User blog:Valkerone/PE Proposal - Solomon Lane (Archived)


 * Original by MenInBlak: https://villains.fandom.com/f/p/3179493162221867024

With the new Mission: Impossible film out, I'd like to make an effortpost for the sole recurring villain in the franchise so far, Mr. Lane. Solomon Lane.

Character Traits?
Solomon Lane has a very clear-cut personality. Lane is the emotionless leader of an anarchist group named "The Syndicate", which is essentially government agents (MI6, CIA, FBI, etc) being tired of their government after being mistreated by it, and joining the organization to break the current world order and replaced it with a new one. Despite this seemingly well-intentioned goal, Lane is a manipulative sociopath and sadist who's first scene includes killing an innocent woman working at a disc shop. He does have a freudian excuse; he was once an MI6 Agent but betrayed them after years of being mistreated by them. But read below why it is ultimately hollow at the end.

Moral Event Horizon?
For the record, here are all of Lane's acts (in both movies); Killing an innocent woman working at a music disc shop while Ethan Hunt is forced to watch her die; assassinating the Austrian chancellor; attempting to assassinate the British Prime Minister; attempting to kill and torture Ethan Hunt; attempting to kill a third of the world's population, 2 billion or so, just so that he can frame Ethan Hunt for the explosion and ruin his life; attemtping to hang Benji in front of Ilsa Faust, a fellow MI6 Agent and possibly former lover. Out of these, I'd say the final two ultimately puts him in the point of no return.

Heinous Standard
Mission: Impossible has lots of terrorists, serial killers, maniacs, xenophobes, hell, one of the episodes of the original series has the sons of WWII War Criminals making a group to trigger WWIII, but no one is as spiteful, as personal as Lane, and the fact that he wants to kill a third of the world's population just so that Hunt can rot in prison shows this.

No Sympathy
Although he has a freudian excuse combined with originally being an extremist, Lane breaks this in Fallout where he just becomes a sadist of the worst kind.

No Redeeming Qualities
Lane seems to have a pragmatic care for Ilsa in Rogue Nation, but he still has no problems killing her if he has too, as he makes clear. Not only that, but Lane also forces her to watch as he hangs Benji just to torture her, so yeah no. Not redeeming.

Moral Agency?
Although he is definitely less sane in the sequel than in Rogue Nation, he's nowhere close to psychotic and he's still an evil genius and mastermind among masterminds who is fully aware of how horrible and heinous his actions are.

Screentime?
Lane is the sole recurring antagonist of the franchise, so obviously.

Worst?
While Owen Davian stands out through his sadism, spending the entire film torturing and murdering without any emotion at all, Lane stands out through being more personal and yet also having the highest body count in the franchise so far.

Story Type?
Mission: Impossible is an action franchise where the IMF, Impossible Missions Force, has to quite literally do the impossible by stopping the most horrible terrorists and maniacs they find. But see "Heinous Standard" for more information.

Conclusion
I'll say yes. You?