Jim Phelps

Jim Phelps is a character in the Mission: Impossible television series as well as the 1996 Mission: Impossible film. In the film, Phelps is the main antagonist.

He is portrayed by Jon Voight.

Biography
Phelps serves as the Impossible Mission Force team leader and starts out as a friend of Ethan Hunt. He is secretly involved in a conspiracy and during one of their missions he fakes his own death while three other IMF agents die courtesy of him. Later on in the film, he appears before Hunt and betrays him after it is revealed he faked his death and sold out the U.S. to a weapons dealer known as Max. During the climax, Phelps and Hunt fight on the roof of a speeding train, and as Phelps tries to escape in a helicopter, Hunt destroys it with an exploding chewing gum gadget. The flaming remains of the helicopter then crush Phelps into the train tracks, to his death.

Trivia

 * Some fans of the Mission: Impossible television series were upset when they learned that Phelps would become an antagonist in the 1996 film. This also caused Peter Graves, who portrayed Phelps in the original series, to turn down the chance to play Phelps in the film.