Amazon Prime Video has deleted a series of digitally-altered James Bond posters which removed the spy’s gun after fans accused the brand of turning 007 ‘woke‘. 

The streaming giant acquired the rights to the franchise after purchasing MGM studios earlier this year, and last week made the films available online.  

But the shots of the spy were altered to remove certain elements deemed core to his brand, namely guns and girls.

Instead of seeing some of the film’s frontmen, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig, wielding a Walther PPK, viewers were horrified to discover digitally altered versions without a pistol in sight.

Critics swiftly took to social media, with many accusing Amazon of ‘sanitising’ the Bond name – and legacy.

It has now responded to indignant backlash by replacing the edited gun-less promo pictures with more traditional stills from the films themselves.

However, the new offerings are not likely to satisfy fans, as despite being untouched, they are still without guns or Bond girls. 

Bond fans have now taken to social media to blast the streamer’s edits to the original posters – including one featuring actor Roger Moore.

In the original, he could be seen stood in a silver space suit surrounded by women as Britain’s best spy went solar, pointing a futuristic version of the gun to the stars amid a flurry of spacecraft and planets. 

Amazon has ditched a set of gun-free James Bond posters from its TV streaming platform following fan’s complaints that the brand had gone ‘woke’. Sean Connery pictured in Amazon altered version for Dr. No

While the old version featured Connery against a menacing red backdrop, the updated version has attempted to channel more explicit aspects of the Bond branding by staging him behind a ‘007’ inscription. Pictured: The original promotional poster for Dr. No

But it was then replaced with a slightly tweaked snap of the star – no longer in space – wearing a golden zipped space suit with his hands placed firmly behind his back. Crucially, he was no longer clutching his gun.

However, like Moonraker, many of the new graphics – seemingly in an attempt to make the posters more uniform and alike – appear to have removed the concept behind the plot of the film.

In a similar fashion to the removal of the solar system in Moore’s 1979 instalment, much of the drama had been removed from the new poster of Octopussy, which originally had Bond wielding his pistol while a helicopter flew behind him.

A reworked version saw Moore standing in front of a greyish hue background with a red 007 graphic behind him. As with the other updated posters, the gun had also been erased.

Amid the dramatic changes, fans took to social media to lambast Amazon for the bizarre picture doctoring.

‘Licence not to kill,’ one jibed, in a reference to Bond’s catchphrase being rendered useless without his firearm.

A second added: ‘This is so pathetic,’ while Elon Musk even chimed in, simply leaving two exclamation marks under a post about the changes.

The new poster for GoldenEye faced particular ridicule due to Pierce Brosnan’s now-clumsy hand placement with no gun to hold.  

In the original image, Brosnan’s Bond stared menacingly as he readied his gun to fire.  But a new version saw the actor looking somewhat odd as he appeared to be clutching only thin air in his fist. 

Others online were quick to point out that the 007 graphic designed by Joe Caroff and features a pistol as the ‘seven’, still remains in the new posters. 

Marketing for Sean Connery’s Thunderball originally had him standing next to Bond girl Patricia Fearing while wielding his gun (left), but the new poster features Connery’s Bond standing solo with no pistol in sight (right)

The original poster (left) of Roger Moore in space has been dulled down in the new version (right) where he is no longer in the solar system, surrounded by women or holding the gun

A 1985 poster for A View to Kill shows Moore’s Bond with May Day, played by Jamaican singer, model and actress Grace Jones versus the latest update to the poster on Amazon

In the original poster for GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond stared menacingly as he readied his gun to fire – but the new one has the Irish actor clutching nothing in his fist in front of a golden background

In the original poster for 2015’s Spectre, in which Daniel Craig trawls the deserts of Morocco to the chilly heights of Austria, Bond is holding the gun in his right hand, by his side – but Amazon simply cropped the new poster to conceal the display of the firearm

The Bond franchise has long been renowned for its raunchy and provocative marketing images

One furious fan wrote: ‘Did they not notice the damn logo has a gun in it?!?’

While some changes were glaringly obvious in their removal of the Walther, other versions of the new posters were slightly more clever in their removal of the weapon.

In the original poster for 2015’s Spectre featuring Daniel Craig, Bond is seen holding the gun in his right hand, by his side.

But Amazon made the simple move of cropping Craig’s hands, while keeping his original pose, in an attempt to conceal the display of the firearm.

The moves to remove the weapon prompted fury among the most die-hard of Bond fans due to its significance in the original texts of the series.

It was first issued to the intelligence agent in the Ian Fleming novel Dr. No in 1958, and featured in all of the subsequent books as Bond’s signature firearm – prompting widespread popularity in pop culture replica collectibles.

Amazon has been approached for comment.