Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Who Is Gabriel & What Does He Really Want?

Contains spoilers for "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One"

The true villain of "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" may be the Entity, but because it's an AI confined to cyberspace, it's not the main force in the story. That role is filled by Gabriel (Esai Morales), the envoy of the Entity who enacts its will on the physical plane. Cold, calculated, and zealous in his loyalty to the AI, Gabriel is a frightening antagonist who always seems to be one step ahead. And as is revealed over the course of "Dead Reckoning Part One," he also has a long and bloody history with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).

Through vague flashbacks, we see their story play out. Before Ethan ever joined the IMF, he was in love with a woman named Marie, but that happiness was shattered when Gabriel murdered her. After he escaped, Ethan was framed for the crime. However, before being committed to a lifetime in prison, he was given the choice of joining the IMF, and he chose to accept.

When Gabriel pops back up in "Dead Reckoning," Ethan is understandably shocked. He tells the group that he believed his nemesis to have died years before. Whether or not this was the result of an IMF mission targeting Gabriel or something unrelated is never explained. But what we do know is that Gabriel has been in hiding for decades, only now emerging to serve the Entity and usher in a new world order.

By the end of "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One," two main things about Gabriel are clear. He's a techno-zealot determined to help the Entity expand its powers, and he has a personal vendetta against Ethan Hunt. What we don't get are clear motivations or a connection between the two.

Ethan describes Gabriel as a sadistic psychopath who "sees death as a gift he wants to share with the rest of the world." So it's a safe bet that Gabriel was involved in terrorism or other major crimes even before he killed Marie. Since Ethan wasn't in the IMF at the time, though, it's confusing why Gabriel would make him a target. It's also a mystery how he managed to stay hidden for so long, only to reemerge with the Entity.

Gabriel's loyalty to the AI is a little easier to justify. If he truly is a madman with a penchant for violence, there's no better ally to have than an omniscient superintelligence with a vendetta against humanity. There could be more going on between Gabriel and the AI, but until we learn what he's been up to for all these years, it's hard to know for sure. We do see him wearing a VR headset during one scene at the end of "Dead Reckoning Part One," which suggests that he communes with the Entity in cyberspace, learning secrets no other human knows.

So if Ethan wasn't in the IMF when Gabriel killed Marie, why was she targeted by such a violent criminal? The answer could be hiding in some stray backstory details from the previous films.

In "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," for instance, details in a dossier on Ethan claim that he once served in the U.S. Army and that he majored in international relations in college. If he was already a military veteran when Marie was killed, he could have had run-ins with Gabriel, thus establishing a rivalry between the two. This also explains why Ethan was given the choice to join the IMF, as he was likely already a standout soldier.

Still, there are a lot of things that we just don't know yet. AI technology wouldn't have even been a factor in global espionage when Ethan joined the IMF, so Gabriel must have been involved with other underworld activities. We don't know when or why he gravitated to the Entity, how it came to trust him, or why specifically he still has it out for Ethan. It's clear that Gabriel resents his nemesis, as he goes out of his way to torment Ethan over the course of "Dead Reckoning Part One." With luck, all our questions will be answered when "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two" rolls around.