Mission Impossible Turned Henry Cavill Into a Better Villain Than Hero

The Big Picture

• Mission: Impossible – Fallout revitalized the franchise, delivering fresh and exciting action sequences while maintaining a delicate presence of comedy.
• The film allowed Henry Cavill to shine as an actor, showcasing new and exciting sides of himself, proving he was destined to play a villainous role.
• Cavill’s physicality and imposing presence made him the perfect fit for his character in Fallout, and his ability to be a team player in an ensemble cast highlighted his versatility as a performer.

Tom Cruise‘s Mission: Impossible franchise isn’t slowing down any time soon, with Mission: Impossible 8 slated for a summer 2025 release date following the huge success of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One with Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Rebecca Ferguson. Not every installment in the franchise has been a home run, though Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a notable standout worthy of much praise. For one thing, it proved that a movie franchise that’s already delivered five previous installments can be made to feel brand new like it just came off the assembly line. Moments like Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) hesitating just before jumping out a window also underscored how a delicate presence of comedy (which lent levity to the proceedings without turning everything into a spoof of itself) has always been a secret weapon for the Mission: Impossible movies. Oh, and there’s also the barrage of incredibly well-filmed stunts, each more impressive than the last.

Arguably one of the greatest achievements of Fallout, though, is the way it let Henry Cavill come alive as an actor. Previously best known for playing Superman, Cavill played the villainous August Walker/John Lark in Fallout, a role that let the actor put on a big mustache and flex his imposing muscles. Cavill certainly wasn’t a bad actor before he did Fallout, but this Mission: Impossible installment gave him a chance to demonstrate new exciting sides of himself as a performer. Hollywood had been trying for so long to turn Cavill into a conventional hero…but Fallout proved he was always destined to be a delicious baddie.

‘Man of Steel’ and ‘The Witcher’ Star Henry Cavill Is the Standard Mold for Leading Men

In Hollywood filmmaking, especially when it comes to endeavors that are going to cost a pretty penny to make, there are often incredible restrictions on what a leading man can and cannot do. These movies are usually designed from the ground up to be as appealing as possible, which means the protagonists of such features need to be as generic as one could imagine. Flavorless characters are also characters who don’t carry any spicy personality traits or physical attributes that could alienate the general public. For modern big-budget projects, it’s easy to quickly discern that beefcakes with vague personas (usually Caucasian dudes with nary a trace of queerness) are Hollywood’s go-to model for blockbuster leads.

Henry Cavill fit the bill nicely when he got his first big-budget movie role in Immortals (following small parts in projects ranging from Stardust to Whatever Works). Most well-known at that point for his work on the TV show The Tudors, Cavill had the traditional good looks one would expect from a new Hollywood leading man. In fact, he seemed so primed and ready to be the next uber-conventional star that Cavill’s next big leading man part was as Superman in Man of Steel. This was a gig that was meant to make Cavill a symbol of hope for a new generation and solidify him as a box office draw.

Unfortunately, Cavill’s work starting with Man of Steel never offered him much room to show off his range or distinctive qualities. The take on Superman he was handed just didn’t have much meat on the bones thematically and didn’t offer him much to do. Meanwhile, Cavill’s work in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a leading man in 2015, taking on the character of Napoleon Solo, was a big reason that feature came so close yet so far to realizing its potential. The cheeky bawdiness of U.N.C.L.E. was sporadically enjoyable, but Cavill didn’t exude much sexual charisma nor did he lend much personality to his comedic line deliveries. Cavill was continuing to be easy on the eyes, but he didn’t quite work as either an uber-serious Superman or a commanding yet horny superspy.

Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill Have Great Chemistry in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’

Cavill’s earliest leading man roles showed glimmers of promise, but never quite cohered into satisfying wholes. By contrast, his work as August Walker/John Lark in Fallout was brimming with personality and finally showed this performer coming into his own. There was no deeply rooted secret here for why Cavill turned out to be so fun as a villain. It really was the simple things, like the shockingly solid chemistry Cavill had with Cruise, that made his performance click. It didn’t hurt, too, that Fallout felt like the first of Cavill’s big blockbuster roles to really lean into his innate physicality and frame (just take a look at that iconic bathroom scene).

Henry Cavill is a big man. He’s massive. Maybe that’s why his Superman never quite clicked together as a comforting symbol of hope. Cavill just looked so brawny that his Superman always seemed more intimidating than heartwarming. That’s not a problem for his duplicitous Fallout character, who’s supposed to look like the human version of a tank from the get-go. Once his role turns out to be the main adversary of the entire feature, Cavill’s imposing physicality becomes even more rewarding. The man is perfect for looking like somebody who’s so overwhelming that nobody has a prayer to stop his wicked plans.

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ Showed Henry Cavill Works Well With an Ensemble

It didn’t hurt that Cavill also turned out to be a good team player within the ensemble cast of Fallout. Though Hollywood had constantly been pushing this guy as somebody who should always be front and center in any movie he inhabits, Cavill’s gift in Fallout was that he didn’t have to be the center of attention all the time. He could slip into the back and allow franchise mainstays like Simon Pegg or Ving Rhames to be the focus of the camera. It was just another way Cavill was basically refuting every traditional aspect of his preceding leading man roles.

Plus, above all else, Cavill just seemed to be having a ball getting to be nasty. After so long of having to play straight-laced guys who represent heroism, the opportunity to play an unabashedly bad soul seemed to inspire all kinds of small delightful creative touches in Cavill’s performance. Finally, after multiple leading man performances where it was hard to tell what made Cavill a movie star, Fallout allowed this guy to stand out as a performer. There’s a long history of traditional leading men delivering some of their best work whenever they’re allowed to cut loose with morally complicated figures, most notably with Jimmy Stewart’s various roles in the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock. Without question, Henry Cavill’s work in Mission: Impossible – Fallout was another great example of this phenomenon.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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