Content Warning: This article contains references to terrorism and murder.
Most of the characters in the Mission: Impossible series have the same IMF/CIA training and share the same set of skills. So those characters getting thrown in to The Hunger Games doesn’t immediately jump out as the most exciting battle royale.
But when looking at their personalities and the way each of them have reacted to intense situations throughout the series, it would actually make for one of the most exciting Hunger Games possible. Mission: Impossible is arguably the best spy series of the 21st century, but many of the characters aren’t just spies, but evil geniuses or camouflage masters.
Alan Hunley
Alan Hunley was first introduced in Rogue Nation as the CIA director was trying to take down the Impossible Missions Force. However, in the following movie, he made the lateral move and joined the team. Every step of the way, Hunley meant well and every decision he made was for the greater good, even if he did make those decisions behind the desk, as opposed to Ethan and the team in the thick of it.
But in Fallout, Hunley insists on confronting Walker, and though Hunley gets a few old-man punches in there, Walker makes very short work of him. For a former CIA agent, Hunley demonstrates extremely weak combat skills, so if he entered the Hunger Games arena, it's likely he would be one of the first to perish.
Benji Dunn
When he first appeared in Mission: Impossible III, Benji was just the guy in the chair. However, ever since Ghost Protocol, he has been a clumsy field agent.
He has shown qualities in creating disguises and he’s often the one to don those disguises himself, so in that respect, he’d be a lot like Peeta in The Hunger Games, trying to survive as long as he can by remaining incognito. However, given that Benji has absolutely zero combat skills, it's not likely that he would come out the victor of these Games.
Luther Stickle
Luther is the most trusted operative in Ethan’s crew, but he doesn’t move all that fast. He is always slowing the crew down as he’s so indecisive too. Though defusing a bomb almost always comes down to the last second in all of the movies, it’s often because of Luther.
In Fallout, it was on Luther to decide what wire to cut, but his indecisiveness meant that the whole medical camp in Kashmir was almost blown to smithereens. The Hunger Games is all about instincts, and Luther’s inability to quickly call the shots means that he won’t last long at all in the arena.
Jane Carter
Though she only appears in Ghost Protocol, Jane Carter is another IMF operative, and her training is on full display in both Budapest and Dubai. Between being an incredible marksman and her hand-to-hand combat skills, she has almost all grounds covered.
However, Carter can’t separate her emotions from the mission at hand, and she took the murder of Trevor Hanaway personally. That kind of emotion should be left at the door in the Hunger Games, as it could cloud even the best contestant’s judgment.
Owen Davian
Owen Davian is one of the best villains of the series, as every other antagonist up until Davian’s appearance in Mission: Impossible III was completely forgettable. And just like every other villain in the franchise, Davian was just another shady arms dealer. But what made him so memorable and one of the most hated characters in Mission: Impossible was how meticulous and fearless he was.
The villain pulled off the whole intentionally getting captured trope before The Dark Knight did it and influenced every other action movie. Davian was toying with Ethan throughout the whole movie, and other characters in the Hunger Games may have to tread lightly around him not because of how well he fights, but because of how fearless he is.
William Brandt
According to Hollywood Reporter, the original idea was that Jeremy Renner would take over from Tom Cruise as the lead of the series. But while the series wouldn’t have been half as entertaining if the studio followed through on that decision, as Brandt isn’t the stuntman that Ethan Hunt is, the character is still tactile and a great spy.
The character may not be able to lead a stunt-focused movie, but his espionage skills are on another level, and he had a huge part in preventing a nuclear war in Ghost Protocol. And more than anything, he follows orders without questioning anything, which is the perfect mindset for the Hunger Games.
Ilsa Faust
When it comes to the female agents of the series, Ilsa Faust isn’t just the best, but she’s better than almost any of the male operatives too. She is almost more of an anti-hero than an all-out hero, as she’s constantly fighting with Ethan Hunt and has double-crossed him several times in both Rogue Nation and Fallout. Faust isn’t even an agent for the Impossible Mission Force, as she’s a British Intelligence Agent.
As much as she cares for Ethan, she isn’t scared to do what’s necessary for the MI6, and that includes taking him out. She is light on her feet and agile, as shown in the opera house, and she’s just as well versed in motorcycles and weapons as Hunt, as shown in one of the best motorcycle chase in Fallout. Faust would give Hunt more of a run for his money in the arena more than any of his other adversaries.
Ethan Hunt
Out of all of the opponents, Hunt would fair well because he can seemingly handle any kind of terrain. He has shown he can hold his breath underwater for 7 minutes in Rogue Nation, and he can climb up cliffs without any kind of wires attached. He can handle huge falls and recover from the worst injuries in no time.
So unlike any other character in the series, Hunt can use his surroundings in such creative ways. However, what keeps the protagonist from winning is that he simply isn’t as much of a cold-blooded killer as the others. Although he’s agile and able to commit to huge stunts, he still doesn't live up to August Walker.
August Walker
Even though August and Ethan went head-to-head in Fallout and Ethan came out on top, they were literally using helicopters as weapons. If the two were in the Hunger Games arena together sans helicopters, then it would be a much more evenly matched battle royale.
As they’re constantly compared to no end, the fight scenes in the series are something that Mission: Impossible does better than Fast & Furious, and that’s in part thanks to August Walker. Walker is a machine and he could beat absolutely anybody. The absolute brute force that August has is why he would make it so far in the arena.
Solomon Lane
Ethan Hunt doing so well in the Hunger Games is the least surprising of anything, but what may be surprising is that he wouldn’t actually win. Up until Rogue Nation, for the most part, the antagonists in the Mission: Impossible series weren’t remotely memorable, and they were just nameless terrorists with a convoluted plan.
They took a backseat to the stunts, but Solomon Lane completely changed that. He was Hunt’s arch-nemesis for two whole movies and, in that time, Lane showed how deceptive he could really be. In Fallout, his villainous role was confirmed, as it was revealed that he gassed a village of 2000 people and he brought down an entire passenger plane just to kill one person.