Ethan Hunt
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| Ethan Hunt | |
|---|---|
 Ethan Hunt, as portrayed by Tom Cruise, in Mission: Impossible III. |
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| First appearance | Mission: Impossible |
| Last appearance | Mission: Impossible III |
| Portrayed by | Tom Cruise |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Unknown, possibly Retired |
| Title | None |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Hunt |
Ethan Matthew Hunt (portrayed by actor Tom Cruise) is the central fictional character from the Mission: Impossible film series.
Little is known of Hunt's upbringing. In the first movie, it was mentioned that his parents owned a farm in the state of Wisconsin, and that his father died of illness, after which time an uncle named Donald moved in to help with the farm. Both Hunt's mother and uncle were taken into police custody and charged with smuggling narcotics as part of a C.I.A. strategy to flush Hunt out of hiding in Europe while he was suspected of treason. In the third film it was mentioned that both his parents were deceased.
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[edit] Mission: Impossible
In Mission: Impossible, Hunt acts as the I.M.F. point man for an established and experienced field team, led by Jim Phelps, with whom he has a particularly close bond. While attempting to recover stolen files containing information on all I.M.F.'s field agents during a mission in Prague, the entire team, baring Ethan, is killed, leaving Ethan the only suspect as he learns that the mission was a set-up to expose a potential mole who had been selling secrets to a Russian arms dealer. With no other way to clear his name, Hunt must go rogue and steal the genuine list himself, intending to demand that the genuine mole be present at the exchange. Establishing a rogue team of other disavowed agents, including computer expert Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Franz Krieger, and Claire Phelps, the only other apparent survivor of the failed Prague mission, with the intention of stealing the list from C.I.A. headquarters. Having recovered it, Ethan is shocked to learn that the true traitor is actually Jim himself, who had become disillusioned with his career after feeling that he had become irrelevant and faked his death in order to frame Ethan, working with Krieger and Claire to eliminate the other members of the team. Setting up a situation where Jim's continued survival- and hence his criminal activities- are exposed to the head of I.M.F., Ethan subsequently defeats and kills Jim and Krieger as they attempt to escape from the train where Ethan had arranged to make the exchange. At the conclusion of the film, Ethan meets briefly with Luther, who has become reinstated as an active agent, and contemplates resignation, but is later contacted by another agent asking if he wants another mission.
[edit] Mission: Impossible II
In the second film in the series, Hunt is given the task of retrieving a deadly genetically engineered virus from a rogue I.M.F. agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), attempting to infiltrate his inner circle through Ambrose's former girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall, an accomplished thief. During their mission Hunt and Nordoff-Hall engage in an affair that complicates the mission, particularly when Nordoff-Hall is forced to infect herself with the virus in order to save Ethan; with Ethan having destroyed the only other traces of the virus, she was thus able to shield Ethan until he could escape. Subsequently racing against time- the virus is incurable twenty hours after infection-, Ethan manages to acquire the cure and kill Ambrose.
[edit] Mission: Impossible III
Hunt, now a training officer for I.M.F., plans a quiet life with his fiancée Julia, before he is called back into service to rescue a former student captured during a mission in Germany. Following her death, he is forced to once again go rogue in an attempt to track down the ruthless arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has contacts with individuals within the I.M.F.
[edit] Other media
Aside from the three Mission: Impossible films, Ethan Hunt has appeared in other media such as comic books and video games such as the 2003 video game Mission: Impossible Operation Surma.
[edit] Character development
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The character of Ethan Hunt evolves throughout the series. In the first movie, Hunt is a master of disguises, stealth, espionage tactics and according to his profile he has been taught capoeira (Brazilian martial arts). He shows limited fighting ability, kicking a CIA employee while stealing the NOC list but later he is knocked out in a confrontation by the older but more experienced Jim Phelps. As the series progresses, however, Hunt abandons many of his stealth tactics in favor of force: he uses various kicks, holds, and flips during attacks on terrorist personnel during the next two movies. In Mission Impossible II, we see him using techniques inspired by capoeira, which fits with his profile from the first movie. In the third installment, while still using some capoeira, he also utilizes techniques from the Keysi fighting method, and in a training scene with Lynsey Ferris (portrayed by Keri Russell), we see him teaching her Philippine eskrima. (His weapon of choice remains the Beretta 92FS 9mm semi-automatic handgun, which he uses in all three films.)
Finally, Hunt's personality is subdued in the first movie, but becomes more extravagant and extroverted during the next two, most likely due to him now being the leader of his own team rather than simply one man in the group.
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