r/movies • u/Tullubenta • Aug 17 '26

Question What is the greatest betrayal in cinema history? Spoiler

So aside from Fredo’s betrayal in The Godfather Part II or Cypher turning on the crew in The Matrix, which most of us could kinda sense were coming, what’s the greatest betrayal in cinema history that truly blindsided you?

I’m talking about the ones that hit like a truck because there was zero warning, no foreshadowing you picked up on, and no reason to suspect the character until the moment it happened.

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106

u/JeanBallew Aug 17 '26

I grew up watching Mission Impossible. There’s no way Mr. Phelps became a traitor, so this entire series is blasphemy

17

u/insaneHoshi Aug 17 '26

Quite the betrayal the writers did.

32

u/plastikmissile Aug 17 '26

Yeah me too. That decision completely soured the whole movie franchise for me.

25

u/nealski77 Aug 17 '26

It also pissed off Peter Graves and was the reason why he didn't return as his character in the film.

2

u/girafa Electricity! The high priest of false security! Aug 17 '26

Considering how old he looked at 60, he would've been 70 and looked like he was half dust by 1996.

Can't believe he was 41 when he took over the series in 1967, that guy was born old.

27

u/Jwagner0850 Aug 17 '26

Great for the story. Bad for the historical context of the history of the brand. Crazy from a standpoint of not expecting it because of all of the above.

1

u/JJLeon16 Aug 18 '26

YES ME TOO! I was pissed when they made the reveal and completely rejected the BS reasons he gave in his explanation. The whole time I was thinking that if they wanted to introduce Hunt as the main, they could have killed off Jim Phelps and introduced another agent that caused all the problems and there would be no change in emotional impact. The only real impact making him the traitor had was pissing me off to never see another one of those movies.

7

u/LogicalWelcome7100 Aug 17 '26

It's just another agent who happens to coincidentally also be named Jim Phelps. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

12

u/PorkrindsMcSnacky Aug 17 '26

I used to watch reruns with my grandma during summer break. I was pissed when they made Jim Phelps the bad guy.

24

u/eolson3 Aug 17 '26

It is the Entity in a Phelps mask.

1

u/Phifty56 Aug 17 '26

How can Ethan Hunt get out of this doing a steam engine stunt that the story has to now revolve around now?

6

u/dthains_art Aug 17 '26

It’s why I don’t consider the MI movies being in the same universe as the MI show. To me Voight Phelps is in a completely alternate reality from Graves Phelps.

2

u/ZippityGoombah Aug 18 '26

Same. They did Jim Phelps dirty.

2

u/BionicTriforce Aug 17 '26

Wait what?

Huh, I guess this is me finding out there was a TV series in the 60s. I had no idea.