Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Ending Explained: Does Indy Survive His Final Adventure? - IGN (2024)

Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The answer is there are not. The fifth and seemingly final Indiana Jones movie has no scenes after the credits start rolling.

Full spoilers follow for the film beyond this point!

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ends the saga of Dr. Henry Jones Jr. after 40 years of whip-cracking, relic-chasing adventures. But just how final is Indy’s last hurrah? Who lives and dies in this fifth installment of the Lucasfilm franchise?

We’re going to unpack everything that happened to Indy, his friends, and his enemies at the end of the James Mangold-directed film, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, take Indy’s advice to Marion at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark and “Don’t look at it! Keep your eyes shut!”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Ending Explained

Within the cavernous Ear of Dionysius in Sicily, Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and his henchmen succeed in acquiring both halves of Archimedes Dial, aka the Antikythera, from our heroes: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), his opportunistic goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and her clever teenage associate Teddy (Ethann Isidore).

Whereas most past Indy movie MacGuffins have been supernatural in nature, this one is the product of science, not mysticism. Deviating from the actual history of the artifact, Dial of Destiny depicts the ancient mechanism as being able to locate fissures in time and thus allow its user to travel into the past. It’s basically a time compass.

Voller believes the Allies didn’t win World War II; Adolf Hitler lost it because he made too many mistakes. Voller wants to use the power of Archimedes Dial to reverse the outcome of World War II. Armed with his knowledge of the Nazis’ strategic errors throughout the war and now possessing a completely assembled Dial, Voller plans to time-travel from August 1969 back to August 1939. There, he will kill Hitler and become Führer himself to ensure Nazi Germany wins World War II this time.

With a seemingly mortally wounded Indy as his captive, Voller and his goons board a bomber and don their Nazi uniforms. Indy notices something when Voller emerges in his Nazi officer uniform. He’s wearing the same watch that the remains of Archimedes was wearing when they discovered his tomb back in the Ear of Dionysius, a grave that also happened to bear carvings of a large bird with propellers. Such watches wouldn’t exist for many centuries to come.

Indy realizes that Voller factored continental drift into his coordinates for time travel – a geologic hypothesis that the mathematician and engineer Archimedes would not have known about at the time he built the Dial. That means the plane is headed to the wrong point in time but it’s too late to abort the mission.

Pursued by Teddy’s stolen small aircraft, the Nazi plane — which Helena has stowed away on — is pulled into the time fissure vortex and travels into the past. During this, Teddy is startled to find that the pilot whose plane he swiped had been asleep in the back the entire time. He’s now awake and freaking out as both planes sputter and spiral out of the vortex.

Indy was right. Voller’s coordinates were wildly off and they did not travel back to 1939. Instead, they have arrived at the Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BC), which just so happens to be a subject Indy taught at Hunter College in New York City. The Nazi bomber and Teddy’s plane fly over the Mediterranean where they witness Roman ships and soldiers laying siege to the Kingdom of Syracuse, which is protected by elaborate defense mechanisms engineered by their hometown boy, Archimedes. Archimedes (Nasser Memarzia) is present during the siege where we see he’s still building the Antikythera.

Voller is distraught at having failed, realizing he’s missed his chance to change history. Those on the ground think the Nazi bomber is a dragon and soon the aircraft sustains fatal engine damage from incoming bolts. Voller’s neo-Nazi henchman Klaber (Boyd Holbrook) rains gunfire down on the ancients but the plane is irrevocably damaged.

Voller is distraught at having failed, realizing he’s missed his chance to change history.

Helena tries to save Indy but ends up tussling with more henchmen, and she almost plummets to her doom out of the open bay doors. Helena gets the drop on Voller and shoots him, allowing her and Indy to leap from the doomed plane using the last parachute. Voller and Klaber are in the cockpit when the failing plane crashes into the shore, killing all on board.

We later see Archimedes and his students exploring the wreckage where they observe Voller’s burnt corpse. Archimedes takes Voller’s watch. They also discover the completed Antikythera among the wreckage, something Archimedes has yet to complete at this point in time. The eagle with propellers engraved on Archimedes’ tomb is a reference to the Nazi bomber.

We see a Roman soldier spot Indy and Helena’s parachute descending nearby and he proceeds to investigate…

Does Indiana Jones Die in Dial of Destiny?

Indy and Helena land and disentangle themselves from their parachute. Indy is bleeding from his gunshot wound and wants her to just let him die here in the past. Teddy lands his plane nearby. The vortex is closing fast and they only have minutes left before they can take off and try to return to 1969.

With his son Mutt dead (killed in action in Vietnam) and his marriage to Marion poised to end in divorce — not to mention he’s been wrongly accused of murder back in New York! — Indy is a broken old man with nothing left to live for, just as much an old relic as the artifacts he’s spent decades chasing. He wants to stay here in the past, to die in a period that’s always fascinated him and that he has long taught about. He can become part of history instead of just being a student and teacher of it. To paraphrase his Raiders adversary Belloq, Indy has only been passing through history but the Siege of Syracuse is history.

That inquisitive Roman soldier confronts them, ready to kill them both, but Archimedes and his students arrive and slay the Roman. Indy and Helena quickly deduce they are in the presence of the legend himself, with each of them geeking out in their own way.

Indy and Helena use their knowledge of ancient languages to speak with Archimedes, who carries with him the Dial from the wreckage and Voller’s watch. Indy makes his case to let him stay here in the past and help Archimedes, but Helena pleads with Indy that he’s not meant to be here but in 1969 with those who need and love him. She also warns him that if he stays he’ll alter the course of history. Finally, when appealing to his emotions no longer works Helena just knocks Indy out with a helluva punch. The screen cuts to black.

Indy wakes up in bed back in his apartment in New York City. His wounds have been bandaged and he’s in his pajamas. The Archimedes Dial lies nearby. Then Indy sees Helena. She did not sell the Antikythera after all, despite her intitial intentions, her character having grown less mercenary through her adventure and reconnection with her estranged godfather.

As the shot irises out on Indy's hat, his hand shoots out and snatches it as the classic John Williams theme song kicks in.

But Helena hasn’t been taking care of Indy on her own. The front door opens and in walks Marion (Karen Allen), who hasn’t been in the movie until now, carrying groceries. Indy can’t believe she’s back. They are joined by Teddy, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), and his young grandchildren. Helena knows Indy and Marion need time alone so she takes everyone else out for ice cream.

Indy and Marion haven’t spoken to each other in some time. The death of their son in Vietnam fractured them, with each dealing with their grief in ways that drove them apart. Indy is broken, literally and figuratively, but his last adventure in Dial of Destiny has provided him with a chance at redemption and renewal. Marion heard he was back, but Indy being back has a double meaning. Is he back to being the man he once was, back to the world of the living?

What plays out next between them is a callback to a memorable scene between them in Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the original version of the “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage” scene, Marion asks him where it doesn’t hurt and he points to his elbow, forehead, eyebrow, and then finally his lips, each touch followed by a tender kiss from Marion. But instead of physical wounds this time it’s emotional wounds and it’s Indy comforting Marion with a kiss to her elbow, forehead, eyebrow, and then finally her lips.

The film cuts to Helena and friends leaving the walk-up and venturing off into the city for ice cream when the camera rises up to the fire escape outside the open window of Indy’s apartment. His iconic fedora is pinned to a clothesline. As the shot irises out on the hat, Indy’s hand shoots out the window and snatches it off the line as the classic John Williams theme song kicks in and the end credits roll.

Indiana Jones’ globe-trotting adventures may be behind him but his spirit has been restored and he’s healed the rift with the love of his life, Marion. Indy has realized that it’s time to embrace the present and look to the future instead of dwelling in the past.

Indiana Jones Movies in Chronological Order

Does Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Have a Post-Credits Scene?

As noted above, Indiana Jones 5 doesn't have any scenes to wait for after the credits. You of course can still stick around and watch the credits, but this approach is in keeping with the prior four Indy films. Certainly, that's not surprising considering Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were all made in the 1980s. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was made in 2008, which was right around the time post-credits scenes started to become a thing (Iron Man came out that same year), but they were by no means a regular occurrence for Hollywood blockbusters at the time.

For more whip-cracking coverage of Dr. Jones’ final ride, read IGN’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review, discover what Harrison Ford and his Dial of Destiny castmates say are the greatest moments in the Indiana Jones franchise, find out why Ke Huy Quan’s Short Round isn’t in the film, or dig in on Indiana Jones' Story So Far.

Note: This story was originally posted on June 29, 2023. It was updated with the latest information on June 30, 2023.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Ending Explained: Does Indy Survive His Final Adventure? - IGN (2024)

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