Max Zorin

Lore & Background

Max Zorin is the product of medical experimentation with steroids performed by Dr. Carl Mortner, a Nazi scientist who now serves as Zorin's veterinarian and racehorse-breeding consultant. Zorin is a psychopathic industrialist who plans to destroy Silicon Valley to gain a monopoly in the microchip market. He owns Zorin Industries, a government contractor that produces microchips designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse. Zorin's scheme involves implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in his racehorses to ensure they win consistently, and he attempts to buy the family oil business of State Geologist Stacey Sutton. He kills Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a racehorse trainer and MI6 agent, and later sets fire to San Francisco City Hall to frame Bond for murder. Zorin's plan culminates in detonating explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults, flooding Silicon Valley, with a larger bomb in a mine to destroy a geological lock that prevents the two faults from moving simultaneously. He escapes in an airship but is ultimately killed when Bond fights him on the Golden Gate Bridge, causing Zorin to fall to his death.

In Their Own Story

Bond first observes Zorin at Ascot Racecourse, where his horses win consistently. Through MI6 agent Sir Godfrey Tibbett, Bond meets French private detective Achille Aubergine, who is later killed by Zorin's bodyguard May Day. Bond and Tibbett travel to Zorin's estate for a horse sale, where Bond discovers Zorin has written Stacey Sutton a cheque for $5 million. That night, Bond and Tibbett infiltrate Zorin's laboratory, where he is implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in his horses. Zorin identifies Bond as an agent, has May Day murder Tibbett, and attempts to have Bond killed. General Gogol of the KGB confronts Zorin for trying to kill Bond without permission, revealing Zorin was initially trained and financed by the KGB but has now gone rogue. Later, Zorin unveils to investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley. Bond travels to San Francisco and learns from CIA agent Chuck Lee that Zorin is the product of Nazi medical experimentation. Bond infiltrates Zorin's oil rig, then tracks down Stacey Sutton and discovers Zorin's plot to flood Silicon Valley. After a fight in the mine, Bond and Stacey escape, and Zorin abducts Stacey in his airship. Bond grabs the airship's mooring rope, moors it to the Golden Gate Bridge, and fights Zorin, who falls to his death. The airship explodes, killing Mortner and Scarpine.

Reader's Guide

Max Zorin is the primary antagonist of the film *A View to a Kill*. He is a psychopathic industrialist who plans to destroy Silicon Valley by flooding it via explosives placed along the Hayward and San Andreas faults. Zorin is the product of Nazi genetic experimentation by Dr. Carl Mortner. He employs May Day as his chief henchwoman and Scarpine as his security chief. Zorin's scheme involves implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in his racehorses, buying Stacey Sutton's family oil business, and framing Bond for murder. He is killed when Bond fights him on the Golden Gate Bridge, causing Zorin to fall to his death. The film is the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as James Bond.

Did You Know?

• Max Zorin is played by Christopher Walken, who accepted the role after David Bowie and Sting turned it down.
• Zorin is the product of medical experimentation with steroids performed by Dr. Carl Mortner, a Nazi scientist.
• Zorin was initially trained and financed by the KGB, but later went rogue, as revealed by General Gogol.
• Zorin's plan to destroy Silicon Valley involves detonating explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults.
• Zorin is killed when he falls from the Golden Gate Bridge during a fight with James Bond.