Solomon Lane

"Face to face, just as you wished, Ethan."

- Lane to Ethan Hunt, before Hunt finally defeats him "Ethan Hunt is a gambler. And one day his luck will run out, and thousands of innocent people will pay the price. Which one of us will be the villain then?"

- Solomon Lane, explaining his motives to Ilsa Faust

Solomon Lane is the main antagonist of the 2015 blockbuster action spy thriller film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. He is a former MI6 agent who went rogue and he currently leads The Syndicate, an international mysterious and powerful terrorist organisation made of former government operatives who faked their deaths, betrayed their homelands and then became assassins.

He was portrayed by actor Sean Harris, who also played Stretch and Jungler, as well as kidnapper and serial killer Mr. Kidd in A Lonely Place to Die.

Capturing Hunt and Hunt's Escape
IMF agent Ethan Hunt is convinced that he can prove the existence of the Syndicate, an international terrorist consortium of rogue agents and trained killers. Reporting into an IMF substation to receive his orders, the Syndicate reveal their existence to Hunt, having infiltrated the station to subdue him. Hunt is rescued by disavowed British agent Ilsa Faust, a Syndicate operative who offers no explanation for her actions. With their existence confirmed, Hunt begins following his only lead: a blond man in glasses who oversaw his capture.

Aftermath of Hunt's Escape
Six months later, Hunt leads a CIA team to an empty safehouse as a means of passing information on the Syndicate to his friend, intelligence analyst Benji Dunn. Suspicious of Hunley's actions and believing he will kill Hunt at the first opportunity, Brandt recruits former agent Luther Stickell to discreetly find Hunt, using a likeness of Ilsa found at the safehouse. Hunt arranges for Dunn to attend an opera in Vienna, recruiting him to take part in a covert mission to locate the man in glasses. Realizing that the Syndicate plans to assassinate the Chancellor of Austria at the opera, Hunt intervenes by shooting him before the Syndicate can. Escaping with Ilsa, one of the intended shooters, he is powerless to prevent the Chancellor from being killed by a car bomb put in place as a redundancy.

His Own Henchwoman Cooprates with Hunt and Hunt's Reveal
Ilsa partners with Hunt and Dunn to locate a file hidden by a Syndicate traitor on a high-security server used to regulate a Moroccan power station. Believing it to be a ledger containing the names of all Syndicate agents, the trio secure it before Ilsa betrays Hunt and Dunn. She returns to London, passing the file on to her handler, Attlee. However, Attlee discreetly erases the file, forcing Ilsa to return to the Syndicate and prove her loyalty to its leader, Solomon Lane, who Hunt knows as the man in the glasses.

Regrouping with Brandt and Stickell, Hunt and Dunn follow Ilsa back to London, where they debate the nature of their work.

Abduction of Ilsa and Benji and Giving Hunt an Ultimatum
Having betrayed one another so many times, they can no longer be certain of their own loyalty, question what to do next as they cannot be sure that Lane has not anticipated and moved to manipulate them. When Dunn and Ilsa are abducted by Lane's men, Hunt realizes that Lane will always have a plan to acquire the files, and that the only sure way to stop him is to force a confrontation with him. He agrees to Lane's ultimatum to abduct the British Prime Minister and use his voice print to unlock the file.

Atlee's Reveal
Disturbed by this turn of events, Brandt contacts Hunley and reveals their location. Hunley arrives at a charity auction to try and prevent Hunt from attacking the Prime Minister, and take him with Brandt and Attlee to a secure room. Having posed as Attlee, Hunt reveals himself and has the Prime Minister confirm the existence of the Syndicate: a top-secret black project that sought to recruit disavowed foreign operatives to carry out clandestine missions; an initiative that the Prime Minister rejected as too extreme. When the real Attlee arrives, Hunt subdues him, and he admits that Lane hijacked the project for his own ends and went rogue, and that Atlee has been covering up its existence ever since. At lee is arrested and is taken into custody.

The Final Showdown and Defeat
"Mr. Lane, please meet The IMF."

- Ethan Hunt to Lane, after the latter defeated him finally

Stickell discovers that the file is not a ledger of agents, but contains the location and access codes for billions of dollars in untraceable funds that Lane has been desperate to get to expand the Syndicate's operations. Hunt memorizes the data and destroys the file to force Lane to release Dunn and Ilsa in exchange for what he knows. He lures Lane out into the open and into a trap set up by Stickell. Imprisoned in a bulletproof cell, he is gassed and taken into custody and the Syndicate is dismantled for good.

Trivia

 * This marks the first time that a main antagonist in a Mission Impossible film has not died.
 * Solomon Lane is similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, as they are intelligent criminal masterminds who command powerful terrorist organizations.