Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible movies in order

There are a total of 7 Mission: Impossible movies as of 2025.

Born on July 3, 1962, Tom Cruise has been in the industry for more than 40 years, starting his journey with a small part in the 1981 film Endless Love. He has been recognized as one of the most daring people in Hollywood for performing dangerous stunts throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise. As of 2025, Tom has been honored with accolades including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for four Academy Awards.

All Mission: Impossible movies in order

Mission: Impossible (1996)

The first Mission: Impossible movie introduces the protagonist Ethan Hunt, a skilled IMF agent, who is declared to have gone rogue, being a prime suspect in a mission gone wrong, where his entire team is killed. As the story goes on, Ethan teams up with Luther Stickel and a few other retired or hidden IMF agents and orchestrates a break-in at the CIA headquarters to steal the NOC list, a classified document containing the identities of undercover agents, to find the mole and prove his innocence. In his journey to discover the truth, Ethan discovers the mole to be his former mentor, Jim Phelps, who faked his own death and betrayed the agency for personal gain. The first part ends with Ethan exposing Jim to be the fraud he was and Ethan disappearing only to be recruited for another mission.

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Mission: Impossible 2 takes Ethan on a mission to retrieve a deadly virus, "Chimera," and its cure, "Bellerophon," stolen by rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose. For this mission, Ethan brings in Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a skilled thief and Ambrose’s former lover, who turns out to be a love interest for Ethan. In a race-against-time situation, Ethan is in a situation to recover Bellerophon from Ambrose, while stopping him in the process of selling it and injecting the cure into Nyah, who gets infected. Succeeding in doing so, Ethan parts ways with the team disappearing once again, being ready for the next mission.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Mission: Impossible III shows Ethan Hunt, who is now a retired agent, spending time with his wife Julia. Things change for the protagonist when he is asked to return to the field after his protégé, Lindsey Farris, is captured and killed by arms dealer Owen Davian. In his new mission to capture Owen, Ethan has to betray the IMF when he finds out that he has been captured by the arms dealer. To ensure her safety, Ethan is forced to retrieve the mysterious "Rabbit’s Foot" for Davian but is injected with an explosive device while bringing it to Owen. In a high-stakes climatic setting, Ethan saves himself from the explosive and puts an end to Owen.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Ethan and his IMF team have been framed for an explosive attack on the Kremlin. Now being disbanded under the “Ghost Protocol”, Ethan and his team are on the run to bring out the truth and stop nuclear extremist Kurt Hendricks. With new agents including specialist Benji, field agent Jane, and analyst Brandt, Ethan and his team find themselves in yet another time crunch to stop Hendricks's evil schemes. This installment of the franchise records a breathtaking stunt of Ethan climbing the Burj Khalifa to retrieve vital intel. The story ends with Ethan stopping Hendricks in Mumbai, just seconds before the blast, putting an end to all the false accusations on their names.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation brings Ethan in front of a new threat, termed the Syndicate, a rogue organization of ex-intelligence operatives waging global chaos. With the IMF now being disbanded, Hunt is known to be on the run being hunted by the CIA. Along the way, Hunt joins forces with British agent Ilsa Faust, and his team of Benji, Luther, and Brandt, who work to expose the Syndicate’s leader, Solomon Lane, who seeks total anarchy.

The movie includes Ethan’s daring plane stunt, an underwater heist, and a Vienna opera house showdown. As the story comes to a close, the Syndicate is shut down by Ethan and his team who in turn reinstate the IMF as they prepare themselves for the future challenges awaiting in the shadows.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

In this new mission, Ethan and his team come across a terrorist group The Apostles who are known to be on the path of Solomon Lane in creating a global catastrophe. Knowing their motive, Ethan and his team follow another race-against-time scenario to recover stolen plutonium which can be used to trigger nuclear devastation, before it reaches the terrorists. Things go south for Ethan when to save his teammate Luther, he has to give up the plutonium, resulting in teaming up with CIA agent August Walker.

As the story goes on, it is revealed that Walker is a mole and is in charge of the Apostles working for Solomon Lane. Ethan, to stop the terror group reunites with Elsa Faust tracking Lane and the others to Kashmir to stop them from launching the nuclear bombs. The story continues with a high-speed helicopter chase, ending Walker's life. Ethan’s team successfully defuses the bombs ensuring the safety of everyone in the locality.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

This mission pits Ethan and his team against an artificial intelligence named “The Entity” which has the capability of manipulating global intelligence, making it a dangerous asset in the wrong hands. Ethan along with Benji, Luther, and Ilsa, are assigned to find the keys that have to be used to shut the AI down. In their mission, the team comes across rogue agent Gabriel, a deadly adversary from Ethan’s past, who becomes one of the allies of The Entity. In their final battle, while Ethan gains control of the key, Ilsa gets killed during her fight with Gabriel.

Read more: How many Mission Impossible movies are there?