Mads Mikkelsen boarded the cast of Disney’s much-anticipated Indiana Jones 5 last month. Though it wasn’t confirmed who he’ll be playing, it didn’t take much to guess that he must be Indy’s newest foe, seeing as the Danish star is a master at portraying evil masterminds. Sure enough, some new details about Harrison Ford’s latest turn as the whip-wielding archaeologist reveal the nature of Mikkelsen’s character, promising that – yes – he is the villain of the piece.
The Illuminerdi – who’ve proven reliable with their intel many times in the past – have shared a glut of plot info about Indy 5, including how Mikkelsen will fit into the story. Apparently, he’s playing a former Nazi scientist enlisted into NASA by the United States government to work on the space agency’s moon landing initiative. This character description tells us when the film will be set, too – in the late 60s, amid the Space Race and in the lead-up to the first manned mission to the moon in 1969.
Having the movie’s villain be a Nazi is a smart move for a couple of reasons. For one, everyone knows that Indy is at his coolest when he’s punching Nazis – which he got to do in both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade –  so they had to give him the opportunity to do that somehow. What’s more, German scientists genuinely were put to work in the US following the war as per Operation: Paperclip, which means there’s a real-life basis for this concept.
What’s more, The Illuminerdi likewise reveals that Mikkelsen’s villain will be supported by a secondary female foe. She’s described as “an evil and brutal killer,” though it’s currently unknown who’s taking the part. This character will be the third female villain in the franchise, though, following Crusade‘s Elsa and Cate Blanchett’s Soviet agent Irina Spalko from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
With Steven Spielberg stepping aside, leaving Logan‘s James Mangold in the director’s chair, Indiana Jones 5 is currently scheduled for release on July 29th, 2022.
