When Tom Cruise played Ethan Hunt, a member of the fictitious Impossible Missions Force, or IMF, in the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996, he helped revitalise a franchise. Mission: Impossible has had a profitable film franchise for 25 years, with the number of instalments getting close to 10. While portraying the same character for more than two decades is no small effort, Cruise makes the impossible look simple. The entire series centres on the brave and brilliant Hunt. While Cruise has been a part of every Mission: Impossible movie—six so far, with one in production and another in the works—Ving Rhames, who plays Luther Stickell, an IMF expert hacker and Hunt’s closest friend, has been by his side from the beginning. Numerous outstanding actors, including Jon Voight, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Angela Bassett, have played either Hunt’s allies or enemies throughout the course of the franchise.
Thankfully, the action spy series isn’t as difficult to follow as Hunt’s “impossible” missions, for anyone asking how to watch the Mission: Impossible films chronologically or by release date. Here is an easy-to-follow manual.
Mission Impossible Oldest To Newest Movie List:
The following is a list of every movie in the Mission: Impossible series, released in the following order:
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
The Mission Impossible Film Events in Chronological Order:
The Mission: Impossible franchise has a fairly obvious history, but if you’re curious about when Cruise ascended the Burj Khalifa, how many movies Ilsa Faust has appeared in, or who’s been on Ethan Hunt’s IMF squad the longest, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how to watch the Mission: Impossible films in chronological order, as well as the key information to remember:
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Based on the TV series of the same name, which aired from 1966 to 1973, Mission: Impossible, the first film in what has since become a multi-billion-dollar franchise, flips the original premise on its head. When a whole team of IMF agents is slain during a mission, Hunt is the only survivor. Surviving, however, does not help him much, as the IMF suspects Hunt of being a mole in the organization and the perpetrator of the crimes. To prove his innocence, Hunt goes on the run in search of the true mole, determined to stop them before they cause any further harm. Along with Cruise and Rhames, the film also stars Voigt as Jim Phelps, a character from the original series, Vanessa Redgrave as an arms dealer named Max, and Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez as additional key roles. The 1996 picture, directed by Brian De Palma, is more of a limited, paranoid spy thriller, and ultimately, the franchise moves beyond the first film’s story and action sequences, yet Mission: Impossible will always be remembered as the one that started it all.
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Mission: Impossible 2, directed by John Woo and released four years after the original film, sees the return of Hunt and the IMF as Hunt is tasked with finding and disposing of a biological weapon known as “Chimera.” The mission’s antagonist is a former IMF agent named Sean Ambrose, played by Dougray Scott. Thandiwe Newton as Nyah Nordoff-Hall, Ambrose’s ex-girlfriend who assists Hunt in his mission, and Brendan Gleeson as John C. McCloy, CEO of Biocyte, the corporation that manufactures both the Chimera weapon and its antidote, “Bellerophon,” are also new additions to the ensemble. Ambrose wants to provoke a pandemic so he can sell the antidote for billions of dollars, and Hunt and Nyah must secure the virus before it’s too late. The second Mission: Impossible film ups the ante, with Hunt trekking all the way to Sydney, Australia to track down Ambrose, and the action sequences are packed with classic Woo flair.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
The third film in the Mission: Impossible franchise took a long time to get out, with six years passing between Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000 and Mission: Impossible III in 2006. The third instalment of IMF agent Hunt’s narrative adds two new major characters: Michelle Monaghan as Hunt’s fiancée, Julia Meade, and Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, an IMF technician and Hunt’s trusty teammate. Hunt tries to retire from fieldwork and settle down with Julia in Mission: Impossible III, but the organization won’t let him. He is summoned to save a kidnapped agent and prevent an armaments dealer named Owen Davian (Seymour Hoffman) from getting a lethal MacGuffin known as the “Rabbit’s Foot.” While Hunt tries to keep his true work a secret from Julie, she is drawn into danger regardless of his efforts. The third Mission: Impossible film, directed by J.J. Abrams, also stars Laurence Fishburne, Keri Russell, and Billy Crudup, among others.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
This is where the action franchise really reaches its stride in the new decade. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the first Mission: Impossible film with a subtitle, does not disappoint. After a mission goes horribly wrong, resulting in the Kremlin being blown up, the US government rejects the IMF in what is known as the “Ghost Protocol,” leaving Hunt and his crew alone and without assistance. The fourth Mission: Impossible film also stars Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, and Léa Seydoux, in addition to Cruise, Rhames, Pegg, and Monaghan. Unlike Hunt’s prior missions, which involved traitor agents and virus weapons, this one involves Hunt working to prevent a nuclear disaster. The stakes are stronger than ever before, as Hunt must overcome both physical and emotional challenges to complete his mission and save the planet. Brad Bird, the director of The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, made his live-action debut with Ghost Protocol, and the film is a significant step up from the previous three, escalating the action set-pieces (most notably, Cruise’s instantly iconic climb up the Burj Khalifa) and introducing a more ensemble-driven approach that the franchise is still embracing today.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Rebecca Ferguson steps forward. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the fifth instalment in the never-ending Mission: Impossible series. Along with Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, and Tom Hollander, this film features Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, an MI6 agent who meets Hunt while undercover in the Syndicate crime organization; a worldwide collection of renegade spies. Ferguson’s character is without a doubt one of the most complex of the series thus far, and she breathes new life and intrigue into the franchise. Hunt is kidnapped by the Syndicate, led by Harris’s character Solomon Lane, and tortured for information before escaping with the help of Faust. It’s a well-known story. Hunt becomes entangled in a massive plot, then is framed and forced to flee, relying on his incredible talents as an agent to stop the Syndicate before they finish their plan. There’s virtually no reason to change the formula that has taken the movie this far, but director Christopher McQuarrie makes it feel fresh and innovative with incredible stunts and a deeper interest in Hunt as a character. It’s no surprise that he’s the only filmmaker to have returned to the franchise for numerous sequels.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Hunt, Faust, and the rest of Hunt’s now-familiar squad work to stop what’s left of the Syndicate in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The Apostles, commanded by an obscure figure known as John Lark, have restructured the organization. Following the failure of a mission to recover stolen plutonium cores, Angela Bassett, who has finally joined the franchise as CIA Director Erika Sloane, appoints Henry Cavill’s August Walker to oversee Hunt’s future operations. Meanwhile, an armaments dealer known as Alanna Mitsopolis, or the White Widow (a new character played by Vanessa Kirby), causes havoc for Hunt and the IMF by stealing plutonium in order to make a deal. Mitsopolis’ offer requires Hunt to capture Lane (the villain from the last film) and deliver him to MI6, in exchange for the plutonium cores for the CIA and IMF. Of course, nothing goes as planned when Hunt realizes that the person known as Lark is closer than he expected. The two films’ narratives are intricately connected and set two years after Rogue Nation, so it’s better to watch them together if you can.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
The latest instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, includes a slew of new cast members, including Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Indira Varma, Cary Elwes, and Mark Gatiss, among others. Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed the film, which will be released on July 12, 2023. The film introduces a new threat involving a familiar face, a group called the Community. Without giving too much away about the plot, we can state that the eighth Mission: Impossible film is by far the most ambitious in the series. It was so large that it had to be divided into two halves.
What Next?
The Mission: Impossible franchise improves with each subsequent instalment. While Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One may be the finest yet, Cruise and McQuarrie will be attempting to better it with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is set to release on June 28, 2024.