Director Sam Mendes will make his mark on the Bond franchise later this year with the 23rd film in the series, Skyfall, and we now have our first look at the new Q of the Daniel Craig era.  Ben Whishaw (I’m Not There) takes on the role of 007’s gadget expert in Mendes’ pic, and this image proves that the character does indeed look super smart.  Unless I’m forgetting someone, we’ve yet to see a reinvention of a classic Bond character in the Craig films besides Bond himself, so it’ll be interesting to see how Whishaw’s Q fits into the universe.  The character was memorably played by Desmond Llewelyn from 1963-1999, then John Cleese took over during the Pierce Brosnan era from 1999-2002.Hit the jump to take a look at the image.  The film also stars Bérénice Marlohe, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Helen McCroy, Albert Finney, and Ralph Fiennes.  Skyfall opens in IMAX and conventional theaters on November 9th.Image via 007.comben-whishaw-skyfallskyfall-posterHere’s the official synopsis for Skyfall:

Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time.  In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past comes back to haunt her.  As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

In case you missed it, here’s some of our previous Skyfall coverage: