Since we learned that Amazon MGM Studios has acquired the creative rights to James Bond, the online mood regarding the franchises future has seemed grim. If youve ever followed the history of beloved cultural institutions being acquired by corporate behemoths, youll understand the sudden jumps to the worst possible conclusions. Even the Bond tribute at the 97th annual Academy Awards felt like an in memoriam package for a series that is not technically dead yet.What Bond fans across the world are really feeling right now is uncertainty. When will the next Bond movie be released? Will that movie be treated as a cinematic event? Is Amazon interested in bringing the brand into a bold new age or has a group of boardroom bros already slapped an IP sticker on the series and begun dreaming about which influencers they will invite to the launch of a James Bond-themed casino and resort?On top of all of that, the who will play James Bond? question once again lingers. And while its impossible not to be curious who will suit up, the fact of the matter is that numerous qualified performers will be eager to take on the legacy role even during this bizarre time. Still, a far more interesting and telling question is: Who will be James Bonds next villain?Historically, you could safely bet that the next Bond villain would probably be a sophisticated megalomaniac with grand plans for world (and possibly intergalactic) domination, and the resources needed to make those plans happen. In a strange twist of fate, though, those same characteristics have been used to describe and criticize Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.While he gives off more extremely divorced energy than were used to seeing from the typical 007 baddie, the parallels between Bezos and the average Bond villain are, at least, quite funny. His bald head, immense wealth gained through ruthless industrial tactics, obsession with space, desire to manipulate global events through technology, and disdain for world governments Bezos doesnt just resemble a Bond supervillain; hes the kind of safe, but predictable Bond villain one of Amazons algorithms may produce based on all available data.But Bezos supervillain credentials recently took a darker, more fascinating turn in ways that may directly impact the Bond series. His decision to dictate the editorial direction of The Washington Post (which Bezos bought in 2013) not only recalls the maniacal machinations of Tomorrow Never Dies villain Elliot Carver (a delicious Jonathan Pryce); it raises serious questions about Bezos desire to use influential media to further his own agendas.To be fair, Amazon has produced and approved a wide variety of projects that do not necessarily represent the views of its founder; they even occasionally mock his actions and the culture that enables them. Just look at what The Boys gets up to. Yet its suddenly a lot harder to picture a bright future for the classic Bond villain archetype of old at a time when legacy media is increasingly being weaponized in service of that vague conflict known as the culture wars.But the future of Bond villainy is about more than Jeff Bezos. The Daniel Craig Bond era saw those movies pivot away from more grandiose supervillains with big personalities, elaborate lairs, and campier aesthetics. The villains of Craigs tenure often had a personal connection to Bond and were typically more grounded. That shift represented both the desire to make the Bond movies slightly more serialized and the general cultural shift toward blockbusters that felt more realistic. Both 2006s Casino Royale and 2005s Batman Begins rebooted those series after the peak of their silliness and made them acceptable to enjoy among those who apparently see themselves as very serious people.While I and others have argued that we could use some more absurd Bond movies again, its not clear if the cultural pendulum has swung far enough in that direction quite yet. What is clear is that the casting and characterization of the next Bond villain may tell us quite a lot about the tone and creative direction of everything that follows.Will we have another slightly more grounded Bond villain with ties to the characters past who helps weave an ongoing story? Will James Bond go lone wolf against a corrupt government he can no longer trust in a storyline that will totally have nothing to do with any billionaires beliefs? Will that villain have a lair? Will they have an allegiance to a real country or political ideology? What will they think of algorithms? Will a veteran actress finally get the chance to have a little fun as an over-the-top foil?Mind you, the Bond franchise may soon consist of multiple projects released across a variety of platforms in a rapidly shifting, ever-changing cultural landscape. In other words, the possibilities are endless.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!But maybe the answer is as simple as S.P.E.C.T.R.E. When Bond creator Ian Fleming realized that he could no longer rely on the Russians to be an evergreen villain in a changing and increasingly complex Cold War-influenced world, he created this fictional organization to give himself a little more freedom. By fighting with S.P.E.C.T.R.E., James Bond could battle a wider variety of villains whose interests werent as closely tied to specific political and regional conflicts. Suddenly, the world needed James Bond as much as England and other Western powers did.Perhaps we find ourselves on the precipice of the next S.P.E.C.T.R.E. era. Not S.P.E.C.T.R.E. exactly as it was (the recent reboot effort didnt work so well), but rather an overarching organization that provides loose continuity as well as an endless array of adversaries whose purposes are as generally nefarious as possible. In short, the most likely outcome may be for Amazons creatives to find a way to dodge as many potential villainy pitfalls as possible to fulfill their greater purpose: shipping as many units of generically acceptable Bond-branded products as possible.Of course it all has to start somewhere. As we try to figure out what comes next for 007, every aspect of the next Bond project will be heavily scrutinized. But as you wait to see who will play Bond next, who will direct that performer, and what adventures they will go on, keep an eye on the next Bond villain. Because while each Bond actor has helped usher in a new era for the character, those characters tend to settle into a groove fairly early into their tenures. Instead we often look toward Bonds rotating villains for a clearer sign of the trends of the times.