Dial of Destiny Questions — Marion, Indiana Jones’ Hat, His Son, And The Ending — Explained

Indiana Jones is riding into the sunset. Or is he? In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, it really looks like this is the last adventure for Harrison Ford’s loveable archeologist with a whip. But, now that the movie is actually out, you may have some questions about everything that happened.

From the backstory of Indy and Marion’s son to the time travel to the past, to the final shot of the movie, The Dial of Destiny leaves some threads artfully frayed. Like real life, not everything is tidy at the end of this Indiana Jones adventure. Still, let’s talk about it! Here are answers to some big questions, plus speculation as to what a few moments and twists might mean. Massive spoilers ahead.

What happened to Indy and Marion’s son?

Remember Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cyrstal Skull? Remember how Shia Labeouf played Henry Jones III, aka “Mutt” Williams; the son of Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood? Well, that 1950s greaser punk is, in fact, referenced in The Dial of Destiny. And it turns out his fate was tragic. Early in the film when we see documentation about Indy and Marion’s divorce (their wedding ending Crystal Skull) the document says they have no living children. Later in the film, Indy tells Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) that if he could go back in time, he’d beg his son not to enlist in the Army. Turns out, Indy and Marion’s son died in Vietnam, shortly before the start of the movie. Indy says: “I would tell him not to enlist. I would tell him that he would die. And that his death would break his mother’s heart.”

Most sources put Henry Jones III as being born in 1938, so he would have been around 27 if he enlisted in the Army before the Vietnam War. Then again, he could have enlisted much earlier, and been on active duty, only to later be killed in his early 30s in Vietnam.

Does Indiana Jones Still Have The Watch?

At the very end of the movie, when Indiana Jones wakes up in his New York City apartment, it seems like he still has the wristwatch previously worn by the villain, Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). Prior to this, Indy and Helena discovered this same watch in the tomb of Archimedes, on the wrist of the skeleton of Archimedes. Later, when they travel through the time fissure to 200 B.C.E., it’s possible (maybe?) that there are two versions of the same watch. The one from the skeleton in 1969 and the “original” watch that came back in time with Mads Mikkelsen.

So, how did Indy get the watch back at the end of the movie? Our only explanation right now is that Helena must have retrieved the “first” (last?) version of the watch from Archimedes’ skeleton once they arrived back in the present. Then again, maybe we’re overthinking this?

Why did Indy end up in 200 BC?

The biggest twist in the final act of the film is that Voller’s plan fails because of two reasons: First, he incorrectly calculated which time fissure would take them back to WWII, but also, that Archimedes himself designed the dial in such a way that it would lead people to a specific point. Over on our sister site, Inverse, director James Mangold explained that at one point, an alternate ending for The Dial of Destiny was considered. In that unused ending, everyone would have gone back to WWII. But, Mangold ultimately decided that the ending wasn’t emotionally resonant enough saying traveling back to WWII made it “kind of just a spy movie at the end.”

So, not only does everyone end up in 200 BC because of Archimedes and bad Nazi math, but because for the director, this created a great third-act twist. “It occurred to me that we've been talking about three different time periods a lot in the movie: 1968, 1944, and 200 BC,” Mangold told Inverse. “So why don't we go there?”

Does Marion grab Indy’s hat at the end?

The final shot of the movie shows Indiana Jones’ hat, seemingly being hung up for the last time. But then, someone grabs it. Is it Marion? In a touching ending, Marion returns to Indiana’s apartment, with Helena. We see Marion and Indy facing the reality of the rest of their lives, while Helena, is perhaps, just starting on her adventures. So, did Helena grab the hat? Could that mean there’s a movie in the future where Phoebe Waller-Bridge is rocking that famous fedora? We can only hope.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is out in theaters now. Here’s where to stream every single Indiana Jones movie right now.