The Syndicate (later renamed as The Apostles) is the main antagonistic faction of Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible - Fallout.
It was originally a British government project created by Atlee but, under the leadership of Solomon Lane, the Syndicate went rogue and became a powerful international terrorist organization.
History
Origins
The Syndicate was originally a proposed British government project to recruit former covert operatives of other countries, provide them with new identities and have them perform field missions without oversight, making the British Prime Minister judge, jury and executioner without accountability. The budget for this operation was on numbered accounts that should only be accessed through a virtual red box. In order to use the red box, it would have been necessary to identify the British Prime Minister, who nevertheless rejected the project.
Although the Prime Minister rejected the project, it was secretly founded without any permission by MI6 Chief Atlee and led by one of his agents, Solomon Lane. However, the latter turned rogue and used the Syndicate to enforce his own anarchist goals. In accordance with the original project's modus operandi, the organization recruited covert operatives who abnegated their countries, faked their deaths and became assassins and agents for the faction.
The Syndicate instigates revolutions and enables terrorist attacks in countries that are friendly to Western interests. Among other things, they are responsible for a plane crash near Jakarta which presumably killed the Secretary of the World Bank and 236 passengers, the murder of the President of Malawi in a car crash in Istanbul and the destruction of a chemical weapons factory in the Philippines which gassed a village of 2,000 people. However, these incidents are considered accidents and the Syndicate is generally not known as an organization. The society also required a group of Chechen separatists to smuggle lethal V.X. gas from Belarus, though Ethan Matthew Hunt prevents the transport.
Rogue Nation
Conflict with Ethan Matthew Hunt
Although there is still no evidence for the existence of the Syndicate, Ethan assumes that various terrorist attacks are the result of a secret organization and is therefore investigating. Reporting to an IMF substation to receive his orders, the Syndicate reveal their existence to Ethan, having infiltrated the substation to capture him after a man killed a young female IMF agent who doubled as a record shop keeper in London right in front of Ethan who was locked inside the room and gassed. In a hideout within the sewage system, Ethan is said to be tortured and turned over by Ilsa Faust (secretly an undercover MI6 agent) and Janik Vinter, but thanks to Ilsa, the American freed himself, killed some Syndicate henchmen and escape. Ilsa's camouflage within the Syndicate remains intact. With the existence of the organization confirmed, Ethan begins following his only lead: a blond man in glasses who oversaw his capture.
Six months later, Ethan leads a CIA Special Activities Division team to an empty safe house as a means of passing information on the Syndicate to his friend, intelligence analyst Benji Dunn. Suspicious of CIA director Alan Hunley's actions and believing he will kill Ethan at the first opportunity, William Brandt recruits former agent Luther Stickell to discreetly find Ethan, using a likeness of Ilsa found at the safe house. At the same time, the Syndicate send three agents, Ilsa, Richter and Kagan, into the Vienna Opera where they were supposed to murder the Chancellor of Austria during a performance. However, Ethan arranges for Benji to attend the opera, recruiting him to take part in a covert mission to locate the man in glasses. He confronts and kills Kagan in a fight and since Ilsa and Richter have aimed their targets, Ethan only has time to shoot either of them. So, he instead shoots the Chancellor himself before the Syndicate can. As a result, Richter considers Ilsa a traitor and opens fire on her, but is then attacked by Benji and engaged in a fight. This allows Ilsa to whirl around and shoot Richter, saving Benji's life. Escaping with Ilsa and one of the intended shooters, Ethan is powerless to prevent the Chancellor from being killed by a car bomb put in place as a redundancy.
Ilsa is later dispatched from a suspicious Lane to infiltrate a Moroccan power plant and steal a registry of Syndicate data stored on a computer. So, the British agent partners with Ethan and Benji to locate the file. Believing it to be a ledger containing the names of all Syndicate agents and its entire infrastructure, the trio secure it before Ilsa betrays Ethan and Benji. However, when she tries to escape from Casablanca with a Syndicate escort on motorcycles, she pushes the escort down and drives off alone. Ilsa is then followed by the criminals who want to regain the registry, as well as Ethan and his team who also want to take the registry. The chase ends with the death of all Syndicate agents and the successful escape of Ilsa. She then returns to London, passing the file on to her handler, Atlee. However, Atlee discreetly erases the file, forcing Ilsa to return to the Syndicate and prove her loyalty to Lane.
Regrouping with Brandt and Luther, Ethan and Benji follow Ilsa back to London, where they debate the nature of their work. Having betrayed one another so many times, they can no longer be certain of their own loyalty, and they question what to do next as they cannot be sure that Lane has not anticipated and moved to manipulate them. When Benji and Ilsa are abducted by Lane's men, Ethan realizes that Lane will always have a plan to acquire the files, and that the only 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 bio-metrics to unlock the file.
Disturbed by this turn of events, Brandt contacts Hunley and reveals their location. Hunley arrives at a charity auction to try and prevent Ethan from attacking the Prime Minister, and take him with Brandt and Atlee to a secure room. Having posed as Atlee, Ethan reveals himself and has the Prime Minister confirm the existence of the Syndicate. When the real Atlee arrives, Ethan subdues him and he admits that Lane took up the project and went rogue, and that Atlee has been covering up its existence ever since. Atlee is arrested and presumably taken into custody.
Luther 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. Ethan memorizes the data and destroys the file to force Lane to release Benji and Ilsa in exchange for what he knows. He lures Lane out into the open and into a trap set up by Luther and Brandt. Imprisoned within a bulletproof cell, he is gassed and taken into custody.
Some time later, Hunley and Brandt return to the oversight committee to reinstate the IMF. Hunley explains that their original meeting gave them a pretext to let Hunt's team infiltrate the CIA and take down the Syndicate without arousing suspicion. The committee is skeptical, believing Hunley is trying to save face, but agree when Brandt again refuses to discuss operational matters without permission. Outside, Brandt addresses Hunley as the Secretary of the IMF, revealing that the entire scheme was an elaborate ploy to expose and destroy the Syndicate and the oversight committee reinstate the IMF.
Fallout
The Apostles
The remaining members of the Syndicate continued their war against civilization for the next two years. While many of them were killed in CIA attacks, many remained unidentified and at large. The remaining members called themselves "The Apostles" and can now be hired as terrorists. Among other things, they were responsible for an outbreak of smallpox in the Kashmir valley that threatened a third of the world's population before it could be contained. After being hired by apocalyptic terrorist John Lark, the Apostles contact element of an Eastern European underworld to buy these three plutonium cores. When the IMF try to forestall the Apostles and buy the cores from the criminals, the Apostles disrupt the deal and can successfully escape with the cores as they distract Ethan by threatening the life of Luther.
In return for the plutonium cores, the Syndicate does not ask for money but instead requests that Lark and his allies, the White Widow, free Solomon Lane, who is being transported through Paris in a convoy of prisoners. Indeed, Lane can be saved, and shortly after August Walker's camouflages and turns out to be John Lark, both are rescued by a unit of the Apostles and brought out of London by helicopter.
Lane, Walker and the remaining Apostles then set out for the Kashmir Mountains; the region now fairly empty due to the smallpox outbreak. Walker's plan is to detonate the two remaining atomic bombs on a mountain glacier in order to contaminate the drinking water that is fed through the glacier and contaminate drinking water supplies from all over India and Pakistan, which would result in the food supply being shortened and eradication of a third of the world's population. Through this suffering, they plan - according to Walker's mantra - "The greater the suffering, the greater the peace" - to bring about global peace. However, this plan fails when Ethan's team defuses both bombs and Ethan kills Walker in a fight. Lane is defeated and arrested again before being sent to MI6 for imprisonment.
It is unknown what happens to the remaining Apostles after that but it is possible that they were all killed during this operation.
Quotes
| “ | Good evening, Mr. Hunt. The weapons you recovered in Belarus were confirmed to be VX nerve gas capable of devastating a major city. The bodies of the air crew were found less than 24 hours after they landed in Damascus. They were identified as low-level Chechen separatists with neither the access nor the ability to acquire the weapons they were transporting. This would support your suspicion that a shadow organization is committed to inciting revolution by enabling acts of terror in nations friendly to Western interests. IMF suspects this to be the same shadow organization you have been tracking for the last year, also known as the Syndicate. IMF would be right. Normally, you and your team would be tasked with infiltrating and disrupting this terrorist network. But we have taken steps to ensure that this will not happen. Because we are the Syndicate, Mr. Hunt. And now we know who you are. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to face your fate. Pursue us, you will be caught. Resist us, you will be killed. And your precious Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Mr. Hunt. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. | „ |
| ~ The Syndicate's vocal message, posing as IMF's vocal mission briefing, speaking to Ethan Hunt in a record player. |
| “ | These are not accidents. They're chained. A work of a single organization; The Syndicate - a rogue nation trying to do what we do with a new purpose; destroy the system that created them without any goodness who stands in their way. | „ |
| ~ Ethan Hunt describing the Syndicate to his friend Benjamin Dunn. |
Members
Atlee
Attlee is Ilsa Faust's handler and the founder of the Syndicate. He is the Chief of Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6. Atlee had been trying to conceal its existence, including his role of creating it, ever since Lane stole the project and turned it against him and MI6.
Solomon Lane
Solomon Lane, the Supreme Leader of the Syndicate
Solomon Lane is the leader of the Syndicate, formerly an MI6 agent and a skilled assassin.
Ilsa Faust
Ilsa Faust is the a high-ranking member of the Syndicate, but she betrays them and their leader, Solomon Lane, to cooperate with Ethan Hunt and his IMF team. She originally went undercover to take down the Syndicate from the inside.
Janik Vinter
Janik Vinter, nicknamed "The Bone Doctor", is Lane's second-in-command.
Kagan
M. Kagan is a member of The Syndicate assigned to assassinate the Chancellor of Austria in the opera of Vienna.
Richter
W. Richter is a member of The Syndicate, formerly a member of German Secret Service, assigned to assassinate the Chancellor of Austria in the opera of Vienna.
Saif
Saif is Janik Vinter's fellow member of the Syndicate.
A400 Pilot 1
The low-level Chechen separatist pilot on-board The Syndicate's Airbus A400M Atlas assigned to transport the V.X. nerve gas weapons from Belarus to Damascus, Syria. Less than 24 hours later, his body, along with his crew, was found on the ground.
A400 Pilot 2
The low-level Chechen separatist co-pilot on-board The Syndicate's Airbus A400M Atlas assigned to transport the V.X. nerve gas weapons from Belarus to Damascus, Syria. Less than 24 hours later, his body, along with his crew, was found on the ground.
A400 Crewman
The low-level Chechen separatist crewman on-board The Syndicate's Airbus A400M Atlas assigned to transport the V.X. nerve gas weapons from Belarus to Damascus, Syria. Less than 24 hours later, his body, along with his crew, was found on the ground.
External links
 Villains
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Mission: Impossible (TV series) Mission: Impossible (film) Mission: Impossible 2 Mission: Impossible III Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Other Mission: Impossible – Fallout Other Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning | ||