The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelizations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd and Anthony Horowitz; the latest novel is Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2018. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny; the character has been adapted for television, comic strip, video games and film. The films are the longest continually running film series of all time and have grossed over $7.040 billion in total, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film series to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as Bond; as of 2020, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series.

The most recent Bond film, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond. There have been two independent productions of Bond films: Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015 the series was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, making James Bond one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bond's cars, his guns, the gadgets with which he is supplied by Q Branch; the films are noted for Bond's relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as "Bond girls". Ian Fleming created the fictional character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6. Bond is known by his code number, 007, was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division and 30 Assault Unit during the Second World War, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".

Among those types were his brother, involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale; the name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, Anglo-Saxon and yet masculine name was just what I needed, so a second James Bond was born", he further explained that: When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. On another occasion, Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, plainest-sounding name I could find,'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like'Peregrine Carruthers'.

Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." Fleming decided that Bond should resemble both American singer Hoagy Carmichael and himself and in Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." In Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking... Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way; that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones, but there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, the eyes were cold."Fleming endowed Bond with many of his own traits, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries. Bond's tastes are often taken from Fleming's own as was his behaviour, with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring Fleming's own. Fleming used his experiences of his espionage career and all other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances and lovers throughout his books.

It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice, that Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background. The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No in cinemas and Sean Connery's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond both a sense of humour and Scottish antecedents that were not present in the previous stories. In a fictional obituary, purportedly published in The Times, Bond's parents were given as Andrew Bond, from the village of Glencoe and Monique Delacroix, from the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Fleming did not provide Bond's date of birth, but John Pearson's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, gives Bond a birth date on 11 November 1920, while a study by John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921. Whilst serving in the Naval Intelligence Division, Fleming had planned to become an author and had told a friend, "I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories." On 17 February

Darkhawk is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Darkhawk #1, was created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Mike Manley; the character appeared in a series of self-titled comics from 1991-1995 recurred in several limited-run series and multi-title events in the years since. The character's origin is based on a link between a human character and an android from what the issues explain is another dimension known as Null Space; the character has appeared in non-speaking roles on television and video games. Darkhawk appeared in a self-titled monthly series for 50 issues, published by Marvel Comics from March 1991 to March 1995, included three standalone annuals. Although created by DeFalco and Manley, DeFalco was never credited as a writer of the series; the original writer was Danny Fingeroth. After his own series ended, Darkhawk co-starred or cameoed in other titles over the following years, such as New Warriors, Avengers/JLA, Iron Man resurfacing in Runaways Vol.2 #1–6, followed by Marvel Team Up Vol.3 #15 and the short-lived Loners series.

New Warriors writer Fabian Nicieza said in 1992 that "People keep coming up to me and asking,'Is Darkhawk a member of the New Warriors or not?' Well, yes and no. The New Warriors isn't an official group with the like. They're more of a club for super-powered teens. So if Darkhawk wants to hang out on a Friday evening and talk about his powers he'll stop by the New Warriors' crash pad."Darkhawk appeared within the Secret Invasion tie-in issues of Nova and was the focus of the two-issue mini-series War of Kings: Darkhawk, written by C. B. Cebulski, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. War Of Kings: Darkhawk brought closure to Chris Powell's earthbound human relationships with his family and fellow Loners team members, serves to establish a clean slate for the sequel series, War Of Kings: Ascension, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Darkhawk appeared in a 2012 -- 2013 series by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker. Christopher Powell was born in New York. While witnessing his policeman father accept a bribe from a crime boss at an abandoned amusement park, teenager Chris Powell discovered a mysterious amulet.

This amulet allowed him to switch places with a powerful android. Powell vowed to use the amulet as "an edge against crime." In this role, he battled a number of costumed villains. Darkhawk soon encountered his first supervillain, the Hobgoblin, battled him alongside Spider-Man, he next fought Savage Steel, Portal. He next battled the U-Foes alongside Captain America, he battled the villain Lodestone. He battled Savage Steel again, this time alongside the Punisher. Darkhawk battled the cyborg Midnight and the Secret Empire alongside Spider-Man, the Punisher, Night Thrasher and Moon Knight. Darkhawk battled assassins from the Foreigner's 1400 Club, he battled Tombstone, who removed his amulet from his chest. Darkhawk worked with the New Warriors and was a provisional member of the West Coast Avengers. Darkhawk battled a number of costumed villains, including the Brotherhood of Mutants. Powell discovered that the android was stored and repaired aboard a starship in a dimension called Null Space; when he used the amulet to access the android body, his human body switched places with it.

Five Darkhawk amulets were commissioned by an alien crime lord named Dargin Bokk. The scientists who created the technology used them to assault Bokk. After Bokk destroyed the other scientists two of the scientists beamed their minds to Earth and merged with two Earth scientists there. Byron/Ned Dobbs and Mondu/John Trane created a sixth amulet, the one that turned Christopher Powell into Darkhawk. However, the events of War of Kings: Ascension cast doubt on how much of this—even the existence of Bokk himself—was real. Powell and Darkhawk were split into two separate beings, each with Powell's memories; the Darkhawk body was transformed into a new shape when it accidentally downloaded data from the ship re-merging so that Powell could change back and forth between the two without teleporting to Null Space. Powell joined a group of former teenage superheroes who were struggling with their current lot in life called the Loners. Members of this group included Phil Urich, Turbo from the New Warriors, Lightspeed from Power Pack, Ricochet from the Slingers.

The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor – revealed to be former Avengers sidekick and Captain Marvel and Hulk partner Rick Jones – to track down the Runaways in Los Angeles. Powell displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Powell admits to his teammates. Powell decided to never turn into Darkhawk again, but this decision did not last long, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces. Following the battle and the revelation of Jones' involvement, Excelsior opted to remain together and act as a more traditional superhero team. Excelsior change their minds about being superheroes and instead become a'superhero support group' due to the events of the superhuman Civil War rendering moot their original purpose to dissuade and/or help young superheroes cope with their powers/superhuman identities, as this role was now being fulfilled by the U.

S. government (though E

The can-can, or cancan as in the original French, is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Danced by both sexes, it is now traditionally associated with a chorus line of female dancers; the main features of the dance are the vigorous manipulation of skirts and petticoats, along with high kicks and cartwheels. The can-can is believed to have evolved from the final figure in the quadrille, a social dance for four couples; the exact origin of the dance is obscure, but the steps may have been inspired by a popular entertainer of the 1820s, Charles Mazurier, well known for his acrobatics, including the grand écart or jump splits—both popular features of the can-can. The dance was considered scandalous, for a while there were attempts to suppress it; this may have been because in the 19th century, women wore pantalettes, which had an open crotch, the high kicks were intentionally revealing.

There is no evidence that can-can dancers wore special closed underwear, although it has been said that the Moulin Rouge management did not permit dancers to perform in "revealing undergarments". People dancing the can-can were arrested, but there is no record of its being banned, as some accounts claim. Throughout the 1830s, it was groups of men students, who danced the can-can at public dance-halls; as the dance became more popular, professional performers emerged, although it was still danced by individuals, not by a chorus line. A few men became can-can stars in the 1840s to 1861 and an all-male group known as the Quadrille des Clodoches performed in London in 1870. However, women performers were much more known; the early can-can dancers were prostitutes, but by the 1890s, it was possible to earn a living as a full-time dancer and stars such as La Goulue and Jane Avril emerged, who were paid for their appearances at the Moulin Rouge and elsewhere. The most prominent male can-can dancer of the time was Valentin le Désossé a frequent partner of La Goulue.

The professional dancers of the Second Empire and the fin de siècle developed the can-can moves that were incorporated by the choreographer Pierre Sandrini in the spectacular "French Cancan", which he devised at the Moulin Rouge in the 1920s and presented at his own Bal Tabarin from 1928. This was a combination of the individual style of the Parisian dance-halls and the chorus-line style of British and American music halls. In the United States and elsewhere, the can-can achieved popularity in music halls, where it was danced by groups of women in choreographed routines; this style was imported back into France in the 1920s for the benefit of tourists, the "French Cancan" was born—a choreographed routine lasting ten minutes or more, with the opportunity for individuals to display their "specialities". The main moves are the high kick or battement, the rond de jambe, the port d'armes, the cartwheel and the grand écart, it has become common practice for dancers to yelp while performing the can-can.

The can-can was introduced in America on 23 December 1867 by Giuseppina Morlacchi, dancing as a part of The Devil's Auction at the Theatre Comique in Boston. It was billed as "Grand Gallop Can-Can and danced by Mlles. Morlacchi, Diani, Baretta... accompanied with cymbals and triangles by the coryphees and corps de ballet." The new dance received an enthusiastic reception. By the 1890s the can-can was out of style in New York dance halls, having been replaced by the hoochie coochie; the can-can became popular in Alaska and Yukon, where theatrical performances feature can-can dancers to the present day. The can-can is now considered a part of world dance culture; the main feature observed today is how physically demanding and tiring the dance is to perform, but it still retains a bawdy, suggestive element. When the dance first appeared in the early 19th century, it was considered a scandalous dance, similar to how rock and roll was perceived in the 1950s. In the mid-19th century it was thought to be immoral by respectable society.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the can-can was viewed as much more erotic because the dancers made use of the extravagant underwear of the period, the contrasting black stockings. They lifted and manipulated their skirts much more, incorporated a move sometimes considered the most cheeky and provocative—bending over and throwing their skirts over their backs, presenting their bottoms to the audience; the Moulin Rouge dancer La Goulue was well known for this gesture, had a heart embroidered on the seat of her drawers. A can-can dancer would sometimes stand close to a man, bet that she could take off his hat without using her hands; when he took the bet, she would execute a high kick that would take off his hat—and give him a quick look at her pantaloons while she was at it. It was a warning that anyone taking unwanted liberties with a dancer could expect a kick in the face. Early editions of The Oxford Companion to Music defined the can-can as a "boisterous and latterly indecorous dance of the quadrille order, exploited in Paris for the benefit of such British and American tourists as will pay well to be well shocked.

Its exact nature is unknown to anyone connected with this Companion." Many composers have written music for the can-can. The most famous music is French composer Jacques Offenbach's Galop Infernal in his operetta Orphée aux Enfers. How