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"This is embarassing. I find myself indebted to you... yet honor-bound to bring about your demise..."
―Hans Degen, to Indiana Jones[src]

Hans Degen was a German assassin who was tasked by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler himself with killing the American archaeologist Indiana Jones.

Biography[]

"You have caused us a great deal of inconvenience these past few months."
―Hans Degen, to Indiana Jones[src]

In 1936, Hans Degen was tasked by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler with the execution of the American archaeologist Indiana Jones, who had disrupted their machinations with his retrievel of the Ark of the Covenant.[1] On his way to carry out the assassination, Degen learned a lot about Jones, such as his fame of a man of great courage and honor, and even information about his girlfriend Marion Ravenwood, learning about her late father Abner and his merits, and of his friend Marcus Brody, the National Museum curator who had been disgraced thanks to a frame-up involving the Arnhem Ring involving the unscrupulous antiquities collector Ben Ali Ayoob.[2]

Degen was able to track down and confronted Jones in the Welsh mountains near Merthyr Tydfil, just as Jones, accompanied by Ravenwood and Brody, had dismantled Austin Coleridge's operations in the Lucifer Chamber.[1] However, as Degen prepared to carry out the task he had been assigned, his life was – accidentally – saved by the archaeologist after Tarrant attempted to kill Degen from behind. In debt to Jones, as a form of gratitude Degen gave Indy another 24 hours to live so he could settle the score he had with Ali Ayoob in order to clear up Brody's name before he would follow through on his plan to end him. He acted like if he were a friend of Jones to Ravenwood and Brody, surprising them with the information he had and accepting to let him accompany them due to his knowledge of Ayoob's whereabouts[2]

Accompanying Jones and his companions to Switzerland while posing as a Scotland Yard official, Degen threatened Jones as they prepared to find Ayoob, aware that Indy could backstab him during nighttime, but Indy told him that he didn't fear him or his employers before they got assaulted by a group of Ismailis in a nearby castle owned by Ali Ayoob, whom Degen expressed interest in hiring by talking about them to his employers. He was, however, captured alongside Jones and taken to the castle, where the archaeologist was forced to fight a bear in an arena with Degen and Brody tied to a tree. Jones managed to free Brody and directed him to free Degen while his attention returned to the bear. Baffled that his target did not simply leave him for dead, the rescued Degen eventually jumped the bear from behind to give Jones and Brody time to escape.[2]

Overcoming the bear, Degen headed towards Ben Ali Ayoob's office, and grabbed the Devil's Heart while Ayoob was focused on Jones and his friends. However, Ayoob saw the assassin's reflection on a glass case and shot Degen. The artifact fell into the chimney and, within black flames, vaporized Ayoob in the blink of an eye. The dying Degen asked Brody to tell Jones that he had lost their contest of wills and passed away.[2]

Personality and traits[]

"...Though I must admit that I am loathe to carry out this assignment. You are a man of great courage and honor. It distresses me that I must now kill you."
―Hans Degen to Indiana Jones.[src]

As a professional assassin, Hans Degen took no pleasure in violence but believed in the Nazi idea of Aryan superiority. Although he refused to disobey orders, Degen felt that he owed a debt to Indiana Jones when the man, who Degen was hired to kill despite admiring his great courage and honor, saved his life. The assassin chose to give Jones an extra day to live but, when Jones later untied him instead of leaving him to be killed by a bear, Degen, thrown by Jones' decision to once again assist his would-be killer, ultimately sacrificed himself to save Jones and his companions.[2]

Behind the scenes[]

In some pages of issue 22 of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, Hans Degen is drawn with brown hair while in others he has black hair.[2]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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