Jason Bourne VS. Ethan Hunt

Script written by Max Lett.

Jason Bourne VS. Ethan Hunt

What do these two characters have in common? They’re both deadly secret agents and they’re about to duke it out! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re finding out what would happen if Jason Bourne encountered Ethan Hunt in a five-round battle royale, where winner takes all.

For this showdown, we’re pitting the heroes of the Bourne series and the Mission: Impossible series against each other to see how they measure up overall.

Round 1: Origin and Motivation

If we knew everything we had to know about Jason Bourne, we wouldn’t need so many movies to tell us that he doesn’t even remember! Here’s a man whose identity is so secret that he himself doesn’t know it. As it happens, Jason Bourne isn’t his real name (shocker); he’s actually a former foreign service officer named David Webb who was initially a member of a top secret organization, but lost all of his memories when he was shot a couple of times and left for dead in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ethan Hunt is your classic garden-variety secret agent; he plays things pretty close to the vest, so not much is known about him either. During the events of the first “Mission: Impossible” film, he and his team are betrayed by their leader, but Hunt manages to survive and take revenge on his former mentor. He has a strong sense of justice - and avenging his friends and clearing his name are his main purpose.

Because mystery is the name of the game in the secret agent biz, Jason Bourne wins this round.

Winner: Bourne 1 / Hunt 0

Round 2: Personality and Cool Factor

Being badass is something you either have or don’t have, and despite his retrograde amnesia, Jason Bourne is usually 100 percent awesome. When he’s not trying to self-actualize and figure out who he really is deep down, he’s taking bad guys out of commission with martial arts badassery. When he finally does discover his true identity, surprise surprise, he – and we – find out he used to be an even bigger badass.

Instead of being chased around and put in situations where he’s forced to be awesome, Ethan Hunt actively seeks out circumstances in which he can look as cool as possible. These may or may not include unprotected mountain climbing and stealing top-secret information from the CIA. At home, he has to pretend to be an everyday Joe not to worry his wife, which kind of gives him that Batman/Bruce Wayne angle.

You gotta put in the effort to get the results and because Ethan Hunt tries so hard, he takes this round.

Winner: Bourne 1 / Hunt 1

Round 3: Combat Skills (Hand to Hand and Weapons)

Fancy cocktails and expensive cars don’t make you a super spy. You need a few other essential qualities to keep ahead of the curve, and knowing how to fight is one of them. Jason Bourne may have lost his memory, but he didn’t lose his combat skills – and he proves this time and time again when he takes out highly trained agents and assassins, much to his own surprise! He’s shown himself to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat as well as with various firearms and blade weapons. He can even use a pen to its fullest potential!

Ethan Hunt works for an agency named the Impossible Missions Force so unless they expect their agents to actually fail; they need to train them to the limits of their endurance. And that includes fighting. Ethan uses a combination of basic combat techniques and situational improvisation to take out his enemies quickly and quietly. But when that occasionally fails, he waits until they’re struck by oncoming traffic.

Because he still manages to take down the world’s finest assassins while being unable to remember exactly why he can, Jason Bourne wins this fight.

Winner: Bourne 2 / Hunt 1

Round 4: Mission Effectiveness and Improvisational Skills

While he doesn’t have an official mission per se, Jason Bourne operates under his own set of rules and a desire to learn the truth. In order to do this, he puts all of his previous spy training to good use. He is able to manage situations and dodge his pursuers while interrogating the right people to get what he wants, and when one plan fails, he always has a plan B or an exit strategy to fall back on.

When you’re facing double agents, triple agents, backstabbers and assassins, you can’t always expect your first tactic to succeed. Ethan Hunt is more the “wait and see” type and reacts to possible changes in his plans. So when something does go awry, he is able to improvise at the drop of a dime. He even taught us that, when in doubt, all you need is an explosive stick of gum and a giant aquarium to get out of a sticky situation. Who’s gonna argue with that?

Ethan Hunt for the win here.

Winner: Bourne 2 / Hunt 2

Round 5: Stunts

Because he’s being hunted by most of the governments on the planet, Jason Bourne has to keep a pretty low profile; so performing jaw-dropping stunts in public isn’t the best way to keep your head down. On the off chance that he is confronted by one of his pursuers, he’ll usually incite a pretty destructive car chase because we all know that’s the best way to keep the news cameras at bay. While these maneuvers are pretty harrowing, he’s going to have some pretty stiff competition.

Working for the Impossible Missions Force pretty much guarantees a distinct lack of pencil pushing. When Ethan Hunt isn’t jumping off the tallest buildings he can find, you might see him crashing motorcycles into other motorcycles at full speed, or threatening to drop people out of planes. While most people would post these events on Facebook or Twitter, Ethan plays it cool and moves on to the next big thing.

Ethan Hunt takes this round for having nerves of pure steel.

Winner: Bourne 2 / Hunt 3

Our winner, by a score of 3 to 2 is Ethan Hunt. While these men are both pros, if Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt were to duke it out in the real world, Hunt’s crazy daredevil antics and improvisational skills would give him the upper hand.

What did you think of our verdict? Be sure to debate in the comments section, and subscribe to WatchMojo.com for more entertaining videos published daily.