Later, the film reveals that Julia’s death was all a big ruse and she’s actually just fine. Newly introduced intelligence analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) is also undone by her death he’d been assigned to secretly protect the Hunts, and then felt so horribly about Julia’s death that he quit being a field agent. “Ghost Protocol” was largely built around Julia’s importance to Ethan, but she’s a wordless force. That film picks up years after their happy honeymoon, but Julia has died (off-screen) at the hands of a hit squad that was out for Ethan. While “M:III” ended with her as a Beretta-toting badass, she’s since become a liability for Ethan, a damsel in distress trotted out when he needs a shot of emotion and motivation. Abrams film even packed a happy ending, with the pair heading out on their honeymoon. Ethan Hunt may have violated the first rule of spy-hood, but the film hinted at the possibility that Julia might join him on his adventures as a strength, not a weakness.Īs for Julia, she lingered - but only in the margins. It was a compelling new direction for the character, and the J.J. In “Mission: Impossible III,” Julia was forced to come to terms with her fiancé’s past life as a dangerous international spy, and was then used as a way for the villains to bait Ethan, before finally being taught to defend herself.
It may be lethal for a spy to get close to someone, but it’s been the women who have suffered in the process. The sixth film in the franchise, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” finally rights the wrongs inflicted on Julia over the course of her franchise arc, a drawn-out process of first not knowing what to do with her, and then only using her as a pressure point to hurt Ethan.
That changed in “Mission: Impossible III,” which not only opened with the reveal that Ethan left the IMF, but also that his brand-new life included … a fiancee? As quick-witted nurse Julia Meade, Michelle Monaghan was the first love interest to last into subsequent films, but her lingering role in the franchise has only served to highlight the series’ strange handling of its leading ladies, even capable women like Julia.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 5 REBECCA FERGUSON SERIES
The first two films in the series neatly wrapped up their primary storylines and missions, allowing Ethan to start fresh with the next one.