Jim Phelps is the co-founder and current leader of the Impossible Mission Force from a former elite Special Forces squad. Eventually over time he grew disillusioned and believed the government no longer needed him, leading him to attempt to sell off the Non-Official Cover or NOC list to a dealer named Max for cash, Jim Phelps betraying his team and faking his death in the process. Ethan Hunt leads the new IMF and originally sees Jim as a father figure with Jim acting the part until his "death".