Before Tom Cruise blasts off to space, here are the actor’s most insane stunts

Fresh from the blockbuster success of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise has announced his next death-defying feat, which would take him way beyond where an F-16 fighter jet would have.

In collaboration with The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman, Cruise is set to shoot his next project in space, which would make him the first actor to do so. 

The project, originally pitched in 2020 and put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, involved reaching out to Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG) on the idea which would see the actor take a rocket up to the International Space Station. The project would make Cruise the first civilian to ever do a space walk outside the space station.

But, before the 60-year-old can enthrall his audience with his upcoming inter-space exploits, here are some of the wildest stunts he has ever performed over the span of his career:

The Burj Khalifa Run from Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Cruise dangled off Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building at 2,722 feet – for a scene in the franchise's fourth installment.

In an attempt to access another room in the building, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt scales the skyscraper from the outside.

The stunt required Cruise to brave the extreme winds and temperatures while working against gravity and only attached to a centimeter-thick wire as a harness.

The Building Jump from Mission Impossible: Fallout

In yet another impressive feat from the actor and his character Ethan Hunt, Cruise leaped from the roof of one building to the other during a chase sequence in the film.

Attempting to jump from one rooftop to the other, Cruise landed just short of the ledge and slammed against the side of the building before hosting himself up.

The actor managed to cause significant damage to his ankle, shattering it in the jump.

The Cockpit Sequences from Top Gun: Maverick

This summer’s nostalgic throwback saw Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell brave the skies once again - this time, with him in the cockpit of the F-16 fighter jets.

Though Cruise does not pilot the planes himself, all the flight sequences featured in the film involved Cruise and his co-stars actually performing while mid-flight.
This means, all the reactions from the dogfights are captured in real-time, with Cruise and the rest of the cast enduring massive spikes in G-force in the jets.

The Cliff Jump from Mission Impossible: II

In an intense opening sequence from the film, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt scales a massive rocky cliff using nothing but his bare hands.

The stunt involved Cruise leaping over a deadly drop and hang from a rock ledge by his fingertips before pulling himself up to safety; all while attached only to a thin rope for safety. 

The Plane Hanging from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Described by Cruise as “the most dangerous thing he’s ever done”, the stunt involved Cruise dangling outside of a plane as it took off into the skies.

The incredible stunt required Cruise to hang outside of an A400 airplane with nothing but his fingers to keep him from flying off (and a fine safety wire as insurance of course).

Cruise was particularly challenged to allow for the best camera angles for the shot, and encountered projectile particles that hit him while 5,000 feet in the air.

The Underwater Sequence from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Cruise’s next major feat in Rogue Nation involved him holding his breath underwater for over 6.5 minutes for a heist sequence.

In the scene, Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, needs to break into an underwater storage facility, however, without an oxygen tank.

To make the sequence seem as realistic as possible, Cruise and his co-star Rebecca Ferguson trained with professionals to learn how to hold their breath for long periods of time.

The Knife Scene from Mission Impossible: II

The star really had the audience sweating with this one. In an anxiety-inducing scene from MI:2, Cruise insisted on a real knife be used in a fight sequence when an attacker tries to plunge a knife into Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt’s eyeball.

No CGI was used in the filming of the scene and Cruise had a very real, very sharp knife dangle less than inch away from his retinas during the sequence.

The stunt is testament not only to the actor’s courage, putting his own eye in harm’s way, but also a remark on the control he has over his reflexes - not even flinching as the knife descended near his eyeballs.