Top 10 Mission: Impossible Villains Ranked

This database contains spoilers for the Mission: Impossible franchise.

A caller Mission: Impossible movie is hitting theaters this period – the last 1 successful the franchise, if we’re to judge Tom Cruise and the suits astatine Paramount – and if you’re similar us, you’re astir apt genu heavy successful a bid rewatch close now.

The absorption of the films, spectacular enactment acceptable pieces aside, has been Cruise’s pb spy, Ethan Hunt. Fellow squad agents person often travel and gone, and supposedly intolerable missions person varied clip aft time, but Ethan has remained. The lone different changeless has been a dependable proviso of villains – men and women with large plans fueled by greed and/or malice, who deliberation they’ll beryllium the 1 to outwit, outsmart, and outrun Hunt. Fools.

It mightiness look counterintuitive ranking the Mission: Impossible villains nether the banner of “best,” but each large leader needs an arsenic large villain. Numerous elements travel into play erstwhile determining the champion villain, but we’re zeroing successful connected the standard of their threat, the value of the unit (both carnal and emotional) they perpetrate against Hunt and his team, and the palpable grade of villainous charisma they exhibit.

So cue up that classical Lalo Schifrin theme, present are the 10 Best Mission: Impossible Villains, Ranked!

10. A.I. The Entity (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One)

“A self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating integer parasite infesting each of cyberspace” sounds similar a beauteous chill menace successful immoderate different high-octane thriller, but successful the Mission: Impossible franchise it’s lone bully capable to onshore astatine fig ten. It underwhelms compared to its quality counterparts, due to the fact that let’s beryllium existent – zeroes and ones ain’t got crap and madness and guns – but its powerfulness and immense scope are undeniable. The Entity began “life” arsenic a integer limb designed by the U.S. authorities earlier going rogue and hopping done cyberspace with the giddiness of a puppy experiencing its archetypal snowfall.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: While toying with and sidesplitting a submarine filled with Russian sailors is an enactment of murderous cruelty, it’s the Entity’s bigger, broader acts of deception that people it arsenic a existent villain. Its aboriginal days of online manipulation saw it shifting nationalist sentiment and behaviour done societal media, and it’s a brutal reminder of events successful the existent world. We unrecorded successful a contiguous wherever radical with nefarious agendas are influencing easy shaped minds, and with the accrued usage of A.I. successful our online dealings, it’s not hard to ideate thing similar the Entity stepping successful and truly turning our regular lives into a nightmare.

9. John Musgrave (Mission: Impossible III)

Not each villain has nonstop humor connected his hands, but that doesn’t mean they’re immoderate little dangerous. Musgrave is Hunt’s Operations Manager astatine the IMF, and it’s suggested they whitethorn adjacent beryllium insignificant friends – understandable arsenic he’s played by Billy Crudup, and who wouldn’t privation to beryllium friends with Billy Crudup. He brings Hunt successful connected a ngo to rescue 1 of his proteges, Lindsey Farris, and erstwhile that goes incorrect and Hunt is blamed for the fallout, it’s Musgrave who helps the cause flight to prosecute justice. See? A friend.

Surprise! It’s each a ruse, and Musgrave is really a traitor moving with a antheral named Owen Davian connected immoderate elaborate program to retrieve a portion of tech nicknamed “the rabbit’s foot.” Musgrave’s a leader successful his ain mind, though, arsenic he’s hoping to usage this arsenic information for archetypal strikes against force forces. He wants the U.S. and the IMF to play a much assertive relation successful the combat against terrorism, and if that means supporting terrorists on the way, well, he’s each for it.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: Musgrave mightiness deliberation his bosom is successful the close spot here, but successful summation to enabling a murderous violent successful Davian, helium crosses an arsenic large enactment by pulling Ethan’s wife, Julia, into danger. Worse, helium lets Davian sprout Julia successful the caput close successful beforehand of Hunt. Sure, she’s revealed to person been a insignificant henchwoman successful a mask, but the affectional harm is real.

8. Kurt Hendricks (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)

While immoderate villains enactment retired of greed and others origin misery simply for the amusive of it, Kurt Hendricks is simply a antheral who lone wants the champion for humanity. What is the best, you ask? Well, successful Hendricks’ mind, our taxon would payment from thing of a cleanse. From the large biblical flood to the atomic bombing of Japanese cities during World War II, immense disasters pb to rebuilding, recovery, and existent improvement… apparently.

Sounds logical, truthful Hendricks sets retired to trigger conscionable specified a planetary debacle starting with a monolithic onslaught connected the Kremlin successful Moscow and starring to the acquisition of atomic codes. He proves himself to beryllium 1 of the top threats Ethan Hunt has faced to that point.

Except, and this is wherever casting comes into superior play, the movie wants america to spot him arsenic a carnal menace to Hunt – but that’s astir impossible. Michael Nyqvist was a fantastic actor, and helium makes for a compelling villain done dialog and intent. But a superior contender successful a combat with Cruise? It’s hard to buy, but that doesn’t halt manager Brad Bird from letting him spell toed to toed with the film’s prima for a weirdly agelong fight. (To beryllium fair, Chad Stahelski started it by letting Nyqvist seemingly clasp his ain for a spot with Keanu Reeves successful John Wick.) So, portion Hendricks is simply a expansive menace connected the satellite stage, helium tumbles immoderate successful the ranking present arsenic an unserious brawler against the highly trained and successful acold amended signifier Hunt.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: Like Musgrave above, Hendricks earnestly thinks he’s doing the satellite a favour by causing harm. His last enactment results successful a atomic rocket being fired towards San Francisco, thing that would person killed tens of thousands of radical instantly earlier triggering the decease of millions more. That’s nary tiny thing, and helium would person gotten distant with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling IMF agents.

7. August Walker (Mission: Impossible - Fallout)

Hunt and his IMF squad person been betrayed by treble agents and traitors connected galore occasions, but astir of them are greedy middle-aged men successful suits who don’t airs an contiguous carnal menace to our intrepid hero. August Walker is thing antithetic entirely. He towers implicit Hunt and is jacked from his mustache connected down. Henry Cavill’s portrayal ensures that he’s already menacing adjacent portion pretending to beryllium connected Hunt’s side, but erstwhile the information comes out, the gloves travel off.

Walker is revealed to beryllium moving successful cahoots with the superb Solomon Lane, and unneurotic they framework Hunt and erstwhile again propulsion the emotion of his life, Julia, into harm’s way. His information for it each is simply a spot implicit the apical and melodramatic – helium wants the aged satellite to implode and springiness emergence to thing amended – but what other would you expect from a antheral who seems to cock his arms similar guns during fist fights.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: Walker and Lane are readying to detonate atomic bombs, and portion the second stays down to dice successful his top enactment of terror, Walker is connected a chopper heading to safety. Hunt, of course, catches up to him successful pursuit of the detonator that’s needed to halt the countdown. While Walker could person easy escaped by giving up the detonator, his tendency to origin suffering – particularly Hunt’s suffering if Julia were to dice – leads him to a one-on-one combat to the decease with the agent. It’s a determination built connected rage and self-righteous justification, and it rightfully ends successful his achy demise.

6. Paris (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One)

When it comes to villains successful the Mission: Impossible universe, fewer tin interaction Pom Klementieff’s Paris connected benignant and charisma points. A henchwoman to Gabriel, she lets her gleefully murderous skillset bash astir of her talking, and it’s a refreshing alteration of gait from baddies who look compelled to stock their beingness stories earlier pulling a trigger.

Her costume and look constitution spot her basal isolated from the crowd, but don’t fto her doll-like quality fool you. Paris is simply a merciless combatant who refuses to discontinue contempt the odds, arsenic evidenced by a shootout and car pursuit successful Rome that sees her virtually plowing done obstacles some quality and different successful her pursuit of Hunt.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: While Paris makes mincemeat retired of galore threats, she yet succumbs to Hunt during an alleyway brawl. He spares her life, though, and aft being punished by Gabriel – helium fundamentally tries to termination her – she chooses to betray some him and her villainous tendencies by redeeming Hunt’s life. Maybe I’m stretching the explanation here, but it takes a existent badass to crook your backmost connected villainy with the find of unexpected morals and a alteration of heart.

5. Gabriel (Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning)

The mysterious Gabriel arrives successful the penultimate introduction of the franchise, and he’s a antheral with deadly skills and an confederation with the Entity. He besides comes with a backstory suggesting an integral relation successful Ethan Hunt’s life. It seems Gabriel killed a pistillate named Marie 30 years ago, idiosyncratic Hunt was seemingly fond of, and it’s that execution that landed Hunt astatine the IMF – wherever helium went connected to prevention thousands of lives. Hundreds of thousands, even. So possibly Gabriel is simply a hero? I kid, I kid.

He’s evidently a villain, and helium whitethorn adjacent beryllium thing of a seer (?), but portion his late-to-the-party franchise accomplishment unavoidably undercuts his melodramatic weight, the character’s casting lifts Gabriel close backmost up again. Esai Morales brings existent charm and a calm menace to the character, and it’s instantly made wide that he’s not idiosyncratic to beryllium trifled with. You judge some his carnal abilities and deadly intentions, and Morales’ added melodramatic value makes him a existent menace to Hunt. He besides earns a bump successful the rankings by gifting viewers with the best, astir unforgettable villain decease successful the full franchise.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: Gabriel’s killed a batch of people, and helium adjacent destroyed a rolling Agatha Christie landmark, truthful it’s wide he’s a atrocious guy. His astir vicious act, though, comes arsenic a bookend to having “fridged” Marie 3 decades earlier. Gabriel threatens to bash it again by sidesplitting either Ilsa oregon Grace – Hunt’s existent emotion involvement oregon the pistillate who conscionable landed successful his thigh specified hours agone – and portion the movie wants to instrumentality viewers into reasoning it’s going to beryllium the latter, it’s Ilsa who dies by Gabriel’s leaf instead. McQuarrie and Cruise are evidently the existent villains present for introducing this bushed trope of a woman’s decease being liable for a man’s life, but it’s yet Gabriel who thrusts the weapon into Ilsa’s gut. It could person been Grace who died. Hell, it should person been Benji. Instead, Gabriel extinguishes the franchise’s brightest occurrence this broadside of Hunt himself. J’accuse!

Not yet disposable for streaming.

4. Jim Phelps (Mission: Impossible)

Jim Phelps wasn’t the lone friend/fellow cause to betray Hunt implicit the years, but helium was the archetypal – and arguably the astir shocking. The character, arsenic played by Peter Graves, was the IMF’s pb cause for the bulk of the tv series’ seven-season tally from 1966 to 1973. He was unquestionably a bully guy, truthful determination was nary crushed to fishy that his beingness successful the archetypal Mission: Impossible movie would beryllium thing antithetic – well, Jon Voight successful the relation was astir apt a clue.

Audiences expected Phelps to fundamentally manus the reins implicit to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, but portion helium did conscionable that, helium did truthful with a large enactment of betrayal. As helium tells Hunt erstwhile his ruse is discovered, the extremity of the Cold War threatens to extremity the request for the IMF – this is arsenic naive a connection arsenic ever uttered successful the entirety of the franchise – and helium was disquieted astir becoming a relic hardly scraping by connected sixty-two 1000 dollars a year.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: The betrayal itself is already brutal arsenic Phelps turns his backmost connected friends and agents who’ve risked their lives unneurotic implicit the years, but it’s the specifics of his traitorous enactment that hits hardest. In his effort to framework idiosyncratic other for his crime, Phelps kills disconnected 3 members of his squad during an cognition and past fakes his ain death. What could person been a elemental theft, alternatively becomes an enactment of cruelty making his betrayal sting adjacent more.

3. Sean Ambrose (Mission: Impossible II)

“That was ever the hardest portion of having to represent you,” says ex-IMF cause Sean Ambrose to a beaten and angered Ethan Hunt, “grinning similar an idiot each 15 minutes.” That enactment unsocial makes Ambrose a apical villain arsenic it’s a terrific zing astatine some Hunt and Cruise himself. He’s arsenic dismissive of women arsenic evidenced by his remark that they’re similar monkeys erstwhile it comes to the men successful their lives, that they “won’t fto spell of 1 subdivision until they get a grip connected the next.” Say what you volition astir his greedy desires, but Ambrose (Dougray Scott) understands the duty erstwhile it comes to being a charismatic villain.

That greed has led him to bargain a deadly plague with plans to unleash it connected full populations if his demands aren’t met. While currency wealth is his superior motivator, though, Ambrose besides seems fueled by a splash of jealousy towards Hunt. That makes their faceoffs each the much entertaining whether they’re jousting connected motorcycles oregon sharing beatdowns successful the soil arsenic lone the large John Woo tin seizure it.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: The movie opens with Ambrose masquerading arsenic Hunt successful bid to get the Chimera plague, but alternatively than conscionable termination 1 man, Ambrose and his squad clang an full rider pitchy filled with guiltless civilians. Acts of panic would assertion higher assemblage counts successful aboriginal films, but this puts faces to the dormant successful a acold much nonstop mode making it much idiosyncratic and affecting.

2. Solomon Lane (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)

Whether owed to debased wage oregon mediocre benefits, the satellite is seemingly overflowing with ex-government employees acceptable and consenting to betray their nations and leap connected the bid to villain town. Solomon Lane is 1 specified agent, but helium goes a measurement oregon 3 further by helping make an enactment called The Syndicate that’s built wholly connected those bitter, trigger blessed ex-agents. They privation to sow chaos and reap fiscal rewards, and they’ve been doing it for years.

Lane is introduced sidesplitting a young, unarmed pistillate cause close successful beforehand of Hunt, and it’s soon revealed that he’s liable for thousands of deaths implicit the years done events made to look similar accidents oregon the enactment of wholly unrelated perpetrators. Lane’s past of manipulating spot and the world’s assorted systems makes him 1 of the astir unsafe villains successful the franchise. He’s up of Hunt astatine each step, and his mantra – “The greater the suffering, the greater the peace.” – marks him arsenic a antheral consenting to bash thing to execute his goals.

While galore actors spell large playing villains, Sean Harris takes the other attack and makes Lane a weasel of a antheral who you conscionable privation to spot get beaten senseless. It’s an unusually bold prime that leaves him without a darkly appealing persona oregon property – he’s conscionable a precise atrocious antheral who couldn’t attraction little astir you oregon your loved ones.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: As the uncommon villain to beryllium an progressive menace crossed much than 1 film, Lane inflicts plentifulness of pain, suffering, and accent connected Hunt and his team. The bulk of his evil acts were committed earlier Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation adjacent begins, but his cruelest and astir idiosyncratic enactment unfolds during the followup, Fallout. Along with August Walker, Lane manages to activate 2 atomic bombs threatening not lone the h2o proviso for billions of people, but besides the beingness of Hunt’s top love, Julia. Seeing her successful harm’s mode is the benignant of gut punch that Hunt felt lone erstwhile before, and it’s wide conscionable however atrocious helium is that his choices person erstwhile again brought her truthful adjacent to dying.

1. Owen Davian (Mission: Impossible III)

There’s a batch of contention erstwhile it comes to selecting the champion villain successful the Mission: Impossible franchise, but determination was ne'er immoderate uncertainty who’d onshore astatine the apical of the heap. Davian doesn’t attraction astir overmuch beyond his ain wants and needs, and the movie reflects that by ne'er revealing precisely what his extremity end is – we cognize helium wants the alleged rabbit’s foot, but what it is and what it does are ne'er made clear. We conscionable cognize that Davian volition chopped done anyone and thing to get it, and that makes him an exceptionally unsafe man.

J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III is unfairly maligned, but adjacent those underwhelmed by the movie itself can’t assistance but applaud Philip Seymour Hall’s frighteningly effectual and highly entertaining portrayal of Davian. His blistering stares, his lightning speedy shifts from dormant soundlessness to raging outbursts, and his deceptively calm mode of threatening everything that Hunt holds beloved each enactment to marque him a villain who commands the surface and adjacent steals each country from Cruise himself.

There whitethorn not beryllium a big, planetary menace astatine play here, but Davian is the antheral who arguably gets person than immoderate different villain to really sidesplitting Hunt. He injects the agent’s caput with an explosive instrumentality that gets wrong seconds of churning Hunt’s encephalon insubstantial into crushed beef, and helium adjacent gets immoderate superior licks successful portion brawling. You wouldn’t deliberation a Cruise versus Hoffman combat would convince, but the latter’s axenic ferocity paired with Hunt’s incapacitation owed to the symptom successful his caput makes for a viciously compelling bout.

Most villainous enactment of villainy: Davian is simply a mean bastard who, portion inactive successful restraints, coldly threatens to execution Hunt’s fiance Julia. “I’m gonna marque her bleed and outcry and telephone retired your name”, helium says, and it’s 1 of the fewer times wherever Hunt’s legendary power tips into existent fearfulness and emotion. Davian aboriginal comes adjacent to doing conscionable that aft abducting Julia, tying her up, and appearing to sprout her successful the head. Hunt’s symptom is palpable, and it’s capable to harm his bosom to the constituent that he’d spell connected to ne'er fto idiosyncratic that adjacent again. Davian has virtually halted Hunt’s quality to link with idiosyncratic connected a profoundly idiosyncratic level, and it’s the benignant of onslaught that bullets and bombs conscionable can’t vie with.