Indiana Jones (character)

Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr (better known as "Indiana Jones") is a fictional professor of archaeology, an adventurer and the titular protagonist of the Indiana Jones film series.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
After losing a golden idol to his rival, René Belloq, two Army Intelligence agents come to see Indy at his University in Chicago with information that the Nazis had discovered the lost city of Tanis, which Indy deduces that they are searching for the Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis believe that if they acquire the Ark, their armies will become invisible. Indy is old told that the Nazis are looking for Professor Abner Ravenwood, leading expert on the city of Tanis, who possessed the headpiece to the Staff of Ra, which is the key to finding the Well of Souls, a secret chamber in which the Ark is buried. The agents authorise Jones to recover the Ark before the Nazis do. He travels to Napal and discovers that Abner is dead, and the headpiece is in possession of Ravenwood's daughter Marion. After saving her from a Nazi commander known as Arnold Toth, both Indy and Marion fly to Cairo, Egypt, where they meet up with Indy's friend Sallah. He reveals that Belloq and the Nazis are digging for the Well of Souls with a replica of the headpiece (created from the scar on Toht's hand when he tried to grab the headpiece while it was burning hot). They Quickly realise the Nazi headpiece is incomplete and that they were digging in the wrong place.

Indy and Sallah infiltrate the Nazi dig site to sneak into the map room, and use their staff to correctly locate the Ark. Indy later discovers Marion is alive, after she was kidnapped and thought to have been killed in an explosion during a chase through Cairo earlier on. By evening on a stormy night, Indy, Sallah, and a small group of diggers unearth the Well of Souls and acquire the Ark. Belloq and Nazi officer Colonel Dietrich arrive, seize the Ark from Jones and seal him inside the Well of Souls with Marion, which is infested with snakes. Jones and Marion escape to a local airstrip, where Jones has a fistfight with a Nazi mechanic and destroys the flying wing that was going to transport the Ark to Berlin. The Nazis then load the Ark onto a truck and set off for Cairo, but Jones gives chase and retakes it.

Indy makes arrangements to take the Ark to London aboard a tramp steamer, but by the next day a Nazi U-boat intercepts the ship, and seizes the Ark once again. The Nazis also capture Marion, but cannot locate Jones, who stows away aboard U-boat. He tavels with them to their secret Island base in the Aegean Sea. Once there, Belloq plans to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Hitler. Jones threatens to destroy the Ark with a panzerfaust, but Belloq calls his bluff and Jones surrenders rather than destroy such an important historical artifact. Indy and Marion are tied up to a post where they can observe Balloq perform a ceremonial opening of the Ark, which is revealed to contain nothing but sand. Suddenly, angelic ghost-like beings emerge from the Ark. Indy cautions Marion to keep her eyes closed and not to observe what happens next. As the power of the Ark kills and consumes everyone, Indy and Marion are spared from the wrath of God. Afterwards, Jones and Marcus Brody are informed that US government has taken possession of the Ark and is stored away inside a gigantic warehouse among hundreds of similar crates, instead of giving it to the National Museum as agreed.

The Temple of Doom
In the prequel film, Indiana Jones arrives in India with his assistant Short Round and singer Willie Scott, after escaping from crime boss in Shanghi, Lao Che. He comes to a small village in northern India, where the poor villagers believe him to have been sent by Shiva to retrieve the sacred sivalinga stone that was stolen from their shrine, as well as the community's children, from evil forces from the nearby Pankot Palace. During his journey to Pankot, accompanied by Shorty and Willie, Indy hypothesises that the stone from the village may be one of the five fabled Sankara stones that promise fortune and glory.

Indy and is comrades are warmly welcomed by Chattar Lal, the Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Pankot, and during their stay discover a hidden passage in Willie's bedroom, leading to an underground temple where the Thuggees worship Kali with human sacrifice. He watches as the Thugs chain one of their victims in a cage and slowly lower him into a ceremonial fire pit, burning him alive. They discover that the Thugs, led by their high priest Mola Ram, are in possession of three of the five Sankara stones, and have enslaved the children to mine for the final two stones. After witnessing the Tuggee ceremony, Indy sneaks down and retrieves the villagers' sacred stone, including the other two. Unfortunately, Indy is captured, along with Short and Willie, and is later forced to drink the blood of Kali, which places him in a trance-like state where he begins to mindlessly serve the Thuggees. However, he is later snapped out of his trance after Shorty burns him with a torch and saves Willie from being sacrificed. They go back to the mines to free the children, but Indy gets caught up in a fight with a hulking overseer. The Maharajah, who was also entranced, attempts to cripple Indy with a voodoo doll. Shorty spars with the Maharajah, ultimately burning him to snap him out of the trance. With his strength returned, Indy kills the overseer, and escapes in a mine cart with Willie and Shorty.

After a mine cart chase, the trio emerge above ground and are again cornered by Mola Ram and his henchmen on a rope bridge high above a crocodile-infested river. Using a sword, Indy cuts the rope bridge in half, leaving everyone to hang on for their lives. Indy utters an incantation which causes the stones to glow red hot. Two of the stones fall into the river, while the last one falls into Mola Ram's hand, burning him. Indy catches the now-cool stone, while Mola Ram falls into the river below and gets devoured by the crocodiles. The Thuggees then attempt to shoot Indy with arrows, until a company of British Indian Army riflemen, summoned by the Maharajah, arrive and open fire on the Thuggee archers. Indy, Willie and Shorty return to the village with the children and give the missing stone back to the villagers.

Disney Parks
Prior to Lucasfilm's acquisition by The Walt Disney Company on October 30, 2012, he has been featured as a meetable character, and is in a number of different attractions at Disney theme parks in collaboration with George Lucas, including:
 * Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!, a stunt show that opened in 1989 at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, based on Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril, a roller coaster that opened in 1993 at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Resort Paris
 * Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye, an elaborate dark ride that opened in 1995 at Disneyland
 * Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, a dark ride nearly identical to the Disneyland version, which opened in 2001 at Tokyo DisneySea in the Tokyo Disney Resort

Trivia

 * Indiana's name originated from a Alaskan Malamute owned by George Lucas in the 1970s, who was also the inspiration for the character of Chewbacca in Star Wars.
 * Indiana Jones is played by Harrison Ford, who also played Han Solo in Star Wars.