The death of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) in Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning was a shocking moment for the Mission: Impossible franchise and one that was ultimately a mistake. Tom Cruise has led the Mission: Impossible franchise from the beginning as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, with Luther Stickle (Ving Rhames) as the only other character who has appeared in every movie of the series. However, among the recurring characters, Ilsa quickly cemented herself as one of the most memorable as soon as she was introduced in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

In Mission: Impossible – Fallout, she cemented herself as part of the established ensemble and seemed poised to lead the franchise forward alongside Cruise. However, Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning delivered the devastating blow as Ilsa died in a fight with the villainous Gabriel (Esai Morales). It was perhaps the most heartbreaking death in the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, instead of giving the rest of the series an emotional charge, it was a controversial move that robbed the Mission: Impossible movies of something special.

Ilsa Faust Was One Of The Best Mission: Impossible Characters Ever

Ilsa Had Her Own Story Outside Of Ethan’s World

While the death of Ilsa Faust might have seemed like the only option for the franchise to take at that point, Mission: Impossible ended up sacrificing one of its best characters for the sake of a shocking death. Ethan Hunt has always been the centerpiece of the Mission: Impossible franchise for good reason. As a result, it has been hard for any other characters to really shine. However, Ilsa made a name for herself as a complex and fascinating character in her own right, who also made Ethan a more interesting character just by interacting with him.

Ilsa was a seasoned spy, just like Ethan, but one who was made into a tragic figure. She is used and made expendable by her government, making her disillusioned with her role in the espionage world. However, she is continuously pulled back in, sometimes simply to help Ethan, but wants nothing more than to escape. She defied expectations of being a love interest to Ethan or another team member to play second-fiddle to him. Instead, she felt like she was in her own story, elevating the movie whenever she appeared.

Having Ethan Hunt at the center of the final Mission: Impossible movie was obviously essential. However, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning sorely missed Ilsa’s absence. With so much of the franchise depending on Cruise’s performance, they could not afford to lose the only other character who had complexity beyond the mission at hand.

Ilsa’s Death Was A Case Of Fridging

The Controversial Trend Made Its Way To The Mission: Impossible Franchise

Losing Ilsa Faust as a character was damaging to the Mission: Impossible franchise, but her death was also poorly received by fans for its connection to a controversial trend. Very quickly following the release of Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, the death of Ilsa was labeled a case of “fridging” by many fans. The term “fridging” refers to when a female character is killed off in a story for the sole purpose of giving emotional motivation to the male protagonist. Other recent examples of this include ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 2, The Dark Knight, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

The trend has been criticized as being lazy writing at best and betraying many popular female characters. Ilsa’s death in the movie is only really there as a way of raising the emotional stakes for Ethan, having to watch someone he cares about die. However, the fridging in Ilsa’s case is even more difficult to take as the movie already established that Gabriel killed a woman Ethan cares about before he ever joined the IMF, so the emotional stakes were already there.

There Was More Story To Tell With Ilsa

Ilsa Deserved Her Happy Ending

While Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning certainly builds to Ilsa’s death, making it feel inevitable in a way, it is also hard to believe when it actually happens because there was so much of the character left to explore. The tragedy of Ilsa’s character was something that should have been resolved in the franchise. She had fought for so long in a world that did not appreciate her sacrifice that she earned her happy ending, rather than an unceremonious death.

In Mission: Impossible – Fallout, it was strongly hinted that she would be joining Ethan’s team, and their bond could grow even stronger. This dynamic could have been a fascinating thing to explore in the rest of the franchise, as Ethan could have been torn between being with someone who wants and deserves to leave this life behind and his feeling of needing to be there as the man who can always get the job done. The ending of the Mission: Impossible franchise feels like it should have been Ethan and Ilsa heading off into the sunset together.

It’s Difficult To Match Rebeca Ferguson & Tom Cruise’s On-Screen Chemistry

The Connection Between Ilsa And Ethan Was Powerful

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning delivered on the thrills in what might be the franchise’s final entry, with some of the biggest stunts in any Mission: Impossible movie. However, what the movie couldn’t replicate was the chemistry that Tom Cruise had with Rebecca Ferguson. While other franchise veterans like Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg have had great moments with Cruise, there was something electrifying about the scenes he shared with Ferguson.

Hayley Atwell as Grace seemed to be set up as the replacement for Ilsa, and while Atwell was great in the role, the chemistry between her and Cruise was not as powerful. It ended up feeling like the movie was telling the audience that there was a strong connection between these two, rather than actually convincing us of that fact. In the case of Cruise and Ferguson, the connection was there from the first moment.

Whether they are sharing intense conversations or just a look, there is a charge between them that has never existed in the other movies. The Mission: Impossible movies have never been great at the love interests for Ethan, but Ilsa was much more than that. In fact, the movies wisely avoided ever committing to what their connection was. That added to the tension beneath their every encounter and added an emotional weight that these movies sometimes lack.