Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team are in for a rude awakening with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. The seventh installment in the multi-decade-spanning Mission: Impossible franchise, the next chapter of Ethan Hunt's story is but a single part of a larger story, with him and the IMF working to stop a malignant force from obtaining a ludicrously powerful weapon. Since premiering, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One has already garnered some very positive critical acclaim, with Collider's own Ross Bonaime giving the film a B+. You can read Ross's full review for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One by clicking here.
Mission: Impossible is one of the few franchises that has actually gotten better with each installment, somehow being able to up the ante with each subsequent film. Since the franchise has been going strong for almost thirty years, some may be looking for a quick refresher course on Ethan Hunt's long-running story so far. To learn more about that story, read below for a crash course on everything you need to know before Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1.
1 Mission: Impossible (1996)
Director: Brian De Palma | Release Date: May 22, 1996 | Run Time: 110 minutes | Budget: $80 million | Box Office: $457.7 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Marcel Iures, and Emilio Estevez
First Appearances: Ethan Hunt (Cruise), Jim Phelps (Voight), Claire Phelps (Béart), Kittridge (Czerny), Franz Krieger (Reno), Luther Stickell (Rhames), Sarah Davies (Scott Thomas), Max (Redgrave), Hannah Williams (Dapkunaite), Alexander Golitsyn (Iures), and Jack Harmon (Estevez)
Main Villain: Jim Phelps
Major Deaths: Jack Harmon, Hannah Williams, Alexander Golitsyn, Sarah Davies, Claire Phelps, Franz Krieger, and Jim Phelps
The film that started it all, Mission: Impossible 1996 introduces audiences to a young fledgling version of Ethan Hunt, who has spent the bulk of his IMF career as a part of a team consisting of Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart), Jack Harmon (Emilio Estevez), Hannah Williams (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas), and their leader, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). That's until a seemingly routine mission goes horribly wrong and Hunt is left as the sole survivor. Things get worse when IMF leader, Kittridge (Henry Czerny) suspects that Hunt may be a double agent, which effectively ostracizes Hunt from the organization.
Desperate to prove his innocence, Hunt learns that the real double agent goes by the name of Job, and has been working with a shady arms dealer named Max (Vanessa Redgrave). After discovering Claire, Jim's wife, survived the betrayal, as well as enlisting the help of other mercenaries Krieger (Jean Reno) and Luther (Vin Rhames), Ethan learns a terrible truth. After finding out Jim is alive, it doesn't take long for Ethan to discover that his mentor and friend is the one who betrayed them, seeking to sell a list of undercover IMF agents to the highest bidder. After murdering his own wife, Jim is eventually stopped by Ethan for good and the heroic IMF agent is reinstated by Kittridge.
2 Mission: Impossible II (2000)
Director: John Woo | Release Date: May 24, 2000 | Run Time: 123 minutes | Budget: $125 million | Box Office: $546.4 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandiwe Newton, Vin Rhames, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Serbedzija, William Mapother, Dominic Purcell, Matthew Wilkinson, and Anthony Hopkins
First Appearances: Sean Ambrose (Scott), Nyah Hall (Newton), Hugh Stamp (Roxburgh), Billy Baird (Polson), McCloy (Gleeson), Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich (Serbedzija), Wallis (Mapother), Ulrich (Purcell), Michael (Wilkinson), and Mission Commander Swanbeck (Hopkins)
Main Villain: Sean Ambrose
Major Deaths: Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich, Hugh Stamp, Wallis, Ulrich, Michael, and Sean Ambrose
Mission: Impossible II ups the stakes on the absurdity scale, which feels appropriate, given this comes from the same director of Face/Off. Now enjoying a solo IMF agent career, Ethan Hunt is charged with tracking down, obtaining, and destroying a deadly man-made virus known as Chimera. The virus has come into the possession of a disgraced IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who seeks to use the virus for his dastardly means.
After forming a romantic relationship with Ambrose's former lover, Nyah Hall (Thandiwe Newton), Hall makes a bold sacrifice by injecting herself with the only existing sample of Chimera. Now given a ticking clock to save Hall, Ethan must now find a cure for the virus before it's too late. With the help of his oldest friend Luther, Ethan is able to put Ambrose down and save Hall before she succumbs to the virus, even going as far as to wipe her criminal record clean as a parting gift.
3 Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Director: J.J. Abrams | Release Date: May 5, 2006 | Run Time: 126 minutes | Budget: $150 million | Box Office: $398.5 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, and Laurence Fishburne
First Appearance: Owen Davian (Seymour Hoffman), John Musgrave (Crudup), Julia Meade-Hunt (Monaghan), Declan (Rhys Meyers), Lindsey Farris (Russell), Zhen (Q), Benji Dunn (Pegg), Brownway (Marsan), and Theodore Brassel (Fishburne)
Main Villains: Owen Davian and John Musgrave
Major Deaths: Nathan and Margaret Hunt (off-screen), Lindsey Farris, Owen Davian, and John Musgrave
After a high-octane adventure in Mission: Impossible II, Ethan Hunt is trying to settle down and retire at the start of Mission: Impossible III. Ethan has now met, fallen in love with, and married a woman named Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). He wishes to leave his life of espionage behind but finds himself back in the fold when his protégé, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), is captured and eventually killed by a sadistic arms dealer named Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Thus, Ethan Hunt assembles a new team consisting of Hunt's long-time friend Luther, newcomer Zhen (Maggie Q), IMF veteran Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne), and tech-head Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Benji in particular will be a much larger part of Ethan's future adventures. Hunt ultimately discovers that the real culprit behind this new terrorist plot isn't Davian but is yet another turncoat IMF traitor named John Musgrave (Billy Crudup). After stopping Musgrave's plan, Ethan reluctantly decides to stay an IMF agent, knowing full well that he'll have to leave Julia and forsake their relationship, as that's the only way to keep her out of harm's way.
4 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Director: Brad Bird | Release Date: December 21, 2011 | Run Time: 132 minutes | Budget: $145 million | Box Office: $694.7 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Samuli Edelmann, Ivan Shvedoff, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Josh Holloway, Pavel Kríz, Miraj Brbic, Ilia Volok, Tom Wilkinson, Ving Rhames, and Michelle Monaghan
First Appearance: William Alexander Brandt (Renner), Jane Carter (Patton), Kurt Hendricks (Nyqvist), Sidorov (Mashkov), Marius Wistrom (Edelmann), Leonid Lisenker (Shvedoff), Kapoor (Nath), Sabine Moreau (Seydoux), Trevor Hanaway (Holloway), Stefanski (Kríz), Bogdan (Grbic), The Fog (Volok), and IMF Secretary (Wilkinson)
Main Villain: Kurt Hendricks
Major Deaths: Trevor Hanaway, IMF Secretary, Leonid Lisenker, Sabine Moreau, Kurt Hendricks, and Marius Wistrom
After Mission: Impossible III had a so-so box office run, the franchise got an unlikely savior in Pixar filmmaker Brad Bird, who introduced the best installment yet with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. After serving some time in a Russian prison, Ethan is broken out by his new team - rookie agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and recently promoted field operative Benji Dunn. Luther primarily sits this adventure out but has a cameo at the film's end. Hunt's new mission involves breaking into the Kremlin to obtain some vital intel, but as we know by now, these missions rarely go according to plan.
Their mission is infiltrated by Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) - a mad terrorist who hopes to manufacture a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. He initially succeeds, with the IMF being officially disbanded leaving Ethan and his team to go awol. When the IMF Secretary (Tom Wilkinson) is murdered, the team gets another ally in Agent William Alexander Brandt (Jeremy Renner), who believes he failed to protect Ethan's wife, Julia. After climbing the Burj Khalifa (no, like, Tom Cruise actually climbed the Burj Khalifa) and preventing a nuclear holocaust, Brandt learns that Julia is alive and well, with Ethan protecting her from afar.
5 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Release Date: July 31, 2015 | Run Time: 131 minutes | Budget: $150 million | Box Office: $682.7 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Simon McBurnery, Jingchu Zhang, Tom Hollander, Jens Hultén, Saif Al-Warith, and Alec Baldwin
First Appearances: Ilsa Faust (Ferguson), Solomon Lane (Harris), Atlee (McBurnery), Lauren (Zhang), Prime Minister (Hollander), Janik Vinter (Hultén), Saif (Al-Warith), and Alan Hunley (Baldwin)
Main Villain: Solomon Lane
Major Deaths: Saif and Janik Vinter
Though the IMF is disbanded in a legal sense, the counter-terrorism organization is still very much active despite no direct U.S. approval in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. The IMF certainly needs to be active, as they're about to face their most dangerous threat yet - The Syndicate. Led by the cold and calculating Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), The Syndicate effectively functions as the anti-IMF, acting as a rogue espionage cell seeking to run the world from the shadows.
To combat this threat, Ethan, Luther, Benji, and Brandt form an alliance with Ilsa Faust - an undercover MI6 operative who has infiltrated The Syndicate. Together, they learn that this Syndicate goes so much deeper than they ever could have imagined, and it takes every ounce of their courage, skill, and determination to bring them down. In a first for the franchise, the main villain is not killed off, with Soloman Lane instead being taken into IMF custody. Afterward, the IMF's biggest critic, CIA secretary Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) is named the IMF's leader as it is officially reinstated.
6 Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Release Date: July 27, 2018 | Run Time: 147 minutes | Budget: $178 million | Box Office: $791.7 million
Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Wes Bentley, Frederick Schmidt, Alec Baldwin, Liang Yang, Kristoffer Joner, and Wolf Blitzer
First Appearances: August Walker (Cavill), Erika Sloane (Bassett), The White Widow (Kirby), Erik (Bentley), Zola (Schmidt), John Lark Decoy (Yang), Nils Debruuk (Joner), and Wolf Blitzer (himself, though it's technically Benji in disguise)
Main Villains: Solomon Lane and August Walker
Major Deaths: John Lark Decoy, Alan Hunley, and August Walker
The last Mission: Impossible mission before Dead Reckoning Part One, Mission: Impossible - Fallout breaks franchise tradition by being the first film in the series to have the same director as a past installment, but Christopher McQuarrie has consistently proven to be a perfect filmmaker for the job. We see firsthand the consequences of keeping Solomon Lane alive, as the Syndicate is still causing trouble in the world. Once again teaming up with Ilsa Faust and now having a new team member in CIA heavy August Walker (Henry Cavill), Ethan Hunt is tasked with finding the Syndicate's new leader, John Lark.
As the team discovers they may have another nuclear holocaust on their hands, they work hard to find the culprit and quickly realize that the incarcerated Solomon Lane may be involved. However, they're in for an even bigger shock when they learn that John Lark is the pseudonym of August Walker, who betrays the team and fatally stabs Alan Hunley. Walker and Lane enact a plan to put Ethan's beloved Julia in danger, who has since moved on despite knowing her old husband is protecting her. Once again, Ethan saves the day, but not without coming dangerously close to Armageddon.
7 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Release Date: July 12, 2023 | Run Time: 163 minutes | Budget: $290 million | Box Office: TBD
Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Greg Tarzan Davis, Shea Wigham, Frederick Schmidt, Mariela Garriga, Cary Elwes, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, and Rob Delaney
First Appearances: Grace (Atwell), Gabriel (Morales), Paris (Klementieff), Degas (Tarzan Davis), Jasper Briggs (Whigham), Marie (Garriga), Denlinger (Elwes), NRO (Parnell), NSA (Gatiss), DIA (Varma), and JSOC (Delaney)
Main Villain(s): *CLASSIFIED*
Major Deaths: *CLASSIFIED*
The latest Mission: Impossible film is its biggest, longest, and most expensive entry yet, and this is only the first half of a two-part story. We wouldn't dare spoil what one of the biggest films of the Summer has in store, but we will say that what Ethan and his team of fellow agents encounter may have grave consequences not just for the IMF, but the entire world.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in theaters on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.