Kurt Hendricks

Kurt Henricks a.k.a Cobalt is a Swedish-born Russian nuclear strategist and the main antagonist in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

Hendricks' aim was to cause a nuclear conflict between Russia and the US. In order to facilitate this, Hendricks arranged for the destruction of the Kremlin in Russia, ultimately putting the blame for the attack on the IMF, as well stealing a Russian nuclear launch-control device. Hendricks also later acquires the launch codes for the missile. His strategy was for this conflict to ignite a global nuclear exchange and thus eliminate most of the world's population. With most of the world's people wiped out (and presumably their old conflicts and hatreds along with them) a new era of "peace" could be ushered in. Hendricks uses the alias "Cobalt" to prevent his true identity from surfacing. After officially being disavowed because of the attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt and his team consisting of agents Jane Carter, Benji Dunn and IMF analyst William Brandt, are tasked with stopping "Cobalt" and bringing his conspiracy to light, or be hunted down as the terrorists responsible for the attack.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
After acquiring the launch codes for the missile from Hunt and his team after a botched operation, Hendricks and his right hand man Wistrom head to a Russian television broadcasting center where he shuts down the satellite that Hunt and his team had thought he would use to launch the missile. Having anticipated Hunt's shutting down of the satelite, Hendricks instead uses the broadcast center to launch the missile from a Russian submarine, sending it hurtling towards San Francisco. Hunt and his team show up at the broadcasting center just as Hendricks and Wistrom are exiting, a chase then ensues where Hunt pursues Hendricks, who has the launch-control device which could stop the missile in mid flight, while Wistrom runs back into the broadcast center to take it off line, with Brandt, Jane and Dunn in pursuit. Hunt follows Hendricks into a vehicle assembly factory where they brutally fight over the device and after being beaten by Hunt, Hendricks jumps from one of the upper floors of the factory, in an attempt to ensure the detonation of the missile, mortally wounding himself in the process. However, Hunt rides a car down to the bottom floor and retrieves the device, and after Dunn kills Wistrom, Brandt brings the broadcast station back online enabling Hunt to use the launch control device to disable the missile letting it crash harmlessly into the San Francisco bay. Hendricks witnesses Hunt disabling the missile and foiling his plans, before succumbing to his injuries.