Ethan Hunt

Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt, as portrayed by Tom Cruise, in M:I:III.
First appearance	Mission: Impossible
Portrayed by	Tom Cruise
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	IMF Agent (1988-present)
Spouse(s)	Julia "Jules" Meade Hunt (m. 2006-present)
Relatives	Margaret Hunt (mother), Donald Hunt (uncle)

Ethan Matthew Hunt (portrayed by actor Tom Cruise) is the central protagonist of the Mission: Impossible film series.

Appearances

Mission: Impossible

In Mission: Impossible Hunt acts as the IMF point man for an experienced field team, led by veteran Jim Phelps, with whom he has close bond. While attempting to recover stolen files containing information on all IMF's field agents during a mission in Prague, the entire team, barring Hunt, is supposedly killed, leaving Hunt the only suspect as he learns that the mission was a set-up to expose a mole who had been selling secrets to a Czech arms dealer. Hunt decides to steal the genuine list himself, demanding that the genuine mole be present at the exchange. He sets up a rogue team of other disavowed agents, including computer expert Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), and Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart). After recovering the list, Hunt is shocked to learn that the true traitor is actually Jim Phelps himself, who was completely unhinged and had become disillusioned with his career after feeling that he had become irrelevant. Phelps faked his own death in order to frame Hunt and was working with Krieger and Claire to eliminate the other members of the team. Setting up a situation where Jim's continued survival and his criminal activity is exposed to the head of IMF, Hunt kills Jim and Krieger as they attempt to escape from the train where Hunt had arranged to make the exchange. At the conclusion of the film, Hunt meets briefly with Stickell, who is taking over Jim's position.

Mission: Impossible II

The second film in the series is directed by action filmmaker John Woo in 2000. In the movie, Hunt is given the task of retrieving a deadly genetically engineered virus from a rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), attempting to infiltrate his inner circle through Ambrose's former girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie 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 kill Ambrose.

Mission: Impossible III

In the third film, Hunt is now a semi-retired training officer for IMF and plans a quiet life with his fiancée Julia Mead, (Michelle Monaghan), who doesn't know about the IMF. He is called back into service to rescue a former student captured during a mission in Germany, and recovers confidential information via 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'. Owen has a double agent working within IMF and kidnaps Julia, who later gets married to Hunt in an impromptu ceremony. Hunt, with the help of his IMF team, (Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys, and Maggie Q) finds Rabbit's foot, saves his wife, and kills Owen Davian in Shanghai against all odds.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

In the fourth entry of the franchise, Hunt, having just escaped from prison, and his IMF team are blamed for an attack that destroys the Kremlin, and disavowed. Despite lacking their usual resources, connections, technology, and backup, their mission is to find and stop a madman intent on nuclear war, having been 'ordered' by the Secretary of Defence to escape custody, retreat to a 'forgotten' safehouse, and track down the people truly responsible for the attack. An added twist in this film is the struggle within the team as individual members fight their own demons while trying to trust the others. Hunt manages to pull the team together, stop a nuclear bomb, and at the end of the film, they form their own official IMF team, with Hunt as their leader.

Mission: Impossible V

Tom Cruise is interested to reprise his role as Ethan Hunt in the fifth entry of the franchise along with Simon Pegg and director Brad Bird.

Other media

Aside from the four Mission: Impossible films, Ethan Hunt has appeared in the 1998 video game with the same name and the 2003 video game Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma, voiced by Steve Blum.