Which 'Mission: Impossible' stunt almost broke Tom Cruise's back?: 'That was brutal'

Tom Cruise’s stunt for the “Mission: Impossible” films is legendary, but not without some serious risks.

Cruise returned one last time as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in his summer’s “Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning,” with one death-defying moment that “almost broke my back.”

Cruise joined the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie in reviewing some moments from the film with Entertainment Weekly, revealing it was the biplane stunt that almost did him in.

“Oh, this almost broke my back!” Cruise said.

In the sequence, Cruise jumps from one plane to another, barely hanging on as one of the villain’s tries to knock him off the wing.

McQuarrie added: “You’re talking about a lot of pain here.”

The director also highlighted another moment, where Cruise is clinging onto the seatbelt in one of the biplanes as it hangs upside down.

“The thing we haven't talked about, holding on to this belt,” McQuarrie point out.

“This separated the joints in Tom's fingers from the force, so by the time we finished this sequence, your hands were absolutely swollen - oh my God, it was so painful to watch.”

Cruise added, “Oh God, that was brutal.”

McQuire pointed out another hard hit, saying Cruise, “improvised that” and thanking his star, saying, “I appreciate that. You were like, 'I think we're gonna need that,' and I was like, 'I didn't ask you to do that.'"

“Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning” was Cruise’s last go around as Ethan Hunt, but far from the first time he injured himself during filming.

He famously broke his ankle running across rooftops for “Mission: Impossible-Fallout” back in 2018, and the footage ended up in the final film!