The following contains spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, now in theaters.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was a return to form in many ways, as it had the return of Indy's greatest enemies -- Nazis. Of the five movies, Indy faced powerful enemies in three of them and always came out on top. That said, none of his adventures ever had Indy directly oppose one for the entire movie. Thankfully, Dial of Destiny changed this by having him square off with the equally intelligent and formidable Jürgen Voller.
Voller aided in Hitler's plans to secure priceless artifacts from history and use its legends to win the war. But his main obsession was with Archimedes' Antikythera device, which could find fissures in time. Decades later, after the Nazis lost, Voller used his mind to aid in the first moon landing, hoping to further his plans to travel to the past and win World War II. The only problem with this plan was that a fateful accident should've ensured he didn't survive past his first encounter with Indy in WWII.
Voller Was Dealt a Deadly Blow in Dial of Destiny's Introduction
Dial of Destiny opened with a flashback to World War II, where Indy snuck into a camp to liberate a massive collection of ancient artifacts. However, this was also the introduction of a much younger Voller, who was planning to obtain the pieces of the Antikythera and use it to correct what he felt were Hitler's greatest mistakes. Indy's mission led him to a train filled with artifacts and one piece of Archimedes' dial, which Voller chased after to the top of the train. But, even when Voller had Indy and his accomplice at gunpoint, he failed to see a faucet from a water tower that smacked Voller in the face, seemingly killing him.
As it was revealed, in the present day of the movie, Voller had survived without any scars. Realistically, hitting a metal pipe at full speed should've killed Voller. Even his survival should've yielded scars or a facial deformity to show his survival came at a cost. Voller's return without any scars robbed him of any gimmicks that made him stand out, like Toht, who had the headpiece to the Staff of Ra branded on his palm. But most importantly, it set a precedent for the rest of the movie that greatly affected its stakes.
Voller's Survival Undermines the Movie's Stakes
While Voller's presence in Dial of Destiny offered a chilling and calculating villain, which had yet to be seen in the franchise, his entire presence diminished its stakes. In the past, limits helped show the threats that Indy faced, such as the muscular Nazi that fought him on the tarmac in Raiders of the Lost Ark. That enemy was so strong it took Indy outsmarting him to secure a victory without sacrificing stakes. However, if Voller could survive a hit to the face from a massive metal pipe, it would diminish the tension when Indy is shot in the shoulder later in the movie.
Granted, Indy's much older, and a gunshot after a physically taxing adventure would greatly weaken him. But if Voller could survive his fate, even Indy deserved a chance to bounce back sooner. With this being the last movie in the franchise, now that Harrison Ford has retired from the role, stakes were more prevalent than ever. As a result, to deal a killing blow to the movie's main villain early on, only to have him return, may have made the movie safer than intended, even with an older Indy leading the charge.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now playing in theaters.