3) Ilsa Faust (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation)
The spy genre isn’t exactly known for promoting the female agenda. Most agents are exclusively male as part of an all boys club and the legacy of the Bond girl has objectified women for decades on the big screen. The Mission: Impossible franchise has certainly been guilty of this in the past as well, but Rogue Nation set itself apart from previous instalments with the character of Isla Faust.
From the beginning, you assume that Faust and Ethan Hunt will hook up. She’s beautiful, intelligent and clearly on top of her game. Faust is essentially a mirror version of our hero, so why the hell wouldn’t they be together? Surprisingly though, while there is sexual tension between the pair, the two ultimately part ways at the end of the film with nary a snog in sight.
What’s particularly refreshing about Faust’s character is that she doesn’t hang on to Hunt’s every whim, never lusting after him in any way. Faust has her own business to take care of and only works alongside Hunt when his goals coincide with her own. It’s unusual to see a blockbuster where the female character is actually far more complex than the star of the film. At the end of Rogue Nation, audiences were left pining for more of Faust than Hunt, a novel approach at a time when female action heroes are still few and far between.