In Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One, new information about Ethan Hunt’s origin and his process of joining the IMF is finally revealed. The action-packed blockbuster, and seventh member of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise, is already a mᴀssive success critically and with fans, venturing into one of the saga’s most personal stories yet. The film, which is to be followed up by its second part in 2024, offers an espionage thriller of epic scale, as well as an analysis of Ethan, his IMF team, and their personal values in contrast to the ginormous threats they face.
The first Mission: Impossible film pulls no punches, jumping straight into the action and barely even stopping to explain what the IMF is. The film franchise wasn’t very character-focused at first, with the 1996 film’s highlights being its spy narrative and stellar filmmaking from Brian De Palma. As the franchise progressed, leaning more into action, it began to focus more on the characters and their relationships to each other, with Ethan’s IMF friends becoming recurring characters in the franchise. For the first time, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning explores Ethan Hunt’s backstory, as well as the friendship that holds the IMF together.
Everything Known About Ethan Hunt’s Life Before The IMF
Ethan’s File Is Shown In Mission: Impossible 6
A backstory for Ethan Hunt existed before Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, which was built from information on DVD extras from Mission: Impossible and a file displayed in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The novelization of the 1996 film also reveals a bit more about the character’s backstory. While much of the information from the novel and DVD extras is now retconned due to the events of ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, the information on the Fallout file can still be considered accurate, as none of it is contradicted by ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, and the film is also directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
On the file, Ethan Hunt is revealed to have been born on August 18, 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin, making him two years younger than actor Tom Cruise. His parents were Margaret and Nathan Hunt, and he served in the US Army, as well as attending the University of Pennsylvania for Engineering and International Relations.
The file also states that Ethan Hunt was enlisted into the IMF by a Colonel Briggs, a reference to Dan Briggs, a character from the Mission: Impossible TV series who founded the Impossible Missions Force. While this may still hold true, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning changes the story of what exactly led Ethan Hunt to the IMF.
Why Ethan Hunt Became A Spy
Was Ethan Hunt A Criminal?
Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One introduces audiences to two majorly important figures of Ethan Hunt’s past, Gabriel and Marie. Flashbacks of an incident involving these figures are shown throughout the film, but they are vague and unclear. Between these short snippets and Ethan’s words toward Grace toward the end of the film, Ethan’s reasoning for becoming a spy with the IMF can be inferred. Gabriel killed Marie, who was a very important person to Ethan, and Ethan was given the choice by Eugene Kittridge to either go to prison or become a spy.
The backstory of Ethan Hunt wasn’t essential to the Mission: Impossible franchise, but now that it’s been introduced, these details might need more clarification…
The film also heavily implies that Ethan Hunt was a highly skilled criminal. It’s still possible that Ethan Hunt served in the US Army, as it would help characterize his complete devotion to duty. Ethan has a sense of moral righteousness, a quality not typically ᴀssociated with criminals. It’s possible that the event of Marie’s killing led Ethan down a path to redemption, developing his sense of heroism throughout each film.
The backstory of Ethan Hunt wasn’t essential to the Mission: Impossible franchise, but now that it’s been introduced, these details might need more clarification to sell the emotional weight of this incident and develop Gabriel as an antagonist. Hopefully, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will expand more on Ethan’s criminal past in order to achieve this.
Who Marie Is & Why She’s So Important To Ethan
The Loss Of Marie Informs Ethan’s Later Relationships
The recent Mission: Impossible film didn’t reveal much about who exactly Marie is. She could have been a love interest of Ethan, but the film also stresses how much he values his friends. All that is really known is that she was of great importance to him. Ethan Hunt’s love interests have been on and off throughout the films. Fallout concluded Julia’s storyline, which began in Mission: Impossible III and was put on the back burner for the next two films.
ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One even brought up questions of whether Ethan and Ilsa were in a relationship, causing director Christopher McQuarrie to weigh in on Hunt’s romances. McQuarrie had this to say, which could give some context to who Marie is:
“What we’ve really baked into the narrative is that the closer someone gets to him, the more dangerous it is. I was never really interested in creating a typical love interest for Ethan. Once that relationship consummates, that relationship is over.”
The director shut down the idea of Ilsa and Ethan reaching a typical romance, and Ethan’s failures with both Marie and Julia could be the character’s reason for this. If Marie was Ethan’s romantic partner, then her death, and his failure to live a happy life with Julia, could be Ethan’s reason to avoid romance.
When Ethan Hunt Joined The IMF
Ethan Was A Young Agent In The First Movie
According to ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One, the incident with Gabriel and Marie occurred 30 years prior to the film, which would make it 1993, if the film is meant to happen in the current year. Ethan Hunt’s mission in the 1996 Mission: Impossible film apparently takes place just months after Ethan joins the IMF. Mission: Impossible III suggests that there is a training process for joining the elite spy organization, which would make sense, and could also explain the gap before Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning.
Ethan could have been in training for a few years before his mission in the first film. Training would also explain the year-long gap between Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning and its sequel film, as Grace, the latest IMF agent, will require some time to train before her next mission. This will also give Luther time to track down The Enтιтy and let Ethan gather information on the location of the keyhole. One thing is for certain: Ethan is a seasoned veteran of the IMF, and it’s impressive that he’s still at it.
How Ethan’s Past Has Impacted Mission: Impossible Movies
Ethan’s Parents Played A Role Early On
Despite the fact that he is intensely loyal to his friends and loved ones, Ethan Hunt does keep details of his life quite guarded. However, there have been elements in certain Mission: Impossible movies that give hints at his life outside of the IMF. The first entry in the franchise reveals details about Ethan’s parents, which become entangled in the mission. Ethan’s father died of an illness, leaving his mother and uncle struggling with medical bills. However, following the IMF mole hunt, money suddenly appears in Ethan’s mother’s bank account, suggesting he was the mole who sold government secrets.
It seems like the final Mission: Impossible movie will really link to Ethan’s past to bring things to an end.
Ethan’s mother and uncle are arrested as suspected drug dealers, a ploy by the IMF to attempt to force Ethan out of hiding. While it doesn’t work, a conversation with Luther at the end of the movie reveals that the legal matters have been cleared up, but it is also hinted that his family knows nothing of his life in the IMF.
Beyond the ongoing storyline with Gabriel, which will conclude in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Ethan’s past before his time in the IMF hasn’t played into the storylines too heavily. Certain elements happened in between movies that inform the Mission: Impossible sequels and Hunt’s motivations, including knowing Sean Ambrose before the events of Mission: Impossible II, training Lindsey Farris before the events of Mission: Impossible III, and faking Julia’s death before Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. However, it seems like the final Mission: Impossible movie will really link to Ethan’s past to bring things to an end.
Mission: Impossible
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Bruce Geller, David Koepp, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise
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Mission: Impossible
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Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning
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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
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Mission: Impossible
Summary
The Mission: Impossible franchise is an American action spy series that began with the 1996 film Mission: Impossible and 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.
