Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt | |
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Mission: Impossible character | |
First appearance | Mission: Impossible (1996) |
Created by | |
Portrayed by | Tom Cruise |
Voiced by |
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In-universe information | |
Full name | Ethan Matthew Hunt |
Occupation |
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Spouse |
Julia "Jules" Meade
(m. 2006; div. 2011) |
Relatives |
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Nationality | American |
Education | The John Warner School |
Ethan Matthew Hunt is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mission: Impossible film series. He is portrayed by Tom Cruise. The character of Ethan Hunt is a highly skilled field agent and operative for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), a secret government agency that handles dangerous and high-stakes missions.
Appearances
Mission: Impossible (1996)
In the first film, Hunt acts as the
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
In the second film, Hunt is tasked with retrieving a deadly genetically engineered virus, known as "Chimera", from a rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who intends to release the virus after acquiring a controlling influence on the company that created it so that he can profit from sales of the cure. Hunt attempts to infiltrate Ambrose's inner circle through Ambrose's former girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandiwe Newton), an accomplished thief. During their mission, Hunt and Nordoff-Hall engage in an affair that complicates the mission. At the climax, Nordoff-Hall is forced to infect herself with the last virus in order to save Hunt; with Hunt having destroyed the only other traces of the virus, she was thus able to shield Hunt until he could escape. Subsequently, racing against time—the virus is incurable twenty hours after infection—Hunt manages to acquire the cure and is forced to kill Ambrose.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
In the third film, Hunt is now a semi-retired training officer for IMF and plans a quiet life with his fiancée Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), who does not know about the IMF. He is called back into service to rescue a former student called Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) who was captured during a mission in Germany, and recovers confidential information via a stolen laptop. He is forced to once again go rogue in an attempt to track down the sadistic arms dealer, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and secure a dangerous mystery item known as the 'Rabbit's Foot'. After an impromptu ceremony, Hunt and Julia are married, only for Owen, who has a double agent working within IMF, to kidnap Julia. With the help of his IMF team: Stickell, Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), Hunt finds the Rabbit's foot, saves his wife, and kills Owen Davian in Shanghai.
The sixth film of the series, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, confirms that Ethan and Julia were happy for a while, but their marriage was tainted every time they heard about a disaster due to Ethan's potential to prevent them from happening.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
In the fourth film, Hunt—having just escaped from a deep-cover mission in prison—and his
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
In the fifth film, Hunt is assigned a mission that culminates in him hanging outside of an A400M military aircraft 5,000 feet above the ground in Belarus to recover a package that contains
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
In the sixth film, an IMF mission goes wrong when Ethan chooses to save Luther after the latter is taken hostage, allowing a splinter group of the Syndicate, known as the Apostles, to gain access to three plutonium cores that could be used to create nuclear weapons. Forced to work with CIA agent August Walker (
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
In the seventh film, Hunt tries to track down a pair of keys that could help take down a rogue artificial intelligence known as The Entity. In the process he confronts Gabriel, a terrorist in allegiance with the Entity, who was also responsible for the murder of Hunt's girlfriend Marie which led Hunt to become an IMF agent.
Video games
Aside from the Mission: Impossible films, Ethan Hunt has appeared in the 1998 video game based on the first film, voiced by Kevin Bayliss, and the 2003 video game Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma, voiced by Steve Blum. He also appears as a playable character in the crossover game Lego Dimensions, with archive recordings of Tom Cruise being used for his voice.
Reception
Vlad Dima, writing in Bright Lights Film Journal, said while the series succeeds due to "inventive, over-the-top stunts, the relentless trickery, and ultimately... Tom Cruise's star-power", he said, "One less obvious element, though, is a myth that slowly develops over the span of the series and comes to full bloom in Fallout... [is Ethan] Hunt's eternal quest... to become the perfect man." Dima said Ethan Hunt "comes from a long line of action heroes" and that the character (and the films) have become more like James Bond and Jason Bourne. Hunt "erases all of the weaknesses we have ever noticed in any of these screen heroes". He is unlike Bourne in knowing his status as "a good guy" and unlike Bond in not womanizing, having cared about only two women. Dima said, "This personal detail seems to be an important requirement in the mythology of the perfect man."[2]
References
- ^ "Game Credits - Kevin Bayliss - GameFAQs".
- ^ Dima, Vlad (August 17, 2018). "Holding On: Mission: Impossible and the Myth of the Perfect Man". Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved February 7, 2020.