THE MAN'S IMPOSSIBLE!

THE WOMEN WHO TRY TO KEEP PACE WITH ETHAN HUNT

- STORY: ESTHER ZUCKERMAN / NYT

Ethan Hunt, the charismatic hero of the Mission: Impossible franchise played by Tom Cruise, cares about one thing above all else: His team.

The story of Ethan’s life as told in eight movies has been marked by his intense loyalty to the people by his side.

The most enduring have been Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), the computer whiz who has been his buddy in all installments, and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), another technical genius who guides him through sticky situations.

But Ethan’s love life has been an evolving saga that has gone through some hiccups, as the filmmakers try to figure out how to pair off a man whose work life involves scaling buildings, jumping out of planes and saving the world every few years.

Over the years, the Mission: Impossible films have tested out different roles for the ladies in Ethan's life, to varying degrees of success.

EMMANUELLE BÉART as Claire Phelps in Mission: Impossible (1996)

In the series’ first entry, directed by Brian De Palma, Ethan has a sexually charged relationship with Claire (Emmanuelle Béart). She is the wife of Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), Ethan's Impossible Mission Force team leader, who is presumed dead. Only, Jim isn’t dead, he’s actually the one framing Ethan in order to steal a top-secret list of undercover agents and make a financial killing. And Claire, it turns out, was in on the ruse. She dies at the hand of her husband, a bittersweet ending for a pretty classic femme fatale.

THANDIWE NEWTON as Nyah Nordoff-Hall in Mission: Impossible // (2000)