Claire Phelps



"Ethan's right behind me. Listen to me, Jim. Is it such a good idea to kill him? We take the money. Ethan takes the blame. No one else has seen you alive. No one will believe him."

- Claire talking to Ethan Hunt (disguised as Jim Phelps)

Claire Phelps is an anti-villain/supporting protagonist in the 1996 spy action film Mission: Impossible. She was the wife of the rogue IMF director, Jim Phelps, and Ethan Hunt's first love interest and friend.

She was portrayed by Emmanuelle Béart.

Biography
Claire and the IMF team attempt to retrieve the CIA non-official cover list from the American embassy in Prague. They failed with Phelps getting shot, Claire killed in a car bombing, and the rest of the team except Ethan Hunt eliminated by unknown assassins and supposed tech malfunctions.

After Hunt realizes "Job 314" refers to Bible verse Job 3:14, "Job" being the mole's code name, Claire arrives at the safe house, explaining she escaped the bomb after Phelps aborted the mission. Hunt arranges a meeting with Max, and warns her that the list she possesses has a tracking device. He promises to deliver the real list in return for $10 million and Job's identity.

Claire assists Hunt and two other recruits, Luther Stickell and Franz Krieger, to infiltrate CIA headquarters in Langley and steal the list.

After Ethan finds Phelps surprisingly, he recounts surviving the shooting, naming Kittridge as the mole. Hunt realizes Phelps is the mole, having stolen a Bible with a Gideon stamp from Chicago's Drake Hotel during a previous assignment known to Hunt's team. Hunt also suspects Krieger as the one who killed the other IMF members on the Prague job since Krieger carried a characteristic knife; however, he is unsure whether Claire was involved.

On the TGF, Ethan calls Claire and tells her to meet him there. Claire reaches the baggage car, finds Phelps and tells him Ethan will arrive shortly. She questions the idea of killing Ethan, since they will need a fall guy, but Phelps reveals himself to be Ethan in a mask, exposing her as a co-conspirator. When the real Phelps arrives and takes the money at gunpoint, Hunt dons a pair of video glasses that relays Phelps to Kittridge, blowing Phelps' cover as the mole. Phelps threatens to kill Ethan, but shoots Claire instead when she intervenes. Ethan Hunt was able to avenge Claire's death by killing both Phelps and Krieger.