As critics like to remember, the role of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in Mission: Impossible was born in part from the original idea that it would only be a single film and that with it alone, it would be even clearer that it was not a reboot of the series TV hit. Now considered one of the most profitable franchises in cinema, much has changed. Even culturally! The women in the cast also gained prominence and deserve, as has already been raised on social networks, a spin-off. I would love to accompany Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) on her adventures, for example. The impossibility of this mission only depends on a producer accepting the challenge… hello Mr. Cruise!

But going back to the theme, the women didn’t always get along very well, and the first film didn’t have reliable women there, something that then changed with the entry of Thandiwe Newton in the second. Are we going to review the women of the universe of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise)?

Mission: Impossible (1996)

The girl and villain in a dubious character, Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart), married to the boss (it would never happen today), a much older man and seduces Ethan immediately after the supposed death of her husband. In the double play where it is suggested that she may have really fallen in love with the hero, she dies in the crossfire.

Little do we know the two other women on the team, Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott-Thomas) and Hannah (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), were blown up by Claire and Jim. But we bumped into Max (Vanessa Redgrave), who is a weapons and state secrets negotiator (a villain), who ends up arrested even though she sympathizes with Ethan. Unsurprisingly, we smile years later when her daughter, Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), the White Widow, crosses paths with our favorite agent later on.

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

One-woman vehicle, the amazing Thandiwe Newton playing the thief, and Ethan Hunt’s soon-to-be girlfriend Nyah Nordoff-Hall. Ethan thought the mission would be a steal and so he went to Jim Phelps’s school mixing work with pleasure, only to discover that his role was something of a pimp, forcing Nyah to reconnect with her toxic and abusive ex, villain Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott). To make matters worse, she is infected with the deadly virus and is saved at the last minute. Unsurprisingly, Nyah disappears from Ethan’s life after all this.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

From few to many women. We are reunited with Ethan in plain clothes, contemplating retirement and a future marriage to physician Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), but he is called back into action when his ward, Agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) disappears with the ‘rabbit’s foot’ she the ultra ruthless arms dealer, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is behind. Vengeful, he kidnaps Julia and Ethan assembles the team to save her. Unfortunately, Lindsey only appears briefly, being killed by Owen, but we have Maggie Q. as Zhen Lei, who barely speaks but helps Ethan in important moments. Julia forgives Ethan and learns to stand up for herself, the hero’s ending is happy with his beloved, or so it seems.

To be fair, there are two (irrelevant) agents in the plot: Rachel (Bellamy Young) and Beth (Carla Gallo), who enter silently and leave silently.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Equity is not yet well established at the IMF, but we have agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) with greater autonomy and prominence in the actions. We meet again Ethan – a widower – infiltrated a Russian prison. He is recruited to stop Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux) from selling Russian nuclear codes, but the mission is more personal for Jane after Sabine kills her colleague and boyfriend earlier in the film. There is a parallel drama of the guilt that Agent Brandt (Jeremy Renner) feels over Julia’s ‘death’, but SPOILER, she is alive. Ethan divorced her and moved away so she could have a chance to survive. It’s a devious sacrifice again, but Julia is really weird. Married to a guy who lied to her, who nearly cost her her life, had to give up her identity and live in hiding just to end up without him and a new name so she could survive, and still like him. Freud explains.

In the count of incredible women who, unlike Julia, discard Ethan are Nyah, Zhen Lei, and Jane Carter, who simply ‘disappear’ from the franchise.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

It took nearly a decade and two great agents for one to finally catch up and win over Ethan Hunt, and welcome Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Initially dubious, she seems like a double agent acting as a double agent to ultimately be really “good”, she is amazing and perfect. She saves the hero, she is smart and dexterous like her peers. She invites Ethan to run away with her, he is not the one in charge of the relationship, but as we needed more films, the two say goodbye as friends. Or more than friends… it remains unclear.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

The ladies show up, but they still don’t have the same protagonism as Ilsa. Ethan’s boss is Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), who doesn’t like him as much as his predecessors, and the sympathetic antagonist (always has one in each film) is Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), the White Widow who is Max’s daughter ( was eight when Ethan sent his mother to prison). Alanna takes a shine to Ethan, even with a significant age difference, but it’s Ilsa who comes back to save him. We meet the saint Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), who now works with Doctors Without Borders and is remarried. The affection for Ethan is the same and not only helps him as well as she can but also gives his blessing so that he and Ilsa are finally officially together.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023)

We haven’t seen the next leg of Ethan Hunt’s story yet, but given the briefness of the story and the fact that it will be told in two parts, I fear for the lives of some of his dear ones. Certainly, to be able to come back next year, Ethan will have some failure in his action. And we will have the return of Alanna and Ilsa, in addition to having new female faces in the cast. Indira Varma, whose role we still don’t know what it is, and Grace (Hayley Atwell), who will have a bigger participation (handcuffed to Ethan, will be in several action sequences). Will we have a love triangle?

(Edited/SPOILER) R.I.P. Ilsa Hunt. Sorry to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but as the trailer alluded to nothing discreetly, Ethan was going to feel a loss and I feared for her. In 27 years of the franchise, there is not a remote chance to overcome the impossibility of Ethan having a lasting love relationship. Isa would be the closest thing to that opportunity. What a missed opportunity!

Search

Search