Valdo Obruchev

### Goals

Help Safin in his plan to kill Ernst Stavro Blofeld and obliterate SPECTRE for good (succeeded).Help unleash the Heracles Virus to eradicate millions of people and take over the world (failed).

### Crimes

TerrorismMass murder

Attempted global domination

Treason

Unethical experimentation

Conspiracy

“ Hey, I wouldn't need a laboratory to wipe your race off the face of the Earth! „ ~ Obruchev insulting Nomi

**Valdo Obruchev** is the secondary antagonist in the 2021 film *No Time to Die*, the fifth installment of the rebooted *James Bond* series. He is a treacherous MI6 scientist who is in cahoots with the notorious terrorist Lyutsifer Safin.

He was portrayed by David Dencik.

## Biography

### Kidnapped by SPECTRE

Five years following the arrest of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Obruchev started out as a loyal MI6 scientist as he was assigned by M to create Project Heracles, a bioweapon containing nanobots that spread like a virus upon touch and are coded to specific DNA strands so they are only dangerous if programmed to an individual's genetic code.

However, things went south when Obruchev ends up being kidnapped by SPECTRE agents led by Primo, as they intend to use Project Heracles as a means of killing Bond in revenge for Blofeld's arrest, freeing Blofeld from custody, and unleashing the nanobots to take over the world.

Upon hearing that the members of SPECTRE are having a meeting in Cuba to discuss about their plans for the nanobots, Bond, along with CIA agent Paloma, infiltrate into the meeting in hopes of rescuing Obruchev, but they end up being trapped. Blofeld, who is using Primo's bionic eye to see and communicate to lead the meeting while still being imprisoned, orders his members to unleash the nanobots to murder Bond. However, once the nanobots are unleashed, they instead murder all the members of SPECTRE, as Obruchev had them reprogrammed to kill them, something which both Bond and Blofeld didn't expect.

### Betraying MI6

Upon retrieving Obruchev while reuniting with CIA agents Felix Leiter and Logan Ash on a boat, a suspicious Bond interrogates Obruchev by demanding to know who is he working for. However, Ash reveals his true nature by shooting Leiter before escaping with Obruchev, resulting in Leiter subsequently succumbing to his injuries and drowning to his death.

Following Blofeld's death, Bond soon learned that he was unknowingly infected with nanobots that murdered Blofeld. Upon confronting Swann as she was the one who infected him with the nanobots, Bond was informed was Swann was coerced by Safin to do so. Swann then reveals Safin's backstory: his parents were murdered by Swann's father Mr. White on Blofeld's orders when Safin was a little boy; even after learning that Mr. White committed suicide out of complete remorse after his fallout with Blofeld, Safin still wanted revenge. It was then Bond realized that Primo, Obruchev and Ash are in league with Safin, and that Obruchev deliberately got himself kidnapped as part of Safin's plan to murder Blofeld and dismantle SPECTRE; this was proven as Obruchev previously got a call from Safin about the arrival of the SPECTRE agents before the kidnapping. Bond also learned that Swann has a 5-year-old daughter named Mathilde, who also happens to be Bond's daughter.

### Death

Despite having succeeded in murdering Blofeld and his forces and dismantling SPECTRE, Safin continued on his rampage as he converts his island base into a nanobot factory so that he can have Obruchev create millions of nanobots and unleash them globally to kill millions of people and take over the world. Following Ash's death, Safin captures Swann and Mathilde and has them brought over to the base. Infiltrating into the base, Bond and MI6 agent Nori take down many of Safin's men. When Nomi confronts Obruchev, the latter taunts her by claiming that he can reprogram the nanobots into killing anyone of African descent and wipe them out from the face of the Earth. Offended by this as she is of African descent, Nomi furiously declares that it is time for Obruchev to die, so she pushes Obruchev into a toxic acid pool, incinerating his body and killing him instantly.

Despite Obruchev's death, his work proved to be the key to Bond's death. This was shown when Safin managed to infect Bond with more nanobots that would kill Swann and Mathilde, right before Safin himself is shot to death by Bond in retaliation. Because of this event, this forces Bond to sacrifice himself in a missile explosion to destroy the base and all of the nanobots, including the ones he's carrying, to foil Safin's plot for good.

## Personality

Valdo Obruchev is first presented as intelligent but awkward socially with his colleagues. However, his true nature is far worst. He is revealed to be treacherous, betraying MI6 by allying himself with Safin. Unlike the latter, Obruchev lacks any redeeming quality or excuse for his actions. He is in fact, pleased when he constates Heracles's efficacity, proving he is sadistic. When he is arrested by Nomi, he strongly implies that he is racist towards people of African heritage in general by threatening to reprogram Heracles to kill all people of African descendance.

Obruchev is also a notable coward, panicking whenever he is or has the impression to be cornered. This exaggerated trait gives him a comedic side. But his intentions and acts are serious and it doesn't detract of his villainy. Because of his cowardice, he is not loyal at all to Lyutsifer and immediately reveals everything about him and his plan when Bond interrogates him.