Franklin

"…don't call me Junior!"

The title of this article is a nickname. This article is about a canonical subject that lacks a proper name, and is known only by a nickname, alias or other designation.

CHARACTER
Franklin
Gender	Male
Birth	A couple of years more than Jimmy Keegan
Death	1957 Doom Town, Nevada, United States of America
Nationality	Soviet
Profession(s)	Soldier Driver
Allegiance(s)	Soviet Special Forces

Disguised as American serviceman "Franklin", a Russian soldier served under Colonel Antonin Dovchenko and Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko, helping them to infiltrate Hangar 51 in Nevada in 1957.

Biography

"Franklin" was a Russian soldier who, in 1957, was just a couple of years older than the American teenager Jimmy Keegan. That same year, "Franklin" and his comrades, disguised with his comrades as US military soldiers, aided Colonel Antonin Dovchenko and Colonel Doctor Irina Spalko in infiltrating Hangar 51 in Nevada, USA as part of a covert Soviet invasion of America to acquire the New Mexico specimen.

Franklin accompanied his superiors to Hangar 51 in the driver seat of a staff car in the boot of which American archaeologist Indiana Jones and double agent George "Mac" McHale were held. On the way there, he was goaded into a race with teenager Jimmy Keegan despite the objections of Roosevelt, his passenger. Once they arrived at Hangar 51, Sergeant Jimmy Wycroft and his MPs approached the convoy, informing them that the base they were entering was closed due to weapons testing. Franklin and Roosevelt remained inside their car as several other soldiers executed the guards and then led the group into the hangar itself.

Indiana Jones and Mac were released under Dovchenko's orders, and were surrounded by the Soviets as Jones retrieved his fedora. It was Franklin and another soldier who dragged Jones and Mac from the boot of the car and dumped them on the ground. After Jones was coerced into finding the crate holding the Roswell crash victim, he lead the group into the hangar, where they awaited further instructions from their captive. When Jones asked Colonel Dovchenko for bullets, the colonel translated this to his subordinates and they all laughed at Indy. However, the archaeologist was able to convince Dovchenko to give him several bullets, which he then used to locate the highly magnetized crate in which the Roswell remains were kept.

The Soviets looked on in awe as Spalko opened the crate, showing them all the corpse of a deceased being from another world. However, Jones used the distraction of the inhuman body to disable the Soviet guarding him and steal a machine gun from both the latter and then Franklin using his whip for himself and Mac, leading Mac to get hold of Franklin's gun. The two threatened Spalko, but after Mac revealed his loyalty was to the Russians, Indy realized he was outnumbered. Dovchenko ordered him to drop his gun, but when Jones did the machine gun fired and the bullet hit a Soviet in the foot, allowing Jones time to climb a wall of crates and make his escape, despite the efforts of several soldiers to kill him. Franklin was among the Soviets who pursued Jones after he hijacked a jeep, and was ordered by Spalko to block the exits of the hangar so that Indy would not make it out alive. However, Jones got away through an underground chamber on board a rocket sled.

With Lincoln and Hoover, Franklin tracked Jones to Doom Town, unaware that the settlement was actually a nuclear testing site. When they heard the air raid siren, Lincoln yelled for the others to come and the soldiers promptly piled into their staff car to escape. However, as they drove away from the exploding town, the nuclear shockwave engulfed them, killing all three men, though not before they spotted a refrigerator flying over them carrying Indiana Jones safely away from blast.

Personality and traits

Like his companions, Franklin was a soldier determined to serve the Soviet Special Forces and his nation. However, he also displayed a playful side as he took on the racing challenge set by some American teenagers despite his passenger's disapproval clearly out of boredom as everyone was out in the blasted Nevada desert. He would have not called off the drag race under other circumstances, suggesting a competitive side. As perceived by Jimmy Keegan, Franklin was a sharp-featured man, with him in turn perceiving Keegan and his friends as a bunch of "spoiled teenagers".

Behind the scenes

Franklin was portrayed uncredited by stuntman Jon Braver in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like many of the Soviet Special Forces who infiltrated Hangar 51, Franklin shares his name with a US president, in his case Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The scene in Crystal Skull where Indiana Jones disarms Franklin originally included a gag in which Jones uses his bullwhip to make Franklin shoot another soldier before taking his gun. While it was cut from the final edit of the film, this moment is retained in James Rollins' novelization, Dark Horse Comics' comic book adaptation and James Luceno's junior novel. Rehearsal footage for the scene was included in the two-set disc featurettes Production Diary: Making of "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and Pre-Production; the latter featurette also showing that Indy was to pull Franklin towards him, shove him aside to take his machine gun from himself and then throw his weapon to Mac.

According to his insignia, "Franklin" was pretending to be a corporal in the US Army.

In Scholastic Corporation's audio pack, Franklin and his companions seemingly survive as they are just described as being spotted by Indy when he is at Doom Town but no mention of them escaping nor getting caught in the blast is made.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull junior novel