‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ may just be a window into the future of the Marvel and DC multiverses

You could argue that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is taking more of a Marvel approach to the M: I universe, given that this first half of a two-parter is the first time one of these movies hasn’t been standalone, thereby borrowing from the serialization that’s taking over cinema right now. Something that’s inspired by the proliferation of Marvel and DC films about the place. And yet it’s possible Dead Reckoning might just feed back into those two universes itself.

While Barbie and Oppenheimer are over there, battling over how many Marvel and DC stars they can squeeze into their A-list casts, Dead Reckoning Part One is busy featuring a number of actors who may just make a major impact on both the Marvel and DC franchises in the years to come. By the time, Avengers: Secret Wars arrives in 2027, for example, we might look back and chuckle at this collection of stars being together in one place.

To start with, as we all know, Tom Cruise was nearly our Iron Man back in the mid-2000s, which only inspired all those theories he was going to play some kind of Tony Stark variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Well, that didn’t end up happening, obviously, but given that that same film cast John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic off the back of fan-interest, it feels like there’s a strong chance we could get some kind of cameo from Cruise as Iron Man in the aforementioned Secret Wars, at least.

Meanwhile, Cruise’s Dead Reckoning co-lead Hayley Atwell is already a vested part of the MCU herself, and we’re guaranteed to get more of Captain Carter in What If…? season two, with a live-action reprisal also on the table. And then there’s Vanessa Kirby, many a fan’s top pick to be our new Sue Storm, a role that Kirby has admitted it would be “an honor” to play. She may not have been popping up in the conversation as much as, say, Jodie Comer and Margot Robbie, but the opportunity’s still there.

Over on the DC side of things, Pom Klementieff switches the adorable Mantis for the cold-hearted Paris in Dead Reckoning Part One, proving that she’s a dab hand playing villains. We know Klementieff is in talks with old pal James Gunn to play one “specific” character in his brand-spanking-new DC universe, and the odds are high that she could be playing some kind of antagonist. So fans might want to closely analyze her Mission: Impossible performance to speculate on who that might be. Punchline, perhaps?

Maybe none of these predictions will come to pass, but if they do, then Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One could end up being more important to the shape of cinema than even Tom Cruise could’ve foreseen.