An underground network of rogue and disavowed intelligence operatives who operate under no flag and for no cause other than the ones they decide for themselves. They are so clandestine that the knowledge of their existence is mostly obscured from formal intelligence organizations.
It turns out they are the product of a British MI-6 project to create a team similar in scope to the US government's Impossible Missions Force, given zero accountability and a near-bottomless source of capital to carry out black-ops missions. However when the British Prime Minister didn't agree with the implementation, the idea was meant to be scrapped. Their existence continued thanks to the work of the British chief of intelligence operating outside of his orders but The Syndicate's leader eventually splintered from the government, turning them into a terrorist network.
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In General
- Adaptational Badass: "The Syndicate" in the TV series were a generic organized crime group vaguely analogous to the Mafia. Here, the Syndicate are a terrorist organization comprised of rogue government agents that operates internationally.
- N.G.O. Superpower: Not quite. As secretive and influential as they are, they're still relatively small since they lack the resources they need to carry out as many large scale operations as they would like. Their Evil Plan in Rogue Nation thus turns out to be to become this by securing untraceable funds that will allow them to operate indefinitely, turning them into (as Luther puts it) a "terrorist superpower".
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: Carry out various terrorist attacks in the name of vague goals to reshape the world.
- Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Subverted. They're a major global organization, but they still need the billions in untraceable accounts to be able to continue operating.
- The Psycho Rangers: Outright referred to as an "anti-IMF", having begun as a British attempt to build an Impossible Mission Force before it went rogue.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: They were formed by Atlee to carry out black ops on behalf of MI6, only to split off and become a terrorist organization.
- Rogue Agent: They're entirely comprised of rogue agents from various intelligence organizations across the world.
- The Syndicate: Yep. Unlike their counterparts from the TV series, they aren't just a nebulous criminal organization but a full-blown international terrorist organization bent on causing global change.
- Western Terrorists: They operate globally, but originate from the West.
Founder
Atlee
Chief Atlee
Played by: Simon McBurney
Dubbed in French By: Thierry Wermuth
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
"There are no allies in statecraft, Ilsa, only common interests."
MI6 official, Ilsa’s handler, and the founder of the Syndicate. Atlee envisioned the Syndicate as a top secret hit squad for the British Prime Minister. Unfortunately, Lane hijacked the Syndicate and turned it into his own rogue nation.
- Bad Boss: From what we've seen of how he treated Ilsa, he sees everyone as assets for him to be used as he sees fit. He has no empathy for Ilsa when she explained that she's at risk of her cover blowing and decides to send her back in to test herself once again which is a ploy to get her killed by giving her the deleted data disc to be given to Lane. This is not taking into account that The Syndicate was his own fault in the first place, so he's basically sending agents to clean up his own mess while he doesn't care whether they live or die, as long as nothing can trace the Syndicate back to him.
- Faux Affably Evil: Puts up a nice good ol' sophisticated facade, when in reality he's quite the backstabber and mass murderer.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Syndicate was morally foul even just on paper, and when Atlee was denied permission to create it, he went ahead and did it anyway. And then Lane decided to stop following orders....
- Predecessor Villain: Atlee can be considered this since, if he had not covertly formed the Syndicate, Lane would never have gone rogue and hijacked the Syndicate and the plot would have never happened in the first place.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite creating the organization was morally wrong, Atlee ultimately did it with the best intentions. Most of Atlee's villainous acts come from him wanting to dismantle the Syndicate in fact rather than allow it to continue.
Leadership
Lane
Solomon Lane
Ethan Hunt: I know you, Lane. Somewhere along the line you had a crisis of faith. Human life didn't matter anymore, or maybe it never really did. Either way, you killed too many innocent people without ever asking who is giving the orders. Or why. You blame the system for what you are. Instead of yourself. You wanted revenge.
Click here to see Lane in Mission: Impossible - Fallout.
"Played By: Sean Harris
Dubbed in French By: Yann Guillemot
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Ilsa Faust: If we're being honest, you're a terrorist.
Lane: If that were true then my goal would be to spread fear, but my method is... far more surgical.
Ilsa: You kill innocent people.
Lane: I helped my government kill many innocent people and more, so much more. Killing to keep things as they were. And now I'm killing to bring about change.
Lane: If that were true then my goal would be to spread fear, but my method is... far more surgical.
Ilsa: You kill innocent people.
Lane: I helped my government kill many innocent people and more, so much more. Killing to keep things as they were. And now I'm killing to bring about change.
The elusive leader of the mysterious criminal organization known as the "Syndicate", responsible for untold acts of political sabotage all over the globe. A former MI-6 intelligence operative who was made The Syndicate's field commander, his disillusionment with working for the government eventually inspired him to use his role as head of The Syndicate to disassociate it from any form of government control. Holds the distinction of being the first Mission: Impossible villain to survive more than one movie.
- All for Nothing: After defecting from MI6, building a sprawling underground global terrorist network over many years, getting ping-ponged from government to government for the schadenfreude of trying him and inevitably finding him guilty, engineering an incredibly complicated plot to take revenge on Ethan Hunt and give radiation poisoning to half of Asia while he's at it, and Death Seeking all the while to escape punishment, he gets caught and promptly hauled back to Britain with Hunt free, most of India and China still cancer-free, and himself alive and miserable.
- Anarchy Is Chaos: In both movies. Despite being well-intentioned in the first and claiming that he doesn't want to spread fear, only defeat his "enemies", he still fits the description of an anarchist and his multiple other terrorist attacks are shown in pictures, putting the 'chaos' part in there as well.
- Arc Villain: The main threat in the arc formed by Rogue Nation and Fallout.
- Arch-Enemy: In a manner of speaking, Ilsa observes Hunt "met his match" with Lane. In Fallout Lane still haunts Ethan's dreams and despite spending half the film locked up is one of the masterminds behind the scheme, with John Lark as The Heavy, and Lane's plan being heavy on Revenge Before Reason. Ilsa also ends up seeing him as this in Fallout as she spends the majority of the movie trying to either kill or capture Lane under orders from MI6 and is the one that ends up fighting him while Hunt deals with Lark.
- Badass Bookworm: While he appears to be just a figurehead and intellectual/ideological leader for the Apostles, Lane proves far more fearsome than one would expect, disabling Ilsa and almost killing Benji before they team up to fight him together.
- Bad Boss: Shoots his own minions for petty reasons.
- Batman Gambit: He keeps Hunt alive after murdering an IMF agent in front of him, because he knows that Hunt will make it personal, allowing Lane to manipulate him into doing what he wants as long as it gives him even the slightest chance to take Lane down.
- Beard of Evil: He has grown one by the time of Fallout and he's as wicked as ever.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of Rogue Nation, which centers around his plot to expand the power of the Syndicate.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Along with John Lark aka August Walker in Fallout, with the two of them working together to carry out a nuclear terrorist attack.
- The Chessmaster: To a truly astonishing degree. Several characters comment on how he is always five steps ahead of everyone, and much of the movie's conflict is dedicated to Ethan desperately attempting to outscheme this monster.
- The Comically Serious: Despite his seriousness, there is one moment in Fallout where after Ethan runs over Ilsa on her motorcycle when she tries to shoot him, his sole reaction is, “That was Ilsa.”
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- In Rouge Nation to Kurt Hendricks; both are interested in upsetting the world order violently, but while Kurt went insane from constantly analyzing nuclear war scenarios and wanted to use a nuclear conflict to better humanity, Solomon's intentions were driven by revenge against the system he served and ultimately a fanatical desire for revenge against Ethan. Solomon's desire to detonate nuclear weapons is driven by immeasurable hatred rather than depressed despair, and he hopes to perish in the senseless mayhem he instigates in MI 6. But in contrast to Kurt, he gets Laser-Guided Karma and survives multiple movies to be taken to an unpleasant prison.
- His traits are similar to that of Owen Davian in Fallout, as both villains are intelligent, powerful, criminal sociopaths that faced Ethan in a personal way by killing a woman in front of him, and are surprisingly formidable in an actual fistfight. What makes him a foil is how Davian was partnered with a Rogue Agent of the US government, while the entire Syndicate is a rogue secret British Intelligence project. Also, Davian does it for money, while Lane says he's trying to shape the world. Ethan thinks he really just likes hurting people.
- Crazy-Prepared: His plots always have about three or four back-up plans.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice / Evil Sounds Raspy: He has a very soft, raspy voice that's noticeably higher-pitched than the other characters' voices.
- Dangerous Deserter: Regarding MI6.
- Dark Is Evil: Wears black throughout the entire film, complete with black gloves.
- Dark Messiah: What he believes is the purpose of The Syndicate, bringing about the end of the stranglehold of the world’s governments and granting real freedom through acts of sabotage and destruction.
- Death Glare: His default expression.
- Death Seeker: Two years being constantly interrogated seems to have turned Lane into one. In Fallout he is doing nothing to dodge gunshots fired at him and chooses to stay at the site of a planned nuclear explosion.
- Defiant to the End: When Hunt traps him in a bulletproof glass box, he empties his magazine at Hunt's face anyway, then pounds on the glass with his hands. Curiously, he doesn't actually die after all that.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His revenge plot against Ethan comes off as heavy-handed as even after everything he’s suffered at Ethan’s hands, killing a large chunk of the world off with a nuclear device is not proportionate in the least. If Ethan is right, his whole crusade with the Syndicate is just revenge against the spy agency he worked for, for making him realize he is a horrible person.
- Diabolical Mastermind: Leads a massive mercenary intelligence organization that has orchestrated terrorist acts all over the globe.
- The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of Lane, especially Ethan, and with very good reason given his intelligence, resourcefulness and complete ruthlessness. When asked about Lane's various crimes, such as crashing planes or gassing villages:Ethan: Whatever you've heard, if it makes your skin crawl, it's probably true.
- Driven to Suicide: Having become a Death Seeker by the time the events of Fallout occur, his ultimate goal after escaping custody is to kill himself in the nuclear explosion but not before taking as much of Ethan’s friends and family with him as part of his final act of revenge as well as to avoid answering for his crimes.
- Evil Counterpart:
- In Rogue Nation both he and Ethan are "men without a country" (Ethan due to the IMF's disbandment and Solomon going rogue) with extreme cunning skills fighting for the fate of the world. Difference is, Solomon is a sociopath and Ethan is... Ethan.
- Lane's implied backstory is a mirror of Ethan's story with Julia. Lane left MI6 after learning that he didn't care about human life. Ethan left Julia because he couldn't stand by as people got hurt.
- Evil Genius: Along with Dr. Kurt Hendricks, Lane is probably the most educated villain in the series, and undoubtedly the smartest. Lane is Crazy-Prepared as all hell, will do anything to complete his goals, and in Fallout he shows himself as an incredibly intelligent fighter.
- Evil Is Petty: In Fallout Lane has the exact same goals as his associate John Lark aka August Walker, but he also wants to frame Ethan Hunt for the nuclear explosion in revenge for his past defeat and although he himself will die Hunt will still spend the rest of his miserable years rotting in a prison, far away from any sort of human interaction.
- Evil Plan: Wants to steal a database of account information that will give him access to 2.4 billion British pounds that was originally earmarked for The Syndicate when they were still a government asset, enough money to finance any future Syndicate recruitment and operations for years.
- Face Death with Dignity: In the climax of Fallout, he prepares to take his life in the blast when handing the detonator to Walker and staying behind in the nuclear explosion."My running days are over. This is where it ends for me..."
- Fallen Hero: Before he went rogue, Lane was a talented MI6 Agent who was seemingly getting more and more tired of being mistreated by the government and wanted a change, thus the Syndicate. It is subverted at the end as Ethan points out Lane was always an assassin at heart with or without the agency and given he was under Atlee's order he was less involved in heroic missions like Ethan and more state sanctioned assassination.
- Faux Affably Evil: Lane speaks in a calm, raspy voice, even when he's killing his own minions for failing him or planning on his next terrorist attack.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: His glasses seem to enhance his icy glare.
- He doesn’t wear glasses in Fallout, with a possible interpretation that he no longer masks the insanity in his soul.
- Genius Bruiser: Proves to be this in Fallout. Aside from being the mastermind behind the Syndicate's operations, he manages to fight Ilsa and Benji simultaneously and get the upper hand against both of them, despite having spent two years locked up and bound with little to no time to train, not to mention being continuously subject to enhanced interrogation. Had it not been for some quick thinking on Ilsa's part, he would have easily killed them both.
- Hero Killer: Solomon strikes terror into everyone's hearts and is nearly single-handedly responsible for the destruction of the IMF.
- In Fallout, Lane shows this by nearly killing Benji.
- Hollywood Silencer: Well, he doesn't use a specific gun, but he always uses a silencer on his guns. The silencer reflects his personality perfectly as well; quick and silent yet dangerous and murderous as all hell.
- It's Personal: He's developed this kind of hatred for Ethan by the time of Fallout and the feeling is definitely mutual.
- Joker Immunity: So far, the only Mission: Impossible villain to survive more than one movie, as both Rogue Nation and Fallout end with him getting captured.
- Kick the Dog: He makes sure that Julia is in the camp when the bomb goes off just to hurt Ethan and so he has to endure her dying as well.
- Knight of Cerebus: One of the darkest villains in the series along with Owen Davian and August Walker.
- Lack of Empathy: Lane is completely bereft of any kind of mercy or empathy. He never displays any regard for people he kills or remorse for doing so and he has no hesitancy about killing millions just to hurt Ethan.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Twice.
- When Lane first appears, he executes a female IMF agent in front of Ethan while Ethan is gassed. At the end, Ethan traps Lane in a bulletproof container and gasses him.
- In Fallout, he vows to make Ethan suffer for the rest of his life by threatening to hurt everyone he cares for and frame him for the crimes he didn't commit. In the end, he gets his ass handed to him by the very people he's trying to hurt (Ilsa and Benji double teams against him, and Julia helps disarm one of his nukes) and doesn't even get to face Ethan himself. His endgame goal of killing himself when the nuclear bombs go off gets foiled by the IMF Team at the very last second. Unlike Hendricks, he doesn't even get to die with dignity to avoid answering for his crimes, and gets handed over to MI6 unceremoniously in a car trunk where he would most likely be executed or imprisoned for the rest of his life by the organization that drives him to villainy in the first place, the very fate he wants to happen to Ethan.
- Leitmotif: Solomon Lane
, a dark and slow piece reflecting his calm and brutal nature. - Living MacGuffin: For much of Fallout. Lark wants him to trade him for the plutonium. The Apostles want their leader freed. Ethan and co. want him freed to lead them to the plutonium. And MI-6 wants him freed so they can kill him since He Knows Too Much.
- Manipulative Bastard: Plays everyone like a fiddle in "Rogue Nation", his cold blooded murder at the start of the movie in front of Ethan was a calculated move so he could use him later.
- Meaningful Name: He's most likely named after King Solomon in the Hebrew Bible, who is described as the wisest man in the world, even wiser than 'Ethan' the Ezrahite. Much point is made about how Ethan finally meets his match in Solomon Lane in Rogue Nation, and until the climax, Solomon outwits Ethan in every turn. The name Solomon also means "Man of Peace", which kind of fits him in a very twisted way. He truly believed that every atrocity he committed is done in the name of peace... until Fallout, of course.
- Mirroring Factions: Claims there's very little difference between the Syndicate and government Intelligence agencies. The Syndicate was in fact an Intelligence agency proposed but turned down as only a few would dare go to that extreme.
- Motive Decay: In Fallout he is driven as much by revenge against Hunt as he is by ideology.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In Fallout, had he and Walker not decided to get Julia involved in their plans, they would have succeeded. To rub salt into the wound, she even lends the IMF team a hand in ruining their plans by helping Luther defuse one of the two bombs.
- No-Sell: In the finale of Fallout, Ilsa tries to take him down with her signature jumping scissor move, which has never failed before. Lane just throws her off and starts strangling her. Benji provides a distraction, so she does it again with more success.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Loves using this technique to unnerve people, from creepily putting his hand on Ilsa's face and refusing to remove it despite her clear discomfort, to getting all up in Benji's face after he kidnaps him to make Ethan give him the Red Box codes. He does it again when he has Ilsa tied up in Fallout.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Played with in both appearances.
- Downplayed in Rogue Nation. Lane never engages in a straight-up fight with any of the heroes. Despite this, he is a decent shot with a gun, makes an effort to be on-scene whenever enacting one of his plans, and occasionally carries out assassinations himself. During the climax, he chases Ethan down Terminator-style, before being lured into a trap and captured.
- Subverted in Fallout. Lane spends the majority of the movie in captivity, reduced to scheming behind the scenes and forced to leave the heavy lifting to Lark. Once he's free, though, he assumes direct control of their plan and later puts up an extremely brutal fight in the finale, almost killing Benji and only being put down in the end by some impressive teamwork from him and Ilsa.
- Funnily enough, despite being Ethan's greatest and most personal enemy so far, he's the only main villain who hasn't engaged him in combat yet.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Him being a Well-Intentioned Extremist is defied by Hunt in the conclusion. He postulates that Lane, upon realizing that he was incapable of caring about human life, went into denial and blamed the system for making him into a monster rather than face his nature. Rather than any higher ideal, the Syndicate exists only to keep him from admitting what he is to himself. In Fallout, he is driven as much by revenge against Hunt as he is by political extremism.
- Omnicidal Maniac: In Fallout this guy wants to quite literally eliminate a third of the world's population so that he can frame the attack on Hunt so that Hunt will have his life slowly and painfully ruined, although he presumably shares the ideological goals of John Lark as well.
- Perpetual Frowner: Not once does his expression budge from a cold, emotionless scowl.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Downplayed in Rogue Nation. Solomon is quite handy with a gun, but never physically fights any of the heroes. Played entirely straight in Fallout, however, where he faces down both Benji and Ilsa in a long, brutal fight during the climax, and damn near kills Benji in the process.
- Revenge Before Reason: He becomes this in Fallout, as he is determined to get revenge on Hunt for foiling his plans. He gets called out on this by Walker, who is irritated that all their work keeps getting sidetracked by having to appease Lane’s need to revenge himself against Ethan. Although Downplayed since the "Lane" that Walker is ranting against is actually Benji in disguise; still, Walker still feels annoyed that Lane insisted on making Ethan part of the plan in the first place.
- Rogue Agent: Was formally an MI6 agent now turned terrorist leader.
- Sadist: While he had traces of this in Rogue Nation, it's become his defining trait by Fallout. He is determined not just to enact his plan but ensure Ethan is there to see his friends and Julia die and takes immense pleasure at the thought of Ethan's agony, even if he wouldn't be there to witness it.
- Sanity Slippage: During the course of Rogue Nation as Ethan starts to foil his plans and the "Reason You Suck" Speech. At the end he empties his gun at Ethan even though he's behind bulletproof glass.
- Sequel Hook: Both Rogue Nation and Fallout end with him getting captured, paving the way for his possible return. And in the latter, the Apostles are still active.
- Shrouded in Myth: The Syndicate and himself are more or less espionage urban legends, which is why everyone is so incredulous regarding Hunt's claims.
- Slasher Smile: In Fallout, he makes one of these during his "fallout of all your good intentions" rant to Ethan, and later when the nuclear bombs are a few seconds from going off in the climax.
- Smug Snake: In the climax of Fallout, he constantly boasts to Ilsa and Benji that no matter what they do or what Ethan does, they won't be able to stop the bombs.
- The Sociopath: Lane has the emotional range of a brick and shows an utter lack of empathy and remorse. He blames his years of Dirty Business in the dark underworld of the intelligence system, and claims that other agents will inevitably end up the same way. Hunt, however, in the climax, speculates that he'd never really believed human life mattered, and that his terrorist activities are nothing but a grand attempt to avoid admitting to himself what he's always been. Lane's furious response indicates Hunt hit a nerve.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: He always speaks in a low, rasping voice that perfectly reflects his cold-blooded nature.
- Straw Nihilist: His time as an MI6 assassin deepened his anarchistic worldview as he was skeptical about the motives of governments and saw them as corrupt and destructive organizations, all ultimately equal to their egoism and their actions, with the sole aim of leaving everything as it is - for everyone: price. In the climax of Fallout he was driven by this one goal at the time and is even willing to sacrifice his life for it - even his goal is to die, even though he has options to escape.
- The Spook: For the film's first forty minutes Ethan has no idea who he is, only what he looks like, such is the identity of this man.
- The Spymaster: As the leader of a international spy organization.
- The Stoic: Solomon Lane spends almost all of his screen-time speaking in the same monotone voice and showing virtually no emotion whatsoever. Until the climax of the movie, that is.
- Taking You with Me: In Fallout, Lane recognizes that his failure to obtain the Red Box means his dream of "saving the world" using the Syndicate has permanently failed, and that their Remnant, the Apostles, is simply inadequate for that goal. Instead, the only thing left for him is getting revenge on Ethan Hunt.
- Thanatos Gambit: He's perfectly willing to die just to ensure his plan succeeds.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Once wanted to assassinate the president of the World Bank while he was on a loaded passenger flight over the Indian Ocean. His solution? Down the whole plane.
- Tired of Running: In the climax of Fallout, also qualifies as Face Death with Dignity.
- Title Drop:Lane: The end you've always feared is coming. It's coming, and the blood will be on your hands. The fallout of all your good intentions.
- Took a Level in Badass: Lane was a Non-Action Big Bad in Rogue Nation, but in Fallout he manages to take on both Ilsa and Benji during the Final Battle.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While already a villain, he had a Faux Affably Evil vibe in Rogue Nation. In Fallout, after having been imprisoned for two years, he drops the facade completely and becomes a Revenge Before Reason-filled Death Seeker.
- The Unfettered: There is nothing Lane isn't willing to do to achieve his goals, even if those goals are just hurting Ethan. He's even perfectly happy to trade his own life to do so.
- The Unfought: Despite their bitter, mutual hatred and Lane's impressive fighting skills, he and Ethan have yet to fight one another, making him the only M:I villain so far not to do so.
- Villainous BSoD: He undergoes a subtle one in the climax of Fallout when the IMF Team successfully disarms the nuclear bombs in the nick of time.
- Western Terrorists: While he could be called such, he rejects the label outright; in both Rogue Nation and Fallout he states that a terrorist's goals are to spread fear, while his goals are to target his opponents and destroy them, even going as far as to deride terrorists as "schoolboys desperate for attention".
- What Is Evil?: In the only scene he dwells on his motivations, his argument boils down to stating both The Syndicate and all Intelligence agencies kill many innocents, thus rendering moral judgements of his actions null and void.
- Would Hit a Girl: Goes to town with Ilsa during their fight in Fallout.
Subordinates
The Bone Doctor
Janik "The Bone Doctor" Vinter
"Now let's see what you're made of." (Swedish: Nu ska vi se vad du är gjord av.)
Played By: Jens Hultén
Dubbed in French By: Serge Faliu
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Ethan Hunt: Vinter.
Janik: You know who I am?
Ethan: Janik Vinter. They call you the 'Bone Doctor'. The funny thing is you're officially declared dead, 3 years ago.
Janik: You know who I am?
Ethan: Janik Vinter. They call you the 'Bone Doctor'. The funny thing is you're officially declared dead, 3 years ago.
Solomon's enforcer and his loyal torturer.
- Blood Knight: Seems very pleased when he gets to kill something.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Brutally beats Ethan while having him held captive at the beginning.
- The Brute: A behemoth of a man who relies mainly on pure strength.
- The Dragon: Solomon's right-hand-man.
- Meaningful Name: His nickname comes from his preferred method of torture: using bone saws.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Bone Doctor sounds like a horror film.
- Red Baron: The Bone Doctor, again, for his abilities to play with his victim's bones during torture.
- Torture Technician: His main role is obtaining information from those the Syndicate captures.
Kagan
Kagan
Played by: Wolfgang Stegemann
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
One of the three assassins at the opera.
- Badass Israeli: Ethan notes that he was formerly an agent for Mossad before being recruited by the Syndicate.
- The Brute: Big and strong and can hold his own against Ethan Hunt. In fact so far he's the only one who lasts more than a minute against him since he became competent in combat.
- Disney Villain Death: Is dropkicked by Ethan off a platform in the Vienna opera Turandot.
- Giant Mook: Towers over Hunt.
- Scaramanga Special: Has an awesome sniper rifle disguised as an alto flute.
The Apostles
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
A successor faction of the Syndicate after the organization was broken up, but not quite defeated, following the events of Rogue Nation. They are still loyal to Solomon Lane and work to free him from prison and carry out his evil plans, and to that end they have allied with mysterious terrorist John Lark to steal nuclear weapons.
- Elite Mooks: Like the Syndicate before them, each member is a rogue highly trained intelligence operative and a lot more dangerous than the basic goons that the IMF usually go up against. In fact in the opening scene they manage to completely get the drop on Hunt and his team, and the only reason they don't kill him is because Solomon wants Hunt alive as part of his plan to make him suffer.
- Karma Houdini: They are still at large as of the end of Fallout.
- Kill the Lights: A tactic they employ during the events of Fallout. First they cut the power to the IMF van and take Luther hostage. Then later, the Darkened Building Shootout ensues in the London catacombs when they appear and the lights go out.
- The Remnant: They're essentially what's left of the Syndicate, after the world's intelligence agencies have spent the past couple of years hunting down and liquidating their members. Lane himself admits the Apostles are merely a shadow of the Syndicate and, without the Red Box, lack the resources to affect the global change Solomon originally wanted to enact.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: Of the Syndicate, though more out of tactical necessity than any divergence in philosophy.
- Sequel Hook: The group as a whole are still active despite John Lark's death and Solomon Lane sent back into custody.
- Undying Loyalty: They call themselves apostles for a reason, they want to free Lane and still defers to him even as he order them to let him die in the nuclear explosion.
Allies
Lark (Unmarked spoilers)
John Lark (August Walker)
Played By: Henry Cavill
Dubbed in French By: Adrien Antoine
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
A dangerous terrorist who unleashed a smallpox plague in Kashmir. He wants to kill 1/3 of the world's population in order to incite global anarchy and punish the governments of the world for their incompetence and corruption.
See the CIA page for his tropes.
Lark Decoy
Played by: Liang Yang
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
A man hired by Lark to pose as Lark.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He doesn't speak but his demeanor and body language during the fight make it clear that he knows exactly how good a fighter he is.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears a nice suit and proves to be one of the deadliest fighters in the entire series. He even straightens his jacket after knocking Walker out.
- Body Double: Is at first assumed to be Lark himself, but is actually a man paid by the real Lark to pose as Lark.
- Boom, Headshot!: How he's offed by Ilsa.
- The Brute: Is capable of fighting really well and uses his physicality and brute strength to win.
- Combat Pragmatist: Uses everything and anything to win, including a freaking sink pipe which he uses to stab Hunt. He also attempts to just shoot Ethan after retrieving his gun.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: His fight with Ethan and Walker goes entirely in his favor and it's made clear he would've killed them both with little effort had it not been for Ilsa's intervention.
- Improbable Weapon User: He rips a sink pipe off the wall and manages to use it as three different weapons in rapid succession: he smashes a wall like a club, pulls Walker to the ground like a hook, and tries to stab Ethan with the sharp end like a dagger.
- Lightning Bruiser: He hits hard and can take on both Ethan and August without much issue because he is that fast.
- Made of Iron: Takes a lot of punishment and only stopped by Ilsa blowing his head off because he would have killed Ethan.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: He finds out the hard way that being an unstoppable fighter with deadly martial arts skills doesn't make you bulletproof.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's even shorter than the not-tall Tom Cruise, and beats the absolute shit out of both him and the much taller and brawnier Walker.
- Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: He appears to just be some random, not-physically-impressive guy at the party, but he gives Ethan one of the toughest fights in the entire franchise, and would probably have killed him and Walker both if not for Ilsa.
- Unwitting Pawn: Presumably had no idea one of the men he is fighting to the death is John Lark.
- Villainous Valor: He does seem to have some kind of code of honor as he lets Ethan recover and get to his feet rather than attack him while he's down. Of course it's also likely just to show his confidence.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: For someone initially introduced to be Lark, a terrorist, he's offed pretty quickly with no characterisation. Somewhat justified because in the end, he's just a decoy.
Delbruuk
Nils Delbruuk
Played by: Kristoffer Joner
Dubbed in French By: Yann Sundberg
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
A nuclear weapons expert and a firm believer in John Lark's ideology. Has a hatred for religions and people in power in general.
- Didn't See That Coming: Didn't see the news broadcast being a staged one by the IMF.
- Expy: Is the second maniac Scandinavian nuclear weapons expert in the series to seek the rebirth of humanity in thermonuclear fire, the first being Kurt Hendricks.
- Failure Gambit: The IMF trick him into believing that the Apostles used the stolen plutonium to orchestrate nuclear attacks on three of the world's most important religious sites. They later pretend to give in to his demand to read out Lark's dissertation live on TV. The satisfied Delbruuk then unlocks his phone for the IMF to get the information within. After it is done, Ethan pulls the plug and reveals that the whole thing is a set-up and tranquilizes the confused Delbruuk.
- The Fundamentalist: He believes in John Lark's "The greater the suffering, the greater the peace" ideology to the point of religious-like and displays a gleeful laugh upon seeing major religious sites in ruins, and even that is not enough for him. He wants the news reporter to read out Lark's papers live to the entire world for everyone to hear to be satisfied.
- Giggling Villain: Laughs quite a bit in his only scene.
- Mad Scientist: He's a nuclear weapons expert who builds weapons for terrorists.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: A victim of it, though it's well-deserved all things considered. Benji crashes his car and puts him into "a hospital" so the IMF can detain him and trick him into unlocking his phone.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He hates religion and was fired from his job because he expressed anti-religious views.
- Smug Snake: He gloats to Ethan that even if he unlocks his phone to get the data within, there's nothing he could do because the attacks have already happened, or so he thought.
- The Sociopath: The guy laughs like a maniac upon seeing the news of simultaneous nuclear attacks on Rome, Jerusalem, and Mecca.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Genuinely believes in Lark's ideology that lasting peace requires great suffering beforehand.
