Characters / Mission: Impossible Film Series - IMF Agents

Main Character Index

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IMF in General

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

The IMF, which stands for "Impossible Missions Force", is an organization that specializes in impossible missions that require extremely precise planning, immediate attention and quick action.

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• Arc Words:
  • "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."
  • "This message will self-destruct..."
• Badass Crew: Features many individuals that try to work as a team and manage to overcome all obstacles.
• Boxed Crook: Dead Reckoning reveals that each IMF agent is actually a criminal recruited by the agency for their skills.
• Elite Four: IMF field teams often operate in a team of four members. One member of the team may also be an outsider who's tagging along for their expertise or their importance to the mission (Nyah in the second film, technically Brandt in the fourth film before he's revealed to be actually an IMF agent, Ilsa in the fifth and sixth films, and Walker in the first half of the sixth film).
• Indy Ploy: Their missions tend to go very wrong, a lot, but the greatest strength the IMF has is the ability to adapt to the situation and coming up with a new plan on the fly.
• Interservice Rivalry: Starting from the fifth film, the IMF doesn't get along well with the CIA, its mother branch. The CIA highly disapproves of the IMF (specifically, Ethan Hunt)'s unorthodox methods in getting the job done and its tendency to play fast and loose with the rules. Hunley and Sloane, both Directors of the CIA, have been looking for an excuse to shut the IMF down and, falling that, actively try to get involved in the IMF operations themselves.
• Master of Disguise: Most of their field agents tend to be this thanks to the advanced latex mask technology that can let them wear the face of anyone they want as well as a voice changer. These technologies along with their ability to uncannily impersonate their target's character and mannerism perfectly mean everyone is always fooled by the trick...even themselves if it's used against them. And for the best of the best agents like Ethan, sometimes masks aren't even needed.
• Multinational Team: The IMF recruits its agents/support personnel from around the world, although most of its base agents/support personnel are Americans. And the top leaders (including the Secretary) are American.
• This Page Will Self-Destruct: Trope Namer.
• We Do the Impossible: But of course.

• IMF Leadership

Main Members

Ethan Hunt

Ethan Matthew Hunt

"What's done is done when we say we're done."

Played By: Tom Cruise

Dubbed in French By: Patrick Poivey (1996), Yvan Attal (2000), Jean-Philippe Puymartin (since 2006)

Appearances: Mission: Impossible | Mission: Impossible II | Mission: Impossible III | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning | Mission: Impossible 8

"Your life will always matter more to me than my own."

The IMF's most efficient field agent.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: In the third film. He was only training recruits and was about to marry Julia. Then the IMF asked him for One Last Job to save one of his recruits who was kidnapped by Owen Davian. Her death led him to stop Owen Davian and at the end he continued inside the IMF.
• The Ace: Ethan can use any weapon, operate any vehicle, and pull off any wild stunt needed to complete the mission. No obstacle is too big or too complicated to overcome and there is no danger too great he wouldn't put his own body through. He's incredibly calculative, creative, unpredictable, but above all else has a moral core of absolute iron that pushes his body through injury and fatigue, all to save as many lives as he can and catch the bad guys. Hunley puts it best:
  "Hunt is uniquely trained and highly motivated - a specialist without equal - immune to any countermeasures. There is no secret he cannot extract, no security he cannot breach, no person he cannot become."
• Ace Pilot: Played with in Fallout. He just learned how to fly but can fly like one.
• Action Hero: Uses his feet, fists and whatever it takes to save the day.
• All-Loving Hero: Ethan always values the life of others before his own. He'll only kill in self-defense, and he believes the best in everyone no matter what. It's acknowledged as both his Fatal Flaw, since his desire to save everyone often hinders him and is impractical, as well as his greatest strength.
• Always Gets His Man: No matter what, Ethan never fails. Subverted in Rogue Nation in which he does fail, and Fallout, in which he lets the baddie get away to save his team. Then it's zig-zagged as even if he failed to get his target now, he always has a backup plan or comes up with another one fast enough to ultimately nail the bad guys in the end anyway.
• Anti-Hero: His status as an IMF agent is under constant scrutiny, as though his record is exemplary, "Start X to Stop X" being his go-to plan has his superiors tearing their hair out.
• Badass Boast: In response to Gabriel's Sadistic Choice with Grace and Ilsa in Dead Reckoning, he has this to say:
  Ethan: If anything happens to either of them, there's no place on Earth where you or your god will be safe from me. There's no place where I won't go to kill you. That is written.
• Batman Gambit: His schemes often rely on Hunt's keen psychological knowledge of his rival.
• Berserk Button: Hurting any of his team or anyone in his personal life is a good way to bring out Ethan's darker side.
• Betty and Veronica: The Archie to Julia's Betty and Ilsa's Veronica.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ethan is a kind, personable man and a good friend but, as his enemies find out, threatening his loved ones and friends is not a good idea and Ethan can be truly frightening when he stops being nice.
• Big Heroic Run: Starting with the third entry, he does this at least one in every film and it's truly epic every time.
• Breaking Out the Boss: In Fallout, Ethan and his team have to break Lane out of custody in order to find Lark and the missing plutonium.
• Cartwright Curse: Being a woman who's involved in Ethan's life tend to not end well. In the first film, he lost Sarah and Hannah in the opening mission, and later Claire, the Femme Fatale that Ethan is infatuated with, is also gunned down by her husband, the traitor Jim Phelps. In the third film, he lost his protege Farris to Davian's 'brain bomb', and almost lost his wife Julia in the climax. In the fifth film, the female IMF agent at the London record shop is killed by Solomon Lane while Ethan is Forced to Watch, and in the seventh film, Ilsa dies fighting Gabriel, the same man who's also responsible for killing Ethan's very first love Marie many years ago, and Kittridge ominously ends the film by reminding Ethan that he's only just buying time for Grace by bringing her into the IMF. Only Julia and Nyah from the second film managed to avoid this curse so far.
• The Chessmaster: Hunt's success in the field comes directly from his uncanny ability to outmaneuver any opponent in his way with complex and daring gambits.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Ethan will do whatever it takes to save EVERYONE and if there's even a chance one of his men or one bystander can't make it out he'll drop everything to save that one guy.
• Combat Pragmatist: He does whatever it takes to win. In Mission: Impossible III he uses a car to kill Davian, in Ghost Protocol he drives a car down several stories to get to his mission. His fighting style also takes heavily from Muay Thai and Krav Maga, which all emphasize ruthlessness in combat as a defining principle.
• Cultured Badass: Shows appreciation for opera and also reads a lot.
• Determinator: As Hunley notes in Rogue Nation, Hunt is "the manifestation of destiny itself". He never ever gives up no matter the circumstances and no matter how many times he has failed.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: This is one of his main reasons as to why he wants to destroy the Entity in Dead Reckoning. He believes it has become too powerful and dangerous for humanity to control, and therefore, it must be destroyed at all costs.
• Excellent Judge of Character: While he does have some teammates who betray him, he is careful as to who he truly trusts. In the first film he works with 3 other people. Which of the three does he end up trusting with the disk? Luther. The same Luther who is still with him almost 30 years later.
• Fall Guy: In the first movie, he's set up as this by Jim Phelps, who puts 100K in his parents bank accounts to make him look shady, and leaves him as the sole survivor of the botched mission, ensuring that he's Kittridge's only suspect. When Ethan escapes Kittridge and begins trying to contact Max on the internet, this forces Jim to send him Claire to keep tabs on him.
• Fatal Flaw: He refuses point-blank to leave anyone behind, which apparently extends to those who do him a solid or push his 'mentor' button: this trait seems to stem from losing his team in Mission: Impossible and his protege in Mission: Impossible III. This is a downright foolhardy habit for an agent in perpetual danger, constantly having to put up with betrayal and shifting loyalties. Ilsa Faust and Solomon Lane (and before that, Owen Davian!) play him every which way as a result. This tendency of Hunt's is also what causes him to lose weapons grade plutonium to rogue agents in Fallout, when he lets the plutonium out of his sight to save one of his team members. Hunley however ends up seeing this flaw as Ethan's greatest strength, as he knows he'll do everything to not let him down, CIA director Sloane also ends up admitting as long as Ethan values one life as much as millions she doesn't have to.
• A Father to His Men: Takes the well-being and survival of his team members extremely seriously and is unwilling to throw any of them under the bus no matter the circumstances.
• Genius Bruiser: He's both highly skilled in combat (be it close quarters or gunplay) and a superb tactician and agent who is very skilled at counter intelligence, information gathering, undercover work and improvisation as well as analyzing opponents and countering their efforts and getting them to do what he wants.
• Guile Hero: While he is more than capable of holding his own in a straight-on fight, Ethan prefers to sneak in through some impossible-to-predict method and ambush his targets, both because his targets are often heavily-guarded and to minimize exposure to civilians.
• Hot Teacher: To Lindsey. He served as her mentor, and he's played by the dashingly handsome Tom Cruise.
• The Hero: The lead hero of every film of the franchise, and he's always the one pushing to do what's right no matter what.
• Heroic Willpower: He has unbreakable will, which is remarked on by many.
• Honor Before Reason: Ethan refuses to believe in The Needs of the Many and actively tries to save everyone, no matter how impractical it is. In Fallout, he allows the plutonium to fall into the Apostles' hands so he can save Luther, and many times he passes on the easier option because it could result in innocent people dying.
• Implacable Man: Ethan Hunt cannot be stopped. He cannot be evaded. Whatever you throw at him can, at best, only slow him down. Once he survives, and he will survive, he will find some way to get back at you when you least expect it.
• Indy Ploy: While he works best planning ahead of time, he's more than capable with coming up with stratagems on the heat of the moment and improvising oer adjusting plans as needed.
• In the Hood: He is depicted as this in Ghost Protocol.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He genuinely loved Julia and still does, but recognizes that staying married to him puts her at far too much risk. So he stays out of her life and is content with her having found love again with a kind doctor. For her part, Julia herself displays no bitterness towards Ethan and even helps the team out in Fallout.
• Kansas City Shuffle: A frequent tactic of Ethan's involves relying on the villain's own wit and arrogance to make him think he knows what Ethan is up to and put up countermeasures, only for Hunt to reveal that was exactly what he planned all along.
  Sean Ambrose: If you look at Hunt's operational history, and I have, he invariably favors misdirection over confrontation.
• The Kirk: More composed than Benji, but still sometimes has to be kept in check by Luther.
• The Leader: Every time he recruits a team, he's always the leader. Though in the first half of the first film, he was at the orders of veteran agent Jim Phelps. He's very much the Levelheaded type, leading with a sense of responsibility and being sensible enough to balance getting the job with keeping his team alive.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's strong and also very quick and agile, even using Capoeira moves in the second film, and he can run extremely fast.
• Literal Metaphor: Ethan promises that he will put Lane in a box, as if to imply that Lane will be either in a cell or a coffin when Ethan is finished. In fact, he actually means that he (and his team) will personally trap Lane inside of a box, into which knockout gas is pumped to subdue him for his arrest, just as Hunt had been captured at the start of the film.
• Love Triangle: According to Luther, Ethan has only ever cared about two women - Julia and Ilsa. Ethan was married to Julia in Mission: Impossible III but she had to go into hiding in Ghost Protocol for her own safety. In Rogue Nation Ethan developed Unresolved Sexual Tension with Ilsa but did not go with her because he was Married to the Job. Fallout reveals that Ethan left the IMF to be with Julia between the events of III and Ghost Protocol but they eventually divorced because of Ethan's Samaritan Syndrome. Ethan and Julia still love each other but Ethan believes he ruined her life. Julia later remarried a kindhearted doctor and told Ethan that she harbored no will-will towards him and that what he did actually changed her life for the better. Ethan was finally able to move on from his guilt regarding Julia, and this meant Ilsa was Promoted to Love Interest.
• Made of Iron: This guy just can't die no matter what he does, whether is it hanging off a plane, jumping off a plane, getting onto a moving helicopter, going on a bike chase (three times) and having foot chases (many).
• Manipulative Bastard: A heroic version. He manipulates his rivals into doing exactly what he wants.
• Manly Man: He's very macho.
• Meaningful Name: His name "Ethan" means strong and firm, fitting his Determinator status and his admirable quality of staying firmly on the side of good no matter how far he's pushed or how many times he's accused of going rogue. His surname "Hunt" also means that he Always Gets His Man in the end.
• Mr. Fanservice: He is played by Tom Cruise, so natch. He often appears in clothes that show off his physique or in nice suits.
  • In the first film, after he runs away from Kittridge, he spends the rest of the night in a tank top/wifebeater, that shows of his muscular physique.
  • In Part II, he is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy. He is introduced rock climbing in a tank top, that very much emphasises his physique. He also appears shirtless couple of times and dresses in tight T-shirts while discussing The Plan with Nyah.
  • In Part III, he gets a Shirtless Scene while putting on his Latex Perfection to impersonate Davian.
  • In Ghost Protocol, he has noticeably bulked up in prison, appears in a wifebeater in the beginning, gets a Shirtless Scene when he escapes from the hospital and when he puts on his disguise, the camera lingers on his abs for some time before he buttons up. Not to mention he is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy again.
  • In Rogue Nation, he is held as a Shirtless Captive in the beginning.
• Nerves of Steel: And balls of titanium. This guy will hang off buildings by his fingertips and cling onto flying planes without a second thought.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: A code he always follows. Fallout expands on this, when he deliberately blows his cover to save an innocent cop trying to arrest him.
• Nice Guy: For the most part Ethan is a friendly, unassuming and humble agent who is primarily focused on saving innocent lives and who is a good friend to those he works with.
• No-Respect Guy: A key plot element in Fallout. Despite his portfolio of literally doing the impossible over and over again, his superiors never fail to take an opportunity to throw him to the wolves and act almost disappointed when he survives anyway.
  "How many times has Hunt's government betrayed him? Disavowed him? Cast him aside? How long before a man like that has had enough?"
• Omniglot: Ethan's known to speak English, French, Italian, Czech, Russian, and some Mandarin Chinese.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ethan is a gentle, idealistic man who firmly believes in saving as many people as he can and only kills in self-defense. It's a sign something is seriously wrong whenever he starts actively threatening people - the two most significant examples being when he pulls a Jack Bauer Interrogation on Davian for threatening Julia and trying to stab a defenseless Gabriel in the throat with a knife.
• Plot-Powered Stamina: Ethan excels at long-distance sprinting, often running huge distances at full-speed while barely winded. Of course, he's played by Tom Cruise, so the running is to be expected.
• Pragmatic Hero: Overlaps with Refuge in Audacity and is in effect despite him being idealistic as he is. Ethan's plans include some ethically questionable and downright insane moves. He'll even conduct business with terrorists if it means he catches them later on.
• Refuge in Audacity: Every single one of his goddamn plans involve doing something incredible risky, insane, and suicidal. It's the only way he's able to outthink his opponents.
• Rogue Agent: Basically Once an Episode for him. Typically he's only labeled a rogue asset because someone else is pulling the strings and set him up (either as the fall guy or because everything went south while he was on assignment). The only time that wasn't the case was in II, where he remains an avowed operative for the entire mission.
  • In Fallout it looks as though this is going to happen but in reality August Walker deliberately laid breadcrumbs to make the US distrust Ethan. This plot is uncovered before Ethan can be implicated so it manages to avert making Ethan rogue.
  • It's Lampshaded in Dead Reckoning, where Briggs notes that Hunt "always goes rogue", and Degas correctly speculates that he always had a good reason.
• Start X to Stop X: In every film, he eventually falls back on the exact same ridiculous plan; "Steal the horrifically dangerous MacGuffin, use it as bait to draw out the real enemy, then improvise the capture/elimination of said enemy in the process of retrieving it."
  1. The CIA NOC (Non-Official Cover) list. Failing to retrieve it would have annihilated the US intelligence community.
  2. The Chimera superflu and the Bellerophon universal flu cure. This nearly resulted in Australia getting hit with a plague outbreak.
  3. The Rabbit's Foot. Whatever the hell this was, it was so dangerous even the terrorist he delivered it to was unwilling to open the container to confirm its authenticity.
  4. Nuclear launch codes. This nearly resulted in World War III. It did result in a nuclear missile clipping the Transamerica pyramid.
  5. 2.4 billion pounds sterling. Considering how the Nebulous Evil Organization was already carrying out high-profile assassinations and terror attacks, this would have resulted in the creation of a hybrid of Blackwater and ISIS.
  6. Solomon Lane himself. Not only did this nearly result in a third of the world's population at risk of being wiped out by nuclear fallout, but Ethan himself taking the heat for the attack and Lane allowing himself to be killed by the bomb so as to not face comeuppance for his crimes.
  7. And finally, the key to a Super-AI that can control every single digital/electronic system in the world. Justified in Part One, at least, as Ethan and his team figure that someone has to know where that key unlocks.
  • ...or as Hunley puts it;
    The IMF's misadventures date back to my earliest days at the CIA; when the IMF broke into the CIA to steal a list of covert operatives. And now more recently, a Russian nuclear warhead clipped the Transamerica pyramid before plunging into the San Francisco Bay. This made possible by IMF agents who did willingly provide the launch codes to a known terrorist!
• The Strategist: In all six movies, he serves as this for the IMF.
• Strong and Skilled: He's in excellent shape due to his work and is an extremely skilled combatant who has displayed skill in a variety of fighting styles including Capoeira, Karate, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Aikido, Judo, Boxing, Krav Maga and Muay Thai.
• Success Through Insanity: Several characters have called him flat-out insane, but nobody questions that what he does is awesome.
• Took a Level in Badass: While already a skilled spy and cover agent in the first film, Ethan only showed marginal combat effectiveness early on. In later films, he's become a world-class hand-to-hand combatant and supremely proficient with firearms, although he prefers to avoid using them when possible.
• Undying Loyalty: Both a strength and a flaw for him: There is nothing he won't do for his True Companions, Luther and Benji. He goes through hell for them, and even gives seriously dangerous leeway to whatever villain he's dealing with if it gets his friends out of harm's way. For what it's worth, they reciprocate, and together, are skilled enough of a team to save the day either way.
• When He Smiles: He has Tom Cruise's legendary winning smile which he happily shows off when in a good mood. Sean Ambrose even notes that the hardest part of impersonating him was "grinning like an idiot every fifteen minutes".
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Ethan isn't naive and knows very well the ruthlessness his line of work requires, but he's a firm idealist who firmly believes in saving literally everyone. He frequently believes the best in those around him, and he'll put his life on the line on the slim chance he'll accomplish the ideal outcome where Everybody Lives.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: In every movie of the franchise, the villain counterattacks in a manner that derails Hunt's original plan (at least partially), so Hunt always has to adjust his plan on the fly to succeed. And make no mistake, Hunt is the greatest Speed Chess player you will ever meet.

Luther

Luther Stickell

"I get to keep the equipment after we're done."

Played By: Ving Rhames

Dubbed in French By: Jacques Martial (MI I and II), Richard Darbois (MI III), Saïd Amadis (MI IV and on)

Appearances: Mission: Impossible | Mission: Impossible II | Mission: Impossible III | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

"None of our lives can matter more than this mission."

A hacker and former criminal who became an IMF agent. He is one of Ethan's most trusted men and he's very often recruited for his missions.

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• Black Best Friend: It's never outright said, but by the way they treat each other and how Ethan confides in him, it's almost certain Luther is his best friend.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a dry wit he frequently deploys.
• Demoted to Extra: He sits out for Ghost Protocol and only appears in the last scene. Rogue Nation gives him a bigger part again, and is a central, plot-reliant character in Fallout.
• Deuteragonist: To a lesser degree after the first film, but it's clear that he's still Ethan's oldest friend and ally. He's still the only character other than Ethan himself to appear in every movie in the series.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's a disavowed IMF agent when Ethan met him for the first time in the first movie and is implied to be working in the shady business for quite some time. However, he draws the line at selling out the NOC list to the highest bidder, as it means the entire US intelligence network will collapse. This is the reason why Ethan trusts him with the disk containing the list as he's sure that Luther will never let it fall into the wrong hands.
• Implied Death Threat: To Brandt. He makes it clear that if Brandt screws Ethan over, he will make him pay.
• The Lancer: To Ethan sometimes. He shows some skepticism about the "Impossible Missions" that his comrade plans and warns him that a marriage and relationship do not work at all in this kind of job.
• Manly Tears: Sheds a few of these in Fallout when talking to Ilsa just before the big climax in Kashmir.
• Non-Action Guy: Luther is a hacker and tech guy, not a field agent. In the first film he never directly enters into combat. Though from the second film on he develops into an Action Survivor.
• Number Two: His authority tends to be second to Ethan's.
• Playful Hacker: He was the main hacker figure before the third film, after Benji's Ascended Extra appearance. Though that didn't stop Luther from helping his old friend Ethan when required. Later on he returns to being the main hacker. Benji's great, but Luther's even better.
• Reformed Criminal: Used to be on the wrong side of the law, now works for IMF.
• The Reliable One: There's a reason Ethan always calls for his services.
• Scary Black Man: In Rogue Nation, lets Brandt know with just a look that he'll have hell to pay if he betrays Benji and Ethan.
• The Smart Guy: Probably the most intelligent IMF agent of the entire series, being the tech expert, professional hacker and minder to the other team members. Best exemplified in Dead Reckoning, where he figures out the Entity's Batman Gambit plan before anyone else and reminds Ethan not to fall for it. This cannot be understated: Luther manages to outwit a super-intelligent AI that has outplayed everyone else up to that point.
  Ethan: What'd they used to call you? The Net Ranger? Phineas Phreak? The only man alive who actually hacked NATO Ghost Com.
  Luther: There was never any physical evidence that I had anything to do with that...(Grins) with that... that exceptional piece of work.
• The Spock: He tends to be the most logical one on the team, and is often the one who keeps Ethan restrained.
• Token Good Teammate: In the original movie, barring Ethan himself he was the only member of Ethan's second team to not be a traitor.
• True Companions: In the fifth movie, he makes evident his loyalty isn't to IMF, or the government, it's to Ethan Hunt and no one else. Considering Ethan saves his life instead of protecting the plutonium cores in Fallout, it's easy to see why.

Benji

Benjamin "Benji" Dunn

"Join the IMF, see the world! On a monitor. In a closet..."

Played By: Simon Pegg

Dubbed in French By: Cédric Dumond

Appearances: Mission: Impossible III | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

"I am a field agent, I know the risks. More than that, I am your friend, no matter what I tell the polygraph every week. Now you called me because you needed my help, and you still do. So I am staying. And that is all we are going to say about that."

A tech savvy operative of the IMF who was recruited by Ethan for the Hendricks team. He's stuck around ever since.

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• Action Survivor: In Ghost Protocol. By Rogue Nation he still has shades of this with his panicking and despair in action but he's a lot more badass, and by the time of Fallout he's fully graduated too a combat-ready member of the team.
• Ambiguous Criminal History: In Dead Reckoning he reveals that he lived a criminal lifestyle before he was recruited by the IMF, but we aren't given any details.
• Ascended Extra: His role in the third film was small and only had a little crucial moment in stopping Davian. But in the fourth and fifth films he had passed a field test where he is now into action, taking various levels in badass.
• Badass Bookworm: Between Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, Benji earns his badassery in battle.
• Breakout Character: He was introduced late into the third film and only had a supporting role. By Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation he's become one of the primary cast.
• Cowardly Lion: Is forced to admit by the Entity, despite how much he's improved and countless times he shown his courage, he still very much fears death and doesn't want to die.
• Deadpan Snarker: Loves making sarcastic comments.
• Distressed Dude: Is captured by the Syndicate and held ransom in exchange for the unencrypted Red Box and its mysterious contents during the final third of Rogue Nation. Guile Hero that he is, Ethan manages to bluff the Syndicate into letting his friend go.
• Guile Hero: He's officially become this almost as much as Ethan by Fallout, successfully disguising himself as both Solomon Lane and Wolf Blitzer to trick the bad guys into giving up information the team needs.
• Iconic Sequel Character: He only came to the franchise in the third film, but since then he's been on every installment and with a steadily increasing amount of plot importance and screentime.
• Jack of All Trades: He comes across as this once he becomes a field agent. He can hold himself well enough in combat, but not to the extent of Ethan, Brandt, or Ilsa. He’s good with technology, but Luther is even better than him. He has some infiltration skill, but Ethan also has that covered as well. This means he can support any of them in any task that requires a helper and he visibly struggles when he has to handle such tasks all by himself at times.
• Manly Tears: Briefly sheds these in Dead Reckoning Part One in the aftermath of the mission in Venice following Ilsa's death.
• The McCoy: More prone to emotion than either Ethan or Luther.
• Only Known By His Nickname: Is called by his nickname basically all the time. Even Hunley, the CIA director, refers to him as "Benji Dunn" instead of "Benjamin Dunn".
• Playful Hacker: That's his main ability. He had substituted Luther in the fourth film as the tech savvy team member, though Luther would come back when the necessity of having more hackers arose.
• Plucky Comic Relief: When you need a couple of good laughs in the film, Benji's your man. Of course, he's played masterfully by Simon Pegg.
• The Smart Guy: Very good with technology.
• Took a Level in Badass: He started as a technician working behind a desk, but by Rogue Nation, he's a fully operational field agent.
• True Companions: The above quotes describe his loyalty to Ethan Hunt very well. He knows he's putting his life on the line, he knows he's in over his head, but he will do it anyway because Ethan is his friend. The sentiment is returned by Ethan, who did everything in his power, up to and including drugging the British Prime Minister and the head of MI6, to save Benji after he's kidnapped by the Syndicate. Indeed, he's the second most frequent member of Ethan's team after Luther.

Ethan's Original Team

Team Leader Jim (MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Jim Phelps

Played By: Jon Voight

Dubbed in French By: Claude Giraud

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

A veteran agent of the IMF and a mentor figure to Ethan Hunt.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the original TV series, he was the main protagonist. Here, he's the Big Bad.
• Affably Evil: He remains polite even when revealing himself as "Job" in the bullet train.
• Awful Wedded Life: Jim is resentful of his relationship with Claire and mainly sees her useful for his get rich quick betrayal scheme.
• Ax-Crazy: He is really a backstabbing psychopath.
• Batman Gambit: Jim's plans rely heavily on people reacting in a very certain way that is nigh-impossible to predict.
• Big Bad: Of the first film. He betrays the IMF by allying with weapons dealer Max and steals (what he thinks is) the NOC List all because he feels worthless after the Cold War ended.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Far from being A Father to His Men like he appears, Jim is a self-serving psychotic monster.
• Broken Pedestal: To Ethan. Jim is a respected and well-liked IMF agent, and a mentor to Ethan. His betrayal devastates Ethan.
• Decoy Protagonist: Seems like the Big Good, but is actually the Big Bad.
• Evil Is Petty: Following the Cold War found his new job a waste of his talents, and decided the best response was to betray all his comrades.
• Evil Old Folks: He is pushing 60 and is physically fit to the point he can knock out the much younger Ethan with his elbow, stand outside a running bullet train and climb to a helicopter.
• Face–Heel Turn: Jim becoming disillusioned with his career following the end of the Cold War drove him to have a psychotic break and betray his comrades.
• Fallen Hero: He was a great IMF hero, only to become a two-bit cash-grabbing criminal presumably driven insane by disillusionment.
• The Heavy: Him selling out the IMF and plotting to acquire the CIA NOC list is what pushes the plot of the first film forward.
• Hidden Villain: He's Job, the traitor Ethan is looking for.
• In Name Only: He's absolutely nothing like his portrayal in both TV series.
• Karmic Death: The first person of the original team that he murdered was Jack. In the final battle, he dies when Ethan uses the last stick of Jack's explosive gum on the helicopter that Jim was trying to escape on.
• May–December Romance: His wife Claire is 24 years his junior.
• The Mole: He is the traitor "Job" that Kittridge is looking for and the one that killed all of Ethan's crew and set him up.
• Motive Rant: When trying to frame Kittridge as the traitor, Jim gives a long winded speech about why Kittridge would betray them: awful marriage, lack of funds, and a general feeling of uselessness as a spy with the Cold War over. Ethan quickly figures out that not only is Jim the Mole, but that the whole speech was Jim ranting about his own motivations rather than Kittridge's.
• Oh, Crap!: Two of them in the first movie's climax.
  • Firstly, his face is only one of shock when Ethan puts on glasses that allow Kittridge to find out about Jim's survival and treachery.
  • Secondly, all he can do is watch in abject horror when Ethan shows him the last stick of Jack's exploding gum that he will use on the latter's escape plan: aka, the helicopter that the two are on.
• Schrödinger's Cast: Main hero in the TV series, main villain in the movie.
• The Sociopath: He has no qualms over killing his own teammates and his wife Claire.
• Villainous Breakdown: He goes batshit crazy when Ethan puts on his glasses and reveals his survival to Kittridge to the point he kills Claire, showing how much really a sociopathic and psychotic nut job he is at heart.
  Claire: Don't. Don't, Jim.
  Jim: "Don't, Jim"?! [whips around and shoots her in anger]
• Walking Spoiler: His villainy is kept entirely under wraps until two-thirds into the movie.
• Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: His motivation. Jim considers himself a useless desk boy with little control due to the end of the Cold War, when he was at the height of his career, as a result goes insane.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He pretends having an injured arm from falling to the river when he tracks Ethan in London. In the bullet train, it's revealed to be in a perfect condition.

Claire

Claire Phelps

Played By: Emmanuelle Béart

Dubbed in French By: Emmanuelle Béart

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

The young beautiful wife of Jim Phelps; acts as transport/getaway driver for the team.

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• Femme Fatale: She has some traits of it: a supposed innocent appearance, seducing Ethan, involvement in darker crimes...
• Honey Trap: And put in this role by her own husband, no less.
• In Love with the Mark: A possible version; she tries to persuade Jim Phelps to leave Ethan alive. Later when she calls on Jim not to shoot him, Jim shoots her instead.
• Lethal Chef: Apparently makes terrible coffee for the team on every mission.
  Ethan: Can we get a cappuccino machine in here? Because I don't know what you call this.
  Jack: I call it 'cruel and unusual'.
  Claire: Excuse me, I made that coffee.
  Jack: Exactly.
• May–December Romance: She's noticeably younger than Jim. This may have something to do with why Jim is quick to execute her when it looks like she's attracted to the younger Ethan.
• The Mole: Betrays the IMF alongside her husband. She may or may not be responsible for personally killing Hannah with a car bomb as well.
• The Smurfette Principle: With the deaths of Sarah and Hannah in the first film, she is the only female in Ethan's new team.
• Too Dumb to Live: She sneaks up on Ethan inside his safe house even though Ethan is on edge and has presumed her dead, when a simple knock on the door and acting like a regular tenant of the apartment could have been safer. It doesn't get her killed but Ethan shoves her across the room and holds her at gun point due to the extreme circumstances.
• You Have Failed Me: Killed by her own husband Jim Phelps after her mistake blows his cover and reveals his survival and betrayal to Kittridge. Though his actual decision to kill her appears to have been motivated by her reluctance to let him kill Ethan, which he regards as betrayal in her affections.

Sarah

Sarah Davies

Played By: Kristin Scott Thomas

Dubbed in French By: Kristin Scott-Thomas

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

A co-worker of Ethan whom he respects greatly; specializes in undercover work.

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• Deep Cover Agent: Her specialty on the team; she gets deep undercover ahead of the crew to gain them access into the embassy for the mission.
• Disposable Woman: A non-romantic version, but she serves the same purpose—her death causes the hero angst, yet she's never mentioned again.
• Ship Tease: Mutually flirts with Jack before and during the mission.

Jack

Jack Harmon

Played By: Emilio Estevez

Dubbed in French By: Serge Faliu

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

The tech savvy from the first film.

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• Eye Scream: His eye is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by a running unstoppable lift. Deliberately done by Jim Phelps.
• Ship Tease: Mutually flirts with Sarah before and during the mission.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't survive the mission but supplies Ethan with the exploding chewing gum, which gets Ethan out of not one, but two precarious predicaments in the film.
  Jack: You come up against a lock you can't pick, you mash 'em together... (mimes explosion) Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya. You'll have about five seconds. Just don't chew it.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Gets a considerable amount of screentime in the first 15 minutes due to his skills and name actor, but is the first team member to die.

Hannah

Hannah Williams

Played By: Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

A co-worker of Ethan who participates in the opening mission to retrieve the NOC list in Prague; does surveillance to keep tabs on the team's targets.

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• Disposable Woman: Like Sarah, she's killed off in the opening film. Though it's ambiguous whether it was Claire or Jim Phelps who done her in. Ethan chooses to believe that it was the latter.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Even among Ethan's team of Mauve Shirts, she's perhaps the least fleshed out member before her death.

Ethan's Second Team

Krieger

Franz Krieger

"Try any sleight of hand with my money and I'll cut your throat."

Played By: Jean Reno

Dubbed in French By: Jean Reno

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

"If we're going to Virginia, why don't we drop by Fort Knox? I can fly a helicopter right in through the lobby... and set it down inside the vault... and it would be a hell of a lot easier than breaking into the goddamn CIA."

A helicopter pilot and disavowed IMF agent who participates in the mission to recover the NOC list.

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• Ace Pilot: He pilots a helicopter in the first film's climax, as part of Jim's escape plan, even going so far as to fly it into the Channel Tunnel when things go pear-shaped.
• Ax-Crazy: He is deep down a psychotic and homicidal Psycho for Hire, having stabbed Sarah to death. He comes within an inch of doing the same to Ethan in the air ducts after getting the NOC list, and later takes sadistic glee in trying to slice him to pieces with a helicopter rotor.
• Bait the Dog: While he never seems like he's on the up and up, Krieger's intro in the film is fairly disarming and affable. When the heist gets underway, however, Ethan has to physically stop him from stabbing an innocent security guard to death.
• The Big Guy: Krieger's brought into Ethan's new team because of his physical abilities. During the heist, Krieger lowers Ethan into the room with only some pulleys and his own strength.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Intially appears to be an ally of Ethan, but is really The Dragon for Jim and a deranged Psycho for Hire.
• The Dragon: He was hired by Jim and Claire to kill Ethan's original team and Golitsyn, and retrieve the NOC List. He is hired back again by Claire to help Ethan's new team and then to help Jim in the bullet train.
• The Mole: Former IMF agent who got disavowed and wanted revenge.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: It would have been easier to just drive off the helicopter until the tunnel met its end than trying to chop Ethan with the rotor in a very narrow tunnel. It gave Ethan a chance to blow up the chopper with the bomb gum.
• Psycho for Hire: For Jim Phelps, as he takes part in killing Ethan's original team and he's sadistic and homicidal.
• Slasher Smile: Sports one when he tries to kill Ethan with his helicopter.
• The Sociopath: He shows no genuine empathy over the lives he takes.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Despite being the most homicidal character in the film, a rat and his allergies nearly do the team in at Langley.

Kittridge's Team

Barnes

Frank Barnes

Played By: Dale Dye

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

Eugene Kittridge's main assistant.

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• Cool Old Guy: He is around 60 years old and he still gets into action following Kittridge's orders. He is much more reasonable and less emotional than Kittridge.
• Number Two: The second in command of Kittridge's team and his main assistant.

Golitsyn

Alexander Golitsyn

Played By: Marcel Iureș

Appearances: Mission: Impossible

An IMF agent assigned by Kittridge to steal a decoy NOC list as part of an effort to draw Job out of hiding.

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• Red Herring: He was deliberately posed as such by Kittridge as The Mole so he could track down the real traitor "Job".
• Starter Villain: He was the main target in the film's first act as a treacherous spy who wanted to give the NOC List to Max. Averted by the fact he was not a villain at all but an agent of the IMF.

Chimera Mission Team

Billy

Billy Baird

Played By: John Polson

Dubbed in French By: Jacques Bouanich

Appearances: Mission: Impossible II

A pilot contracted to help Ethan during his mission to stop Ambrose in Australia.

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• Ace Pilot: Billy is very good at flying helicopters, which is why he is recruited by Hunt.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: To Krieger from the first film. Both were chosen alongside Luther to help Ethan and both fulfill similar roles as field agents for the team. Billy, however, isn't nearly as antagonistic as Krieger and doesn't betray the team. Billy and Krieger are both helicopter pilots and the ones who lower Ethan in their respective movie's infiltration scenes; Billy's goes off without a hitch while Krieger's allergies and violence nearly compromise the mission.
• Flat Character: He's the nominal chauffeur of Ethan and Luther in Australia, but much of his dialogue is centered around comedic quips or As You Know dialogue without much insight into his background.
• Funny Foreigner: He's very Australian and very funny.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He is the pre-Benji of the film franchise, spouting wisecracks constantly.
• Put on a Bus: Like most other agents, as usual.

Rabbit's Foot Mission Team

Zhen

Zhen Lei

Played By: Maggie Q

Dubbed in French By: Audrey Fleurot

Appearances: Mission: Impossible III

Declan Gormey: Delta, do you copy?
Zhen: All I do is copy.
Declan: That's funny. Get moving now.
Zhen: I'm already on the way.

A highly skilled marksmanship IMF agent who was introduced as part of Ethan's team when they were tasked to rescue his protégé, Lindsey Farris. She goes on to help with the Rabbit's Foot Mission.

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• Action Girl: Like most Maggie Q characters.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Isn't in any other films.^note She was intended to return in Ghost Protocol, but Maggie Q wasn't available.
• Ms. Fanservice: When she dresses up in the Vatican, the camera focuses on her legs as she leaves her Lamborghini. Also when she's told to blow up the Lamborghini she pulls the deteonator off her thigh and the camera gets a sneaky shot pretty far up her dress.
• The Smurfette Principle: She's the only woman in Ethan's team in the third film.
• Put on a Bus: Like most of the other movies' main cast.

Declan

Declan Gormley

Played By: Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Dubbed in French By: David Krüger

Appearances: Mission: Impossible III

"Now we've pissed off every Italian in Rome, go to do what you have to do."

A helicopter piloting IMF agent who was introduced as part of Ethan's team when they were tasked to rescue his protégé, Lindsey Farris. He goes on to help with the Rabbit's Foot Mission.

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• Ace Pilot: Has excellent skills in flying, as he shows he can narrowly miss windmills on purpose.
• Cunning Linguist: He can speak Italian and he used it for faking a traffic jam anger situation.
• Improbable Piloting Skills: Pilots a plane through a freaking windmill while being chased by Davian's henchmen. It applies to his driving as well.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Courtesy of being played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
• Put on a Bus: Only appears in part three and disappears without a hoot.

Hendricks Mission Team

Carter

Jane Carter

Played By: Paula Patton

Dubbed in French By: Laura Blanc

Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

An IMF agent who joins the Hendriks mission. Along with helping the mission, Carter seeks revenge against Hendriks' primary assassin, Sabine Moreau, for killing her husband.

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• Action Girl: Very skilled at fighting.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: There's no explanation for her absence in Rogue Nation, despite clearly accepting Ethan's offer to join his team.^note Patton wasn't available to return.
• Combat Stilettos: Averted. She takes them off before bull rushing Sabine.
• Designated Girl Fight: With Sabine Moreau. Justified as Sabine killed Trevor.
• Mirror Character: Her arc is actually quite similar to Ethan's in the third movie. Like Ethan, she puts another field agent whom she cared deeply for in the field but ends up getting killed, and she holds a personal grudge against the killer to the point that it affects her performance in the field, same as when Ethan is driven mad when Davian taunts him about Farris's death during his interrogation. It's also why Ethan sympathizes a lot with what she's going through after the mission in Dubai, as he was in a similar position as hers before.
• Ms. Fanservice: When she dresses up in the missions. She has the legs and the cleavage. It became useful for her Honey Trap with the lecherous tycoon Brij Nath.
• Revenge Before Reason: Jane is accused of this after killing Trevor's assassin, but to be fair, she presented a certain danger at the time.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of the team in the fourth film.
• Twofer Token Minority: Played by the female and half-black Paula Patton, the only person of either grouping to be on the team.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: By the fifth and sixth films, it is unknown what happened to her.

Brandt

William Brandt

Alan Hunley: I'm not interested in playing games, Brandt.
Brandt: And I'm not interested in seeing my friends get killed either.

Played By: Jeremy Renner

Dubbed in French By: Jérôme Pauwels

Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Brandt: 22 minutes to door knock.
Ethan Hunt: The countdown is not helping.
Brandt: I'm just saying.

One of Ethan's recruits for the Hendricks mission. An assistant to the IMF Secretary and a former field agent with a dark past.

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• The Atoner: See My Greatest Failure below.
• Badass Bureaucrat: He was first introduced as an assistant to the IMF Secretary. Then you learn he wasn't all the time in his desk and has great combat skills.^note He was actually first created so there'd be a character who could take over the lead role in the franchise if Tom Cruise left.
• Captain Obvious: In Rogue Nation, he keeps pointing out the self-evident, though as a warning more than anything.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's not in Fallout at all, and isn't even mentioned.^note The crew assumed Jeremy Renner would be busy with Avengers: Infinity War and so never wrote him in, though he ended up not being involved in that one either.
• The Cynic: Constantly doubts the mission will succeed and usually goes to the worst-case scenario.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's very sardonic.
• Mission Control: Fulfills this purpose for some time in Rogue Nation.
• My Greatest Failure: He feels guilty for failing at protecting Julia. Though this was deliberately made up by Ethan for Julia's safety and keep her out from his dangerous IMF missions.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Does this at first when working with Ethan's team, keeping his field abilities hidden to protect his prior connection to Ethan and Julia Hunt. He finally has to relent when he and Ethan under attack at the Burj Khalifa, showing close-quarter skills that shows Ethan he's no ordinary desk jockey.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: By the events of Fallout he's no longer working with Ethan actively, but he's never referenced or mentioned in any way.

Hanaway

Trevor Hanaway

Played By: Josh Holloway

Dubbed in French By: Arnaud Arbessier

Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

"It was my op. I put him in the field. And [Sabine] left him just alive enough for me to see him die."

— Regarding one of her deceased comrades (And also her secret lover), Trevor Hanaway

A skilled IMF agent who's in charge of the mission to steal the nuclear launch codes in Budapest but is killed by Sabine Moreau. Also Jane Carter's love interest.

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• Agents Dating: He and Agent Jane Carter are lovers, and Jane goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Moreau for killing him.
• Badass Normal: Manages to kill three bad guys before dying.
• Dying Declaration of Love: His last words before he died is him telling Agent Carter that he should've told her earlier that he loves her.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Managed to shoot two mooks while falling down to the ground very accurately, then later shoots one more mook after doing a rolling dive.
• The Lost Lenore: To Agent Jane Carter.
• Mauve Shirt: Has a decent amount of characterization and badass moments before being offed.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only has a role in the opening scene and later a brief flashback scene regarding the same event, but his failure to obtain the nuclear launch codes drives the plot. Also, his death heavily affects Agent Carter's performance during the mission in Dubai.
• Tragic Mistake: After managing to take care of the hitmen who pursued him, Hanaway thought he's already in the clear and walks away into a nearby alley casually. It didn't occur to him that a lone woman who was approaching him in that same alleyway - who would've most likely heard the gunshots fired earlier - is another assassin until it was too late.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed in less than two minutes after the film begins.
• The Worf Effect: He's at least as good as Ethan Hunt in the field, capable of taking control of the mission, making quick decisions, and kicking asses along the way. He's then suddenly killed by Sabine Moreau to establish her as a dangerous foe.

Ethan's Protégés

Farris

Lindsey Farris

"Am I ready?"

Played By: Keri Russell

Dubbed in French By: Chloé Bertier

Appearances: Mission: Impossible III

"Miss Farris, you know how many recruits I've trained. I'm proud to say that you are the first that I've recommended for active field duty. Congratulations."

— Ethan Matthew Hunt

A young apprentice of Ethan Hunt that was kidnapped by Davian's men.

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• Action Girl: She is Ethan's favorite IMF pupil and had been personally trained by him, so she begins fulfilling this trope the moment she is broken free.
• Badass in Distress: The movie opens with her being rescued from her kidnappers
• Dies Wide Open: Played to a disturbing effect rather than a tragic one. The implanted chip in her head detonates fatally damaging a series of nerves in her brain and her eyes shoot into two different directions when she dies.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Killed very suddenly just when one thought she might be useful on Ethan's Team.
• Like Brother and Sister: Ethan says they were so.
• It Has Been an Honor: Tells Ethan "Thank you." as she dies.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her kidnap forced Ethan to do one final mission before retirement. Then she suddenly died from an implanted chip inside her head, forcing him to go back to the IMF.

London Substation

Record Shop Girl

Record Shop Girl

Played by: Hermione Corfield

Appearances: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

"It really is you. I've heard stories. They can't all be true."

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• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Suddenly killed by Solomon Lane after the mission sequence.
• Kill the Cutie: Very quickly ends up on the receiving end of this trope. Lane even gambits that her death would spur Ethan on even more.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Is pretty amazed to realize the man she's talking to is Living Legend Ethan Hunt, and that the tales of his exploits are real.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Sure, it comes after the famous plane sequence but her death is what shows us Lane's brutality and his plans.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Sort of, as her death shows Lane's first appearance.

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