in ian fleming 's james bond novels and the derived films , the 00 section of mi6 are considered the secret service 's elite .
a 00 agent holds a licence to kill in the field , at his discretion , to complete the mission .
goldfinger establishes that the section usually has only three agents at a time ; the films , beginning with thunderball , establish the number of 00 agents as fewer than 12 .
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origin of nomenclature
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in the british and commonwealth armed forces , soldiers and officers are assigned identity numbers ; the united states military does likewise .
during ian fleming 's work in vichy france , an agent 's anonymity was imperative , and , when the agent was military , it was convenient to use the last three digits of the agent 's number as identification .
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in world war ii , britain 's special operations executive agents did not have identifiers assigned to them such as the 00 or related ' systems ' of nomenclature .
specific agents would be known to high command by their own names , and when deniability was at stake , their service numbers in long form , or else by invented codenames .
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for the sake of romance and memorability , fleming used the 00 and mystical number 7 for james bond — himself a shell for the reader to inhabit -lrb- kingsley amis , the james bond dossier , 1960 -rrb- .
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description
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in the first novel , casino royale , and the 2006 film adaptation , the 00 concept is introduced and , in bond 's words , means : " that you 've had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some assignment . "
his 00 number -lrb- 007 -rrb- was awarded him because he twice killed in fulfilling assignments .
in the second novel , live and let die , the 00 number designates a past killing ; not until the third novel , moonraker , does the 00 number designate a licence to kill .
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thereafter , the novels are ambiguous about whether or not a 00 agent 's licence to kill is limited -lrb- see dr. no , goldfinger , and the man with the golden gun -rrb- .
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the 00 section is a discreet area of mi6 , whose agents report directly to m -lrb- the world is not enough -rrb- .
per fleming 's moonraker , 00 agents face mandatory retirement at 45 ; john gardner contradicts this in his novels , depicting a fifty-odd-year-old secret agent . fleming himself contradicted this statement by having bond serve past the remaining years he was supposed to have .
sebastion faulks ' devil may care features m giving bond a choice of when to retire .
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fleming himself only mentions five 00 agents in all .
according to the novel moonraker , james bond is the most senior of three 00 agents ; the two others were 008 and 0011 .
later novels feature more 00 agents .
009 is mentioned in thunderball and 006 is mentioned in on her majesty 's secret service .
other authors have elaborated and expanded upon the 00 agents .
while they presumably have been sent on dangerous , world-saving missions just as bond has , little has ever been revealed about most of them .
several have been named , both by fleming and other authors , along with passing references to their service records , which suggest that agents are usually recruited from the british military 's special operations forces .
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in the films , bond 's fellow 00 agents appear receiving briefings in thunderball and the world is not enough .
both suggest that at least one is a woman .
in thunderball , there are nine chairs for the 00 agents ; moneypenny says every 00 agent in europe has been recalled , not every 00 agent in the world .
as with the books , other writers have elaborated and expanded upon the 00 agents in the films and in other media .
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list of 00s
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this list is of the known 00 agents of the british secret service who exist in officially-licensed novels , cinema , video games , and comic strips .
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novels
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00-agent name description agent 001 edward donne referred to in the raymond benson novel , doubleshot , edward donne is the only agent 001 .
agent 004 ? , scarlett papava a 004 appears in the benson novel the facts of death .
in the sebastian faulks novel devil may care , bond girl scarlett papava is unveiled as 004 , replacing the previous agent who was killed in berlin .
agent 005 stuart thomas was 005 until defective eyesight impaired his marksmanship , and he was made head of station g -lrb- greece -rrb- in colonel sun .
agent 006 major jack giddings 006 , a royal marine commando , is mentioned in on her majesty 's secret service .
in guardian angel he is named as major jack giddings and second to bond in the 00 section .
agent 007 james bond james bond is the only agent 007 .
during you only live twice , bond was transferred into another branch and given the number 7777 , suggesting there was no active agent 007 in that time ; he is reinstated as such in the man with the golden gun .
in the john gardner novels , agent 007 is the remaining active 00-agent , the section was disbanded in the 1980s , later contradicted by raymond benson & # 39 ; s novels .
agent 008 & # 39 ; bill & # 39 ; in the novel goldfinger , bond thinks to himself that 008 would likely avenge bond by killing goldfinger .
as bond thinks this , he ruminates that 008 is & # 34 ; a good man , more careful than bond . & # 34 ; in the novel moonraker , 008 -lrb- called & # 34 ; bill & # 34 ; by bond -rrb- is mentioned as being on recuperative leave after returning from a mission behind the iron curtain .
agent 0010 john wolfgramm referred to in the benson novel the man with the red tattoo .
agent 0011 cederic mentioned briefly in the novel moonraker as vanishing while on assignment in singapore .
agent 0012 sam johnston although unmentioned on screen , benson & # 39 ; s the world is not enough novelisation has bond investigating 0012 & # 39 ; s death at story & # 39 ; s start -lrb- seen in a photograph of a dark-haired man , in the film -rrb- .
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films and other official media
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00-agent name description agent 002 bill fairbanks , ?
a 002 first appears in thunderball . shot through the neck and killed by francisco scaramanga , the man with the golden gun , in beirut , lebanon , in 1969 -lrb- film version : the man with the golden gun 1974 -rrb- .
in the living daylights film , another agent 002 , played by glyn baker , was training at gibraltar , with 004 and 007 .
agent 003 jason walters , jack mason a 003 first appears in thunderball .
found dead , in siberia , in a view to a kill film .
another -lrb- unrelated -rrb- mi6 agent is jack mason , 003 who is shot in the gut and killed by nikolai diavolo , the villain , in the everything or nothing video game -lrb- 2004 -rrb- .
diavolo is connected with the villain max zorin from a view to a kill .
agent 004 ?
a 004 first appears in thunderball . played by frederick warder , 004 accompanied 002 and 007 to gibraltar in the living daylights film ; he is murdered by a false kgb agent who tags the body with & # 34 ; death to spies & # 34 ; in russian .
his support rope is cut and he is sent plummeting down a cliff to his death .
another 004 appears in the benson novel the facts of death .
in the goldeneye video game , on the silo mission briefing , q mentions to 007 to & # 34 ; remember to treat the timed explosives with respect — you remember what happened to 004 in beirut & # 34 ; ; it is unclear whether he speaks of another agent or the one listed above .
agent 005 ? 005 appears in thunderball .
agent 006 alec trevelyan a 006 first appears in thunderball . when 006 was used again , the character was now named and became pivotal in goldeneye .
one of bond & # 39 ; s friends , he betrayed mi6 and her majesty & # 39 ; s government with his fake death , and then , years later , by stealing the goldeneye satellite from the ussr .
his motive was avenging his parents , lienz cossacks , betrayed to the communists by the british government after world war ii .
he also begrudged bond & # 39 ; s not allowing him time to escape the soviet chemical weapons factory they were sent to destroy in goldeneye .
he is killed when he is crushed by a huge falling satellite antenna .
agent 007 james bond see above .
agent 008 timothy bond a 008 first appears in thunderball .
in goldfinger m threatens to replace 007 with agent 008 ; in the the living daylights film , with another agent who can follow orders .
in the film goldfinger , bond tells goldfinger & # 34 ; if i don & # 39 ; t report , 008 replaces me . & # 34 ; the james bond 007 role playing game released in the 1980s suggests 008 is a woman .
in the video game james bond 007 , 008 -lrb- male -rrb- gives bond an exploding pen before dying .
in the movies 008 is the only one -lrb- other than bond -rrb- that wasn & # 39 ; t killed doing his job .
agent 009 peter smith a 009 first appears in thunderball .
mischka and grischka kill him in the octopussy film by throwing a knife into his back .
in the world is not enough , m assigned another 009 to kill renard ; despite putting a bullet in his head , renard lives with the bullet in his head slowly killing off his senses .
in quantum of solace another 009 mi6 agent is assigned as m ’ s sentinel .
the graphic novels deadly double and serpent 's tooth feature a fourth agent 009 .
agent 0012 sam johnston although unmentioned on screen , benson & # 39 ; s the world is not enough novelisation has bond investigating 0012 & # 39 ; s death at story & # 39 ; s start -lrb- seen in a photograph of a dark-haired man , in the film -rrb- .
agent 0013 briony thorne a female 00-agent appearing in the comic strip fear face -lrb- published january 18 , 1971 to april 20 , 1971 in the the daily express -rrb- .
thorne is revealed to be a double agent for china .
unknown jonathan hunter & # 34 ; goldeneye & # 34 ; a former 00-agent featured in rogue agent .
he was shot in the right eye , and was dismissed by mi6 for & # 34 ; reckless brutality & # 34 ; .
he joined up with auric goldfinger against the shooter , dr. julius no , and eventually received a gold-hued , synthetic orb as a replacement for his right eye .
after killing goldfinger and dr. no , he becomes ernst stavro blofeld & # 39 ; s bodyguard .
unlike other 00 agents listed here , goldeneye only appears in the non-canon video game rogue agent .
the game takes place in an alternate universe .
unknown agent york killed in the comic strip river of death -lrb- published june 24 , 1969 to november 29 , 1969 in the daily express -rrb- .
agent york is a 00 agent but his number isn & # 39 ; t revealed .
unknown suzi kew a recurring character in the daily express comic strip series of the 1960s and 1970s , suzi kew is a 00 agent but her number is not revealed .
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in other media
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in the 2006 movie the pink panther , clive owen played the character of nigel boswell , agent 006 .
this was a reference to him being rumored to take the role of bond for casino royale .
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in black dossier , the original 007 is stated as being prospero , who received the position upon being recruited to the english spy organization of sir jack wilton in 1558 , during the start of the reign of queen gloriana .
the earlier volumes had hinted that campion bond served as 007 as of 1898 .
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in the alternate history novel back in the ussa , agent 007 is an agent of smersh played by rudolf nureyev in a series of russian movies including from america with love .
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in an episode of cory in the house , stictler mentions his father is agent 001 , which is strange , seeing as the cia does n't have 00 agents or an equivalent , and stictler is clearly not british .
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in the goldeneye game for the nintendo 64 , the easy , medium , and hard levels are respectively known as " agent " , " secret agent " , and " 00 agent " .
besides having a greater number of enemies , the " 00 agent " level requires all facets of a mission to be completed in order for bond to advance to the next mission , whereas the other two have less .
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in an episode of the fresh prince of bel-air , will 's grandmother is given the codename 0070 , a likely reference to her age .
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in the basil brush show episode " kiss and tell " , during basil 's spy sequence , bingo brush bursts in and says his codename is 00ps with basil stating that bingo has a license to leave little messages lying around .
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in the phineas and ferb episode " a hard day 's knight " , perry the platypus works with agent 000 -lrb- pronounced " double-oh oh " -rrb- while dealing with his nemesis , dr. heinz doofenschmirtz , in london .
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in deep space nine , garak is said to be a double-o agent . this , however , is in reference to the cardassian spy network , known as the obsidian order .
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reference
