Every Mission Impossible Villain Ranked From Worst To Best

It was a brave move to place the relatively unknown (for non Swedes at least) Michael Nyqvist into the central villain role for the fourth entry in the MI franchise, the unhinged Russian Nuclear strategist Robert Hendricks.

This was particularly the case when considering that the franchise was very much on its last chance after the moderate box office performance and mixed reviews for the franchise's previous entries, with the strong temptation to go for a big name instead for this pivotal role. While it would be too much to say that Nyqvist was a major contributor to the Ghost Protocol's box office success, he was most definitely a major reason for the improved quality.

Nyqvist brings a calm and poise to proceedings as Hendricks, who literally puts his life on the line to instigate a Nuclear war. Hendricks always seems a step ahead of the pursuing IMF team, in spite of the fact that he carries out his plans with the assistance of a solitary henchman. Hendricks plan to frame the IMF for the Kremlin bombing is genius, an example of his exemplary planning skills and ingenuity.

Nqvist more than handles himself in the fight scenes too, his ability to physically match Cruise an important facet in the cracking finale in a Mumbai car park. It's also great to see a villain who isn't a rogue agent for once, just a madman who really believes that what the world needs is a nuclear attack.