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The 7 Times Tom Cruise Could Have Died Performing Dangerous Stunts

The most dangerous Tom Cruise stunts have put the actor's life in danger time and time again.

By Doug Norrie | Updated

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation - Holding Breath For 6 Minutes

Tom Cruise jumped into the churning reactor of water and entered into a literally breathless scene for this Rogue Nation scene. Cruise reportedly worked on breathing exercises for months to prepare and ended up holding his breath for a solid six minutes, about five minutes more than most humans would be able to pull off. And buckle up, this isn’t the only time Mission: Impossible will be featured on this list.

Jack Reacher - Car Chase Scene

Tom Cruise did all of his own stunt driving in this film and they even left in a “mistake” when the car stalls in a crash. Apparently, Cruise got it going again and they kept on with the take. Tom Cruise loves his vehicles for sure, whether it’s dialing them up to crazy speeds or just crashing them into things.

Mission: Impossible Fallout HALO Jump

For Mission: Impossible Fallout got himself 25,000 feet up in the air and actually performed a real HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump to make sure the scene looked correct. Oh, and he didn’t just do it once, far from it. Dude actually did the jump more than 100 times just to get it looking correct.

Mission: Impossible 2 - Rock Climbing

Mission: Impossible 2 opens with a stunning scene of Tom Cruise scaling a massive cliffside and even dangling himself over a huge expanse, at a height that would surely have splattered him if it went wrong. He was 2,000 feet in the air with nothing but a safety rope. And the jump from face to face? Yeah, he did that.

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation - Hanging Off Plane

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has more than one death-defying stunt in it and then there’s a moment when Tom Cruise actually hangs off the side of plane. Was he strapped to the side in real life? Sure, but come on. This is just nuts to consider and he was up there when the plane left terra firma.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - Burj Khalifa Climb

Climb the tallest building in the world and then sprint down it in real-time? Yeah, Tom Cruise did it. The scene in Ghost Protocol, when Cruise’s Ethan Hunt climbs the Burj Khalifa in order to access a different level, is a butt-clenching moment for sure. And yes, that was Cruise scaling the side in real life.

Top Gun: Maverick - G Forces

It’s no secret that Tom Cruise can fly planes. It’s also no secret that he has a need for speed as well. In Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise pushed it to the limit by getting into the cockpit and pushing the boundaries of movie making. Does he actually go Mach 10? No, that isn’t happening, but Cruise was up there with the pilots pushing 6Gs.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Motorcycle Jump

Technically, this scene has actually been on the big screen yet, but it’s been filmed. In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Tom Cruises launches himself and a motorcycle off the side of a cliff with just a parachute strapped to his back. There’s no safety net here folks. They had to get it right in order to clear the cliff and have enough time to float to the ground.