Marcus Brody
| “ | Are you kidding? I made that up. You know Marcus, he got lost once in his own museum. | „ |
| ~ Indiana Jones, telling his father about Marcus. |
Marcus Brody is a good friend and colleague of Indiana Jones and his father, Henry Jones Sr. He is a minor character in the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. He returns to join Indiana in the quest for the Holy Grail in the third film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. He was once the dean of the university that Indiana taught at in New York. He also owns a museum which contains several artifacts discovered by Indiana himself. Though intelligent, he is rather clueless at times but still kind hearted. In both films, he would walk in and listen to Indiana's lectures and would meet with him after class. He was portrayed by the late actor Denholm Elliott. In the fourth film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that debuted in 2008, his character was killed off due to the actor passing away in 1992.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
In 1936, Indiana Jones tried to retrieve an ancient aztec artifact for Brody's musuem but loses it to Renee Belloq, the film's antagonist. Brody tells Indy to forget about it and informs him that two army intelligence agents wish to meet with both of them. The agents inform Jones that the nazis are excavating outside of Cairo, Egypt and are searching for the Ark of the Covenant. Brody tells them a brief history of the Ark and what it could mean to the world if Hitler succeeds in getting it. Later that night, Brody tells Indy that the government gives him permission to go after the Ark and stop the nazis. They were given a guarantee that the ark can go to Brody's museum. He warns Indy that searching for the Ark would be a test of faith, but Indy assures him that he's overreacting. Brody did not appear until after the film when Indiana retrieves the Ark and the two meet with the agents in Washington D.C. Brody demands to know the location of the Ark, but the agent says its being examined by 'top men'.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
In 1938, Indiana succeeds in retrieveing a gold Spaniard crucifix for Brody's museum after 25 years of getting it back from thieves. Brody was impressed. After learning that Henry Jones Sr. had disappeared, he goes to his house with Indy to find it ransacked and for the sake of his old friend, he decided to accompany him to Venice to find him. When Indy and Dr. Elsa Schneider went into the catacombs to find a tomb, Marcus is entrusted to hold on to Henry's grail diary and while waiting, he is knocked unconcious by Kazim. After discovering the location of the Grail as well as Henry's imprisonment, Indy went to find Henry, while Brody would meet with Sallah in a town near the Grail's location. When Indy was captured, the nazis learn that Brody had the map and sent out scouts to find him. In a bluff, Indy tells them Brody has friends and resources everywhere and will be very difficult to find. Brody arrives in Iskenderun, totally oblivious of where to go and its inhabitants not knowing english. Sallah quickly finds him but are intercepted by two nazis. They tell Brody that the town's museum director requests his presence; Brody agrees but Sallah senses its a trap. Sallah beats them up and has Brody hide in a building, unbeknownst that its was a German truck and Brody was captured. With a few miles away from the canyon, Marcus is seen in a car with Donovan and Schneider. After learning that Jones and Sallah were close, they put Brody in their tank. Henry sneaks in and tries to rescue him, only to be captured himself. During the battle, the two manage to get out of the tank. Indiana accidently elbows Marcus and knocks him off the tank. When the tank fell off the cliff, Marcus, along with Sallah and Henry believed that Indiana was dead and wept over his grave. Indy survived and Marcus was confused over how he survived that. The four travel to the canyon and are captured by the nazis. When Henry got shot, Brody helped tend to his wounds and begged Indy to hurry and retrieve the grail. After witnessing the grail healing Henry, he gave the sign of the cross and thanked God for sparing his friend. The four left the canyon and began to ride home. Marcus rode off first and was almost falling off his horse. Indy reminded his father that even though Brody was intelligent, he still got lost once in his own museum. Indy rode up and helped his oldest friend.
In the fourth film, set 19 years after the third film, the audience learns that Marcus, along with Henry passed away a few years earlier. When Indiana and Mutt Williams were being chased by the Russians, they almost crashed into a statue of Marcus, dedicated to the university, but the Russians did, in which the head came off. Mutt laughed but Indy did not find it funny as it was an insult towards his deceased friend.