It's hard to imagine the Mission: Impossiblemovies without Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt (despite not being a character from the TV show the franchise is based on). The solemn and determined character that seems to only exist when the IMF needs him to don a mask and go around the globe, barely surviving insane stunts to prevent worldwide catastrophe time and time again.In some ways, Hunt feels like a reflection of Tom Cruise himself: unrealistically intense and going to extreme lengths to provide entertainment before returning to solitude in between movie releases. So it's only fitting, even if it's hard to imagine, Hunt was once a cocky and arrogant hot shot just like Cruise himself. Over the 30 years of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Hunt has taken on many personas that the first one we saw him in seems entirely foreign, and it's all because of what happened in Mission: Impossibleback in 1996.