False Indiana Jones Myths You've Always Believed

The Indiana Jones film franchise has amassed nearly $2 billion in worldwide box office — an impressive sum that doesn't even count all the revenue gained through video game and merchandise sales. With a film series this successful, most people would expect diehard fans to know every behind-the-scenes fact about the movies by heart. However, despite the widespread popularity of the Indiana Jones films, a number of fans and critics still feed into several fallacies about the character and franchise that have been floating around since the first film premiered in theaters. These myths range from small misconceptions to mythic Hollywood folklore, but no matter the scale of the misconception, we're here to wade through the mythos surrounding one of the most legendary franchises of all time — and debunk all of the erroneous claims and misunderstandings that critics and fans alike are still getting wrong. Here's a look at all the false things you've been believing about Indiana Jones.

Although second installment Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has been heavily critiqued as outlandish, some of the major plot points were inspired by real Hindu beliefs. The most notable example is the Sankara Stones Jones is sent after, which are actually loosely based on the Shiva linga (or sivalinga), sacred symbols of the Hindu deity Shiva. Although George Lucas originally came up with the concept of the Sankara Stones, Temple of Doom screenwriters Gloria Katz and Williard Huyck were well versed in Indian mythology, and used that knowledge to draw parallels between the fictitious stone Lucas had created and Shiva lingas.

Another real-life inspiration that Temple of Doom drew upon was using Thuggees as the main antagonists. Although the ones seen in Temple of Doom are depicted as some type of supernatural sect, the Thuggees were a very real and dangerous cult of assassins that plagued India for centuries. Thuggees operated by befriending groups of travelers and gaining their trust before surprising them in the night. This is reminiscent of the cult that professor Jones encounters, as they first pretend to be peaceful and inviting. Another way the real Thuggees related to the fictional version of the cult in Temple of Doom was the fact that they practiced superstitious rituals and claimed to be helping Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction and renewal, bring balance to the world through their vicious acts of robbery and murder.

Many fans have been confused about the timeline of the Indiana Jones films over the years, assuming they were released in the same order in which Jones' adventures transpired. That isn't the case, however: Temple of Doom came out after Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it was in fact written as a prequel.

Even though Temple of Doom was the second Indiana Jones film released in the series, the events of the story are actually set before Raiders of the Lost Ark. Many fans miss this detail, as it's hardly touched upon at all during the story. In fact, the only onscreen confirmation that Temple of Doom is a prequel appears during a title card flashed briefly at the beginning of the film, reading "Shanghai, 1935." Since Raiders of the Lost Ark was set in 1936, astute moviegoers realized that the Temple of Doom adventure occurred a full year before Jones started pursuing the Ark of the Covenant.

One of the most rampant misconceptions about the Indiana Jones film franchise remains the notion that Jones and his father achieved immortality after drinking from the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Theoretically, it might explain how Jones survived unlikely odds in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, such as the infamous scene when he hides from a nuclear blast by using a refrigerator as a shield. Although this hypothesis might help fans explain away a few plot holes, the theory just doesn't hold up when you consider the rules of the Holy Grail outlined during The Last Crusade.

Since the rules are very fleetingly mentioned and not exactly thoroughly explained, it's only natural that fans might be confused about what actually happened. Technically, Indy and his father do achieve immortality after drinking from the Grail, but it's very short-lived. As the Knight guarding the Grail briefly mentions, the Holy Grail's power of immortality only works as long as the user stays inside the temple, so when the Jones men pass over the seal on the way out of the temple, they lose their immortality. This is proven in the fourth film, when the audience learns that Henry Jones Sr. passed away during the long lapse between sequels.

Although the character of Indiana Jones is so heavily associated with Harrison Ford that it's difficult to imagine another actor playing him, Ford almost didn't get the part. George Lucas, who'd already worked with Ford in American Graffiti and the Star Wars films, originally didn't want him for Indiana Jones. In a behind the scenes feature about the making of the Indiana Jones films, Lucas explained his hesitation, saying that at the time he thought, "He's been in two of my movies. I don't want him to be my Bobby De Niro."  

The filmmaker's first choice for Jones was actor Peter Coyote, who'd work with Lucas' Indiana partner Steven Spielberg when he played the good-natured government scientist in E.T., but the studio rejected Coyote because wasn't a big enough box office draw, so instead Lucas and Spielberg moved on to their next choice, Tom Selleck. Both filmmakers thought he was a perfect fit for the role, and even set up a screen test. Apparently the studio was actually ready to shoot with Selleck but, luckily for Ford, they were unable to get the actor out of his Magnum P.I. contract with CBS.

Although Harrison Ford is undoubtedly the actor most associated with the character, many fans are mistaken in assuming that he's the only one who's played Indiana Jones; in fact, a handful of different actors have actually portrayed the character at different stages of his life. The most widely known actor to play Indy on the silver screen — besides Ford, of course — is River Phoenix. At the start of The Last Crusade, Phoenix plays a young Boy Scout version of Indy in a flashback scene depicting an early adventure.

In the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Sean Patrick Flannery played a young adult Indiana, aged from 17-21 throughout the adventures Jones got caught up in during his childhood and youth. Although Flannery had top billing, two other actors portrayed the character at different ages during the series. George Hall appeared as an elderly Jones in bookend segments, and Corey Carrier played Indiana as a child (aged from 8-10).