This listing incorporates spoilers for the Mission: Not possible franchise.
A brand new Mission: Not possible movie is hitting theaters this month – the ultimate one within the franchise, if we’re to imagine Tom Cruise and the fits at Paramount – and when you’re like us, you’re most likely knee deep in a sequence rewatch proper now.
The main target of the movies, spectacular motion set items apart, has been Cruise’s lead spy, Ethan Hunt. Fellow workforce brokers have usually come and gone, and supposedly not possible missions have assorted time after time, however Ethan has remained. The one different fixed has been a gradual provide of villains – women and men with huge plans fueled by greed and/or malice, who suppose they’ll be the one to outwit, outsmart, and outrun Hunt. Fools.
It might sound counterintuitive rating the Mission: Not possible villains underneath the banner of “finest,” however each nice hero wants an equally nice villain. Quite a few parts come into play when figuring out one of the best villain, however we’re zeroing in on the dimensions of their risk, the burden of the violence (each bodily and emotional) they commit towards Hunt and his workforce, and the palpable diploma of villainous charisma they exhibit.
So cue up that basic Lalo Schifrin theme, listed below are the ten Finest Mission: Not possible Villains, Ranked!
10. A.I. The Entity (Mission: Not possible – Useless Reckoning Half One)
“A self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating digital parasite infesting all of our on-line world” seems like a reasonably cool risk in another high-octane thriller, however within the Mission: Not possible franchise it’s solely adequate to land at quantity ten. It underwhelms in comparison with its human counterparts, as a result of let’s be actual – zeroes and ones ain’t received shit and insanity and weapons – however its energy and immense attain are plain. The Entity started “life” as a digital weapon designed by the U.S. authorities earlier than going rogue and hopping by means of our on-line world with the giddiness of a pet experiencing its first snowfall.
Most villainous act of villainy: Whereas toying with and killing a submarine full of Russian sailors is an act of murderous cruelty, it’s the Entity’s larger, broader acts of deception that mark it as a real villain. Its early days of on-line manipulation noticed it shifting public opinion and habits by means of social media, and it’s a brutal reminder of occasions in the actual world. We dwell in a gift the place individuals with nefarious agendas are influencing simply formed minds, and with the elevated use of A.I. in our on-line dealings, it’s not arduous to think about one thing just like the Entity stepping in and actually turning our every day lives right into a nightmare.
9. John Musgrave (Mission: Not possible III)
Not each villain has direct blood on his fingers, however that doesn’t imply they’re any much less harmful. Musgrave is Hunt’s Operations Supervisor on the IMF, and it’s prompt they could even be minor associates – comprehensible as he’s performed by Billy Crudup, and who wouldn’t need to be associates with Billy Crudup. He brings Hunt in on a mission to rescue one among his proteges, Lindsey Farris, and when that goes flawed and Hunt is blamed for the fallout, it’s Musgrave who helps the agent escape to pursue justice. See? A good friend.
Shock! It’s all a ruse, and Musgrave is definitely a traitor working with a person named Owen Davian on some elaborate plan to retrieve a bit of tech nicknamed “the rabbit’s foot.” Musgrave’s a hero in his personal thoughts, although, as he’s hoping to make use of this as motivation for first strikes towards enemy forces. He desires the U.S. and the IMF to play a extra aggressive position within the struggle towards terrorism, and if which means supporting terrorists alongside the best way, properly, he’s all for it.
Most villainous act of villainy: Musgrave may suppose his coronary heart is in the precise place right here, however along with enabling a murderous terrorist in Davian, he crosses an equally huge line by pulling Ethan’s spouse, Julia, into hazard. Worse, he lets Davian shoot Julia within the head proper in entrance of Hunt. Positive, she’s revealed to have been a minor henchwoman in a masks, however the emotional injury is actual.
8. Kurt Hendricks (Mission: Not possible – Ghost Protocol)
Whereas some villains act out of greed and others trigger distress merely for the enjoyable of it, Kurt Hendricks is a person who solely desires one of the best for humanity. What’s the finest, you ask? Nicely, in Hendricks’ thoughts, our species would profit from one thing of a cleanse. From the nice biblical flood to the atomic bombing of Japanese cities throughout World Struggle II, immense disasters result in rebuilding, restoration, and actual enchancment… apparently.
Sounds logical, so Hendricks units out to set off simply such a world debacle beginning with a large assault on the Kremlin in Moscow and resulting in the acquisition of nuclear codes. He proves himself to be one of many biggest threats Ethan Hunt has confronted to that time.
Besides, and that is the place casting comes into severe play, the movie desires us to see him as a bodily risk to Hunt – however that’s almost not possible. Michael Nyqvist was a implausible actor, and he makes for a compelling villain by means of dialogue and intent. However a severe contender in a struggle with Cruise? It’s troublesome to purchase, however that doesn’t cease director Brad Hen from letting him go toe to toe with the movie’s star for a weirdly lengthy struggle. (To be honest, Chad Stahelski began it by letting Nyqvist seemingly maintain his personal for a bit with Keanu Reeves in John Wick.) So, whereas Hendricks is a grand risk on the world stage, he tumbles some within the rating right here as an unserious brawler towards the extremely educated and in much better form Hunt.
Most villainous act of villainy: Like Musgrave above, Hendricks critically thinks he’s doing the world a favor by inflicting hurt. His closing act leads to a nuclear missile being fired in the direction of San Francisco, one thing that will have killed tens of hundreds of individuals instantly earlier than triggering the dying of tens of millions extra. That’s no small factor, and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for these meddling IMF brokers.
7. August Walker (Mission: Not possible – Fallout)
Hunt and his IMF workforce have been betrayed by double brokers and traitors on quite a few events, however most of them are grasping middle-aged males in fits who don’t pose an instantaneous bodily risk to our intrepid hero. August Walker is one thing completely different totally. He towers over Hunt and is jacked from his mustache on down. Henry Cavill’s portrayal ensures that he’s already menacing even whereas pretending to be on Hunt’s aspect, however as soon as the reality comes out, the gloves come off.
Walker is revealed to be working in cahoots with the sensible Solomon Lane, and collectively they body Hunt and as soon as once more pull the love of his life, Julia, into hurt’s approach. His motivation for all of it is a bit excessive and dramatic – he desires the previous world to implode and provides rise to one thing higher – however what else would you anticipate from a person who appears to cock his arms like weapons throughout fist fights.
Most villainous act of villainy: Walker and Lane are planning to detonate nuclear bombs, and whereas the latter stays behind to die in his biggest act of terror, Walker is on a chopper heading to security. Hunt, after all, catches as much as him in pursuit of the detonator that’s wanted to cease the countdown. Whereas Walker may have simply escaped by giving up the detonator, his need to trigger struggling – particularly Hunt’s struggling if Julia had been to die – leads him to a one-on-one struggle to the dying with the agent. It’s a choice constructed on rage and self-righteous justification, and it rightfully ends in his painful demise.
6. Paris (Mission: Not possible – Useless Reckoning Half One)
In terms of villains within the Mission: Not possible universe, few can contact Pom Klementieff’s Paris on type and charisma factors. A henchwoman to Gabriel, she lets her gleefully murderous skillset do most of her speaking, and it’s a refreshing change of tempo from baddies who appear compelled to share their life tales earlier than pulling a set off.
Her costume and face make-up see her stand aside from the group, however don’t let her doll-like look idiot you. Paris is a cruel fighter who refuses to stop regardless of the chances, as evidenced by a shootout and automobile chase in Rome that sees her actually plowing by means of obstacles each human and in any other case in her pursuit of Hunt.
Most villainous act of villainy: Whereas Paris makes mincemeat out of quite a few threats, she finally succumbs to Hunt throughout an alleyway brawl. He spares her life, although, and after being punished by Gabriel – he principally tries to kill her – she chooses to betray each him and her villainous tendencies by saving Hunt’s life. Perhaps I’m stretching the definition right here, but it surely takes an actual badass to show your again on villainy with the invention of sudden morals and a change of coronary heart.
5. Gabriel (Mission: Not possible – The Closing Reckoning)
The mysterious Gabriel arrives within the penultimate entry of the franchise, and he’s a person with lethal abilities and an alliance with the Entity. He additionally comes with a backstory suggesting an integral position in Ethan Hunt’s life. It appears Gabriel killed a girl named Marie thirty years in the past, somebody Hunt was apparently keen on, and it’s that homicide that landed Hunt on the IMF – the place he went on to avoid wasting hundreds of lives. A whole lot of hundreds, even. So possibly Gabriel is a hero? I child, I child.
He’s clearly a villain, and he could even be one thing of a seer (?), however whereas his late-to-the-party franchise arrival unavoidably undercuts his dramatic weight, the character’s casting lifts Gabriel proper again up once more. Esai Morales brings actual attraction and a relaxed menace to the character, and it’s instantly made clear that he’s not somebody to be trifled with. You imagine each his bodily skills and lethal intentions, and Morales’ added dramatic weight makes him an actual risk to Hunt. He additionally earns a bump within the rankings by gifting viewers with one of the best, most unforgettable villain dying in your entire franchise.
Most villainous act of villainy: Gabriel’s killed lots of people, and he even destroyed a rolling Agatha Christie landmark, so it’s clear he’s a nasty man. His most vicious act, although, comes as a bookend to having “fridged” Marie three a long time earlier. Gabriel threatens to do it once more by killing both Ilsa or Grace – Hunt’s present love curiosity or the lady who simply landed in his lap mere hours in the past – and whereas the movie desires to trick viewers into considering it’s going to be the latter, it’s Ilsa who dies by Gabriel’s blade as a substitute. McQuarrie and Cruise are clearly the actual villains right here for introducing this drained trope of a girl’s dying being accountable for a person’s life, but it surely’s finally Gabriel who thrusts the knife into Ilsa’s intestine. It may have been Grace who died. Hell, it ought to have been Benji. As an alternative, Gabriel extinguishes the franchise’s brightest flame this aspect of Hunt himself. J’accuse!
Not but obtainable for streaming.
4. Jim Phelps (Mission: Not possible)
Jim Phelps wasn’t the one good friend/fellow agent to betray Hunt through the years, however he was the primary – and arguably probably the most stunning. The character, as performed by Peter Graves, was the IMF’s lead agent for the majority of the tv sequence’ seven-season run from 1966 to 1973. He was unquestionably a very good man, so there was no cause to suspect that his presence within the first Mission: Not possible movie could be something completely different – properly, Jon Voight within the position was most likely a clue.
Audiences anticipated Phelps to primarily hand the reins over to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, however whereas he did simply that, he did so with a serious act of betrayal. As he tells Hunt as soon as his ruse is found, the tip of the Chilly Struggle threatens to finish the necessity for the IMF – that is as naive a press release as ever uttered within the entirety of the franchise – and he was fearful about changing into a relic barely scraping by on sixty-two thousand {dollars} a yr.
Most villainous act of villainy: The betrayal itself is already brutal as Phelps turns his again on associates and brokers who’ve risked their lives collectively through the years, but it surely’s the specifics of his traitorous act that hits hardest. In his effort to border another person for his crime, Phelps kills off three members of his workforce throughout an operation after which fakes his personal dying. What may have been a easy theft, as a substitute turns into an act of cruelty making his betrayal sting much more.
3. Sean Ambrose (Mission: Not possible II)
“That was at all times the toughest a part of having to painting you,” says ex-IMF agent Sean Ambrose to a crushed and angered Ethan Hunt, “grinning like an fool each fifteen minutes.” That line alone makes Ambrose a prime villain because it’s a terrific zing at each Hunt and Cruise himself. He’s equally dismissive of ladies as evidenced by his remark that they’re like monkeys relating to the lads of their lives, that they “gained’t let go of 1 department till they get a grip on the subsequent.” Say what you’ll about his grasping needs, however Ambrose (Dougray Scott) understands the project relating to being a charismatic villain.
That greed has led him to steal a lethal plague with plans to unleash it on entire populations if his calls for aren’t met. Whereas money cash is his major motivator, although, Ambrose additionally appears fueled by a splash of jealousy in the direction of Hunt. That makes their faceoffs all of the extra entertaining whether or not they’re jousting on bikes or sharing beatdowns within the sand as solely the nice John Woo can seize it.
Most villainous act of villainy: The movie opens with Ambrose masquerading as Hunt with a purpose to purchase the Chimera plague, however quite than simply kill one man, Ambrose and his workforce crash a complete passenger jet full of harmless civilians. Acts of terror would declare larger physique counts in later movies, however this places faces to the lifeless in a much more direct approach making it extra private and affecting.
2. Solomon Lane (Mission: Not possible – Rogue Nation)
Whether or not attributable to low pay or poor advantages, the world is seemingly overflowing with ex-government workers prepared and prepared to betray their nations and soar on the practice to villain city. Solomon Lane is one such agent, however he goes a step or three additional by serving to create a company referred to as The Syndicate that’s constructed totally on these bitter, set off completely happy ex-agents. They need to sow chaos and reap monetary rewards, they usually’ve been doing it for years.
Lane is launched killing a younger, unarmed feminine agent proper in entrance of Hunt, and it’s quickly revealed that he’s accountable for hundreds of deaths through the years by means of occasions made to appear like accidents or the work of wholly unrelated perpetrators. Lane’s historical past of manipulating belief and the world’s varied methods makes him one of the vital harmful villains within the franchise. He’s forward of Hunt at each step, and his mantra – “The better the struggling, the better the peace.” – marks him as a person prepared to do something to perform his objectives.
Whereas many actors go huge taking part in villains, Sean Harris takes the other strategy and makes Lane a weasel of a person who you simply need to see get crushed mindless. It’s an unusually daring selection that leaves him and not using a darkly interesting persona or character – he’s only a very unhealthy man who couldn’t care much less about you or your family members.
Most villainous act of villainy: Because the uncommon villain to be an energetic risk throughout multiple movie, Lane inflicts loads of ache, struggling, and stress on Hunt and his workforce. The majority of his evil acts had been dedicated earlier than Mission: Not possible – Rogue Nation even begins, however his cruelest and most private motion unfolds throughout the followup, Fallout. Together with August Walker, Lane manages to activate two nuclear bombs threatening not solely the water provide for billions of individuals, but additionally the lifetime of Hunt’s biggest love, Julia. Seeing her in hurt’s approach is the type of intestine punch that Hunt felt solely as soon as earlier than, and it’s clear simply how sorry he’s that his decisions have as soon as once more introduced her so near dying.
1. Owen Davian (Mission: Not possible III)
There’s quite a lot of competitors relating to choosing the right villain within the Mission: Not possible franchise, however there was by no means any doubt who’d land on the prime of the heap. Davian doesn’t care about a lot past his personal desires and wishes, and the movie displays that by by no means revealing precisely what his finish purpose is – we all know he desires the so-called rabbit’s foot, however what it’s and what it does are by no means made clear. We simply know that Davian will lower by means of anybody and something to get it, and that makes him an exceptionally harmful man.
J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Not possible III is unfairly maligned, however even these underwhelmed by the movie itself can’t assist however applaud Philip Seymour Corridor’s frighteningly efficient and extremely entertaining portrayal of Davian. His blistering stares, his lightning fast shifts from lifeless silence to raging outbursts, and his deceptively calm approach of threatening all the things that Hunt holds expensive all work to make him a villain who instructions the display screen and even steals each scene from Cruise himself.
There will not be a giant, world risk at play right here, however Davian is the person who arguably will get nearer than another villain to really killing Hunt. He injects the agent’s head with an explosive machine that will get inside seconds of churning Hunt’s mind tissue into floor beef, and he even will get some severe licks in whereas brawling. You wouldn’t suppose a Cruise versus Hoffman struggle would persuade, however the latter’s pure ferocity paired with Hunt’s incapacitation because of the ache in his head makes for a viciously compelling bout.
Most villainous act of villainy: Davian is a imply bastard who, whereas nonetheless in restraints, coldly threatens to homicide Hunt’s fiance Julia. “I’m gonna make her bleed and cry and name out your title”, he says, and it’s one of many few instances the place Hunt’s legendary management ideas into actual concern and emotion. Davian later comes near doing simply that after abducting Julia, tying her up, and showing to shoot her within the head. Hunt’s ache is palpable, and it’s sufficient to break his coronary heart to the purpose that he’d go on to by no means let somebody that shut once more. Davian has actually halted Hunt’s means to attach with somebody on a deeply private degree, and it’s the type of assault that bullets and bombs simply can’t compete with.
