I strongly disagree with both you and Penguin on this point. There is no one who is more entrapped by a toxic archetype then someone who is not aware that he lives by it. Those old stories continue to shape our way of seeing the world, and the only way to free ourselves from them is to retell them in such a way as to reveal the lies and distortions of the earlier versions. Clint Eastwood, who has been doing this since “Bronco Billy” calls it “deconstructing my persona”. Shakespeare did the same thing to the traditional stories that he retold. Hamlet’s pondering of his courses of action is the exact opposite of the enraged fury of the formulaic “Revenge tragedies” Shakespeare inherited from his predecessors.

A Black Bond would of course be different from the Imperialist white Bonds who preceded him. But that’s what would make his story more interesting and vital. Craig’s Bond, unlike Connery’s and Fleming’s, is a working class guy who rose to this position from lower origins, and frequently has to deal with his sense of alienation from the Posh guys he works for and with. A Black Bond is the logical extension of this theme.