10 Ways Jack Reacher Really Is The American James Bond
Alan Ritchson’s recent comment about Reacher essentially being the American James Bond is surprisingly accurate, with both properties sharing links.
SUMMARY
Reacher star Alan Ritchson believes the show is the “American James Bond” due to similarities in the lead characters in both properties.
Both Bond and Reacher value intellect over brute force, but will use violence when necessary.
Amazon owns both the Reacher TV show and the James Bond movie franchise, which highlights their shared facets.
Even though Reacher and James Bond don’t share a direct connection, several arguments support the opinion of Reacher star Alan Ritchson, telling Entertainment Weekly he thinks his show is essentially the “American James Bond.”
Bond and Reacher share a great deal in common, despite being created in different countries, decades apart from one another. So far, every James Bond movie predates Amazon’s Reacher TV show, although Tom Cruise’s two Jack Reacher movies were released during Daniel Craig’s reign as 007. While every James Bond actor brings something new to the role, the basic character remains similar to Reacher.
The first James Bond movie was 1962’s Dr. No, and while the first Jack Reacher on-screen adaptation was Tom Cruise’s 2012 movie, Amazon has since rebooted the franchise. Now, Alan Ritchson embodies the hulking American and has done so since Reacher season 1 began in 2022.
As such, Ritchson is only the second actor to step into Reacher’s shoes, whereas several actors have portrayed Bond through the decades. Regardless, it’s difficult to ignore the other connections between Bond and Reacher.
10. Reacher & Bond Both Perfectly Blend Brains & Brawn
Ritchson’s character matches 007’s level of balance
Given the action-led nature of both franchises, it would be easy to have a protagonist who is always looking for the most explosive option. However, James Bond and Jack Reacher aren’t just brutal killing machines. While both men certainly have long histories of violence, it’s rarely their first option. Instead, Bond and Reacher make use of their intellect to analyze a situation before taking action.
If bloodshed can be avoided, both characters will almost always find an alternative plan that circumvents the need for confrontation. That being said, it’s clear that both Reacher and Bond share a quiet enjoyment of violence, so when a scenario arises that calls for immediate action, neither man is disappointed by the call to arms. Their intelligence doesn’t just help with the planning stage either, but also in the mostly flawless execution.
9. Reacher & James Bond Regularly Switch Love Interests
Both characters have various romantic partners
A steady romantic relationship isn’t something commonly associated with either Reacher or Bond. In fact, 007 has been with so many women that it led to the creation of the “Bond Girl” category. While Ritchson’s Reacher is still only two seasons in, he has been involved with a different love interest in each installment. Given the anthological format of the Amazon show, this is likely a trend that will continue, leading to a new addition to the Reacher season 3 cast.
By the time Connery’s third Bond movie came around, Gayson had been dropped and replaced by Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in 1964’s Goldfinger .
Like Reacher, James Bond also partners with a new woman in almost every movie. The exception to this rule is Sean Connery’s Bond being involved with Eunice Gayson’s Sylvia Trench in Dr. No, and the next movie, 1963’s From Russian with Love. By the time Connery’s third Bond movie came around, Gayson had been dropped and replaced by Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in 1964’s Goldfinger.
8. Amazon Owns The Reacher TV Show & The Bond Movie Franchise
Amazon bought the rights to James Bond in 2022
In a somewhat meta revelation, Reacher and the James Bond franchise are now both the property of Amazon. While the James Bond movie rights had belonged to MGM since the 1980s, Amazon’s purchase of MGM in 2022 means it owns the Bond movie franchise.
Reacher‘s situation is far less complicated, as the show is an Amazon original and always has been. Although it’s unlikely that Amazon is making a conscious effort to connect Bond and Reacher, the shared ownership highlights their shared facets.
When it’s considered that Amazon is the driving force behind both James Bond and Reacher, the high-budget action sequences in both franchises suddenly make much more sense.
Bond movies have been an incredibly profitable endeavor through the decades, so it would make sense that Amazon would gravitate to purchasing such a similar property and continue to apply such a familiar framework.
7. James Bond & Jack Reacher Keep Their Cards Close To Their Chests
Both characters need their feelings coaxed out of them
Reacher is an incredibly hard man to read, which is a personality trait shared by his British counterpart. Neither character is prone to volatile emotional outbursts, instead letting a level head and precise action do the talking. Bond and Reacher also aren’t associated with big speeches or lengthy rants. Instead, they tend to get their respective points across in a measured way that takes as few words as humanly possible.
While no version of James Bond has ever been particularly emotive, Daniel Craig’s version of the character is a paragon of Stocisim, and is therefore much more akin to Ritchson’s Reacher than the other Bond actors. Even though both characters favor a truncated form of communication, it’s quite often a very effective method of getting their thoughts across to their allies or even their enemies.
6. Both Characters Trust Very Few People
Bond & Reacher have a revolving door of allies
It would be inaccurate to say that James Bond and Jack Reacher have enormous social circles. Instead, both men only regularly associate with a select group. Even then, it’s rare for them to voluntarily spend time with more than one person at a time.
Furthermore, there needs to be a very good reason for them to not be alone at all. What’s interesting is that the smattering of individuals in each man’s respective circle are primarily former colleagues or allies.
For instance, Bond is close to almost no one he meets outside a mission, with M being the closest thing he has to what would be considered a traditional friend. Similarly, the surviving members of Reacher’s 110th Special Investigator’s Unit make up almost his entire collection of comrades.
While this seems to suit Reacher, Neagley warns her former commanding officer at the end of Reacher season 2 that keeping the 110th at arm’s length won’t be tolerated anymore. For Bond, his eternal solitude is his own decision.
5. Bond & Reacher Are Both Fearsome In Armed & Unarmed Combat
Reacher’s training is at least as good as James Bond’s
It’s well established that neither Bond nor Reacher should be trifled with when they have a gun in their hands, with Bond even having a preference for a specific model of firearm.
What’s interesting is that when both men are disarmed, their effectiveness in a fight is barely reduced. Bond may not be a physically imposing man, but his abilities in a hand-to-hand brawl are almost unmatched due to being trained in martial arts.
Reacher is naturally very strong, but his time in the military makes him an even more imposing presence when the guns are put to one side.
The sheer size of Jack Reacher gives him an advantage in a close-quarters fight, and it isn’t one that he squanders. Reacher is naturally very strong, but his time in the military makes him an even more imposing presence when the guns are put to one side.
What he lacks in speed and agility, he makes up for in quick reflexes and brute strength. Reacher’s crazy abilities are perhaps best displayed in Reacher season 2, episode 2, “What Happens in Atlantic City,” when he kicks a stationary car so hard that the airbags deploy.
4. Jack Reacher Is Just As Headstrong As James Bond
Few people can tell Reacher or Bond what to do
Even though Bond holds a senior position in MI6, he still has superiors. However, he tends to only follow orders when it suits him. There aren’t many who can force 007 to do as he’s told, but his internal driving force doesn’t tend to let him down. Reacher also marches to the beat of his own drum, but his independence doesn’t ruffle anyone’s feathers in any official capacity.
Reacher’s time in the military is over by the time the show begins, although flashbacks in season 2 do show key moments from his career. His status as a wanderer means he doesn’t have to answer to anyone like Bond does, but Reacher season 2’s flashbacks are proof that if Ritchson’s character receives orders he disagrees with, he’s going to go out of his way to disobey them.
3. Reacher & Bond Both Have Literary Origins
Child & Fleming are responsible for the creation of Reacher and Bond respectively
Given the popularity of the James Bond movie franchise, it can be easy to forget that the character began as the creation of Scottish author, Ian Fleming.
Although further Bond books have been commissioned in the wake of Fleming’s death, the 007 creator penned 14 of them before his passing. Due to the volume of James Bond movies that have been made, every original book has now been adapted for the big screen, with a few original screenplays thrown in for good measure.
It’s highly unlikely that Amazon’s show will get around to adapting every Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, but the streaming service is in a great position by having so much source material to work with.
Lee Child’s Killing Floor was the first Jack Reacher book published, with the novel arriving in 1997. Since then, Child has continued to add to his literary world, and now there are almost 30 installments in the book series. It’s highly unlikely that Amazon’s show will get around to adapting every Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, but the streaming service is in a great position by having so much source material to work with.
2. Neither James Bond Nor Jack Reacher Have Any Surviving Immediate Family
Daniel Craig bucks this trend in No Time To Die
Although Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond is revealed to have a daughter in 2021’s No Time To Die, no other iteration of 007 has ever fathered a child. So, traditionally, Bond’s loner status remains intact.
This is compounded by the fact that both of his parents died when he was young, and he never had any brothers or sisters. Bond’s tragic backstory is part of what contributes to his tortured soul persona, and the case is very similar for Jack Reacher.
Although Reacher wasn’t orphaned until he was already an adult, he was without his parents by the time the Amazon TV show started. While his older brother was still alive for a time, Reacher season 1 comes with the revelation that Joe Reacher was killed in Margrave, Georgia. As a result, Jack Reacher is left just as isolated from a familial standpoint as James Bond.
1. Bond & Reacher Received Their Training From Official Organizations
Both men have ties to the military in their respective countries
There’s an explanation as to why James Bond and Jack Reacher are such formidable opponents. Their survival and combat talents didn’t just come naturally to them.
Instead, their abilities were earned due to time spent training with their respective employers. For Jack Reacher, the organization in question was the US Army, where he served in the military police and achieved the rank of major.
James Bond also has a military history, as he was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander before working for MI6 as part of the 00 program. So, it could be argued that Bond’s training surpasses that of Reacher’s, although it’s a good bet that the winner in a fight between both men would come down to fine margins.
Interestingly, while James Bond has a government-sanctioned license to kill, Reacher also often gets away with literal murder – although on a somewhat less official basis.
