10 Best ‘Mission: Impossible’ Characters, Ranked
10. William Brandt
Jeremy Renner’s William Brandt isn’t just another suit with a gun. He’s the analyst who once failed to protect Ethan Hunt’s wife and has been paying for it ever since. Introduced in ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,’ Brandt is a tortured soul with something to prove—and he does, big time. Whether it’s diving into combat or tactically coordinating IMF ops, the man is cerebral, conflicted, and always teetering on the edge of control. He disappeared after ‘Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation,’ but his ghost still lingers. Renner definitely gave the franchise a dose of depth and domination.
9. Jane Carter
Paula Patton's Jane Carter isn’t just another operative. She’s a force of nature with a personal vendetta. Driven by the loss of her partner, Jane brings raw emotion to ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’ that’s rare in this high-gloss world of spy games. She's lethal, calculated, and barely holding it together. It's just how we like our IMF agents. Why she never returned is a damn shame. The franchise could’ve used more of her fire.
8. Solomon Lane
Most villains want power. Solomon Lane simply wants collapse. Played with eerie stillness by Sean Harris, Lane is the anti-Hunt—methodical, ideological, and absolutely terrifying. His plan to bring about a new world order through chaos doesn’t just test Ethan physically; it threatens to morally corrupt everything the IMF stands for. And unlike most villains who die with a quip, Lane stuck around to haunt more than one film. That’s villain longevity.
7. White Widow
Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna Mitsopolis, also known as White Widow, is as enigmatic as she is elegant. She walks the fine line between ally and enemy, and you’re never quite sure which side of the knife she’ll land on. An arms dealer with a silver tongue and a bloodline that ties her back to the original ‘MI,’ she’s the very image of legacy and danger rolled into one. And let’s be honest, she stole every scene in ‘‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout.’ No wonder she was called back for ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning.’
6. Luther Stickell
Luther Stickell, played by Ving Rhames, is the heart of the IMF. He’s not jumping off rooftops or dangling from planes, but he doesn’t quite need to. Luther brings the brains, the loyalty, and transforms into the calm in the storm, despite his tough guy look. He’s Ethan’s oldest ally and one of the few constants in this adrenaline-fueled fiasco. Every team needs a hacker. But Luther? He’s family.
5. Owen Davian
Before villains became philosophers, Philip Seymour Hoffman gave us Owen Davian. He is the arms dealer who doesn’t do monologues, doesn’t flinch, and doesn’t care if you live or die. His brutal turn in ‘MI:III’ was a shot of pure fear into the franchise. Cold, calculated, and terrifyingly casual, Davian isn’t just a great ‘Mission: Impossible’ villain, he is one of the nastiest bad guys in modern actioners. When he says he is going to find and hurt someone, you better believe him.
4. August Walker
Henry Cavill in a mustache brought much machismo to ‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout.’ His August Walker is a tank in a tailored suit—basically a CIA “hammer” who ends up being an inside job with fists like cinder blocks. The bathroom fight scene alone earns him a spot in the top five. Cavill brought brute force and slick menace in a performance that proved you don’t need subtlety when you’ve got raw power and a moral black hole.
3. Benji Dunn
Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn started as comic relief in the high-octane world of Ethan Hunt, but he quickly morphed into the soul of their squad. A tech wizard with the anxiety of a man who knows too much, Benji is the one who makes the impossible possible, and more importantly, terrifying hilarious. He’s gone from desk jockey to field agent, and every step of that journey has made him more lovable, more essential, and more human. That’s no easy feat.
2. Ilsa Faust
Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust is what happens when you cross a Bond girl with a rogue MI6 assassin and give her the complexity to outshine them both. She’s Ethan Hunt’s match in every way: brains, brawn, and brutal combat skills. But she’s no sidekick. Ilsa plays her own game, answers to no one, and exudes danger in a way that feels earned, not staged. She didn’t just fill the “female lead” role, she obliterated it and set a new standard.
1. Ethan Hunt
You knew who was number one. Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt isn’t just the engine behind ‘Mission: Impossible’—he is the franchise. He’s the madman who climbs the tallest building in the world with suction cups, jumps out of planes at 25,000 feet, and still manages to outmaneuver nuclear terrorists—all while somehow never losing his moral compass. Cruise doesn’t play Ethan like a superhero. He plays him like a man driven by purpose, loyalty, and just the right amount of crazy. No stunt double. No CGI fakery. Just raw adrenaline, and a guy who literally runs like the world depends on it. Because when the mission begins with a self-destructing message, survival kind of does require one's all, and then some more.
