Luther Stickell

Lore & Background

Luther Stickell first appears in Mission: Impossible as an active IMF agent recruited by Ethan Hunt for a personal mission. Ethan baits him by reminding Luther of his reputation in the hacking community. Luther triggers a fire alarm by planting a smoke bomb, poses as a firefighter to breach the CIA, and provides the password for the NOC list terminal after reading it from a monitor in the security room. After the mission, Luther celebrates with Ethan at a British pub, musing he is 'the flavor of the month' and that he will 'miss being disreputable.' In Mission: Impossible 2, Luther uses a satellite phone and tracking device to monitor Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a mole planted inside Sean Ambrose's complex; he assists remotely and is never in direct danger from a bomb. In Mission: Impossible III, Luther helps abduct Owen Davian and provides a pull-away mask and voice patch for Ethan. It is revealed in Fallout that after Ethan and Julia fake her death, Luther helped Julia disappear to avoid being hunted.

In Their Own Story

In Mission: Impossible, Luther is reluctant at first but is baited into the hack when Ethan plays to his ego. Posing as a firefighter, Luther breaches the CIA and infiltrates the main computer mainframe via a remote terminal in Langley, Virginia. He hacks the building's computer-controlled electrical system, triggering the fire alarm on the target floor. Luther provides the password needed to log in at the terminal, having seen it entered via a camera built into Ethan's eyeglasses. After learning that Jim Phelps is the real mole, Luther helps Ethan double-cross Claire and Jim. Aboard a train headed for Paris, the arms dealer Max and her bodyguard are caught with the stolen data, and the CIA reinstates Luther. Celebrating at a British pub, Luther proclaims he is 'the flavor of the month' and muses he is 'gonna miss being disreputable.' Ethan smiles and tells Luther he will always see him in that light. In Mission: Impossible 2, Luther utilizes GPS tracking satellites to keep tabs on Nyah Nordoff-Hall. He provides Ethan with an entrance to a biological lab by hacking into the building's computer-controlled electronics system. During the infiltration, a bomb planted on his van nearly kills him, but he escapes with cuts and bruises, repairing his damaged laptop. He eventually injects Nyah with the cure to the virus and helps Ethan escort her away from Ambrose. In Mission: Impossible III, Luther activates remote-controlled sentry machine guns to cause chaos. He helps abduct Owen Davian and provides a pull-away mask and specially-encoded voice patch so Ethan can imitate Davian. Luther discovers that the microdot Farris sent was not blank but contained a hidden video file revealing Brassell is a mole. In Shanghai, Luther becomes Ethan's eyes, helping him steal the 'Rabbit's Foot' and escape, musing, 'Langley was a cakewalk compared to this.' In Ghost Protocol, Luther meets Ethan for a beer in a Seattle bar after the mission. He playfully mocks Ethan for yelling 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!' and reveals his clean-up crew 'blew the entire weekend at the bottom of the San Francisco Bay' searching for the disabled warhead. He fist-bumps Ethan and says, 'See you in Kandahar.' In Rogue Nation, Luther helps take control of a plane by hacking into a Russian satellite. He retires from IMF rather than betray Ethan but is called back by Brandt. Despite tension with Brandt, Luther affirms his belief that sometimes Ethan is the one best qualified to see all the options.

Reader's Guide

Luther Stickell first appeared in the 1996 film Mission: Impossible and is the only character besides Ethan Hunt to appear in all eight films. He is an expert computer hacker who works for the IMF division of the CIA alongside Ethan Hunt, portrayed by Ving Rhames. Over the series, Luther goes from being a soft-spoken, down-to-business and reliable team member to being Ethan's most trusted friend and confidant. In Mission: Impossible, he is recruited as 'Cyber-Ops' and performs the 'Mount Everest of hacks' — breaching the CIA to steal the NOC list. In Mission: Impossible 2, he uses GPS tracking satellites and nearly dies when a bomb destroys his van. In Mission: Impossible III, he activates remote-controlled sentry machine guns, helps abduct Owen Davian, and provides a pull-away mask and voice patch. In Fallout, it is revealed he taught Julia how to be a 'ghost.' In Ghost Protocol, he meets Ethan for a beer in Seattle and mocks his 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!' yell. In Rogue Nation, he hacks a Russian satellite, retires rather than betray Ethan, and is called back by Brandt, affirming his belief in Ethan's judgment.

Did You Know?

• Luther appears in seven of the eight Mission: Impossible films, missing only Ghost Protocol.
• In Mission: Impossible III, Declan Gormley activated remote-controlled sentry machine guns to create chaos during an infiltration.
• In Fallout, it is revealed that after Ethan and Julia fake her death, Luther helped Julia disappear to avoid being hunted.
• In Ghost Protocol, the nuclear warhead is disabled in Mumbai, not the San Francisco Bay.