Impossible 8 May Have Just Answered the Mystery of an 18-Year-Old Franchise

The trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is teasing the end of the franchise and may finally answer a nearly 20-year-old mystery. JJ Abrams made his directorial debut with Mission: Impossible 3where Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt had to juggle saving the world and being a new husband to wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Abrams also brought his mystery box narrative formula to the series with the central MacGuffin “The Rabbit’s Foot”, which was said to be a weapon of enormous destructive power.

Keeping with the mystery box style, the third Mission: Impossible the film never revealed what the rabbit’s foot is or what it can do. Now, the first trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning teases the end of Hunt’s story and features some callbacks to the franchise’s past. This includes Ethan stealing the Rabbit’s Foot, suggesting the device will play a role in the story. In truth, the series may have already revealed what Rabbit’s Foot is.

Will Mission: Impossible 8 finally open JJ’s mystery box?

It was, of course, an intentional choice by Abrams not to reveal the exact nature of the Mission: Impossible 3 Rabbit’s Foot. Rather than explaining it as some kind of virus or nuclear device, he felt it would be more fun for the audience to bring their own readings. That being said, the presence of Rabbit’s Foot in The final reckoning trailer may suggest the device housed an early version of The Entity itself.

The problem with Abrams’ mystery box formula is that the question is always more convincing than the answer, as shown by Lost proven. Even so, if Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning revealed that the Rabbit’s Foot was an early version of The Entity, which would be a genuinely shocking revelation. It looks like the eighth entry will focus on Ethan’s past and where his actions have led him. If the sequel reveals that Hunt had the chance to destroy the Entity long before it became a threat, it would only heighten his sense of responsibility.

An alternative use for the Rabbit’s Foot could be for the weapon to be a countermeasure for the Entity. – or possibly a means of destroying it. Director Christopher McQuarrie has stated many times that he doesn’t like easter eggs and references just for the sake of them, so if Rabbit’s Foot appears in Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningIt’s there for a good reason.

Mission: Impossible’s resident technician described it as a potential “doomsday kind of thing”

Simon Pegg’s Benji made his debut in Mission: Impossible 3where he was completely confined to an IMF laboratory doing technical things. It wasn’t until the next entry, Ghost Protocol, that he went into the field and did real spy stuff. Pegg’s best moment in part three is when Ethan asks him what the Rabbit’s Foot weapon everyone is chasing can do, and Benji delivers a chilling monologue. It is here that he describes his former professor at Oxford, detailing the inevitable emergence of the ultimate doomsday device.

And he used to scare freshmen with this story about how the world would eventually be eviscerated by technology. You see, it was inevitable that a compound would be created which he referred to as the ‘Anti-God’. It was like an accelerated mutator or some kind of, you know, like an unstoppable force of destructive power, that would just destroy everything – buildings and parks and streets and children and ice cream shops, you know? So whenever I see a rogue organization willing to spend that amount of money on a mysterious technology, I always assume… it’s the Anti-God. End of the world type stuff, you know…

In short, Benji felt that this device could be the mythical weapon his teacher warned about – although, by his own admission, he has no idea what the Rabbit’s Foot is. Although AI is not mentioned in the speech, the use of “eviscerated by technology“suggests that the weapon need not be a bomb or virus. It could very well be an early version of the rogue AI that would evolve into the Entity, and as Reckoning Proven with its abilities to hack into any government or manipulate data, this AI holds the power to destroy the world if it so desires..

Ethan could have prevented the Entity from becoming a threat

The end of Mission: Impossible 3 involves Ethan being blackmailed into stealing the rabbit’s foot from a laboratory in Shanghai and delivering it to the villains. This was to save Julia’s life, but of course, Ethan managed to save her and kill the bandits. He then returns the Rabbit’s Foot to the IMF – which still refuses to tell him what it is. The McQuarrie era of Mission: Impossible focused on what motivates Ethan, which includes the inability to sacrifice any member of his team and his immense guilt for perceived failures.

For example, in precipitation, Hunt carries the weight of his failed marriage to Julia and the feeling that he ruined her life. Instead, the film ends with Julia revealing that she loves how her life turned out – and it wouldn’t have been that way if they hadn’t met. This lets him off the hook emotionally, but Hunt can almost feel like a high-stakes gambler during the franchise, where he bets the lives of millions on his ability to pull “impossible” feats.

In Mission: Impossible 3he again risked millions of lives just to save Julia, and If the rabbit’s foot is indeed the entity, Ethan missed the perfect chance to destroy it.. Considering the damage this evil AI has already caused – including the death of Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust – this realization could really bring Ethan down. The final reckoning The trailer constantly references Ethan’s past actions and the price he must pay for them, which will be the main theme of the film. If he failed to stop the Entity before it could even be activated, he must seek redemption by destroying it.

Maybe The Final Reckoning trailer is offering some misdirection

Mission: Impossible 3 It didn’t explain the true nature of the Rabbit’s Foot, but the biohazard symbol on the box didn’t qualify it as a piece of technology. In fact, the sequence heavily implies that it’s some kind of biological agent that could cause untold harm if released. The Entity is certainly living up to the “Anti-God” label that Benji placed on Rabbit’s Foot – being that it’s a piece of technology with the power to undo humanity – but it still doesn’t seem like that was the weapon’s intention in the third entry.

If the Rabbit’s Foot is revealed to have harbored the Entity, McQuarrie is taking a gamble by answering one of the series’ longest-running mysteries. It seems like a satisfying answer, but not all fans feel that way. Still, it’s exciting to have the device returning in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningand find out what kind of role he will play in the story.

Source: Rotten tomatoes, The Numbers