Okay, but hear me out.

The action genre is iconic, with most of the stuff that pops into my brain being James Bond, guns, special effects, car chases, girls, and a general lack of any emotion other than anger. By and large, the action genre is pretty unrealistic. I mean, homeboy is a martial arts expert with a genius mind, gets all the girls, and is almost always a loner. Who in the real world is actually like that, and what agency is going to bank their entire agenda on one dude that likes girls a little too much?

Not Ethan Hunt, apparently, and not the IMF.
Okay, so we've established that a lot of action MCs are male, and Ethan Hunt is that. No problems there. We've also noted that they are usually great martial artists or street fighters, and Ethan Hunt is that as well. But with the MI franchise, the writers and producers take great pains to explain Ethan's training and generally make everything seem very realistic. Ethan does get his rear end kicked a good few times, too, and is far from indestructible, so there's another win. Ethan is definitely what would be defined as a genius, but that is also painstakingly explained so that we have no trouble believing that he actually is that smart and has a lot of education (might I note the moment in Ghost Protocol where Ethan wakes from being unconscious and the subtitles for the Russian news story take a minute to translate? filmmaking genius). So another check. Ethan gets a couple different girls in the first two movies, but in the third, he gets married. And does not have another romantic relationship outside of that, even after he has to part ways with Julia for her own safety. So he gets major brownie points for that one.

Is Ethan Hunt your typical action loner, however? No, he is not; he always has a team at his back and he's very close to all of his teammates. Which makes so much sense not only for the IMF (they've got a team of babysitters on Hunt's rear) but also for Ethan himself. He's got a group of people who support and help him on all of his missions, and he actually grows to see his team as a family. If you remember, he [SPOILER SKIP THE PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MI1] loses his entire team in the first movie and then ends up working with Luther Stickell. Luther stays with him for the rest of the franchise, and Ethan continues to rebuild his team with Benji Dunn, Will Brandt, Jane Carter (we need more of her), and Ilsa Faust (and there's a whole other tangent to be had on their beautifully non-romantic relationship at a later date). Most importantly, he expresses his emotions over the loss of his first team but doesn't let it get to him so much that he can't build another one.

I think one of the most significant things about Ethan as a whole is how much he cares about his team. In fact, there are so many scenes where you see him racking his brain to get them out of bad situations, and the mission goes on the backburner. In most cases, Ethan ends up figuring out a way to take care of his team and complete his mission, but he's put the mission in jeopardy on multiple occasions for the sake of his team (note the Benji situation in Rogue Nation). Essentially, we end up with a very tough, very competent male character who is completely believable in every way, and he also expresses his emotions to a healthy degree (and those emotions do in fact include worry, stress, familial love, etc.) and is very close to the people he works with. He's actually one of the most realistic film characters I've seen in a very, very long time. All of the characters in Mission: Impossible are well done, but Ethan as an MC is so very significant to the action genre.

And of course I am female so I can't say too much on this subject because I don't really know, but one thing I've noticed is that society today has essentially come to the conclusion that guys can't have close friends. Plus, the only person they can talk to about their emotions is their girlfriend. (Spoiler alert: your girlfriend can't handle all your emotions and all her emotions. She can help you, but she can't be you. You need a circle of close friends and family members to help you when you need it, and no matter what today's society says, bottling up emotions is extremely unhealthy.) Ethan Hunt and the Mission: Impossible franchise debunk that theory by letting Ethan have his close friends and letting Ethan have his emotions. And the internet can ship it all they want, but so far, Brad Bird and other members of the crew have not caved and re-written their friendships. So for once in my movie-watching life (other than Newt and Jacob because the internet hasn't attacked that one yet), I get to keep my wonderful platonic relationships. So thank you, MI, for giving me Ethan Hunt and his lovely team of world-savers.

And that is all. Let me know what other movies you've seen that have believable MCs like Ethan.