Lord Kelvin

Lord Kelvin is the main antagonist in the 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days.

He is portrayed by Jim Broadbent.

Film
Lord Kelvin is the arrogant and obnoxious head of the Royal Academy of Science and believes that everything worth discovering has always been discovered. Phileas Fogg on the other hand, is a man who finds science fascinating and is constantly wanting to make new discoveries. He also dreams of flying and hopes to one day discover a means of doing so. Fogg goes to the Royal Academy to express some of his new findings but ends up being talked into a bet, specifically to prove whther it is possible to travel around the world in no more than eighty days. At first, Fogg is extremely reluctant, but after being mocked by Kelvin he changes his mind and accepts the challenge. He and Kelvin agree that if Fogg wins the bet, he will take Kelvin's place as the new minister for science. However, if he loses, Kelvin will tear down Fogg's laboratory and force him never to invent anything ever again.

Fogg teams up with Lau Xing, a Chinese man who recently robbed the Bank of England to reclaim a divine object known as the Jade Buddha, which was stolen from his village by a female warlord named Fang. During Fogg's journey, Kelvin sends an incompetent henchman to pursue him and prevent him from winning the bet. Fang is also working with Kelvin and later confronts Fogg and Lau Xing on their way back to England, but she is eventually defeated. Having been delayed by Fang, Fogg misses the last ship that would have got him back to England on time, so he is forced to construct a flying machine using detailed plans he had earlier acquired from the Wright brothers.

Fogg flies the contraption and arrives at the front steps of the Royal Academy on Day Eighty, much to Kelvin's annoyance. Before Fogg can reach the top of the steps (where his journey officially began), Kelvin accuses him of robbing the Bank of England. As Fogg is about to be arrested, the clock strikes noon, ending the bet and making Fogg velieve he has failed. The incompetent henchman Kelvin had sent to pursue Fogg then appears and turns on Kelvin for his abusive behaviour and disgusting attitude, as do the other ministers from the Academy. Queen Victoria arrives soon after and is insulted by Kelvin, who was unaware that she was present at the time. She reveals to him that one of his aides had informed her that Kelvin had been selling her arsenal to Fang in exchange for jade mines in China, which he desperately attempts to deny. After failing this, Kelvin runs away but is easily caught by the police on the Queen's orders. Kelvin is then locked up and sent to prison, vowing revenge on Fogg in the process.