Indiana Jones has been through the ringer more than a few times. From battling Nazi armies and crazy Russians to surviving dangerous spike traps and rolling boulders, Indy has punched, flown, driven, crawled and sprinted his way to victory each and every time.
It seems the legendary action hero is nigh invincible. But might there be a reason for that outside of simple movie magic? One fan thinks so, and has posted a theory on Reddit claiming as much.
The theory revolves around Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In it, Jones discovers the Holy Grail and uses its magical healing properties to heal his father from a gunshot wound. However, Indy also takes a drink from the mythical cup of life. Here's what the creator of the post has to say:
"food for Thought: Indiana Jones drinking from the Holy Grail helped him survive unlikely scenarios, most notably the infamous fridge scene."
As explained in the film, drinking from the Grail grants supposed immortality. The only downside is that those who drink from the Grail and are granted eternal life aren't allowed to leave the Grail's hidden temple.
Indy, of course, does leave. Despite having taken a drink from the Grail and used its healing waters to save his father, it doesn't appear to have made either of the characters immortal. We learn in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that Dr. Jones senior dies between films from old age. So how does the Grail actually work? One redditor by the name NewLeaf37 may have an answer.
"The Grail's immortality applies if you keep drinking from it, and the Grail can't leave the temple-thing," NewLeaf37 writes. "However, even drinking from it once grants healing properties and extended life, as evidenced by the fact that the knight's brothers lived to extreme old age before dying, despite having left."
This may explain how exactly Indy survived the now infamous "fridge scene" from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In the scene, Indy finds himself at the site of a nuclear weapons test. Unable to evacuate in time, he dives into a refrigerator to seek shelter from the blast. When the bomb hits, the fridge is thrown dozens of miles away, upon which Indy opens the fridge door and falls out, battered but alive.
More than a few moviegoers found the scene utterly ridiculous, even for Indiana Jones. But might the fact that Jones used the Grail have granted him extended life and powerful healing properties beyond that of a normal human? It's certainly possible, and would definitely help in explaining how the 60 year-old hero can still hold his own against much younger and stronger men.
It doesn't, however, explain his other death-defying feats that took place in the two films before the Last Crusade. Even if the Grail did grant Indy powerful healing properties, there is no denying that Indiana Jones was always far from normal.
