TheMission: Impossibleseries has provided Ethan Hunt with several love interests, each one meeting a different fate after their appearances. Thechronological order ofMission: Impossiblemoviesputs Tom Cruise’s Hunt through several daring tasks. The movie franchise began on a more uneven footing and, despite the original 1996 thriller being well-received, its sequel was regarded as one of theworst-rankedMission: Impossiblemovies.
That said,Mission: Impossible IIIspearheaded a resurgence for the franchise that has seen it become one of the more beloved action series' in modern cinema. This is evident by the incredible level of anticipation forMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two’s story. With more incredible stunts, insane action, andMission: Impossibledeathson the horizon for the franchise, it is worth looking back at Ethan Hunt’s history. One aspect that has been ever-present regarding Hunt is his love life, with theMission: Impossibleseries providing him with many partners who have suffered a variety of different fates.
6Claire Phelps - Mission: Impossible
Played By Emmanuelle Béart
The first love interest introduced to theMission: Impossiblefranchise came in the eponymous first movie in 1996. This character is Claire Phelps, a member of Ethan Hunt’s team during the mission they undertake for the Impossible Mission Force. Claire serves as the getaway transportation expert inMission: Impossibleand is the wife of Jim Phelps, Jon Voight’s IMF director. As such, Claire is only introduced as somewhat of a love interest to Ethan midway through the movie, when it is confirmed that they are the sole two survivors of the assassination attempts against the IMF team.
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Claire’s resurfacing at the IMF safehouse builds on the previous romantic tension that was hinted at between her and Ethan. The majority of their scenes together are romantically charged, despite the two not actually becoming an official couple. Later in the film, Jim resurfaces also and makes hints that Ethan and Claire had feelings for each other, such as citing the Bible phrase that one should not covet his neighbor’s wife. In the film’s climax,Claire is killed by Jim after she tries to defend Ethan.
5Nyah Nordoff-Hall - Mission: Impossible II
Played By Thandiwe Newton
Mission: Impossible IIwas a very different film from its predecessor, from the more exaggerated action style of director John Woo to the depiction of Ethan Hunt himself. Hunt becomes much more of a James Bond-esque character, something that is eventually reverted in future movies. One way in which this depiction ofEthan Hunt becomes different after his origin storyis his relationship with Thandiwe Newton’s Nyah Nordoff-Hall. Nyah is introduced as a professional thief who is hired by Ethan to track down a man named Ambrose who is threatening to unleash a deadly virus to profit off its cure.
With Hunt becoming more of a stereotypical “ladies' man” character, his dynamic with Nyah is incredibly flirtatious. This is similar to his relationship with Claire in the first movie, butMission: Impossible IItakes it further thanks to the exaggerated style of the film’s many aspects. Although Ethan and Nyah never take their flirting to a more concrete level of relationship, the film’s ending implies they do so in the seven-year time jump betweenMission: Impossible IIandMission: Impossible III.
Mission: Impossible III’s time jump was as much a vehicle to explain the soft reboot of Ethan’s character as it was a soft reboot of the franchise itself.
At the end of the film, Nyah injects herself with the Chimera virus in an attempt to kill herself and stop the virus from spreading. Eventually, Nyah is cured by Ethan and Ambrose’s villainous plans are stopped. As the film closes out, Ethan and Nyah take a vacation together to Syndey, Australia.Mission: Impossible IIis Nyah’s only appearancein the franchise, hinting she and Ethan had a brief relationship together that did not last, leading into the former’s depiction inMission: Impossible IIIand his next, arguably most important, love interest.
4Julia Meade - Mission: Impossible III
Played By Michelle Monaghan
As alluded to, Julia is undoubtedly the most important love interest of Ethan Hunt’s in the entireMission: Impossiblefranchise. Picking up seven years afterMission: Impossible II,Mission: Impossible IIIintroduces Ethan as having retired from the IMF’s fieldwork and living a secluded, suburban life with his fiancée, Julia. Ethan still works as a trainer of recruits to the IMF, yet Julia is completely unaware of his previous life as an agent and his ties to the organization. Eventually,Ethan is pulled back into fieldwork and Julia’s life is threatened by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Owen Davian, a franchise-best villain.
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This comes after Julia and Ethan secretly marry, marking the first love interest for the latter that is made official in theMission: Impossiblefranchise. As his wife, Julia becomes the focal point of Ethan’s love life. This extends into future movies, resulting in Monaghan’s recurring appearances in films later in theMission: Impossibletimeline.
Ethan’s wife who plays a major role in the plot
A brief cameo in the film’s final scene
A supporting role in the film’s final act
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Julia’s fate is incredibly interesting, as it is not resolved inMission: Impossible III. This film ends with Ethan saving Julia’s life and the two happily embarking on their honeymoon after she finds out about his past. However,Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocolserved as another soft reboot of the series as it is explained that Ethan is in a Russian jail for killing those responsible for Julia’s death. That said, it is later revealed thatJulia’sMission: Impossibledeath was fakedin order to keep her safe from Ethan’s IMF life, forcing the two to separate.
Julia is next seen inMission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’s final scene, in which Ethan is shown looking after her safety from afar as she lives a new life in Seattle. Julia is then not seen again until two movies later inMission: Impossible - Fallout. This film sees Ethan’s ongoing feud with Soloman Lane culminate in Julia’s life being unknowingly threatened by nuclear bombs. Julia discovers this and aids Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell in defusing the bomb before departing once more with her new husband, content that Ethan will always be around to protect her.
3Ilsa Faust - Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Played By Rebecca Ferguson
AfterMission: Impossible - Ghost Protocolwrapped up Julia’s story, at least untilFallout,Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nationintroduced another of Ethan’s longer-lasting love interests. The character in question is Ilsa Faust, played by Rebecca Ferguson. Faust is introduced as an undercover MI6 agent infiltrating the Syndicate, the group run by the aforementioned Solomon Lane, that Ethan is attempting to take down. ThroughoutRogue Nation,Ethan and Ilsa have an unspoken chemistry that is less overt than Ehtan’s feelings for Julia.
In an interview withEmpire,Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie outlined that Ilsa and Ethan have feelings for one another, but that he was more interested in crafting a complex relationship than an overt one.
Ilsa becomes a steadfast ally of Ethan’s inRogue Nation,leading to her appearance in future movies. In the final scene ofMission: Impossible - Fallout,it is implied that Ethan and Ilsa become somewhat of a couple. This is further outlined inMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One,despite never being outright confirmed. In this film, Ilsa meets a grim fate after she is killed by Gabriel, devastating Ethan and motivating his need to stop Gabriel andMission: Impossible’s AI villain, The Entity.
Played By Hayley Atwell
As Ilsa was removed from theMission: Impossiblefranchise inDead Reckoning Part One, another potential love interest for Ethan debuted: Hayley Atwell’s Grace. Like Nyah, Grace is introduced as a professional thief who becomes embroiled in the plans of Gabriel and The Entity and, thus, an unwitting target. Therefore, she allies with Ethan and his IMF team after an initial period of distrust.As with many of the other female characters who interact with Ethan, he and Grace have a strong chemistrythat can be inferred as romantic feelings.
The death of Ilsa - and the decision between her and Grace in the film - implies that the latter will become Ilsa’s unofficial replacement, potentially teasing a relationship between her and Ethan…
While not an overt love interest, the other events ofMission: Impossible - Daed Reckoning Part Onetease that she could become one to Ethan in the future.Grace’s IMF future inMission: Impossible, which she is committed to at the end ofDead Reckoning,hints she and Ethan will cross paths again in the future. Similarly, the death of Ilsa - and the decision between her and Grace in the film - implies that the latter will become Ilsa’s unofficial replacement, potentially teasing a relationship between her and Ethan inMission: Impossible8.
Played By Mariela Garriga
The final potential love interest of Ethan’s in theMission: Impossiblefranchise is, intriguingly, also the most mysterious. InMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, several flashbacks to Ethan’s pre-IMF life were shown. This fleshed out the connection he has to Gabriel, The Entity’s primary agent. Before The Entity, Ethan and Gabriel were at odds. For what exactly, the film leaves as unclear as the rest of Ethan’s pre-IMF life. However,it is made clear that Gabriel once killed someone Ethan cared a lot about, a woman named Marie.
Marie, played by Mariela Garriga, is only seen briefly inMission: Impossible 7’s flashbacks as Gabriel kills her in front of Ethan. It is not outlined exactly how Marie and Ethan were connected, but it is safe to assume they were romantically involved. This would explain several things, from Ethan’s hatred of Gabriel to his previous hesitance to become involved with other women officially - discounting Julia - and his intense need to protect those closest to him. Future installments in theMission: Impossiblefranchise will likely delve deeper into Marie’s character, rounding out the list of Ethan Hunt’s love interests.
Mission: Impossible
TheMission: Impossiblefranchise is an American action spy series that began with the 1996 filmMission: Impossibleand has since become one of the most successful and long-running franchises in Hollywood. The films follow Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), as he takes on various high-stakes missions around the world, often involving intricate heists, double-crosses, and death-defying stunts. The franchise is renowned for its intense action sequences, particularly those performed by Tom Cruise, who insists on doing many of his own stunts.
