Antonin Dovchenko

"Oh for love of God, shut the hell up!"

- Antonin Dovchenko

Soviet Colonel Antonin Dovchenko fought against Indiana Jones in 1957. Jones considered Dovchenko a "thug" and did not think he was very intelligent, according to his journal.

Biography
"You recognize building, yes?"

- Antonin Dovchenko

Dovchenko was a massive bull of a man and part of the Soviet Special Forces assigned to assist Irina Spalko. In Nevada, disguised as an American army officer and using the alias "Colonel Truman," Dovchenko commanded the team that infiltrated Hanger 51. Here he got into his first fight with Jones, and the Colonel is knocked through a glass window in the rocket sled control room, hitting a control panel and setting the timer off. Dovchenko tries to kill Jones with a chain, but fails when the rocket sled is activated and the two are shot out into the desert, rendering the Russian officer unconscious in the process.

Upon recovering he is found by some of his men who followed the rocket sled's trail, and, getting into a jeep, commands the second carload of troops to hunt down and kill Jones before returning to Spalko, having had enough of the hot desert. He desired to return to Russia, but went to Peru with Mac where they captured Jones and Mutt Williams and brought them to Spalko's military encampment in Brazil, where her quest to find Akator would begin. During the truck ride to Akator, Dovchenko became annoyed by the bickering of Jones and Marion Ravenwood and attempted to gag her, whereupon both Jones and Mutt kicked him in the head and knocked him out.

He remained unconscious in the back of the truck for the beginning of the ensuing jungle chase, but when Marion pulled alongside a duck containing Mac, Oxley and several soldiers, Dovchenko awakened and (barely) regained control of the truck after she and Mutt jumped out into the other vehicle.



Infuriated with Jones for knocking him out twice, he gathered the straggling soldiers thrown out during the chase and the truck soon caught up to Jones' party - at a nesting site for a supercolony of siafu. Heedless of the ants, Dovchenko leaped out of the speeding truck and tackled Jones and Oxley to the ground, engaging Jones in a second brutal fistfight, which was allowed to continue unmolested by the ants due to Oxley using the Crystal Skull. Following being beaten upside the head with a log by Jones, a dazed Dovchenko fell into the ant swarm. The ants engulfed his entire body and dragged him headfirst into the nest, where he was devoured.

Behind the scenes

 * The character was played by Igor Jijikine in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Jijikine, a high-wire trapeze artist in the Cirque du Soleil, performed mandatory military service in the Soviet special forces from 1982 to 1984.
 * Hasbro released 3 ¾" and 12" action figures as well as an Adventure Heroes model while Lego included him in a playset of the Jungle Cutter.
 * While he frequently is seen wearing a hat in the film, he is never depicted wearing a hat in the comic adaptation of the film.
 * Dovchenko demonstrates proficiency in the Russian-Military Martial Art of Sambo.
 * Igor Jijikine replaces Pat Roach`s characters from the other fims.

Appearances

 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic