestige to James Bond, but seemingly much less competence.
As part of its less serious take, one of the gadgets that appear is the explosive cotton bud, taking the Bond trope of hiding explosives in other objects to a ludicrous extreme. Nonetheless, Q, having put explosives in nearly everything else, could likely find a way to adapt cotton for the job.
5 Star Trek’s Scanning Tricorder
Much of the technology of Star Trek is either far beyond our current capacity, such as faster-than-light travel; or has been met and surpassed, such as flip phones. For much of the latter category, Q would have no chance of recreating it—he is limited by science.
The only one that might stand a chance of recreating is the Tricorder, an extensive scanner that is able to scan environments and living people to gain their information. Q has most recently been shown to be adept with scanning technology, such as with the newer films’ Smart Blood. His tricorder might not be as small or pretty as Star Trek’s, but he could get close.
4 The Just Cause Grappling Hook
Just Cause and James Bond share some things in common. Key among them is a morally grey protagonist who is dropped in hostile territory, and typically causes unmatched devastation to his enemies whilst he is there.
While Rico Rodriguez is typically armed with slightly more mundane weaponry than James Bond faces off against his enemies with, he has one iconic, versatile tool to destroy his foes with: an incredibly strong grappling hook that can launch him into the air, smash people together at high speed, or drag people behind moving objects. If Q could recreate such a powerful hook, Bond’s enemies would be done for.
3 The Batmobile Would Be A Work Of Love
An area Q has shown himself to be an expert in is that of cars. While the Qs from older films were more shown to create them, the most recent Q from Craig’s continuity has shown himself to be no slouch—especially with nearly all of the iconic vehicles making an appearance in No Time to Die.
Batman’s Batmobile is one of the best-known cars in all of fiction, and undeniably one of the most impressive, even in more grounded continuities like The Dark Knight. None of its individual properties are outside Q’s capabilities, but it is likely that replicating all of them would be one of the most extensive projects the Quartermaster ever engaged in.
2 Something Close To Spider-Man’s Web-Shooters
James Bond isn’t often one for nonlethally restraining his foes, to the point it is a major character beat in Spectre when he allows the wounded Blofeld to be arrested, rather than executing him. Nonetheless, he’d likely please his superiors if he had something small and concealable, and capable of holding his enemies in place.
Spider-Man’s web-shooters may be one of the most iconic gadgets of all time, and the person who designed them is a genius—but a genius using high school knowledge and resources. Q may have to pour billions of pounds into the project to recreate the formula, but he could probably manage.
1 The Kingsman’s Weaponized Umbrella
Numerous gadgets are seen throughout the Kingsman series, both somewhat grounded and otherwise, but none are more iconic than the umbrella wielded first by Harry, and then by Eggsy.
The umbrella is a defensive tool and weapon in one, being bulletproof, see-through for the wielder, and capable of firing a range of ammunition. Q has shown himself to be a dab hand in the past with concealing weaponry, and with some of Bond’s cars, shown protection to be a niche he can fulfill as well.
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