GRAVES, GUSTAV

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

Impossibly rich and extremely smarmy environmental entrepreneur portrayed by Toby Stephens in Die Another Day. On the surface, Graves appears determined to turn the world’s icy reaches into gardens with a satellite-mounted heat ray, which goes through glaciers like a knife through butter. With such a working device, he manages to impress the scientific community as well as the queen of England, who knights him.

But appearances are deceiving. Graves is actually renegade North Korean officer Colonel Moon, who has gone through a radical form of gene replacement therapy that has completely altered his appearance. Graves/Moon’s intention is to use the satellite to blow a hole in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, paving the way for a full-scale invasion of the south. In addition to operating a dangerous satellite, Graves is also a member of the Blades fencing club in London—where he challenges 007 to a deadly match—the highlight of the film.

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