Every Mission Impossible Villain Ranked From Worst To Best

13. Jim Phelps - Mission Impossible

While the first Mission Impossible is a brilliant, tension filled complex mystery that is as good as any in the franchise, this all comes in spite of a poor choice for the primary villain. While the film contains two of the best villains of the MI films who both feature prominently on this list, the choice to have legendary hero Jim Phelps as a villain is a bad one. Having the frontman for IMF throughout the TV series was a great decision, but the fact original actor Peter Graves refused to return says a lot.

Jon Voight does a fine job as Phelps, with the IMF boss still feeling very much like the man with a plan from the TV series. The choice to turn him into a villain just feels wrong, with his turn to the dark side betraying his character arc from the TV series, seemingly for the sake of finding a way to give Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt top billing.

There was definitely shock value here in the villainous reveal, but more in a 'why on Earth are they doing this' way. What may have worked better is a final reveal that showed Jim trying to expose his wife as a mole before being killed by her as he attempts to stop her plans. This would have left his legacy in tact, while clearing the path for Mister Hunt to take the reins in leading the IMF team.