James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me include the Bond girl Anya Amasova and her lover Sergei Borzov, as well as Colonel-General Nikitin, a character from Fleming's novel "From Russia, with Love" who has since become head of the KGB. Other differences include the villain, Karl Stromberg, instead being named as Sigmund Stromberg. The change of Stromberg's given name, as well as the existence of SMERSH, may be in some way due to the controversy over "Thunderball", in which Kevin McClory was made aware of certain plot points of the film "The Spy Who Loved Me". At one point the villain of the film was to be
Motifs in the James Bond film series for the film: "you put in three girls ... Girl number one is pro-Bond. She stays around roughly through the first reel of the picture. Then she is bumped off by the enemy, preferably in Bond's arms." The next girl is anti-Bond and normally captures him, but Bond will save himself by using his charm and sexual potency: she is normally killed midway through the film. Girl number three will survive and end the film in Bond's embrace. Academic Kimberly A. Neuendorf notes that James Bond promotes stereotypical, sex-typed male attitudes, especially when interacting with women and in doing so