Boris Ivanovich Grishenko is a character in the James Bond film GoldenEye played by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.

Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko in ‘GoldenEye’.

Biography: He is a brilliantly talented computer programmer and cracker who has hacked the United States Department of Justice. He is also backstabbing and arrogant, often shouting “I am invincible!” whenever he succeeds. Boris frequently spins pens with his hands while working.

Boris works at the Severnaya observatory in Siberia which watches over the two weapons satellites, Petya and Mischa. Boris leaves the observatory for a cigarette only minutes before its destruction by the Petya satellite. He actually slips away and flies off with General Arkady Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp, having allied himself with Alec Trevelyan to steal the GoldenEye satellite. His main purpose with Janus is to operate the GoldenEye satellite in exchange for a share of the profits. Boris later helps his comrades abduct Natalya Simonova, the only other survivor of the attack on Severnaya.

While attempting to crack the access codes for the GoldenEye, he obtains a grenade disguised as a pen from Bond’s wide arsenal of gadgets. The explosive properties of the pen are unknown to him. The pen needs to be clicked three times to arm the grenade, and an additional three times to disarm it, which Boris does out of a nervous habit. Bond knocks the pen out of his hand leading to an explosion that destroys much of the control centre, giving Bond and Natalya a perfect opportunity to escape.

After the satellite control room is destroyed, Boris is amazed to see he manages to survive the incident, prompting him to jump up and shout his trademark exclamation (“I am invincible!”) — at which point a vat of liquid nitrogen explodes, freezing him instantly, but apparently not killing him. Although it is not made explicit in the film, the novelisation states that he is dead.

See also:

• Bond henchmen