In Mission: Impossible III, the Rabbit’s Foot is located in Shanghai. The mysterious object is being sought by arms dealer Owen Davian, and Ethan Hunt learns its location during an interrogation after Davian escapes custody.
IMF director of operations John Musgrave discreetly mouths “Shanghai” to Ethan while appearing to participate in the questioning. Ethan then travels to China with his team, including Luther Stickell, Declan Gormley, and Zhen Lei, to steal the Rabbit’s Foot. The Shanghai operation forms one of the film’s major action set pieces and connects the object to the larger effort to rescue Ethan’s kidnapped fiancée, Julia.
The location is easy to confuse with other cities in the plot. Ethan’s team first captures Davian in Vatican City, while Lindsey Farris’s investigation and rescue attempt begin in Berlin. Those places are important to the story, but neither is the Rabbit’s Foot’s location. Directed by J. J. Abrams, the 2006 film was the third theatrical Mission: Impossible installment.