The Real Reason Indiana Jones Survived Crystal Skull's Nuclear Blast Is Hidden In Last Crusade

Welcome to "Fanon Fixing Canon," a weekly column where we investigate infamous plot holes or terrible storyline decisions. Through a combo of detective work and meticulous fan theorizing, we fix these problems so they no longer exist — and canon is immaculate once again. 

Today, we'll tackle one of the most infamous cinematic survival stories of the last few decades — namely, that one time when Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) survived a nuclear bomb by hiding in a fridge with lead lining. Apart from the alien themes and Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) proving that coolness skips the occasional generation in the Jones family, the fridge sequence is probably the most infamous thing about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the movie that changed the franchise forever. 

Maybe you remember the scene: Indy and Mac McHale (Ray Winstone) are after evil Soviets who have stolen an alien Roswell mummy thing, only for Mac to switch sides. The desperate Indy ends up escaping into a makeshift model town that a nuke test is about to blast to smithereens, and he barely has time to lock himself in the famous fridge. Even if we assume that the fridge is sturdy and sheltered enough to let Indy survive, the home appliance is sent flying, and he'd have had a tough time surviving the bouncing, brutal-looking landing.

On paper, this is the bad kind of unbelievable in a franchise that usually thrives on the good kind of unbelievable. But what if Indiana Jones' backstory features a rock solid excuse to put him through stuff like that and let him live to tell the tale? What if the events of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" turned him into something more than a mere mortal? Let's investigate!

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" sics two generations of Dr. Joneses after what might just be the most famous lost treasure of them all — the Holy Grail. As Indy and his dad Henry (Sean Connery) make their way toward this legendary relic, the villainous Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) grows weary of the trap-filled temple of the Grail and badly injures Henry. Indy manages to successfully navigate the temple and reach the Grail's true guardian: the ancient-looking, Crusades-era Grail Knight (Robert Eddison) who stands in a room full of ornate cups. Here, the ones who locate the true Grail and drink from it endure, and the ones who choose poorly absolutely won't.

With the help of Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), Donovan chooses poorly. Indy, on the other hand, does not. He survives the ordeal, chooses the right cup, and drinks from it. Then, his dad drinks from it and is healed. In other words, both Doctors Jones have drank from the Holy Grail, which can grant eternal life and heal the drinker. 

Yes, the cup's power has its caveats. As the film's finale very dramatically proves, the Grail can't leave the temple. The user also needs to drink from it regularly. Due to this, the Grail's water easily heals Henry's injury in the temple, but after the Grail is lost and Henry exits the area, he dies in 1951 — a respectable age of 78 or 79, but hardly immortal. Still, there's some evidence that the cup's effects can last outside its stated area of operation.

The Grail Knight is a perfect example of how the cup's particular immortality works, even when you follow the instructions: you do grow slightly older whenever your spirit wavers even if you drink from the cup, but if you're worthy, you'll live centuries. The thing is, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" also mentions that the knight had two brothers who spent a century and a half in the temple and then left for Europe. One of the brothers, Richard, quickly succumbed to old age. However, the unnamed third brother kicked about for quite a while, returning to France and taking the time to narrate what amounted to his autobiography to a monk. 

The very different fates of the two brothers suggest that the Grail's effects linger in some individuals more than they do in others. Combined with the fact that the Grail values worthiness and spirit, well ... who has more grit and grind in the "Indiana Jones" franchise than Indy himself? 

Following this logic, there's a decent chance that a modicum of the Grail's powers linger in Indiana Jones. Since said effects include the ability to bounce back from physical injuries and live to a spry old age, this would not only justify how Indy survives the fridge stunt. It also wholly explains why he can still readily swing his whip and punch bad guys during the "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" era, in his 70s. Grail power, baby! 

The entire "Indiana Jones" timeline is full of magic in the most literal possible sense. Even if he hadn't personally sipped from the Holy Grail, Indy would probably be a hotbed of mystical forces thanks to the sheer number of artifacts he's been in contact with over the years. In "Raiders of the Lost Ark," he's in the vicinity of the Ark of the Covenant when it's opened, though he knows better than to witness it with his own eyes. In "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," he spends a whole bunch of time handling the sacred Sankara stones, which can purportedly give their wielders supernatural powers and are explicitly shown to have paranormal properties. 

And that's not going into the multitude of ancient artifacts Indy messes with in other movies, games, and adjacent materials. Indiana Jones has exposed himself to so many sacred, magical relics that if he lived in a comic book universe, he'd have roughly every single superpower at this point. What's a little fridge-nuking in that context?

For all intents and purposes, Indiana Jones is the ultimate action adventure hero. Would it really be so unbelievable that his movies — which routinely deal in the mystical and the supernatural — might have come up with a stealthy way to explain how he keeps surviving scenarios that would be enough to kill 10 lesser men?