The best fictional spies not named James Bond

We start in a shagadelic place with a character that is something of a James Bond parody. The British spy was a swinging ladies man in the ‘70s, but after being frozen and unfrozen, the Mike Myers character finds himself a fish out of water. Fortunately, that gave us one really good comedy, one good comedy, and one movie that probably stretched the premise too far.

We could have filled this list with characters from John Le Carre adaptations. The British author had actually been a spy, which gave him a real sense of the environment. Le Carre’s most famous character is probably George Smiley, who is at the center of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Alec Guinness has played him on television and Gary Oldman on the big screen.

Sometimes you can forget that Hunt basically started as a spy. Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series has turned into such an action romp he doesn’t do as much spy stuff. Then again, when does Bond do anything but bed ladies and shoot guns? Hunt is a spy, and he’s willing to do things like climb the Burj Khalifa for the sake of the world.

Ryan has been placed by a few different actors, all big names. We’re talking about Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and John Krasinski. The Tom Clancy character is an analyst for the CIA, ostensibly more an ideas man than anything. Then he heads into the field and is as much of an action star as anybody.

Also known as Black Widow, Natasha is introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man 2 as a woman who is basically doing spy stuff. Her role in the MCU is more spy-ish than anybody else in the Avengers. Whether for Russia or the United States, Natasha has spy skills and is capable of moving in and out of situations stealthily.

Agent 86, a.k.a. Maxwell Smart, works for CONTROL in Get Smart. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry’s parody of spy stories a la John Le Carre is centered on the titular Smart. The problem for CONTROL is Smart is a little less capable than you would hope. Smart is a bit of a doofus, but he often gets the job done. Well, Agent 99 gets the job done. Smart is along for the ride…and loving it.

Perry isn’t just a secret agent and super spy. He’s also a platypus. Oh, and he’s a house pet! Agent P is one of the characters from Phineas and Ferb, usually off on his own adventure while the titular stepbrothers are doing their thing. Perry primarily deals with Dr. Doofenschmirtz, who is always trying to take over the Tri-State Area but is pretty easily foiled.

Bourne took Bond and made him grittier, and in turn, Bond got a gritty rebooting when Daniel Craig took over the role. That’s how impactful the Bourne movies were, specifically The Bourne Identity . Matt Damon’s character starts from a point of being an amnesiac adrift at sea. Eventually, he begins to realize who he is, making him dangerous to the U.S. government.

Before he was Bond, Roger Moore was Simon Templar. Apparently, the guy likes playing a spy. Templar is the main character in The Saint. He’s different in that he’s sort of a freelance spy. Templar takes on the cases that more traditional agencies can’t or won’t. He’s kind of a one-man “A-Team” but with Moore’s usual winking, fun energy.

There were a few different spies on The Avengers, including multiple female spies. However, in the end, the one we remember the most is Emma Peel. Is that because Diana Rigg plays Peel in a catsuit? Perhaps. Also, there are now members of two very different Avengers on this list.

Well, technically, Westen isn’t a spy for most of the run of Burn Notice. The title is in reference to Westen being burned by the CIA — disavowed and discredited. The show then focuses on him using his spy skills to help people out, not unlike Simon Templar, while trying to figure out how he got burned.

The role that made Jennifer Garner a star. Garner played Bristow for five seasons and 105 episodes on Alias. The ABC show saw Garner’s Bristow working as a double agent, creating the kind of complicated, tense story that fans of spy fiction tend to enjoy.

In terms of parodies of Bond, Archer might be the most explicit. He even kind of looks Bond-like in animated form. Archer takes Bond’s lesser traits and turns them up to 11 in this raunchy, sometimes absurd cartoon comedy. Over the years, Archer has done some other work — if you include drug runner as an occupation — but he’s a spy at heart.

You could count on a few different characters showing up on The Rocky and Bullwinkle show. Two of them are Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. They are the show's villains, forever on the hunt to take down “moose and squirrel” for their country of Pottsylvania. The Pottsylvanians sound an awful lot like stereotypical Russians. Unfortunately for them, Boris and Natasha prove inept at their jobs.

Bauer had some looooong days. That’s what happens when you work in the Counter Terrorist Unit, we guess. In 24, Bauer is tasked with some serious jobs to protect the United States. That left him with no time to sleep, or seemingly to eat or to go to the bathroom. While time has not been kind to Bauer’s methods, 24 was undoubtedly a big success.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. focuses on a fictional, multinational intelligence agency and two men who work within it. We have the Russian Illya Kuryakin and the American Napoleon Solo. At the height of the Cold War, this combination had some weight to it. On the TV show, Solo was played by Robert Vaughn in the role that turned him into a star. They tried their hand at a Man from U.N.C.L.E. , where Henry Cavill played Solo.

OK, it’s another Marvel character, but let’s face it: Marvel dominates the movie universe. And they’ve dipped their toes into the TV landscape. Before Disney+, Peggy Carter got her own ABC show, Agent Carter. It expanded her role from the first Captain America movie and gave her a real chance to show off her spy skills.

Chuck became a spy in an unexpected way. He ends up with America’s greatest spy secrets embedded in his brain because…well, it’s a bit silly. That’s OK. Chuck was supposed to be a light, breezy take on the spy story. It mixed action and comedy, with Zachary Levi in the starring role as the in-over-his-head titular character.

There’s a movie literally called Spy . How could we not include its main character? Susan Cooper is played by Melissa McCarthy, so she’s not your typical spy. That’s sort of the point of this action-comedy. Cooper is getting out in the field for the first time, where she has to deal with a more typical movie spy, played by Jason Statham.

Carrie is a great operative for the CIA when she’s healthy and stable. Unfortunately, the lead character of Homeland is bipolar, and her mental health is not always in the best place. Carrie is played by Claire Danes. It’d be a waste of her skills if she could never break down and cry.