There are clues that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny could be the first movie in the series to involve time travel. Fifteen years after his last appearance in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure as Indy, with James Mangold stepping into direct for series regular Steven Spielberg. Set in 1969, Dial of Destiny follows Indy on an adventure with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to retrieve the mysterious Dial of Destiny. Indy and Helena will also find themselves once again battling Nazis, led by Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen).
As was the case for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the full nature of Indy and Helena’s quest along with the dial itself has been only vaguely teased in Dial of Destiny‘s trailers, a wise move to build excitement for Indy’s long-awaited return to the big screen. Despite this, there might be more significant hints lying out in the open of Dial of Destiny‘s adventure being very temporal in nature. Here are indications that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny could involve time travel as key concept.
5 Indiana Jones 5’s Dial Of Destiny Can Change The Course Of History
Dial of Destiny‘s trailer does not overtly reveal the properties of the artifact in question, but there could be one hint about it in Helena’s line that it is “a dial that could chance the course of history.” At face value, it is easy to assume that she is referring to the dial’s discovery as a world-changing event. However, there could be a more literal interpretation to this, with the dial of destiny potentially granting its user the power of time travel.
Every artifact Indiana Jones has pursued has held major supernatural properties, from the Ark of the Covenant, the Shankara Stones, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skulls of Akator. So it stands to reason that the Dial of Destiny is unlikely to be a mere historical trinket Indy and his enemies are after. The name “Dial of Destiny” also carries an ambiguous aura, and the “destiny” it references could refer to it conferring the power to change the past — and with it, the course of history.
4 The Flashbacks To A Younger Indy
Dial of Destiny has also shown flashbacks of Harrison Ford as a younger Indy. He appears to be roughly around the age range he was in between Raiders of the Lost and The Last Crusade, and Harrison Ford is very impressively de-aged. It would be easy and logical to attribute these glimpses of a younger Indy as being from his past adventures not seen on-screen previously. With that said, there could be more going on here, with not only Dial of Destiny but Indy himself revisiting past events in his life.
The Indiana Jones movies have never been concerned with showing flashbacks, the only major exception being the prologue of a teenage Indy (River Phoenix) in The Last Crusade. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull took a “tell, don’t show” approach to explaining Indy’s military history since The Last Crusade. As a concept, time travel could enable Dial of Destiny to not only make a major flashback to Indy’s past but allow Indy himself to be a part of it with the dial’s potential time-travel powers. Indy’s past will also be crucial to Dial of Destiny‘s 1969-based story in another way.
3 Indiana Jones 5 Mentions The Nazis & Hitler
The Nazis have been recurring villains throughout the Indiana Jones franchise, with Dial of Destiny being Indy’s third battle with the Nazis, but the context is bound to be quite different more than two decades after World War II. In Dial of Destiny‘s trailer, former Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller states, “Hitler made mistakes, and with this, I will correct them all.” The idea that a relic as simple as the dial could correct or have any impact on the atrocities of the Third Reich is puzzling on the surface, but Voller’s idea could be easier to grasp if the dial has the power to alter history.
The mistakes of Hitler that Voller references could lie in strategic errors that Hitler and the Nazis made in battling the allies that led to Germany’s defeat in World War II. If Voller were to use the dial to travel back in time to correct Hitler’s errors in overseeing his conquest of Europe, it could be to rewrite history to lead to the allies’ defeat and Hitler eventually conquering the world. Such a plot by Voller and other Nazi despots would make the stakes of Dial of Destiny the highest of the franchise.
2 Indiana Jones 5 Set Photos Tease Roman Gladiators
Another clue pointing to time travel is an element of Dial of Destiny‘s plot can be seen in set images from the film. For example, one collection of Dial of Destiny set photos shows actors dressed as what appear to be Roman gladiators. While there is no explicit context to the images in question, the age of the Roman Empire is much further back in history than the Indiana Jones franchise has ever ventured and certainly well removed from Indy’s lifetime.
While it could be easy to attribute Roman gladiators to a flashback scene in Dial of Destiny, the Indiana Jones franchise has not traditionally included such flashbacks to ancient times associated with the artifacts of the movie. Not doing so has enabled the Indiana Jones films to maintain an aura of mystery and wonder about said artifacts. For Dial of Destiny to break that tradition, it could indicate that Indy or other characters might travel back in time to visit the Roman Empire directly, with the Dial of Destiny as their mechanism.
1 Crystal Skull Already Stretched The Indiana Jones Franchise’s Plausibility
While the concept of time travel might seem like a sudden left turn for the Indiana Jones franchise, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has already helped lay the groundwork for it. By having aliens and flying saucers as its MacGuffin, King of the Crystal Skull introduced sci-fi elements wrapped into the Indiana Jones franchise. It also made quite a leap into the unbelievable with Indy’s rather infamous “Nuking the Fridge” scene.
While all those elements would contribute to the mixed reception of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, they also make something like time travel much more easily integrated into an Indiana Jones movie. To be sure, any time-travel properties of the dial are likely to be as enveloped in metaphysical and historical lore as the Crystal Skulls of Akator are in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But, in any case, Dial of Destiny taking Indy through the doorways of time is far more tonally consistent with the Indiana Jones franchise, thanks to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
With Indiana Jones having ventured to all corners of the Earth and uncovered priceless artifacts from ancient cultures, Dial of Destiny certainly has a tall order to live up to that legacy. Bringing in a sci-fi concept like time travel and interweaving it with spiritual or metaphysical elements like past Indiana Jones movies could be just the right move forDial of Destiny to pull that off. As a way to revisit and pay great respect to the past, not unlike The Flash itself is doing this summer, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny could tell a very epic and emotional Indiana Jones story.
Key Release Dates
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
