Eva Kant (Danger: Diabolik)

Eva Kant

Eva Kant (Marisa Mell) is a secondary antagonist in the 1968 action film "Danger: Diabolik".

Eva Kant is the lover and partner of International man of mystery Diabolik (John Phillip Law). The two of them pull off heist after heist, all while European cops led by Inspector Ginko (Michel Piccoli) and envious mobsters led by Ralph Valmont (Adolfo Cell) are closing in on them.

In the European country of Clerville, Police Inspector Ginko oversees the transportation of $10 million from a bank. To prevent the master thief Diabolik from stealing the money, he creates a diversion whereby a truck from the bank transports wastepaper, while a team of himself and disguised officers take the money in a Rolls Royce. The plan is still foiled by Diabolik, who escapes with the money and his lover Eva Kant to their underground hideout, where they passionately make love on top of their paper money.

Diabolik and Eva attend a press conference held by the Minister of the Interior, who reinstates the death penalty to dissuade criminals such as themselves. They disrupt the conference by releasing exhilarating gas into the crowd. Unable to locate Diabolik, Ginko and his fellow officers are granted emergency privileges that allow them to crackdown on the activities of gangster Ralph Valmont, who they hope will aid in capturing him. Realizing their plan after a teen discotheque he operates is raided due to it being a front for his drug trafficking operations, Valmont makes a deal with Ginko.

While watching a news report, Diabolik decides to steal the famous Aksand emerald necklace from Saint Just Castle for Eva's birthday. After learning of Eva's features from a prostitute who spotted her scouting the castle, Valmont builds and circulates an identikit image of her. Diabolik scales the castle's sheer walls as the police lie in wait, and steals the necklace. Driving on his getaway, he and Eva fool the police by pulling a mirrored film across the road and using dummy decoys of himself; Eva is injured while helping him to set up the traps.

While visiting her private doctor (who has been blackmailed by Valmont), Eva is recognised from the identikit image and abducted. To rescue her, Diabolik boards Valmont's airplane with the stolen $10 million and the necklace to trade for Eva. He is ejected from the plane, but manages to grab Valmont just before a bomb he had planted earlier explodes. Diabolik rescues Eva as Ginko and the police close in on them. Eva makes her escape, while Diabolik loads a gun magazine with the emeralds and fires them at Valmont, killing him. He then seemingly commits suicide by taking a mysterious capsule. As the police hold a press conference about Diabolik's death, he is about to be autopsied when he returns to life, having faked his death using a technique used by Tibetan lamas which requires an antidote to be administered within twelve hours. Posing as a nurse, Eva succeeds, and wheels Diabolik past the police and the press.

Later, a disguised Diabolik visits the morgue where Valmont's body has been cremated, collects the emeralds from his ashes and escapes, gifting them to Eva. Upon Ginko's realization that Diabolik is still alive, a million-dollar reward is offered for his capture. In retaliation, Diabolik blows up the tax offices. Despite pleas from the disgraced Minister of the Interior, who is now the Minister of Finance, the citizens refuse to pay their taxes, forcing Clerville into debt. Twenty tons of gold, which will be used to buy currency, are melted into a single block to make it difficult to steal. The block is loaded onto a train commandeered by Ginko. Diabolik and Eva divert the train by leaving a burning truck on the tracks and re-route it to a bridge where a bomb is placed. It explodes when the train arrives, and the gold falls into the water below. As Ginko swims ashore, Diabolik and Eva collect the gold by scuba diving and return to their hideout.

The steel casket containing the gold is traced by the police, allowing them to track Diabolik's hideout. They close in on Diabolik, who is melting the gold into smaller ingots. As the police fire upon him, Diabolik is unable to control the smelting, and the whole cavern ends up being covered in molten gold. Diabolik is believed to have been killed, with his heat-proof suit now covered in solidified gold. The police seal off the cavern, intending to recover the gold later. As Ginko arrives to arrest her, Eva is allowed a private moment to pay her respects to Diabolik, who winks at her.

Trivia

• Marisa Mell appeared as Charity Farrel in the 1966 thriller "Secret Agent Super Dragon".
• The character Eva Kant was adapted from a 1963 Italian comic series Diabolik.

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