Over the weekend at the D23 Disney event in Singapore, there were announcements about four major Disney stars reprising their most iconic roles. Hugh Jackman is back for his 11th film as Wolverine in Avengers Doomsday, Johnny Depp is in talks for his sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie as Captain Jack Sparrow, and Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark has been resurrected for the filmed parts of two new Disneyland Marvel rides with Iron Man.
These three stars are box office goldmines in their beloved roles, and the fact that the actors are only in their late 50s and early 60s means they can still pull it off for now. However, the fourth of the group, 84-year-old Harrison Ford, is reprising Indiana Jones for a Walt Disney World ride, which doesn't make sense.
Indiana Jones and the Ageing Problem
Indiana Jones is one of Hollywood's best-loved characters, but 2023's Dial of Destiny was a box-office bomb that lost upwards of $143 million. It's not a bad movie, but stars shouldn't be playing action heroes in their early 80s. Ford's return for Disney World ride Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent involves digitally de-ageing him by 20 or 30 years for his animatronic, even though all of the other Disneyland Indiana Jones attractions have never used his likeness over the decades. This indicates that Disney and Lucasfilm are reluctant to let go of Ford as the one and only Indy, even though Sean Patrick Flannery and River Phoenix played him wonderfully in the Young Indiana Jones TV series, and opening of The Last Crusade movie. Three other actors have played the role on screen, too.
The Case for a Reboot
What should have been done is to James Bond the role after Steven Spielberg's original 80s trilogy, allowing multiple actors to play the role over the decades rather than the unnecessary fourth and fifth films with an ageing Ford. Most recently, the popular Indiana Jones and the Great Circle video game also used Ford's likeness, with a motion capture performance by a soundalike actor. In contrast, the new James Bond video game 007 First Light rebooted the story with a totally new incarnation of the character.
Just last year, an insider scooped that Lucasfilm is planning on giving the Indiana Jones franchise a rest before a full reboot. And there's one star who is the perfect fit to take up the fedora and whip next.
Glen Powell: The Ideal Candidate
The actor in question is Glen Powell, who's been on the cusp of A-list stardom for the past few years. Not only does he have the right look, the charm and the 6ft height, he's also the right age to start in the role. Powell turns 38 in a couple of months, which is the same age Ford was in his first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. He could lead a total reboot of the series, with new adventures set in the 1930s. However, any attempt to modernise the character with a contemporary setting that suits Bond, would be disastrous for the series' charm. Tomb Raider, Uncharted and National Treasure, all modern-day set copies of Indiana Jones, have never quite worked, whereas Brendan Fraser's The Mummy, which is getting a sequel, has done. And, it wouldn't be Indiana Jones if he wasn't punching Nazis.
