The importance of the IMF in the Mission: Impossible raises several questions about its role and whatever place it may have in real life. Beginning as a TV series in the late 1960s, the original Mission: Impossible TV show featured the IMF long before it became associated with Tom Cruise's character. Much like Ethan Hunt himself, IMF is a long-standing fixture of Mission: Impossible's world.
Known as the government intelligence agency where Hunts works, the IMF is the centerpiece of every Mission: Impossible movie. Regarded as their best agent, Hunt is often on secret missions for the IMF, whose operatives and high-level officials make up a large portion of the franchise's ing cast. Across what will be an eight-movie series by the summer of 2024, the IMF has had a heavy hand in stopping acts of terrorism, wars, and a number of other disasters.
IMF Stands For Impossible Missions Force
As for what IMF actually means, it's an abbreviation for Impossible Missions Force. In the movies, the IMF is a small covert ops team of United States government agents that use advanced methods to prevent national or international threats, such as hostile governments or high profile criminals. These methods include the use of advanced technology, such as realistic face masks that allow characters to pretend to be someone else. The term was original to the Mission: Impossible TV series, but the film franchise has kept it going.
Typically, an IMF squad consists of four to six operatives. Usually acting as their leader is, of course, Ethan Hunt. The franchise has consistently seen Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) as the team's hacker. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) was added in Mission: Impossible III and has assisted primarily as an engineer. Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) has also been a recurring member with impressive combat skills, who typically works as a field operative alongside Ethan.
IMF Was Created For Mission: Impossible & Does Not Exist
The Impossible Missions Force is not a task force that exists in the real world. The organization commonly handles situations that are above the level of complexity for the CIA or FBI. While the existence of an organization on the scale of the IMF isn't exactly far-fetched, the IMF itself is entirely fictional and used to establish the espionage landscape in the world of Mission: Impossible. It also allows the franchise to build its lore and use its own rules, rather than rely on established concepts and restrictions that it would undoubtedly face if Ethan worked for the CIA or the FBI instead.
