It’s Mission Impossible month, and things are gearing up. Ethan Hunt is returning with his crew to go rogue for the hundredth time in order to save the world, and we love them for it. Mission Impossible has been on our big screens since 1996, gifting us some of the best stunts we’ve ever seen.
With the Mission Impossible 7 release date speeding towards us, there’s never been a better time to revisit some of the best action movies ever made. But not every MI movie is a piece of gold. In fact, the second movie is widely regarded as one of the worst movies of its kind.
MI:2 was criticized for not having much substance behind the story and for absurdly elaborate. It was also nominated for two Razzie awards, which we can’t imagine Tom Cruise was happy about. (We, on the other hand, actually think MI:2 is pretty fun, but that’s just us.)
But Mission Impossible II is significant for one odd reason: it has the most kills. More specifically, it has the most kills at the hands of Ethan Hunt.
The Mission Impossible movies aren’t exactly known for being particularly bloody or violent, compared to some of the other best spy movies. But still, there’s plenty of hand-to-hand fights, and some pretty explosive action sequences too. There’s bound to be a few casualties.
But Ethan Hunt’s a good guy, right? We don’t usually think of him as a highly trained killer. James Bond, yes. Ethan Hunt, no. But Mission Impossible II does break the mold in that Hunt winds up killing 24 people across the movie.
This is the highest kill count of all the movies by a mile, with the second most death-inducing film in the franchise is Mission Impossible III, which racks up 14 kills from Ethan directly.
Our favorite Mission Impossible death? Probably in the first film that kicked off the series: Emilio Estevez’s Jack Harmon getting his face impaled by an elevator spike. Brutal. (And not Ethan’s doing.)
We’ve got plenty to look at when it comes to Mission Impossible. Check out our list of Mission Impossible movies in order, get to know the Mission Impossible cast, and take a look at how to watch Dead Reckoning Part One. Speaking of Cruise, you can also see the best Tom Cruise movies, or take a look at everything that’s new on Paramount Plus this month.