When did Indy ever go to Tangier?
Who does Jürgen Voller remind us of?
And what happened to Indy's son, Mutt?
There are plenty of small details to unpack in "The Dial of Destiny", and we're here to
break them down.
Spoilers ahead!
While "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Last Crusade" were World War II adjacent — with
Indy traveling across the world to stop Nazis from obtaining ancient supernatural artifacts
— Indiana Jones has never been shown fighting in the actual war itself.
Even the last film in the original trilogy — "Crusade" — was set in 1938, a year
before Hitler invaded Poland.
"Dial of Destiny" changes that with an eye-popping fifteen-minute action scene starring a young
Indy as he infiltrates and escapes a Nazi fortress, later saving his friend on a Nazi
train.
This is also where he steals back half of the Antikythera from a younger version of
Jürgen Voller.
The fact that Indy enlisted and fought covertly in World War II shouldn't surprise anyone.
Despite his well-documented hatred of the enemy in the previous films, Indy's military
service isn't directly referenced until "Crystal Skull."
In that film, after the Area 51 and "nuking the fridge" sequences, Indy is interrogated
by stuffy G-men stooges.
They mention Indy's exemplary military service, before admonishing him with the suspicion
he could be a spy.
"We did 20, 30 missions together in Europe and the Pacific."
"Don't wave your war record in our face, Colonel Jones.
We all served."
In "Dial of Destiny," after the exciting World War II prologue, the film cuts to a much older
Indiana Jones — now 70, nearly a decade younger than the actor playing him — living
in a small, messy apartment.
Indy is now much older and crankier, and viewers are introduced to him getting annoyed by young
neighbors partying.
There are, of course, mementos and references to his past adventures strewn throughout his
apartment.
One that stands out is a painting of the magical "Leap of Faith" bridge, as seen in the climax
of "Last Crusade."
In that film, Indy had to cross the bridge — relying on his Biblical knowledge to get
to the other side.
It was the last test Indy had to overcome to get to the coveted "Holy Grail" before
the Nazi villains.
It makes sense that Indy would keep this particular memento, as this happened during an adventure
with his father, played in that film by Sean Connery.
The test was also a monumental accomplishment for Indy, as he succeeded in that task due
to his wits and historical knowledge.
"Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth."
Of course, it's also just a fun Easter egg for a production designer to sneak in there
for the fans.
"Dial of Destiny" is set in 1969, and part of its backstory involves the Apollo 11 moon
landing.
It's stated that the main villain of the film, Jürgen Voller — who goes by the much less
conspicuous name "Dr. Schmidt" — is a former Nazi scientist scooped up by the United States
government at the end of World War II to help build rockets for NASA.
That idea wasn't pulled out of thin air.
It's based on a real US government program called "Operation Paperclip."
Essentially, during WWII, German scientists developed V-2 rockets, some of the most advanced
at the time.
Afterwards, once the Nazis surrendered, their tech, scientists, and research were all up
for grabs.
"Paperclip" served as a scientific advantage for the US, helping significantly with getting
a jump on the space race.
Over 1,600 scientists, as well as engineers and technicians, came over from former Nazi
Germany.
As Nazi scientists were given sanctuary by the United States government, one of the most
prominent was Wernher von Braun — who worked on the Apollo 8 mission and helped develop
the Saturn V rocket that landed American astronauts on the moon.
It was eventually discovered that von Braun had worked as a rocket scientist for Nazi
Germany during World War II, thereby aiding the fascist regime in developing the V-2 rocket.
While he had denied direct culpability to Nazi cruelty, documents were later discovered
that showed evidence to the contrary.
According to Empire, Mads Mikkelsen's villainous Jürgen Voller is based on von Braun.
"My memory's a little fuzzy.
Are you still a Nazi?"
Telling details in the film include feigned ignorance of Nazi war crimes carried out in
Hitler's name, as well as pretending to be "apolitical" in geo-political affairs — which
turned out to be false for both von Braun and the fictional Voller.
Celebrity impersonators have long been a staple of comedy.
The potential audience for impersonators seems to be larger than ever in the age of the internet
and social media, and Harrison Ford has become an oft-caricatured celebrity due to his unique
cadence and universally-recognized, charmingly curmudgeonly demeanor.
This includes Mark Hamill — who acted alongside Ford in the "Star Wars" films — and has
been known to do a great impression of his co-star on talk shows.
"Hey kid, it ain't that kind of movie."
One of the better Ford impersonators, however, is actor/YouTuber Anthony Ingruber, who even
played a younger Ford in 2015's "The Age of Adaline."
"You're welcome."
In fact, he was so good, many people wanted him in the role of Han Solo for 2018's "Solo,"
which ultimately went to Alden Ehrenreich; according to "Solo" co-writer Jonathan Kasdan
— whose father, Lawrence Kasdan, co-wrote "Raiders of the Ark" — Ingruber did indeed
audition for the film.
In "Dial of Destiny", Ingruber is playing double for young Indiana Jones in the 1944
flashback at the beginning of the film.
He can also be seen briefly in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as one of the shady gangsters in Tangier
who surrounds Indy and Helena Shaw during her illegal auction.
In "Dial of Destiny," after Helena and her kid sidekick Teddy complain about an older
Indy driving during a car chase in Tangier, he replies curtly, "I know Tangier"
Between the release of the original Indiana Jones trilogy and the long-belated "Crystal
Skull," there was a TV show adaptation entitled "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."
"I'm going to be an archeologist when I grow up."
The series ran for two seasons from 1992 to 1993 on ABC, spanning multiple decades in
its storylines.
"Chronicles" had Corey Carrier playing Indy as a young boy, and Sean Patrick Flanery playing
the adventurer as a young man, with a framing device that cast actor George Hall in the
role of an older Indy in the present day.
Re-edited "Chronicles" episodes and some newly-shot footage resulted in "My First Adventure,"
which tells the story of a young Indiana Jones finding himself adventuring in the Moroccan
city of Tangier.
Although "Temple of Doom" is the second film, it's a prequel to "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
It follows Dr. Jones as he searches for a sacred stone, and in the process, finds himself
saving kids who were stolen from a poor village and turned into slaves by an evil, ancient
cult.
The film's gory violence had a hand in creating the PG-13 rating.
Some have also criticized it for harmful stereotypes and misleading representations about the practice
of Hinduism.
Despite that, the film is also remembered for some amazing action set-pieces, its epic
and grandiose production design, and introducing the world to Ke Huy Quan, who would go on
to win an Oscar for "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
"Short Round, step on it!"
"Okie dokie, Doctor Jones!
Hold on to your potatoes!"
In "Dial of Destiny," Indy mentions such adventures to Helena while climbing a cliff wall toward
Archimedes' tomb.
She asks Indy why he stops climbing at one point, and he explains it's because of all
of his various injuries — including what happened to him dealing with supernatural
voodoo in India — that has led to his body having some significant mileage on it.
One of the biggest contributions that the misbegotten "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
film brought to the broader Indiana Jones lore was the introduction of Indy's long-lost
son, Mutt Williams – played by Shia LaBeouf.
"You're not my dad, okay?"
"You bet I am."
In fact, the ending of that film greatly implies that Mutt will take over as lead of the franchise
going forward.
The last scene even has Mutt picking up Indy's iconic brown fedora, ready to put it on, before
Indy takes it back at the last minute.
LaBeouf ended up leaving the franchise, which created a Mutt-sized hole in the plot of any
sequel.
However, director James Mangold decided to give Mutt a surprisingly emotional narrative
send-off in "Dial of Destiny".
At one point, Helena asks what Indy would change if he could go back in time, and he
says he'd stop his son Mutt from enlisting and getting killed.
While it's never stated explicitly that Mutt died serving in the Vietnam War, it's obviously
what Indy is referring to, and it gives audiences some closure on Mutt's fate.
The Nazis are once again the villains for Indiana Jones in "Dial of Destiny"; this time
around, Voller's plan is to kill Hitler and take over leadership duties, using his knowledge
of the future and his supposedly superior intellect to win WWII.
However, the way time travel works in the film involves the Antikythera simply using
calculations to find fissures in time to travel through.
This means the calculations were made thousands of years ago — and Voller didn't account
for the Earth's continental drift.
So instead of going to WWII, they find themselves in the Siege of Syracuse, where Voller and
his men's plane are shot and blown up by the Greek and Roman army.
This is similar to the spirits from The Ark melting the Nazi villain's faces in "Raiders,"
or them drinking from the wrong cup in "Last Crusade."
Even without Indy's help, Nazi hubris always seems to do them in.
There's really only one thing you can say about each one of these Nazi bag guys.
"He chose…poorly."
Indiana Jones, by being a character living in the past who has adventures throughout
the world, has sometimes crossed paths with famous — or infamous — historical figures.
This includes meeting Hitler during his rise to power in "The Last Crusade," losing his
virginity to Mata Hari in an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," and meeting
Teddy Roosevelt, Pancho Villa, and Lawrence of Arabia in that same show.
He even meets Han Solo at one point in a comic book.
Well, he meets Han Solo's skeleton, but close enough.
In "Dial of Destiny," Indy once again meets a great historical figure.
In this case, Indy travels to ancient Greece during the Siege of Syracuse.
Eventually, Indy meets the great mathematician and inventor Archimedes.
They exchange some words as the battle between the Greeks and Romans rages in the background
— and Indy even thinks about staying to witness history unfold — before Helena knocks
some sense into him.
At the end of "Crystal Skull," Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood tied the knot.
However, at the beginning of "Dial of Destiny," it's made clear by a separation notice that
he and Marion are in the process of a divorce.
Whatever spark had been re-ignited in the last film, it has once again dissipated.
As explained in the film, this is because after the death of Mutt Williams in Vietnam,
their marriage began to dissolve as Marion succumbed to grief.
Indy himself admits to Helena at one point that he wasn't equipped to console a spouse.
At the end of the film, Indy and Helena find themselves stranded in Ancient Greece.
After the Nazis defeat themselves, Indy decides he wants to live and die in the past, witnessing
ancient history firsthand, since he feels like he has nothing to live for in the present
anymore.
Marion, however, is convinced to come back — presumably by Helena — and reconcile
with Indy in 1969, giving him a reason to want to live again.
Their final lines are reminiscent of a scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," as she searches
for a place to kiss him that doesn't hurt.
It's a small nod that makes for a fun, cute coda for the storied Indy franchise.
"Here."