SPECTRE Irma Bunt, Blofeld's assistant, in his short story "Blast From the Past", which is a sequel to "You Only Live Twice". In the Eon Productions James Bond series, which began in 1962 with "Dr. No", SPECTRE plays a more prominent role. The organisation is first mentioned in "Dr. No" as the organisation for which Dr. No works. This was changed from Fleming's novels, which had Dr. No working for the USSR. In the films, SPECTRE usually replaced SMERSH as the main villains, although there is a brief reference to SMERSH in the second Eon Bond film, "From Russia with Love"
SPECTRE higher figure Blofeld had anticipated. The killing of Helga Brandt in "You Only Live Twice", for failing to kill James Bond, horrifies even visiting Red Chinese agents; she was eaten by Blofeld's piranhas. In the original Bond novel series, SPECTRE's first and last appearance as a worldwide power is in the novel "Thunderball", published in 1961. In the novel, SPECTRE, headed by Blofeld, attempts to conduct nuclear blackmail against NATO. Apparently disbanded afterwards, SPECTRE is said to be active again in the next book, "The Spy Who Loved Me", although the organisation is not involved in the plot. In "On