- "Mutt can be a little impetuous..."
- ―Marion Ravenwood[src]
Mutt Williams, originally born Henry Jones III, was the illegitimate son of Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones. His stepfather was Colin Williams, who was killed in battle during World War II.
In 1957, Mutt accompanied his estranged parents, along with mentor Harold Oxley and George McHale on a quest to return a fabled Crystal Skull to Akator. During this escapade, Mutt received a slash below his right eye during a sword duel with Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko. Following the adventure, he was present as his mother and father wed after years of separation.
Biography
A week before Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. and Marion Ravenwood were to be married, an argument erupted concerning Jones' hesitation in 'settling down,' which would hinder his globe-trotting ambitions. He claimed that he would make a poor husband, seeing as he would be gone for the majority of the time, and that it would hurt Marion's feelings.
However, Jones was unaware that Ravenwood did not mind him being absent for extended periods, understanding that it was his profession and hobby. Marion became hurt at Jones' assumptions concerning her feelings. Finally, tired of always losing every single argument he engaged in with Ravenwood, Indiana left, leaving a devastated Marion behind. However, unknown to Jones, during the time that he still intended to marry Marion, he had impregnated Ravenwood.
She eventually gave birth to a son without alerting the father to her motherhood or the child's very existence at all. However, Marion still cared enough about Indiana to name the boy Henry Jones, thus making him the third Henry Jones, following the Junior (his father) and the Senior (his grandfather). This name would not stay for long, though, and would not be revealed to the boy until the far future.
Early life
Three months into her son's life, Marion began dating RAF pilot Colin Williams to help get over Jones abandoning her, and would soon marry the man as well. Growing up Henry was led to believe by his mother that Williams was his biological father, with absolutely zero mention or indication that a man named Jones had ever had a relationship with Marion. Therefore, the boy considered his last name to be "Williams."
At an early age, at some point he befriended Professor Harold Oxley, a former student (alongside Jones) at the University of Chicago, under Marion's father Abner Ravenwood. Oxley, affectionately nicknamed "Ox" by his friends, became a surrogate father to Henry when Colin was unexpectedly killed during World War II. Still a child when the event happened, Henry would grow to call himself "Mutt", in reference to his lack of a father.
As he matured, Mutt was forced by his mother to attend multiple schools, in order to teach him the skills and knowledge that he would need the day he finally was alone in the world. Among the skills he (reluctantly) showed proficiency at were fencing, reading and mechanics. This made Mutt bitter at being hindered from his one true love: motorcycles, which were also his profession as he fixed them. He managed to either quit or be kicked out of every school he attended, which considerably annoyed his mother.
Search for Oxley
In 1957, Mutt and Marion received contact from Oxley, who claimed to have found a crystal skull and was on his way to a place called "Akator" with it. His enthusiam mistakenly convinced Marion that her old pal was mentally ill, and this seemed to be confirmed when, some time later, Ox mailed a letter composed of incomprehensible symbols and drawings. This worried Marion so much that she left for Peru, hoping to find Oxley and see if he was all right.
Mutt.
Time went by without word from Mutt's mother. Eventually, Mutt received a phone call from Marion, who claimed that both she and Ox have been kidnapped by Russian secret agents, and that she had managed to escape. Marion was able to pass on the information that she was sending him Oxley's letter so that he could enlist the help of Indiana Jones to translate it. At that point, the line went dead as Marion was re-captured.
Deeply worried, Mutt soon received the letter, as his mother had said he would, and quickly embarked to find Jones, whoever he was, and get him to help rescue Mutt's mom. He had been told that Indiana was some type of professional "grave robber." Arriving at a train station just in time to see Jones boarding a train to leave the USA, Mutt shouted to the man outside the compartment window, calling him 'old man.' With mere seconds before the train would pass through a tunnel and prevent Mutt from keeping up, he desperately shouted that someone was going to kill Harold Oxley, Indy's old colleague.
The pair went to Arnie's, a local diner. There, Mutt introduced himself, and took offense at Jones' remark concerning his name, saying it was "the one [he] picked." Mutt claimed that Oxley had helped raise him after the death of his "father," and was close friends with his mother, whom the boy referred to as Mary Williams, a name Jones did not recognize. When Indy made an off-hand remark about how he knew "a lot of Marys..." Williams reacted with fury, bolting from his seat and defending his mother, showing the deep concern and love he had for her.
After cooling off, Mutt returned to his story. He related how Mary had traveled to Peru to find Oxley, who was going to the lost city of Akator to return a crystal skull. When Indiana explained the legend of Akator and the crystal skull, Mutt became fascinated, and became convinced that Ox had been on to something huge. He then pulled out the letter written by Oxley, and handed it to an equally bemused Jones.
It was at this moment that two Russian KGB agents, who had been spying on Mutt and Indy for the last few hours, noticed the letter (their primary objective) and approached the table, demanding that Jones give them the letter. When the men threatened, "or else," Mutt took out his switchblade and challenged the agents to try anything. Unfortunately for him, the KGB had guns on their person, and Mutt and Jones had no choice but to be led out the door to avoid a public shooting.
As they neared the exit, Jones whispered to Mutt to create a diversion by punching an innocent socialite. This triggered the desired chaos, which Mutt and Jones used to flee their pursuers on Williams' beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. During the hectic chase through the Marshall College campus, Mutt watched with amazement as Jones fought off the agents, surprised by the man's excellent fighting skills despite his age.
Williams drove right through an anti-Communist rally taking place on the grounds of the school, and tricked one of the Russian-driven sedans into crashing directly into a statue memorial of Marcus Brody, which caused the head to break off and fly through the windshield. Mutt displayed pride at his ingenuity, but when he turned to Jones to share his moment of glee, he found the professor stone-faced with disapproval.
Mutt in South America.
The second sedan then caught up to them, forcing Mutt to gun his engine once again. Jones advised that they drive right into the school, which would force the KGB to abandon their car in an on-foot chase. This worked, but as Mutt recklessly careened through the school library, Indiana chastised him for moving to fast. Mutt merely replied that it was a matter of opinion…before nearly colliding with a hapless student carrying a stack of books.
Skidding to avoid the boy, Mutt sent the motorcycle onto its side, and the pair slid under multiple rows of benches before stopping before a student. The boy tried to ask his teacher a question while he was there, as Mutt restarted his bike and drove off again. They had lost the Russians.
After Indiana and Mutt solved the riddles from the letter, they went to the possible location of Oxley - Nazca, Peru. There, in an old tomb, they found a Crystal Skull that Oxley had, oddly, returned to where he had found it. But as they were leaving the tomb, a group of Russian agents captured them. The agents took them to their South American camp, where Mutt was reunited with Marion. Oxley was also at the camp, and had gone insane from the Skull's mystical powers.
Mutt later created a diversion for the group to attempt an escape, but this failed. Afterwards, his mother told him that Indiana was his real father, much to his denial. The group later made another escape attempt as the convoy of soldiers ventured through the Amazon, during which Mutt fought Irina Spalko in a sword-duel atop speeding vehicles through the virgin jungle.
After fleeing the Russians, the group came to the Temple of Akator. When the Crystal Skull's power was activated and a portal to an alternate dimension began destroying the city, the group fled, surviving the temple's destruction and were the only ones to witness a flying saucer lift off from beneath the ruins, disappearing without a trace.
Mutt later attended his parents' wedding. At one point he attempted to try on Indy's fedora, but his father snatched it back just as it reached Mutt's head.
Personality and traits
Preferring his motorcycle to his classical education, Mutt Williams never much cared for prep school life. He always turned down every school he ever attended, and sought to spend his time fixing motorcycles, combing his hair, and playing with his switchblade.
Though he showed no interest, Mutt was known to be highly skilled in the courses he'd taken at school, notably fencing, as seen during his duel with Irina Spalko. He was also an excellent reader.
Even the son of Indiana Jones did not see eye-to-eye with his own father. When first introduced, the relationship between Indy and Mutt was rather strained; such as the time when Mutt paid no attention to Jones' snake phobia while attempting to rescue him from a pit of sinking sand. At one point, Indy jokingly called him "Junior", which was Indiana's real name.
Mutt tended to carry a switchblade and a comb with him at all times, he also drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle. He was very protective of all these items.
Behind the scenes
The concept of Indiana Jones having offspring was introduced in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which Old Indy is shown to have an adult daughter. During development of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Frank Darabont's script, Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods, involved Indy and Marion having a 13-year-old daughter. However, director Steven Spielberg objected to the idea, finding it too similar to his previous The Lost World: Jurassic Park. According to Crystal Skull screenwriter David Koepp, Mutt Williams was developed by Jeff Nathanson and George Lucas.
Koepp wanted to make Mutt into a nerd, but Lucas refused, explaining he had to resemble Marlon Brando in The Wild One; "he needs to be what Indiana Jones' father thought of [him] – the curse returns in the form of his own son – he's everything a father can't stand". Producer Frank Marshall felt Mutt brings humor to the story because of his youthful arrogance, causing banter with the older and wiser Jones. It was long-rumored that Mutt is Indiana's son, However, Spielberg dodged the idea up until the film's release, saying: "I wouldn't say it's a father-son story. The new Indy movie is about a great quest, an amazing quest — and that's all I'm gonna say."
Mutt Williams was played by Shia LaBeouf in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. LaBeouf was Spielberg's first and only choice for the role. Excited at the prospect of being in an Indiana Jones film, LaBeouf signed on without reading the script and did not know what character he would play. He worked out and gained fifteen pounds of muscle for the role, and also repeatedly watched the other films to get into character. LaBeouf also watched Blackboard Jungle and The Wild One to get into his character's mindset, copying mannerisms and words from characters in those films, such as the use of a switchblade as a weapon. Lucas also consulted on the greaser look, joking that LaBeouf was "sent to the American Graffiti school of greaserland".
LaBeouf pulled his hip's rotator cuff when filming his duel with Spalko, which was his first injury in his career. The injury got worse throughout filming until it pulled his groin. Authentic 1950s jackets were found for LaBeouf's costume, while Harley-Davidson provided his motorcycle.
Two 3 ¾" figures of Mutt, a deluxe figure of him on his motorcycle, an Adventures Heroes figurine, and a 12" figure were released in 2008. Mutt is available in three Lego sets based on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. George Lucas is interested in producing a spin-off about Mutt and his own adventures, with Indiana in a supporting role.
Appearances
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novel (First appearance)
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Indiana Jones
