44 replies to this topic

[bill007]

Perhaps, maybe, Bond 24 could be written in such a way as to alleviate the somewhat less than appealing venture of QoS by simply making it a mere branch of the greater body that is SPECTRE ?

 

Mr. White could then be brought back as a member of the larger group.  Perhaps, even, #2?

[SecretAgentFan]

Or... since Quantum has been exposed they just reform as the bigger and badder SPECTRE.

[tdalton]

At this point I really think that they should just leave both Quantum and SPECTRE alone and move on to something new.

[Professor Pi]

I think what would be appropriate is to finally conclude the Quantum loose ends in a pre-titles sequence, and then move on to something new.  They've done it before.

[Agent Spriggan Ominae]

I wrote some lengthy posts on this subject in the What do you want to see in Bond 24 thread. I for one would like to see a proper conclusion and some closure to the events of QOS. Those who say Quantum should be left alone must have not seen the same QOS. There are at least two big threads left hanging from QOS, those being the Fate of Mr. White and the notion that Quantum had infiltrated the highest levels of the British Government. Those two things would have been addressed and dealt with in the original deleted ending. However since that ending was deleted as far as official Bond cannon is concerned Mr. White is still at large and Quantum, while exposed and driven underground still have some pretty powerful, essentially untouchable figures in their ranks, i.e Guy Haines and the Former head of Mossad. These are things that can and should be explored in a future installment. I'm sorry but to assume or imply that Bond dealt with White and Quantum off screen is not good enough. At the very least I want the Quantum arc to be brought to a close sooner rather than later, while Craig is still in the role. I want a Quantum trilogy. We already have two parts of it.

 

As far as Quantum being a branch or part of SPECTRE, personally I would rather they try to have the two being stand alone organizations, perhaps working in conjunction or even against each other. Quantum and SPECTRE are two different kinds of beasts. Quantum is portrayed as a loose cabal of business, intelligence, and political leaders with Mr. White being a kind of enforcer, perhaps even De facto leader of the group. Their aim it seems is to use their connections and resources to manipulate things from behind the scenes and ensure that they get their little cut of the pie, their little quantum of profit from all these scheme like the airliner plot in CR or the Bolivian coup and water scam from QOS. I rather there not be some as yet unseen head of Quantum, or if there is I'd rather they be a decoy with the revelation that White was the head all along. And MI6 had him snatched right from under their noses. It would be like catching and loosing Blofeld.

 

Speaking of Blofeld and SPECTRE, SPECTRE was portrayed as Blofeld's own private organization/company who's business just so happens to be espionage and terrorism. He formed a network of spies/saboteurs in Europe during WW2 and then took his outfit private after the war, working for various governments, even the British it is implied I believe in the TB novelization. I could easily see a contemporary version of SPECTRE. Especially since we're now almost and decade and half into the "global war on terror", I could see and updated SPECTRE being a private security/intelligence firm/ private army/mercenaries with Ernst Stavro Blofeld being the owner and CEO. If they go the route of making SPECTRE into a PMC along the lines of Blackwater/Xe services then perhaps we could see the return of some more traditional elements like the big climactic battle scenes of old with the armies of henchmen in uniforms without it being cheesy. I could see something like that working.

 

In a reversal of Quantum being a branch of SPECTRE, I would have Blofeld introduced as a leading/high ranking member of Quantum with his SPECTRE PMC providing Quantum with it's ranks of henchmen and bodyguards. Then after the demise of White and ultimate exposer and destruction of Quantum, Blofeld and SPECTRE could rise up and we can have a contemporary adaption/remake of the Blofeld Trilogy. With this I feel it's everything or nothing. Perhaps not a 100% faithful adaption but at the very least use the basic structure of the trilogy as the base much like CR the novel was for that film. I want to see Blofeld and SPECTRE again in the rebooted timeline/continuity at some point but if they're going to bring the character back it should be in a proper adaption of the trilogy. For one we could get the same actor as Blofeld for all three films, also we could have an established Bond in the OHMSS story and lastly a faithful adaption of YOLT. While I say faithful to certain extent. The producers have done loose remakes of past Bond films already, i.e YOLT and TSWLM, or even GF and AVTAK or even how DAD was a contemporary adaption of MR, and it was far closer to original novel in terms of the story than the actual film bearing the name. They could have some fun with translating the trilogy to the Craig continuity. Imagine say perhaps maybe Camille as Tracy... and maybe instead of Draco since her father is dead, that character could be her M/spymaster?

 

That just some ideas. They could do a lot of things.  

 

           

[tdalton]

The only way that I see Bond 24 realistically featuring Quantum as the villain of the piece is if the film itself takes place pre-Skyfall.  I just don't buy the idea that Bond and MI6 can still be realistically battling Quantum some seven years following Quantum of Solace, at least not in the form that we last saw the organization.  They had the dirt on Guy Haines, so that investigation would have begun immediately following the events of Quantum of Solace and would not be left unresolved in the year 2015.  Mr. White could presumably still be out there even seven years later, but what kind of influence would he continue to wield?  That's something that could be easily dealt with in a PTS and then we could begin Bond 24 proper after the title sequence, but I just don't see a realistic way for EON to simply begin Bond 24 with Bond battling Quantum following the events of Quantum of Solace.  Too much time has elapsed for them to be a viable threat in the form they held in Quantum of Solace.  

[Agent Spriggan Ominae]

I guess it depends on what you see as realistic. QOS does try to be a far more gritty and realistic spy thriller as far as the story and plot go. The whole idea of business interests working hand in hand with the intelligence communities and manipulating governments and staging coups, assassinations and terrorism to further their agenda is a sad fact of the way the world works. And the truth is most of these kinds of people really are above the law. Take Haines for instance, supposedly they got the goods on Haines, they know who he is, which incidentally was the reason White was going to kill Haines in the deleted scene however since it was cut I don't think it would or should be considered cannon. I find it interesting that Craig's suit and the production designs from the Skyfall PTS and later at the inquiry shooting are very much like the look from the few photos and footage from the deleted sequence. Almost as if now they can kind of pretend that the scene never existed. I think the reason why it was dropped was because that ending with everything tied up nice and neat would have been too unrealistic.

 

As it is now the last time Haines is referenced in QOS is during the first meeting with Mathis where he tells Bond to destroy the photo of Haines, almost as if implying that he's untouchable. The man is a close advisor to the then current PM, Bond was accused of killing his bodyguard, all they have are photos and hearsay from Bond, Greene is dead so no way to confirm what he said and we are never told or shown what Yousef reveals. Most likely things ending where they did at the end of QOS, in a sort of draw, stalemate. They can't realistically go after Haines without causing a scandal and even then he could always and most certainly claim plausible deniability if accused and of course he would use his influence to launch an investigation into the shooting of his bodyguard and bring M into public and also disclosing that MI6 are using assassins... yeah that would all kinds of scandals so realistically QOS ended in a draw and Quantum if they were smart would go underground and bide their time, perhaps even orchestrate some kind of revenge.  

 

And then in Skyfall right off the bat MI6 and M are under attack not only from external threat but from assault by the bureaucracy that they are sworn to protect. That to me implies some kind of fallout from the battles with the all-powerful Quantum. Haines was a close advisor to the PM, now all the public inquiry, witchhunt and scapegoating and changing of the power structure seem even far less contrived and make sense. You'd be surprised that more often than not usually when there's some kind of real life breach of information, it's usually the fallout of some kind of internal power struggle in the organization or political structure governing it. Very few things happen by accident. Silva mentions rigging elections in Uganda "all to the highest bidder". We saw White in Uganda doing business with LRA so we know that Quantum has some kind of interest in the country so it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that perhaps Quantum or individuals affiliated with the cabal were in contact with Silva for his services at some point or another, perhaps even unwittingly on Silva's part. Silva must have had some powerful backers/sponsors and I don't think it was the Chinese. They don't need to outright spell it out or even reveal if they were or not but the fact remains at the end of the events in Skyfall, Bond's greatest ally in his fight against Quantum, M, is dead.

 

With Bond 24 and the possibility of Quantum returning I feel the whole thing shouldn't be Bond battling Quantum and/or White. If anything The PTS should be stand alone and then perhaps the first act could seemingly be business as usual, Bond, M, Q, gadgets, Moneypenny, the mission established then they could have a bit of mystery and revelation that it's really the remnants of Quantum lead by White trying one last scheme to kill Bond, discredit MI6 and gain a foothold again only for White to meet his ultimate demise and Haines to be caught red handed. Like Bond says to Mathis, they say you're judged by the strength of your enemies, and to have these said enemies just fade away and not be dealt with proper just doesn't seem right to me. Even more so after Skyfall. I do agree when you say that if Quantum returns it would not be in exactly the same form we saw them in. If anything just a shell of the former cabal. Unlike some, I feel that we've seen all there is to Quantum. For the most part the folks at the opera were the Quantum Cabal. Maybe we might see some new faces if they bring them back but for the most part White is the key. He's not Blofeld, but he's essentially that kind of recurring villain I feel. He's his own character.

 

At the very least, if they really go the route of saying that Bond destroyed Quantum between QOS and SF than at the very least I would want them to bring back the character of White and give him proper closure. Bond needs to kill White proper. Even if it's not Jesper Christiansen. They could always recast and say that the Character had plastic surgery after the events of QOS, which would be very realistic seeing as they have his face and with facial recognition software the way it is now. And most likely White would change his name and identity in the years between the stories. At the very least there's a case to bring back White for closure. His characters ultimate fate effects not just QOS but the ending of CR as well. You could arguably say that Blofeld's organization SPECTRE was only ever an actual threat in TB the novel, in OHMSS and YOLT it was just Blofeld and not SPECTRE that Bond was after, infact if I'm not mistaken they make reference to SPECTRE being dismantled between the events of TB- TSWLM- OHMSS in the novel continuity. So SPECTRE, the big bad original terror group met it's end off page so to speak in the original novels so haha. We still got ultimate confrontation with Blofeld, some thing that the films really messed up. You see I don't want Mr. White to turn into Blofeld from the FYEO PTS. I want him to get a Blofeld from YOLT novel kinda send off.             

[Walecs]

The only way that I see Bond 24 realistically featuring Quantum as the villain of the piece is if the film itself takes place pre-Skyfall.  I just don't buy the idea that Bond and MI6 can still be realistically battling Quantum some seven years following Quantum of Solace, at least not in the form that we last saw the organization.  They had the dirt on Guy Haines, so that investigation would have begun immediately following the events of Quantum of Solace and would not be left unresolved in the year 2015.  Mr. White could presumably still be out there even seven years later, but what kind of influence would he continue to wield?  That's something that could be easily dealt with in a PTS and then we could begin Bond 24 proper after the title sequence, but I just don't see a realistic way for EON to simply begin Bond 24 with Bond battling Quantum following the events of Quantum of Solace.  Too much time has elapsed for them to be a viable threat in the form they held in Quantum of Solace.  

 

 

Otherwise, the pre-titles sequence is set pre-Skyfall, like GoldenEye's pts was set before The Livings Daylights. They might show that Quantum was defeated indeed, and the supreme head of Quantum gets killed by Bond.

However, during the film, a new organization rises and... plot twist! Its head is Quantum's head, which, somehow, had survived, and during all these years was just gaining power to create a new organization, and he calls it: SPECTRE.

[Guy Haines]

Quantum was blown in QoS, and as tdalton points out, some seven years will have elapsed since that film and Bond 24. That said, there's no reason why Quantum couldn't be mentioned in passing as a predecessor of SPECTRE - just as, in the novel Thunderball, various organisations were set up by Blofeld before he settled on the one we know from the trilogy. The difference being, though, that those networks referred to in Thunderball mostly involved Blofeld acting alone or with a few associates. SPECTRE in a future Bond film would probably involve what could be salvaged from Quantum - a world wide network of the powerful - plus links to known terror groups and intelligence organisations.

 

(As an aside, I was watching ITN News tonight, straight after ITV's showing of QoS. There was a report about these dreadful bombings in Russia. The ITN correspondent referred to the threat of further atrocities as the "spectre of terror.")

[tdalton]

Agreed.

 

I also just can't see EON going back to the Quantum well anyway.  They would be going back seven years to pull a plotline from a film that was generally despised within the fan community and wasn't much better received by the general public.  As much as I like Quantum of Solace (it's a Top 5 Bond film for me), and as much as I'd like to see the storylines from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace wrapped up, it's just not something that I see as being all that feasible, be it from a plausibility standpoint or a creative standpoint, some seven years after the fact.  EON needs to be looking forward for Craig's final two Bond films, looking to craft a great, epic ending to his tenure rather than going back to tie up loose ends from almost a decade ago. 

[Guy Haines]

Just one more point, and it might not seem that important, but, on reflection, I think it was a pity they gave "the organisation" a name at all. At least, as soon as the second Craig Bond film. Had the whole "Quantum" business been kept going from CR and QoS, it would have lent an air of mystery to the Craig era if his adversary's identity was kept in the shadows. Who exactly is he fighting? SPECTRE in disguise? Or something else? At the end of QoS we learned that "the organisation" involved powerful people and had a front man with a very commonplace name - if it was his real name - "Mr. White". The rest could have been revealed in the penultimate or ultimate movie of the Craig era.

 

As it is, I think Quantum is blown in its present form. It will either return with new personnel, or something else will replace it - which may, or may not, be a re-booted SPECTRE.

[Leon]

I would not be averse to a re-imagining of SPECTRE, I must say. I feel Blofeld could easily be re-imagined also for modern times and could be quite terrifying. Someone like Stellan Skarsgard.

[Darthyan]

They already confirmed that if Quantum confirmed it will have a new face. My guess is that Quantum will have been gutted, with a few members fleeing into the shadows, and then quietly rebuilding. They will have an entirely new face, an almost entirely new leadership; then they will return with a vengeance. 

 

I mean, they tried to fool the CIA and got exposed as chumps. I can see the CIA going after them, and maybe even joining with MI6 to do it. Also, even if they can't go after Haines, they can probably go after some of the other guys (Karakov for instance, MAYBE Sareff). Depending on how much Greene spilled his guts, they might have more to work with.

Edited by Darthyan, 11 March 2014 - 07:41 PM.

[Zen Razor]

I personally would rather have the two organizations separate. I'm not sure what they plan on doing along the lines of the Quantum story but suggesting that Blofeld was gained back, I'm most sure they will do some type of film featuring him. What bothers me is that I don't see how they are going to be able to fix the storyline I mean probably after Bond 24 Sam is going to leave and a new director will come up will he end up following the same story or a complete different one? I think it's to hard to decide the future of Bond for now but hopefully we can get some more information soon on things might work out.

[007jamesbond]

they could easily wrap up Quantum in the PTS........like smesh some of their members defected to SPECTRE. But Mr.White need to come back 

[tdalton]

The idea of Quantum being a subsidiary or department of SPECTRE is not something that I'm at all interested in seeing.  It smacks of laziness on the part of the filmmakers.  Even though I'm on record in this thread as saying that I don't think that Quantum should return, I've softened my stance on that a bit as I now think that there might be some ways for them to do that that might be more compelling than to simply wave a magic wand and say that the big villainous organization they were putting together in Quantum of Solace wasn't ever really that dangerous and is now simply a small part of a rebooted SPECTRE because we now have the rights to that organization.

[thecasinoroyale]

I basically think they tried to start a modern day SPECTRE with the seeds planted for Quantum in 'Casino Royale', but they rushed ahead and messed up the concept in 'Quantum Of Solace' and it fell apart.

 

Like tdalton says, it will be 7 years (wow, already!?) since Quantum was seen or heard of last, and with the evidence that Bond doesn't need Quantum as a villain as we saw in 'Skyfall', there's no need to try and take another stab at worming them into a future story.

 

 

"Forget it, Charlie EON. You had your chance and you blew it!"

[Turn]

I don't agree because it's been 7 years that Quantum had been dismantled or finished. All these people are still out there. They retreated to lick their wounds and start again. Or that fans don't find it successful. I think many are still intrigued and how QoS turned out and their disappointment was more on the film itself than the organization.

 

Although it was a different time and a much less smaller span of time, GF served as a successful interlude between SPECTRE films in the Connery days. I think SF was something of the same. Besides, did people even really give SPECTRE a second thought back then? It was mentioned in Dr. No, talked about to a larger extent in FRWL but wasn't until TB and YOLT the wide influence it had. Did people really think much about the guy in the suit with no face stroking the cat? 

 

And personally I like the idea of an ongoing enemy. I grew very tired of Bond vs. the insane billionaire plots that populate so much of the series. Chipping away layer by layer to get to the number one guy makes me look forward to the next film even more and this time they can do it right, which I think they will. That means not crashing his bathosub into the computer room and cut to the scene with the girl with no satisfying resolution. And don't even bring up the FYEO teaser.

 

Quantum, SPECTRE, I say onward with it.

[Walecs]

SPECTRE's been up for nearly 20 years (and maybe it already was pre-Dr. No), with a nine years gap between DAF and FYEO.

 

Who knows what happened between QoS and Skyfall? Bond might have defeated Quantum, yet some important members could still be alive and re-create it (under the Spectre name, if they want, but that's not necessary).

[Tiin007]

The idea of Quantum being a subsidiary or department of SPECTRE is not something that I'm at all interested in seeing.  It smacks of laziness on the part of the filmmakers.  Even though I'm on record in this thread as saying that I don't think that Quantum should return, I've softened my stance on that a bit as I now think that there might be some ways for them to do that that might be more compelling than to simply wave a magic wand and say that the big villainous organization they were putting together in Quantum of Solace wasn't ever really that dangerous and is now simply a small part of a rebooted SPECTRE because we now have the rights to that organization.

 

Utter laziness. As if changing the name of the organization to SPECTRE is somehow satisfying the recurring need of fans to see a rebooted Blofeld/SPECTRE, when in actuality they had a great foundation with the mysterious Quantum organization. I really hope that if they bring back Quantum, it remains Quantum. But with each passing day I become more convinced that the powers-that-be are going to morph the organization into an updated SPECTRE. I really hope I'm wrong.

[S K Y F A L L]

I don't agree because it's been 7 years that Quantum had been dismantled or finished. All these people are still out there. They retreated to lick their wounds and start again. Or that fans don't find it successful. I think many are still intrigued and how QoS turned out and their disappointment was more on the film itself than the organization.

 

Although it was a different time and a much less smaller span of time, GF served as a successful interlude between SPECTRE films in the Connery days. I think SF was something of the same. Besides, did people even really give SPECTRE a second thought back then? It was mentioned in Dr. No, talked about to a larger extent in FRWL but wasn't until TB and YOLT the wide influence it had. Did people really think much about the guy in the suit with no face stroking the cat? 

 

And personally I like the idea of an ongoing enemy. I grew very tired of Bond vs. the insane billionaire plots that populate so much of the series. Chipping away layer by layer to get to the number one guy makes me look forward to the next film even more and this time they can do it right, which I think they will. That means not crashing his bathosub into the computer room and cut to the scene with the girl with no satisfying resolution. And don't even bring up the FYEO teaser.

 

Quantum, SPECTRE, I say onward with it.

 

Love it!

[Emrayfo]

I'm firmly with Agent Spriggan Ominae and Zen Razor.

 

I see Quantum and Spectre as very different organisations to each other, with different types of organisational structure, membership, governance and objectives. Quantum are very much a fluid, oligarchical, capitalist, conspiracist 'one percenter', loose alliance-based kind of organisation whose members are in it for the money and political manipulation – to influence government policy, win lucrative contracts etc. All this was made quite clear in Quantum of Solace. By contrast Spectre is a more hierarchical and centrist freelancer terrorist organisation (no doubt with its own political/economic or ideological objectives), and I can definitely see it being contemporised through a combined military contractor angle (a la Blackwater/Xe, Sandline, AEGIS), as suggested by Agent Spriggan Ominae, and freelance intelligence/espionage angle (a la AKE, Velours Group, Kroll) given current geopolitics. Not to mention obvious terrorist/extortionist possibilities as well.

 

The Bond universe is expansive and elastic enough and the actual contemporary threats the UK Government and its allies face are broad and deep enough that the Bond films can sustain more than one world-spanning criminal organisation. To say “there can be only SPECTRE” as some kind of eternal nemesis to our super hero action man is cartoonish and simplistic – I love the 60s Bond films but we need films that work now in today’s world. It rings true to the current world to have two such rival organisations aware of each other and sometimes working at odds and sometimes towards a similar objective. It doesn’t mean they have to be the star of each film. Personally, of the two I think Spectre is more dangerous as it is personality driven and probably ideological, whereas Quantum is just about the age-old motivations of greed and power.

 

I hope EON and Mendes don't mush Quantum and Spectre together in the film SPECTRE, or do something equally clumsy, but I don't have high hopes. Despite being the custodians of the franchise, EON in general and Barbara Broccoli in particular have not shown themselves to be particularly sensitive nor even particularly understanding of the character and his world. And Mendes did a good job in Skyfall but again doesn’t really know or understand the character. Nonetheless, the SPECTRE teaser trailer is terrific and beguiling and it really feels like a true Bond film.

 

Maybe the reappearance of Mr White signifies that Quantum came up against Spectre and came off second best?

Edited by Emrayfo, 29 April 2015 - 06:29 AM.

[SecretAgentFan]

IMO, I would welcome Quantum to be a first step for Blofeld before regrouping into SPECTRE.

[Vauxhall]

I doubt we'll get a proper and detailed explanation, but I fully expect Quantum to be some sort of subsidiary or off-shoot of SPECTRE.

[Guy Haines]

More thoughts.

 

1) Quantum as a project of SPECTRE - a project based on a mix of the financial and the terrorist sides of crime, headed by people in positions of influence who could protect it at the highest levels of government and business.

 

2) Quantum as a predecessor of SPECTRE - as I mentioned earlier here, a bit like Blofeld's first attempts at organised crime and intelligence gathering in the novel Thunderball, before he finally settled on SPECTRE.

 

3) Quantum as a rival to SPECTRE. Remember that line from Draco in the film OHMSS? "Some of my men have recently defected to him (Blofeld)". Maybe the remaining heads of Quantum - the ones who weren't hopelessly compromised during the "night at the opera" in QoS, including Mr White, found themselves in competition with a new and more ruthless syndicate. And lost.

 

4) Quantum taken over by SPECTRE. Which could follow on from point 3 above, or just happened sometime after the said night at the opera. Quantum hopelessly blown, and the salvageable parts taken on by SPECTRE. A bit like what happened in 2008/09 when certain big banks went belly up, but parts of them were consumed by their rivals.

 

None of which explains why, in the recent teaser trailer, we see Bond confront a dishevelled Mr White in a broken down log cabin in Austria. Or then again maybe one or more above do. We'll see this November.

[Emrayfo]

More thoughts.

 

3) Quantum as a rival to SPECTRE. Remember that line from Draco in the film OHMSS? "Some of my men have recently defected to him (Blofeld)". Maybe the remaining heads of Quantum - the ones who weren't hopelessly compromised during the "night at the opera" in QoS, including Mr White, found themselves in competition with a new and more ruthless syndicate. And lost.

 

4) Quantum taken over by SPECTRE. Which could follow on from point 3 above, or just happened sometime after the said night at the opera. Quantum hopelessly blown, and the salvageable parts taken on by SPECTRE. A bit like what happened in 2008/09 when certain big banks went belly up, but parts of them were consumed by their rivals.

 

I like scenarios (3) and (4). But as Guy Haines says, we'll see in November. I can't wait.

[JCRendle]

Could Quantum be their "Public persona" - A shadow organisation created so that their members can conduct legitimate businesses practices as well as a way of laundering money and keeping under the radar of HMRC/IRS etc. SPECTRE is the real deal.

 

Obviously this would have been heavily affected by the events of QoS and they'd have to drop this name, as the intelligence services have become aware. For all we know SPECTRE has several such organisations that they use to carry out different aspects of their work.

 

Think of the stereotypical American Mafia in Waste Disposal. 

[Shrublands]

I think scenario 1. is closest to the mark.

Mr White always gave me the impression that he was operating above and beyond the plans of Quantum. I think he is the real Spectre operative. 

[seawolfnyy]

All will be answered this fall....

[Emrayfo]

 

The idea of Quantum being a subsidiary or department of SPECTRE is not something that I'm at all interested in seeing.  It smacks of laziness on the part of the filmmakers.  Even though I'm on record in this thread as saying that I don't think that Quantum should return, I've softened my stance on that a bit as I now think that there might be some ways for them to do that that might be more compelling than to simply wave a magic wand and say that the big villainous organization they were putting together in Quantum of Solace wasn't ever really that dangerous and is now simply a small part of a rebooted SPECTRE because we now have the rights to that organization.

 

Utter laziness. As if changing the name of the organization to SPECTRE is somehow satisfying the recurring need of fans to see a rebooted Blofeld/SPECTRE, when in actuality they had a great foundation with the mysterious Quantum organization. I really hope that if they bring back Quantum, it remains Quantum. But with each passing day I become more convinced that the powers-that-be are going to morph the organization into an updated SPECTRE. I really hope I'm wrong.

 

 

^^ Agreed. There have been a lot of posts supporting the idea of Quantum having been a subsidiary of SPECTRE or being merely overtaken in toto by SPECTRE, but I think this would be lazy and also less compelling. Bond's world deserves to be more complex than that. I’m with those who prefer a more interesting resolution to the Quantum storyline. Just like the real world, there can be more than one source of bad guys, and those bad guys can also be in competition even if they share enemies and pursue similar goals through similar methods, e.g. Al-Qaida and ISIL.

 

Based on the teaser trailer we know Mr White makes a return. I have been staying away from spoilers, so this is just my own interpretation: I think the footage released to-date containing Mr White can be read as pointing to Quantum and SPECTRE being two separate organisations. Not a lot is given away, but It is possible to see a scenario where both groups came up against each other, perhaps vying for influence over the same politicians or control of the same companies/resources. My wish is that Bond 24 will reveal that Quantum and SPECTRE came head-to-head and Quantum lost. Why else would the supremely confident and powerful Mr White, an important leader in Quantum, be reduced to the wreck we see in the trailer? He appears to be hiding out, fearing for his life, not an important functionary of an ascendant SPECTRE.

 

The interpretation I favour is something along the following lines: Bond knows that Quantum sought to re-group after he disrupted them but then something else happened to extinguish them completely as an effective force. That 'something' is a group he learns is called SPECTRE, but that he otherwise has little to no intelligence of to go on. So Bond has sought Mr White out in his hiding place in pursuit of all possible leads on SPECTRE. White may be one of the few to have crossed SPECTRE and lived. And hence why he is hiding out. When White says to Bond he expected death to come from a familiar face, I conjecture he was thinking 'SPECTRE'.