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Every Single Mission Impossible Movie (In Release Order)

Mission Impossible is an American action spy movie series that tells the story of a Spy who works in the Impossible Mission Force.

Filled with action and Suspense, the MI series is a must-watch for all those who love action movies. Here is how you should watch Mission Impossible movies in order of release

The mission impossible movies in order

  1. Mission: Impossible (1996)
  2. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
  3. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
  4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
  5. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
  6. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

About Mission Impossible Movie Series

list of all Mission Impossible movies in order of release

Mission Impossible movie series is based on the character of Ethan Hunt, A Spy who works in Impossible Mission Force. The first movie in this series was released in the year 1996 with the name Mission: Impossible and with a run of more than 25 years, the franchise has made six blockbuster movies so far.

Stories of Impossible Mission Force started in 1996 with a Television series that was aired in 1966 until 1973. Further the was coutinued in 1988 to 1990. Inspired by Television show, The Mission Impossible movie series started in 1996 that were focused on Ethan Hunt.

Mission Impossible Movies In Order: How To Watch Mission Impossible Movie Series?

Mission Impossible series has six movies that tells the story of different impossible mission assigned to Ethan Hunt. The first movie introduces you with IMF and Ethan hunt and his Job Profile and the set of six movies takes you to an Epic ride where Ethan tries to do his job as a Spy.

Is Mission Impossible movies connected?

Mission Impossible movie series shows continuity in terms of Characters and their backgrounds. Movies have many references to previous events that you will not understand if you haven’t watched previous movies.

In addition, the motives of some characters are also driven by previous events in the series. This makes it important to watch Mission Impossible movies in order.

In what order do I watch Mission Impossible?

The series Involves many Jumps and references to previous events but there are no prequels in the series that make it easy to follow the order. The best order to watch Mission Impossible movies is to watch them in release order.

This way you will follow the story and you will understand all the plots and motives of every Character. Here is the list of all Mission Impossible movies in release order aka the order you should follow to watch the series.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

  • Director: Brian De Palma 
  • Stars: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny
  • Written By: Robert Towne, David Koepp, Brian DePalma, Gloria Katz, Steven Zaillian, Willard Huyck
  • Runtime: 110 minutes

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

  • Director: John Woo 
  • Stars: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames
  • Written By: William Goldman, John Logan, David Marconi, Michael Tolkin, Robert Towne
  • Runtime: 123 minutes

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

  • Director: J.J. Abrams 
  • Stars: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman
  • Written By: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, J.J. Abrams
  • Runtime: 127 minutes

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

  • Director: Brad Bird 
  • Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton
  • Written By: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec
  • Runtime: 132 minutes

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

  • Director: Christopher McQuarrie 
  • Stars: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg
  • Written By: Christopher McQuarrie, Bruce Geller
  • Runtime: 131 minutes
A still from Mission: Impossible (1996). It is the first film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Mission: Impossible (1996) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible (1996)

A highly confidential List is been leaked and the IMF team sets to Prague to catch the culprit, but all the members of IMF get killed accept Ethan Hunt, When Ethan meets IMF directors, he learns that there is a mole in the team who has made a deal with Max (A Drug Dealer) and everybody is doubting on him.

When IMF makes their move to catch him, Ethan Manages to Escape and sets a meeting with Max and makes a deal to tell the name of the Mole in exchange for the list of all the secrets Agents.

Now to clear his name and to find who is the mole, Ethan teams up with Luther and Krieger to steal the list from IMF headquarters.

A still from Mission: Impossible II (2000). It is the first film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Mission: Impossible II (2000) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

A Fake Agent has used Ethan Hunt’s Identity to Kill Dr. Nekhorvich, IMF finds that Sean Ambrose is behind all this and he has also taken Chimera( a Biological Weapon) and its cure. IMF assigns Ethan to take down Sean and recover the Virus and its cure.

When Insisted by IMF, Ethan recruits Nyah Nordoff-Hall but later finds that Nyah is the ex-girlfriend of Sean. When Ethan finds that Ambrose is staying in Australia, He completes his team by calling Luther and Billy.

Together, four of them start their mission to capture Ambrose and recover the Chimera virus and its cure Bellerophon.

A still from Mission: Impossible III (2006). It is the second film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Mission: Impossible III (2006) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Ethan now only trains, New recruits of IMF and has settled with his fiancee Julia Meade, Musgrave approaches Ethan to rescue, Lindsey Farris. Musgrave makes a team for Ethan with Declan, Zhen, and Luther, and together with Ethan, they rescue Lindsey and recovers two Laptops.

Lindsey gets killed while Escaping, but with the help of Benji, They extract a lot of information from the laptop and leans that Davian will go to Vatican City to collect “Rabbit’s Foot”. Ethan and the team go to Vatican city and captures Davian but Davian manages to Escape.

Later, Ethan learns that Julia is kidnapped by Davian and wants “Rabbit’s Foot” in exchange. This is going to be one of the toughest missions for Ethan, his life of his love is at stake.

A still from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). It is the third film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Ghost Protocol (2011) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Trevor Hannah (IMF agent) gets killed by Sabian and Trevor’s Briefcase gets Stolen. The movie starts with Ethan Escapes from Russian Jail with Bogdon (Russian Source). While Trying to learn about Cobalt, the IMF team is compromised in Kremlin and Ethan gets Injured.

Ethan Learns that IMF is disavowed and Ethan meets his teams and includes Intelligence Analyst William Brandt who decodes Cobalt as Kurt Hendricks, A Russian Nuclear Strategist who wants to starts a Nuclear war.

Ethan sets with his team on a new adventure to Kill Hendricks and prevent Nuclear War, At the End of the Movie, Ethan finally meets Julia, whom he thought dead.

A still from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015). It is the fourth film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Rogue Nation (2015) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

Ethan Hunt is trying to prove the existence of a criminal Syndicate that doesn’t exist according to the CIA. Ethan manages to Escape, with the help of an IMF agent, when captured by the criminal Syndicate. Meanwhile, IMF gets absorbed into the CIA and Brandt, warns Ethan that Hunley (director of CIA) is looking to capture Ethan.

Ethan After Six months connects to Benji to ask him to attend an Opera in Vienna and predicts that there will be an attempt to kill the Australian Chancellor in the presence of Lane( Former MI6 agent). Chancellor gets killed by a Bomb in his car while Ethan is unable to find Lane.

Later, Ethan with his team is found in Casablanca where they start their mission to Capture Lane and prove the existence of Syndicate.

A still from Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). It is the fifth film on the list of all Mission impossible movies in order of release
Edited still from Fallout (2018) | credit goes to Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Many people from Criminal Syndicate(Syndicate in the previous movie) are Captured by the CIA and the rest have named them as Apostles and are planning a Nuclear Blast. A Criminal named John Lark is going to make a deal of three plutonium Bombs for the Nuclear Blast with a woman named White Widow.

Ethan, Kills John Larks and goes to White Widow to make a deal for Plutonium bombs, But White widow wants Solomon Lane freed in Exchange. Ethan Teams up with his friend Benji to tackle this situation.

List of All Mission Impossible Movies and Television series

Mission Impossible movies were made after two television series of the same name, The two television series tell the story of the origin of IMF and the previous life of Ethan Hunt.

If you are interested in knowing more about Ethan Hunt or if you want to watch All MI movies and television series then here a list of all Mission Impossible Movies and Television series in chronological order

  • Mission: Impossible (1966–1973) – Television series
  • Mission: Impossible (1988–1990) – Television series
  • Mission: Impossible (1996) – Movie
  • Mission: Impossible II (2000) – Movie
  • Mission: Impossible III (2006) – Movie
  • Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) – Movie
  • Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) – Movie
  • Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) – Movie

Future of Mission Impossible series

Mission Impossible series is one of the most successful action spy franchises with six amazing action movies. The franchise has made it clear that they are going to produce more films in the series, Here is the list of all future mission impossible movies

What is the best Mission Impossible movie?

There are six movies in the mission impossible series which are filled with action and fighting scene and are supported by an amazing story filled with suspense. Out of all six, which mission impossible movie is the best?

Well here in this section of the article I have ranked all Mission Impossible movies based on Audience rating on IMDb

Mission Impossible filmsIMDb Ratings
Mission: Impossible II (2000)6.1/10
Mission: Impossible III (2006)6.9/10
Mission: Impossible (1996)7.1/10
Rogue Nation (2015)7.4/10
Ghost Protocol (2011)7.4/10
Fallout (2018)7.7/10

Other Awesome Action Movie Series

Conclusion

Mission Impossible is probably one of the most successful American action spy movie series that tells the story of Ethan Hunt, one of the most popular Spies of all time. the series is filled with fascinating Action, Fighting, and Chasing scenes that make this series a must-watch.

Here in this article, I have provided the best order to watch mission impossible movies, Besides I have also listed all Ethan Hunt movies and Television series in chronological order of story that you can follow to watch the Entire Mission Impossible franchise.

If you have any other questions then let me know in the comments

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