Natalya Simonova

Background

Natalya works on missile guidance systems at the Severnaya facility of the Russian Space Forces. When the treasonous General Ouromov and Xenia Onatopp attack the station with a stolen Tiger helicopter she is the only survivor apart from Boris Grishenko, who has secretly allied himself with Ourumov and the plot's mastermind Alec Trevelyan. Believing Boris innocent, she seeks him out, but he meets her in a cathedral and hands her over to Onatopp.

Captured by Trevelyan along with Bond, she is trapped in the stolen helicopter, which is programmed to fire its missiles at itself; Bond ejects them both and the Russian government arrests them. Ourumov frees Bond to clear his own name of murder, Bond escapes but loses Natalya, then rescues her from Ourumov and Trevelyan, and the two become lovers and follow Trevelyan to Cuba. Finally the two assault Trevelyan's satellite base, where Natalya breaks into the computer room and resets the rogue satellite's course to cause a burn up over the Atlantic Ocean, preventing an electromagnetic pulse from destroying London. She then commandeers a helicopter to pick up Bond and herself using the gun Bond gave her, saving him right after he defeats Trevelyan; Jack Wade is waiting when they are dropped off.

An early draft of Tomorrow Never Dies had Bond tell Wade that Natalya had married a hockey player, a nod to Scorupco's real-life marriage to Polish hockey player Mariusz Czerkawski. She also appears in the 1997 and 2010 GoldenEye 007 games, portrayed by Kirsty Mitchell in the latter. IGN ranked her the seventh-best Bond girl, while Cracked.com listed the 1997 game's version among the most annoying video game characters for her lack of self-preservation.