Most of us have never met a secret agent in real life (at least, not that we know of). The franchise has survived the 50-year success of the James Bond films, the half-dozen changes in lead actors, or the "Mission: Impossible" phenomenon.

The best of these spy films feature clever, ruthless, unyielding heroes (and in some cases anti-heroes) who risk their lives to unravel an international conspiracy that threatens world peace. But even in a conventional spy film, there is an underlying tension and realistic action that draws the audience in. Even though the Cold War is over, there's no need to give up the greatest cultural relic of the classic spy film, so here are seven spy movies to check out on Netflix.

Released in 2019, "Cold Game" is a return to Cold War paranoia. In 1962, when tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. are high - days before the Cuban Missile Crisis, in fact - Joshua Mansky (Bill Pullman) is recruited to play in a chess tournament in Russia after his predecessor is found dead, suspected of poisoning the Soviets. But Manski is a loose cannon, whose brilliant mind can only function in society and in front of the chessboard when dulled by alcohol. Would you want such a man on the front lines of diplomacy? Maybe not. But he is the only one who can.

While in the field in the Soviet Union, Mansky is not only caught up in the intense pressure of defeating the Russian enemy, but also caught between warring secret agents and not knowing whom to trust. Filled with tense twists and turns and a third-act twist, "Cold Game" features a performance by Bill Pullman that gets right to the point.

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What's better than a secret agent? A double agent who plays both sides in the cause of peace. This is the remarkable true story (sort of) of Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian diplomat married to the daughter of President Gamal Abdul Nasser. During the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Egypt, he danced a delicate dance, feeding the Israelis sometimes true, sometimes false information in order to induce them into a position where they would be most willing to negotiate peace. While not as action-packed as many other spy films, it is not without tension or high drama.

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Set in 1990s Cuba, "The Wasp Network" features a stellar cast, including Penelope Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana de Armas, and Edgar Ramirez. When Rene Gonzalez (Ramirez) travels to the United States and appears to have defected from Cuba, his family back home faces problems due to his actions. But he, and other Cubans in similar circumstances stationed in Miami to infiltrate anti-Castro groups, may not be as they appear.

The story of an intelligence agent, a double agent, and maybe even a triple agent, "The Wasp Network" is about taking on the long game and facing the consequences of alleged actions, even if it means showing the world an untruthful version of oneself. Unlike many other spy films, which focus primarily on the consequences of a given mission, "The Wasp Network" is concerned with the high price that spies pay for their assignments.

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Most people are lucky if they get to do one really cool thing in life; don't expect to climb Mount Everest or join the French Foreign Legion if you play in the NFL. A Jewish New Yorker, he was a major league catcher for 16 years before becoming an international spy for the Office of Strategic Affairs (later renamed the Central Intelligence Agency) during World War II.

Almost always known as the smartest man in the room, Berg reportedly had a reputation as the consummate agent because he spoke several languages and could be sent on goodwill trips abroad as a sports celebrity. The Catcher Was a Spy may not live up to his incredible seminal life story, but it is well acted by a talented cast that includes Paul Rudd, Guy Pearce, and Paul Giamatti."

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You know the expression, "It's crazy, it could work." This does not originate from Operation Minch in World War II, but it might. This spy drama revolves around a foolhardy scheme hatched by British intelligence to round up German spies by feeding them disinformation.

The plan goes like this. The plan is to flood Spanish beaches with false information about the Allied invasion of France, causing dead bodies to wash ashore and sending German troops in the wrong direction rather than to the actual target landing sites. The logic behind this logic was that the Germans would buy the racket because only an idiot would come up with such a ridiculous fake, so it had to be real. Operation Minced Meat, starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, and Kelly Macdonald, grounds the spy plot, which is stranger than fiction, in the stories of real people who actually pulled it off.

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A spy impersonator reminiscent of the most quirky World War II and Cold War satire films, "Top Secret" was the launching pad for the career of Val Kilmer, who made his film debut here. The film, about an American singer (Kilmer) who gets caught up in an international resistance movement while on tour in East Germany, was abandoned by Paramount when it was released in 1984 and was considered a box office disappointment, but some critics, including Roger Ebert, embraced its sense of humor, The film has since grown into an acclaimed comedy. Above all, it helped establish Val Kilmer as the most charismatic rising star of his generation.

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Set against the backdrop of Germany on the brink of invading Czechoslovakia, "Munich - The End of War" dramatizes a desperate but ultimately futile peace effort. George MacKay stars as Hugh, a British civil servant sent to Munich to defuse tensions between Germany and Britain and thwart Hitler's aggressive campaign. Meanwhile, his Oxford classmate Paul (Janice Niebner), working as an interpreter for the German delegation, has a hidden motive that may have a major impact on Europe's last chance to avert war.

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