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Nyah
Nyah Nordoff-Hall
"I don't have a conscience. I'm a bloody thief."
Played By: Thandiwe Newton
Dubbed in French By: Magali Berdy
Appearances: Mission: Impossible II
Ethan Hunt: She's got no training for this kind of thing.
Mission Commander Swanbeck: What? To go to bed with a man and lie to him? She's a woman, she's got all the training she needs.
Mission Commander Swanbeck: What? To go to bed with a man and lie to him? She's a woman, she's got all the training she needs.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears between the second and third films with no explanation, though the gap between them makes this more plausible than in a typical Bond movie.note
- Classy Cat-Burglar: She's an international jewel thief. Downplayed, in that she's recruited for her past relationships with Ambrose rather than her skills as a thief.
- Feed the Mole: On the receiving end when Ambrose imitates Hunt.
- Human Shield: A variation. She deliberately contaminates herself with the last shot of Chimera, knowing that Ambrose won't kill her until it finishes multiplying inside her, then uses this to her advantage to help Hunt escape.
- Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed. She starts the movie off in a low cut dress that shows off her legs and ends up in some compromising positions with Ethan, but that's about the extent of it. Her two sex scenes are offscreen and there's little in the way of fanservice about them.
- Put on a Bus: Though she's set up to be a permanent love interest and addition, she doesn't return for the sequel.
- Typhoid Mary: Averted, though Ambrose uses the term to describe his plan to cause a global outbreak of Chimera so he can get rich selling the vaccine. It will kill her, but not before she becomes a vector to spread the disease to countless others.
Jules
Julia Anne "Jules" Meade-Hunt
"How can I help?"
Played By: Michelle Monaghan
Dubbed in French By: Charlotte Marin
Appearances: Mission: Impossible III | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Mission: Impossible – Fallout
"Look at my life. I love what I do and I never would've found this if I hadn't met you. Everything that happened... it taught me a way and showed me what I'm capable of and I... I am a survivor."
Ethan's girlfriend and future wife.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: In Fallout, after Luther said that he can't defuse a nuclear bomb fast enough without a helping hand, Julia shows up and immediately offers to help him in whichever way she could.
- Action Survivor: She has no military background at all but can handle herself admirably under pressure. In the third film, after Ethan is incapicitated, she manages to shoot two bad guys dead despite just learning how to use a gun barely a minute ago before proceeding to revive Ethan. In Fallout, she instantly realizes the moment she saw Ethan and his team in the vicinity that something is definitely wrong. Her suspicion is proven right when she comes across Luther trying to dismantle a nuclear bomb and immediately offers him a helping hand despite having no experience in bomb defusion. When Ethan apologizes for putting her in the line of danger time and time again, she actually thanks him for turning her into this trope, saying that he helped her into becoming someone she didn't know she was capable of being.
- Amicable Exes: Because she and Ethan split up due to outside forces and not due to any problems in their relationship, there is absolutely no bitterness or jealousy between them; though clearly regretting that they had to split up, they both know it was absolutely necessary and only want true happiness for each other.
- Bewildering Punishment: Having been kept in the dark about Ethan's true occupation, she has no idea why Davian has kidnapped her in III or why he wants to kill her and her husband.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: In M:I-III, Julia has to do this to Ethan.
- Damsel in Distress: She is kidnapped by Davian's men so Ethan can reveal the location of the "Rabbit's Foot".
- Faking The Death: Knowing that as long as Julia is close to him she could never be safe, Ethan has her faking the death, both to protect her and to give himself an excuse to go on a vendetta against her supposed 'killers' and get himself into a Russian prison as part of a mission in Ghost Protocol. The gambit is so convincing, it fooled even a highly trained agent like Brandt, who really believes she's dead until Ethan reveals the truth.
- Happily Married: In Fallout, just not with Ethan.
- Nerves of Steel: Develops a case of this over the film series. In MI:III, she's justifiably terrified out of her mind for most of it. Come Fallout, she doesn't so much as wince at the sight of a nuclear bomb, and jumps in to help Luther diffuse it without hesitation.
- Sequel Non-Entity: Played with in Ghost Protocol. Julia is nowhere to be seen, and a throwaway line indicates that she and Ethan suffered an Offscreen Breakup, the way sequels often awkwardly do to romantic leads despite having spent so much attention and development on them. It then actually gets a surprising callback gag, when it turns out Julia actually died and Brandt was partially responsible, so she hasn't been just thrown away with one line. Then it turns out she's alive and Ethan set up a whole deception so that she can be safe, as she can't be married to him. She appears at the end after all.
- Something Only They Would Say: When Musgrave puts Julia on the phone to talk to Ethan, Ethan asks her to tell him the name of the lake where they met, to verify her identity. She correctly answers, "Wanaka".
- Took a Level in Badass: She had to defend herself against Davian's men while Ethan was in a comatose state and killed Musgrave on the way.
Bogdan
Bogdan
Played By: Miraj Grbić
Dubbed in French By: Damien Boisseau
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
A funny Russian guy whom Ethan insisted on rescuing from a prison and cousin to Russian criminal "The Fog".
- Affably Evil: A jolly Russkie fellow and a friend to Ethan but he also has ties with the criminal underworld.
- Chekhov's Gunman: During the opening prison breakout, Ethan simply refuses to leave without him to Benji's confusion. After the two break out, Ethan tranquilizes him and sends him to another van, and he disappears for much of the film. He shows up just before the finale as Ethan's contact to his cousin "The Fog" a Russian arms dealer who can provide information about how one could hack an old Soviet satellite to transmit the nuclear launch codes and the Indian billionaire who possesses it, allowing Ethan to deduce where he could find Hendricks after he disappears in Dubai.
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Fake Russian: The actor is Bosnian and even those parts of his "Russian"(ish) which are somewhat correct are apparently memorized phonetically and often mispronounced. - Funny Foreigner: The guy is the Butt-Monkey for most of the opening sequence. He panics easily, gets punched by a prisoner after Ethan dodged it, falls flat on his ass after descending down a rope, and gets tranquilizes by Ethan.
- Motor Mouth: It only takes to put him into sleep to keep his mouth wide shut.
Sidorov
Anatoly Sidorov
Played By: Vladimir Mashkov
Dubbed in French By: Michel Vigné
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
A SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation) agent who pursuits Ethan after he is framed for the destruction of Kremlin.
- Enemy Mine: He makes a deal with the illegal arms dealer "The Fog" (with whom he is apparently a Friendly Enemy) to track down Ethan.
- Friendly Enemy: Once Ethan proves himself innocent by stopping the nuclear launch and eliminating Cobalt, Sidorov finally gives up his pursuit and even offers to take the badly injured Ethan to a hospital.
- Insistent Terminology: He keeps calling Ethan "Team Leader" as that was what Hendricks called him through his communications during the Kremlin infiltration.
- Inspector Javert: The guy would just not give up pursuing Ethan, chasing him from Moscow to Dubai to Mumbai. Which is justified because as far as he knew, Ethan is responsible for the most devastating terrorist attack in Russian history, not to mention the stolen nuclear launch device. Ethan uses this to his advantage in the climax, where he allows the arms dealer “The Fog” to tell Sidorov that Ethan is in Mumbai. Sidorov follows him there, so Ethan can lead him to Kurt Hendricks, proving the innocence of both himself and his country.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He shows up in Dubai just in time to screw up Ethan's shot to apprehend Wistrom!Hendricks. It almost dooms the entire world to nuclear annihilation.
Ilsa
Ilsa Faust
"We are never free."
Played By: Rebecca Ferguson
Dubbed in French By: Ingrid Donnadieu
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
"Lane, Atlee, your government, my government, they're all the same. We only think we're fighting for the right side because that's what we choose to believe."
A mysterious and manipulative woman working inside The Syndicate. Her agenda is... difficult to figure out.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: In Rogue Nation, she is seen practicing her breath-hold in a pool to help prepare her for breaking into the Casablanca SCIF. She can't make three-minutes minimum however, so Ethan instead ends up doing the dive. When he (non-fatally) drowns, she ends up jumping into the water herself to rescue him, finally managing to hit that three-minute mark. Slightly subverted though in that she is visibly struggling when she catches him, and was likely seconds away from drowning herself.
- Action Girl: The greatest of all six movies and the closest that Ethan has to an equal.
- Anti-Heroine: Repeatedly betrays Ethan but also consistently comes to his aid. She's committed to her job, but also wants out of the spy life. Her reasons are more complex than just to do the right thing.
- Badass Biker: Her vehicle of choice is motorcycles, and she is just as adept at it as Ethan.
- Big "NO!": During the climax in Fallout, she lets out a few while she is tied up when seeing Benji is about to walk into Lane's trap, though can't fully due to being gagged.
- Bound and Gagged: In Fallout Ilsa is captured by Lane, tied to a chair and gagged. However she is able to free herself, overpower Lane and save Benji from being hanged.
- Breakout Character: Like Benji, she appears quite late into the series (even later than Benji himself by two movies) but has since become a mainstay of the core cast who often ends up fighting alongside Ethan and his team, even if she isn't actually an IMF agent herself. By the seventh film, Ethan and she have officially become a Battle Couple.
- Character Death: Gets stabbed by Gabriel in Dead Reckoning and dies soon after.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Ironically averted; despite Rogue Nation giving the character a happy ending, she came back in Fallout.
- Damsel out of Distress: In Fallout is bound and gagged by Lane. When Benji enters Lane starts hanging them, however Ilsa smashes the chair she is tied to, defeats Lane and saves Benji.
- Distaff Counterpart: A skilled fighter and schemer, always either one step ahead of or keeping up with him, Ilsa is basically a female version of Ethan, only without a team to back her up.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Rogue Nation pingpongs her loyalties practically from scene to scene.
- Face Death with Dignity: When her death is predicted in Dead Reckoning, her only reaction is looking down for a second in disappointment. When she chooses to risk it happening, her expression is actually confident, refusing to show any fear or hesitation to her opponent.
- Femme Fatale: A mysterious dark woman that switches from side to side depending on the situation.
- Fiery Redhead: She kicks the damn out of everyone, and has dark red hair and freckles.
- Good Versus Good: What her relationship with Ethan usually boils down to. Despite her flip-flopping agendas, she's ultimately never working for villainous gains. It's just that what she often requires to free herself from MI6 usually runs in opposition of what Ethan needs.
- Happy Ending Override: In Rogue Nation, she was able to get a clean start and left the movie free. She shows up in Fallout revealing that between the movies, she was hunted as MI6 considered her a danger. She spends Fallout trying to prove her loyalty.
- Implied Love Interest: While their relationship is never stated onscreen as being romantic or sexual, she and Ethan develop a very close bond over her appearances in the movie, making her role in Fallout and Dead Reckoning very similar to a usual role of a love interest: They go through great lengths to protect and help each other, risking their lives and missions. Her death affects Ethan in a big way. The other person Gabriel killed was his former girlfriend Marie and his motivation to join the IMF in the first place. In the end of Fallout Luther even tells Ilsa she is one of the two only women Ethan cares about - the other one being his ex and for that clearly a romantic interest, implying Ethan's feeling for her may be romantic after all.
- Iconic Sequel Character: She only first appeared in the fifth film but pretty much becomes the deuteragonist of the series alongside the protagonist Ethan Hunt.
- The Mole: For Lane? For Ethan? For someone else? Who knows. Eventually revealed to be with the British Intelligence.
- Ms. Fanservice: Wears a dress that frequently billows open to show her legs to the Opera, walks out of a pool in a very revealing bikini, and swims in her panties later on. See below for more fanservicey tropes. Downplayed in Fallout, in which she hardly bares skin at all.
- Murderous Thighs: Her specialty.
- Relationship Upgrade: Fallout's ending hints she become Ethan's Love Interest. They are quite intimate in Dead Reckoning. It's a shame she dies in it.
- Sacrificial Lion: Dies via stabbing in Dead Reckoning, to showcase how deadly the Entity and Gabriel are.
- Screw Destiny: When her death is "predicted" by the Entity, she accepts the possibility, but never for a second indicates she thinks it's destined to be, and fights to the very last second to create any other outcome.
- Samaritan Syndrome: A trait she picked up from Ethan by the time of Dead Reckoning. She learned about the existence of the Entity from her few friends in MI6 and that her former bosses will inevitably attempt to take advantage of it, so she gets back into the game once more to prevent the pieces of the Sevestapol key from falling into the wrong hands even if it means the rest of the world will be hunting her for it. This proves to be her Fatal Flaw when the Entity is able to exploit this in Venice when it coerces her that she can save Grace - who has a piece of the key on her - from being killed by Gabriel because Ethan cannot get to her in time, knowing that Ilsa wouldn't hesitate to go back to save Grace even if it means she's going to her death.
- Second Love: In Fallout, Luther tells her point-blank that Ethan has only ever had serious feelings for two women in his life — his now ex-wife Julianote , and Ilsa herselfnote .
- She-Fu: Her Signature Move is to launch herself onto the shoulders of an opponent for a variety of ways to dispatch them.
- Toplessness from the Back: Briefly seen when Benji was talking to a recently rescued Ethan, and she was preparing to run away.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Has a definite attraction to Ethan (and vice versa) but their missions constantly get in the way. Ilsa even asks Ethan to run away with her in lieu of stopping Solomon Lane in Rogue Nation.
- Wild Card: Again, shifting allegiances and whatnot.
Erik
Erik
Portrayed By: Wes Bentley
Dubbed in French By: Damien Boisseau
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Julia’s new husband and a fellow medical philanthropist.
- Nice Guy: The man is practically a saint. Julia loves him very much and Ethan seems to approve of him as well and wish them both much happiness.
- Second Love: For Julia, after she and Ethan break up.
- Understanding Boyfriend: He knows Ethan is Julia's old flame and that they are hiding things on purpose but doesn't pry and even tries to have them all talk to catch up with each other.
Grace
Grace
Portrayed By: Hayley Atwell
Dubbed By: France Renard (European French)
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
A thief who gets wrapped up in IMF's activities after an unknown party contracts her to steal one half of the activation key for The Entity.
- Action Girl: Despite the fact that she wasn't trained in the same way as Ethan, she can hold her own in a fight for a time (as seen during the fight against Gabriel on the bridge over the Venice canal), and shows shades of willing to drive capably under pressure, even when handcuffed to Ethan.
- Action Survivor: Given everything that happens in the film, she manages to survive several hair-raising scenarios that otherwise wouldn't happen in her "normal" Phantom Thief life (the chase by Paris and the rest of the Venice police, the fight with Gabriel on the bridge over the Venice canal and the collapsing train in the third act of the film) despite the fact that she doesn't have the same level of training as Ethan and the rest of the IMF.
- Apologizes a Lot: The first sign that she's not so bad after all comes when she constantly apologizes while hitting other cars and threatening people during the chase in Venice, since her rapsheet indicates she's not a violent criminal per-se.
- The Atoner: After Ilsa sacrifices herself to save Grace, she performs a Heel–Face Turn and allies herself with Ethan and his team to make up for her past actions.
- Break the Haughty: She starts out as a professional thief with a long list of criminal records in various countries, who initially only does what she does for a big payday and won't hesitate to throw Ethan under the bus once it benefits her. When she realizes that she's in way over her head once she meets her secret employers in Venice, learns that Ethan is pretty much the only person who wants to keep her safe, finally realizes just how massive the stakes really are and that she unwittingly assisted some very dangerous people who has the power to threaten the rest of the world, and sees Ilsa - a complete stranger - sacrificing her life to protect her from Gabriel, Grace mellows out significantly and finally acknowledges that it's time she uses her talents for good and assist the IMF in protecting the world from the Entity's threat.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: Similarly to Nyah from II, she has a laundry list of crimes to her name, having worked as a thief for several years and racking up charges in several different countries. This doesn't stop her from working with (and around) some very dangerous individuals while still keeping her cool.
- Composite Character: Combines Nyah (capable and charming amoral British thief) and Lindsey (younger The Not-Love Interest woman mentored by Ethan into becoming an IMF agent).
- Defector from Decadence: During the third act of Dead Reckoning, she's given the opportunity while in disguise as Alanna/the White Widow to net a $100 million payday for trading the completed key to Kittridge onboard the train. After reflecting on Ethan's advice to her from earlier in the film, she rejects the money, showing that she's moved past her lifestyle of being a Classy Cat-Burglar and is committed to the team's more altruistic goals.
- Drives Like Crazy: While she's a competent driver, she's not used to driving in an intense chase that sees everyone coming after her, which makes her lose focus easily and she crashes into several things in her way. Tellingly, she would rather have Ethan be the one driving instead once he gets into the car with her. The fact that they're handcuffed to each other didn't help.
- Due to the Dead: After Ilsa dies in her place battling Gabriel, Grace insists on learning her name.
- Freudian Excuse: Ethan, at one point, notes that Grace grew up as an orphan and has to scrape by to survive in the world, so when she realized that her talents for thievery could get her all she thought she ever wanted, she became addicted to the lifestyle and turned into a professional thief who's only looking out for herself.
- Heel–Face Turn: She spends the first half of Dead Reckoning trying to stay one step ahead of everyone on her tail, including Ethan (who she leaves handcuffed to a car in an active train tunnel at one point). By the time Ilsa saves her life on the Venice bridge (sacrificing her own life in the process), she's fully ready to support the team's efforts to stop Gabriel, and by the end of the film, she asks Kittridge to join the IMF.
- It's All About Me: She expressly indicates to Ethan while meeting him that the only person she's looking out for is herself, as she wants the payday for delivering one-half of the cruciform key to the buyer than contacted her. It's only when Ethan indicates he's willing to put the lives of his team members above himself (leading her to cry in response) that she drops this attitude. It's finally exemplified when she rejects Kittridge's offer of $100 million USD for the completed key during the third act of the film, and later on, asks Kittridge to join the IMF.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: While impersonating the White Widow on the Orient Express, with Ethan nowhere in sight, Grace is faced with the temptation to go through with the deal in the White Widow's place, washing her hands of the whole situation and disappearing with enough money to let her live comfortably for the rest of her life. She almost goes through with it, but at the last moment, she chooses to decline the offer and pick-pocket the completed key, saying that she's struck by the notion that she'd be selling something more than just the key. This proves to be not only the right thing to do morally, but from a self-interested perspective; setting aside the problems the Entity might cause or that the United States might inflict on the world with control of it, the Entity was planning to kill everyone on that train but Gabriel by blowing up a bridge.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Gabriel kills Ilsa instead of her, she's emotionally devastated by the knowledge that her selfish refusal to work with or trust the IMF is what led to the other woman's death, and openly says she wants to make up for it. (Luthor, for his part, tells Grace to instead see it as herself being alive because of Ilsa.)
- Phantom Thief: She made her career out of stealing expensive things and being highly elusive at it, keeping plenty of fake passports at hand.
- Survivor's Guilt: It's implied that a big reason why Grace finally decides to genuiely assist Ethan and his team is that she felt responsible for Ilsa's death, who died protecting her from Gabriel in Venice.
- Unwitting Pawn: She has no idea that she is this to the Entity for the first half of the film. The Entity orchestrated events so that Grace would be the one to bring one-half of the key to her secret employer, the White Widow, knowing that Ethan and his team would also follow her closely behind. When she meets the White Widow, the Entity makes her part of a Sadistic Choice it forced upon Ethan to decide whether to save her or Ilsa, while intimidating the White Widow into joining it at the same time as well. Up until that point, Grace has no idea just how dangerous the people she got involved with really are and how much she's in over her head.
- Wild Card: Initially, her only allegiance is to herself, as she's only interested in selling one-half of the key to the highest bidder. When Ethan counters midway through the film that he's more concerned with his team's lives (including her) than his own, the revelation literally drives her to tears. This motivates her decision to reject Kittridge's financial offer during the third act, and eventually follow Ethan's advice to join the IMF by the end of the film.
Marie
Marie
Portrayed By: Mariela Garriga
Dubbed in French By: N/A
Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
Ethan's first love who was killed by Gabriel back before he joined the IMF.
- The Lost Lenore: She is long dead by the time of Dead Reckoning, having been killed by Gabriel before Ethan even joined the IMF.
- Remember the New Guy?: In Fallout, Luther said that Julia and Ilsa were the only two women that Ethan deeply cared about. However, Dead Reckoning reveals that even before he met either of them, Marie was his first love. Apparently, her death affected Ethan so much that he never brought her up before, even to his best friend Luther, after all these years.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her death at Gabriel's hands played a direct role in inspiring Ethan to join the IMF in the first place.
