Few IMF agents have the tenacity, skills, and sheer force of will to take on a series of impossible missions. Indeed, if it weren't for these traits, the young IMF agent would have died early on. Yet, Ethan Hunt persists as one of the most never-say-die action heroes in any movie franchise to date.
He's also scored his fair degree of bad guy kills over the years, as well. Though Mission: Impossible is a PG-13 rated franchise, that doesn't mean the violence isn't brutal. Here's ten of Ethan Hunt's absolute coolest bad guy kills in the history of the Mission: Impossible movie series.
The Chewing Gum 'Copter (Mission: Impossible)
Ethan Hunt's big-screen debut came with a lot of baggage attached to it, including a gigantic betrayal arc that would eventually lead back full-circle to the legendary Jim Phelps. This IMF operative had been a heavy hitter in the scene for decades, having run some of the most successful missions in the department's history.
He would also turn out to be a traitor who sold out his own IMF team due to the shifting 1990s political landscape. When Hunt exposed him, the two battled on top of a high-speed train as Phelps attempted to escape on a helicopter. Hunt took him out by pasting a piece of explosive chewing gum on the chopper's windshield, causing a massive explosion.
The Flip-Kick (Mission: Impossible II)
Legendary action movie director John Woo helmed Mission: Impossible II, which automatically meant lots of hyper-stylized gunplay, slow-motion impacts and (of course), doves. Lots of doves. It also gave Ethan Hunt plenty of creative ways to off his enemies in over-the-top glory. Most of this action takes place in the final act of the film.
Hunt scales a cliff-face to infiltrate renegade IMF agent Sean Ambrose's base, which was heavily guarded on the outside. Waiting for his chance to strike, Hunt engaged the first guard by knocking him to the ground, then forward-flipping in the air to land a rib-shattering kick, before rolling him off the edge of the cliff.
The One-Wheel Counterattack (Mission: Impossible II)
Hunt successfully infiltrated a makeshift base designed by rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose to steal the vaccine for a cinematically engineered super-virus known as Chimera. After battling Ambrose's henchmen, he made a daring escape by commandeering a motorcycle which triggered a car chase through Sidney's back roads.
He engaged a white car full of Ambrose's men and successfully shot out one of the tires, causing it to lose control. Hunt intersected the vehicle's approach and hit the front brake of the bike, going up on the front wheel and spinning around to fire at the car's gas tank, triggering an explosion.
The Gun Kick (Mission: Impossible II)
After taking out all of Ambrose's men, Hunt faced off against the big man himself. The two fought on a beach where each side traded a bevy of brutal blows, but Hunt eventually managed to gain the upper hand and subdue Ambrose. Meanwhile, Luther brought a Chimera-infected Nyah to Hunt so that he could administer the vaccine, giving Ambrose time to react.
He held up Hunt with a gun pointed to his back and prepared to shoot him, but Hunt responded by kicking a gun upwards out of the sand and grabbing it in mid-air. He leaped onto his back and avoided Ambrose's shot long enough to finally kill him for good.
One Shot, One Kill (Mission: Impossible III)
The opening act of Mission: Impossible III focused largely on Hunt and his IMF team engaging in a rescue op to extract Lindsey Farris from enemy hands. The team utilized high tech gadgetry and good old fashioned room-clearing tactics to secure and bring her out.
The extraction wasn't easy, however. Hunt and Lindsey were pinned behind a pillar by a gunman, with little ammo to spare. Lindsey was out of options, and asked Ethan how many rounds he had left. "Enough," he said, before breaking cover and firing his last bullet at the enemy, knocking him out of the building window in the process. "Now, I'm out!"
The Road Kill (Mission: Impossible III)
Owen Davian was one of the most sadistic and nefarious of Hunt's many adversaries throughout the course of the franchise, and he got his just desserts in the end. The final act of Mission: Impossible III found Hunt battling the agony of an explosive device in his head that was mere moments from going off.
The pain was unbearable, giving Davian the chance to beat him senseless. Knowing that his death would also result in the death of his wife Julia, Hunt implemented the Keysi martial arts fighting style to turn the tide against Davian before wrestling him out a window. The two ended up on the street where Hunt rolled Owen on top of him just long enough for an oncoming car to turn Davian into its new hood ornament.
The Opera Farewell (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)
One of the coolest Rogue Nation scenes took place at an opera where Hunt tries to prevent the assassination of the Austrian Chancellor. He ascends high into the rafters where he discovers a rather large John Wick-grade assassin preparing to land a single kill-shot from a flute modified into a rifle.
Hunt gets solidly beaten by the imposing assassin but manages to turn the tide at the last minute before sending him careening to his death with a drop-kick off of a very narrow rafter.
The BMW Double (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)
The second half of Rogue Nation finds Hunt and Benji on the run from a gang of bikers as they pursue them in a BMW through the streets of Casablanca. It's an exhilarating car chase sequence with plenty of brutal impacts as Hunt tries to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.
When he's forced down a particularly narrow road with an oncoming truck, Hunt uses the environment to his advantage by pulling the E-brake and spinning the car around to take out two bikers with a bone-crushing impact.
The Silent Knife (Mission: Impossible - Fallout)
In order to get one step closer to the fundamentalist terrorist known as Lark, Hunt impersonates him without disguise to ingratiate himself into the good graces of Alanna Mitsopolis, the daughter of Max from the original Mission: Impossible film.
Hunt soon realizes that Alanna has become the target of a group of hit-men, and leads her out of an exclusive bar while dealing with the assassins while the shocked patrons watch. The first one to go down is a hitman seated in a chair who attacks with a knife, only for Ethan to reverse the slash and turn the knife back against him.
The Cable Tug (Mission: Impossible - Fallout)
Hunt fights August Walker one-on-one at the end of Fallout, and the resulting fight is a particularly brutal one. It ends with both men going off a cliffside and attempting to make their way back up to secure a nuclear detonator. Once again, Hunt decides to use the environment to his advantage.
He abandons the grappling cable barely clinging to the top off the cliff by free-climbing instead. Walker follows suit and scrambles up the cliff-face after him, prompting Ethan to yank on the cable until it comes loose. It soars down the cliff with the grappling hook hitting Walker straight in the head, killing him instantly.