The Best of Bond's Gadgets

When 007 isn't sipping his signature martini or off on thrilling missions with the world's most beautiful women and dangerous villains, he's sporting the latest, high-tech gadgets — as Daniel Craig's Bond put it in Casino Royale: "Standard operating procedure. Boys with toys." With Skyfall imminent, we look back at some of the coolest gadgets in the James Bond series, secret weapons that have dazzled us for the past five decades.

It's a delight to see James Bond's famed armorer, Q, back in business. He arms Daniel Craig's Bond with a gun that has been coded to his palm print so only he can fire it. It's a nice, subtle way to reintroduce the gadgets that have been missing from the Craig installments in favor of a grittier, action-heavy character — in the vein of Bond author Ian Fleming's vision for 007 — but this unusual PPK/S nine-millimeter short is a nod to classic Bond in Skyfall.

The steel-rimmed bowler featured in Goldfinger didn't actually belong to Bond, but it's so killer we couldn't leave it off our list. The villainous Auric Goldfinger's henchman Oddjob played a deadly game of Frisbee with the razor-sharp hat — at the peril of Bond's neck. Our secret agent man eventually used the hat against Oddjob and dispatched the goon.

It's not enough for James Bond to own a posh Rolex watch -- it has to have special electromagnetic powers strong enough to deflect the path of a bullet while also allowing him to slice through anything thanks to a spinning bezel that turned into a miniature saw. In 1973's Live And Let Die, Roger Moore's 007 used it to evade a gory death (by shark!) and put the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner to provocative use when he used it to unzip Miss Caruso's dress.

For Bond, the briefcase is a slick, but stylish killing machine. The inside of Bond's attaché contained sniper rifles with 40 rounds of ammo, a throwing knife that released from the side of the case, tear gas disguised as talcum powder, and 50 gold sovereigns — just in case Bond needed to hop a plane. The briefcase in From Russia With Love was one of the earliest gadgets Bond employed that proved simple could still be lethal.

Alan Cumming's Boris Grishenko in 1995's Goldeneye was a sniveling, fidgeting computer programmer who learned the pen is mightier than the sword when he accidentally activated a Parker pen equipped with a grenade that detonated after pressing on it several times. The bumbling Boris angrily clicked away at the explosive pen when he couldn't crack a code for the Janus crime syndicate, set off the bomb and destroyed the control room.

Bond's favorite car, the Aston Martin DB5, contained some wicked gizmos—like rotating license plates; tire slashers; bulletproof capability; machine gun fire, oil slick and smoke sprayers; and our favorite: the ejector seat. When Q introduced 007 to the gadget in Goldfinger, it seemed so unreal that Bond wondered if he made it up. Q simply replies, "I never joke about my work, 007." Bond put Q's invention to work, firing a baddie straight up into the air.

Desmond Llewelyn's Q told Timothy Dalton's Bond that the ghettoblaster (how 1987!) is something he's working on "for the Americans." Cue cheesy guitar solo and a boom box that hides a rocket launcher. It blew a test dummy in the secret workshop to smithereens while Bond looked on, smirking. The scene is corny fun, but it also makes us miss long-time Quartermaster, Llewelyn. Ben Whishaw has big shoes to fill in Skyfall, but we have faith.

The "Man with the Golden Gun" — otherwise known as formidable assassin Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) — used an elaborate, single-shot weapon that fired a 23-carat gold bullet. When the cunning antagonist wasn't making a hit, the gun doubled as a fountain pen, lighter, cigarette case and cuff link. Roger Moore's Bond knew he meant business when he received Scaramanga's calling card..a bullet with "007" etched into it.

In The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond's Lotus Esprit transformed into a submarine — with the ability to launch torpedoes and set land mines — covertly transporting 007 underwater. On land, the car's machine gun headlights and other deadly components aided Bond in a seamless getaway. Watching sunbathers gawk as our secret agent's multi-combat car emerges from an underwater assault and flies onto the beach is one of 007's funniest moments on film.

While Bond normally relies on fast cars to escape danger, in 1965's Thunderball, Sean Connery's MI6 took to the air. After strangling Colonel Jacques Bouvar with a fireplace poker he evaded the SPECTRE henchmen by launching skyward with the help of a Bell Rocket Belt. The real-life technology was a smashing success with the fans, which is why filmmakers reintroduced it in Die Another Day 30 years later.