Ethan Hunt, the charismatic hero of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise played by Tom Cruise, cares about one thing above all else: His team.
The story of Ethan’s life as told in eight movies has been marked by his intense loyalty to the people by his side. The most enduring have been Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), the computer whiz who has been his buddy in all installments, and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), another technical genius who guides him through sticky situations. But Ethan’s love life has been an evolving saga that has gone through some hiccups, as the filmmakers try to figure out how to pair off a man whose work life involves scaling buildings, jumping out of planes and saving the world every few years. Over the years, the “Mission: Impossible” films have tested out different roles for the ladies in Ethan’s life, to varying degrees of success.
Emmanuelle Béart as Claire Phelps in “Mission: Impossible” (1996)
In the series’ first entry, directed by Brian De Palma, Ethan has a sexually charged relationship with Claire (Emmanuelle Béart). She is the wife of Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), Ethan’s Impossible Mission Force team leader, who is presumed dead. Only, Jim isn’t dead, he’s actually the one framing Ethan in order to steal a top-secret list of undercover agents and make a financial killing. And Claire, it turns out, was in on the ruse. She dies at the hand of her husband, a bittersweet ending for a pretty classic femme fatale.
Thandiwe Newton as Nyah Nordoff-Hall in “Mission: Impossible II” (2000)
The second installment of the franchise is known as the rockiest — and not just because it features Ethan rock climbing. That extends to his love interest, Nyah, played by Thandiwe Newton. Unlike other “M:I” ladies, Nyah follows the model of a Bond girl. She’s a thief who Ethan must enlist to help him track down a deadly virus known as Chimera, stolen by her ex-boyfriend (Dougray Scott). From the moment she’s onscreen, her body is sexualized, and very soon after she meets Ethan, they end up in bed together. But the whole plot feels forced, as if the filmmakers were trying to convince us that Ethan is a different character, more suave than he actually is.
Michelle Monaghan as Julia Meade in “Mission: Impossible III” (2006)
Realizing that the Bond girl route wasn’t going to work for Ethan, the follow-up went the other direction. When we meet Ethan in the third film, directed by J.J. Abrams, he’s settling down with Julia, a nurse played by Michelle Monaghan. Their potential domestic bliss is quickly interrupted when she becomes a pawn in a plot by the arms dealer Owen Davian (an almost too-good Philip Seymour Hoffman) to foil Ethan and steal a dangerous item known as the Rabbit’s Foot. Monaghan portrays a sweetness that represents an alternate existence for Ethan, a boring life of nice parties with nice people instead of globe-trotting adventures. Sure, Ethan and Julia head off together at the end, but anyone who has watched the preceding movie is pretty certain the marriage isn’t going to last.
Paula Patton as Jane Carter in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” (2011)
An early scene in Brad Bird’s “Ghost Protocol” explains away the issue of Julia. Why was Ethan in a Russian prison? Oh, he went off the grid after the marriage went awry. Later we hear she’s dead, but it turns out that’s not true either. Ethan just faked her death to protect her. Julia’s absence gives Ethan a pathos, but it also simply allows the franchise not to bother with finding him a new love interest. Enter Jane Carter, played by Paula Patton, who is also sad about a lost love — hers, played by Josh Holloway, is murdered in the cold open by an assassin. In her review of the film, Manohla Dargis called Jane “the obligatory pretty lady,” and it’s true her presence seems more like a necessity to add some gender diversity rather than an actual asset. And when her and Ethan do kiss, as part of mission, it’s incredibly awkward.
Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust in “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” (2015), “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (2018), and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” (2023)
When Ethan first encounters Ilsa, after she helps him escape a nasty torture situation, he says, “We’ve never met before, right?” It’s a telling line. They have not met, but they are already entirely in sync. With Ilsa, it finally felt like the franchise cracked the woman question by creating a female version of Ethan, who is unique in her own style. Ilsa is also a government agent; like Ethan, she operates by her own code, which means she’s often at odds with authority. Their chemistry is in their physicality as evidenced by the bravura opera sequence in “Rogue Nation” in which they almost mirror each other’s movements as they hunt down bad guys.
In many ways, throughout “Rogue Nation” and “Fallout,” Ilsa felt like an endgame for Ethan, a relationship that was deeply felt but not exactly romantic, exactly what he needed. And then, in “Dead Reckoning,” she dies in a sword fight with Gabriel (Esai Morales), the villain working for the all-powerful A.I. known as the Entity. This gives Ethan even more motivation to track down Gabriel — who we learn in a flashback also killed another, different woman in his life, a random ex who was never previously represented onscreen. Ilsa survived so many battles and dangerous situations that her demise felt like a too minor ending for such a major character.
Hayley Atwell as Grace in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” (2023) and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” (2025)
Ilsa’s death also stung in part because it felt like it was orchestrated to make room for a new main girl for Ethan — Grace, a pickpocket played by Hayley Atwell. In some ways, Grace’s chemistry with Ethan is the opposite of Ilsa’s. Whereas Ilsa is Ethan’s match, Grace is brilliant at stealing but cannot handle herself in an action sequence. Ethan coaches her through the multiple set pieces they have together in “Dead Reckoning,” including the delightful one where they are handcuffed together in a tiny yellow Fiat in Rome.
By “Final Reckoning,” Ethan seems smitten with Grace, who considers him almost godlike. She suggests he could control the Entity as they cuddle after she rescues him from freezing waters, administering mouth to mouth in a sequence he envisions as a kiss. And yet it’s clear Grace is not the most important person in Ethan’s life. That would be Luther, his ultimate sidekick, who has a moving posthumous monologue that closes out the film after an emotional death sequence. That’s the moment that’s bound to make you misty-eyed.
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