Luther Stickell

Luther Stickell
Mission: Impossible character
Luther Stickell, played by Ving Rhames, in Mission: Impossible III.
First appearance	Mission: Impossible
Portrayed by	Ving Rhames
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	IMF Agent

Luther Stickell is a fictional supporting character in the Mission: Impossible film series who first appeared in Mission: Impossible in 1996 and is the only character besides Ethan Hunt to appear in all five films.

In the films, Luther is an expert computer hacker who works for the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) division of the CIA alongside Ethan Hunt. He has been portrayed in all five movies and in the 2003 video game Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma by Ving Rhames.

Over the course of five movies, Luther's character has gone from being a soft-spoken, down-to-business and reliable team member to being Ethan's most trusted friend and confidant.

IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (portrayed by Tom Cruise) has been "disavowed" by the CIA following a botched mission in Prague, a "mole hunt" for an agent who planned to steal the CIA's non-official cover (NOC) list, a detailed file of all the IMF agents situated in Eastern Europe. Framed as the mole, with only his teammate Claire Phelps alive, Ethan plots to steal a copy of the list for himself as leverage to lure the person responsible for framing Hunt out of hiding. Hunt enlisted the help of two other "disavowed" IMF agents: Luther Stickell and Franz Krieger (portrayed by Jean Reno). Stickell is chosen as "Cyber-Ops" for his reputation as a well-known hacker and phreaker. Reluctant at first, Luther is baited into the hack when Ethan played to Stickell's ego, selling the job proposal as "the Mount Everest of hacks". Posing as a team of firefighters putting out a small blaze within the building, the rogue IMF group breaches the CIA and infiltrates the main computer mainframe via a remote computer terminal at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. In order to gain access to the floor with the NOC list, Luther hacks into the building's computer-controlled electrical system, triggering the fire alarm on that floor. Because of his agility, Hunt performs the physical act of obtaining the information himself but has Luther, in his ear via headset, instructing him on performing the hack. Luther, from the team's stolen firetruck parked outside the building, obtains the password to the terminal by hacking into the CIA's online network from a laptop. After obtaining the list, Hunt discovers that his team leader Jim Phelps not only survived the initial mission in Prague, but also suspected that he is the real mole and the man responsible for framing him, despite Jim's insistence that CIA Director Kittridge was the mole. After learning this from Ethan, Luther helps him double-cross Claire and Jim together. Aboard a train headed for Paris, the arms dealer called Max (Ethan's buyer of the NOC list) and her bodyguard are caught with the stolen data, the CIA drops their case against Hunt and reinstates him, along with Luther. When Ethan and Luther celebrate together at a British pub, Luther proclaims he is "the flavor of the month", indicating that the CIA is now treating him like royalty thanks to his help. At the same time, he muses that he is "gonna miss being disreputable" as he is no longer in hiding and incapable of the illegal computer activities he was privy to performing before he was reinstated. Before going their separate ways, Hunt smiles and tells Luther that, if it makes him feel any better, he will always see Luther in that light.