Since its debut in 1981, the Indiana Jones franchise has become part of American pop culture. References have been made in TV shows, movies, music and other material since the original film was released.
While many sources will simply reference the characters, some of the most frequently referenced (and parodied) scenes include:
- From Raiders of the Lost Ark, the opening adventure in the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors, including seizing the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol and escaping from the different traps, including the rolling boulder trap.
- From Raiders of the Lost Ark, the final sequence where the Ark of the Covenant is packed into crate 9906753 and stored in Hangar 51.
Film
- Back at the Barnyard: the scene with the idol and sandbag is parodied when Pip the rat tries to get the cheese off a mouse trap.
- Captain America: The First Avenger: The Red Skull dismisses Adolf Hitler as "digging for trinkets in the desert", a nod to the Nazis' search for the Ark of the Covenant at Tanis.
- DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp: As well as the utilizing the same font as the Indiana Jones films, promotional material - including one by Indiana Jones movie poster artist Drew Struzan - shows Scrooge McDuck sporting a fedora and carrying a rope over one shoulder similar to Jones and his bullwhip which does not occur in the feature itself.
- Fanboys: While the plot of the movie concerns a group of Star Wars fans breaking into Skywalker Ranch to see a rough cut of Episode I in 1998, Indiana Jones items are seen and mentioned as being part of the ranch's prop collection. Lines from the movies are quoted and the three theatrical posters sit on the wall of George Lucas's office.
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill (Star-Lord) refers to the prized orb shaped artifact he recovers from a temple as having a "shiny blue suitcase, Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon vibe" to it. References to hotly contested objects of interest for a number of people from the films Kiss Me Deadly, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Maltese Falcon respectively.
- The Hangover: When his bag is dismissed as a purse, one character insists it is a satchel like Indiana Jones carries.
- Honey, I Blew Up the Kid: Crate 9906753 can be seen in the warehouse where Wayne Szalinski's (Rick Moranis) shrink ray is held.
- Howard the Duck: A duck themed variation of Richard Amsel's Raiders of the Lost Ark movie poster can be seen on the titular Howard's wall named Breeders of the Lost Stork.
- Kong: Skull Island: During the preparations for the Skull Island expedition, a metal container is opened with the words "Army Intel 9906753 Do Not Open!" briefly visible, written in the same typeface as the Ark's crate.
- The Majestic: the fertility idol appears in a fictional movie scene called "The Sand Pirates Of The Sahara".
- Monster Ark: the monster is stored in the warehouse.
- Paul: The titular alien can be seen giving Steven Spielberg movie tips out of Hangar 51 while Short Round is later mentioned near the close of the movie.
- The People vs. George Lucas: The film contains multiple references to Indiana Jones, including an animated George Lucas and Steven Spielberg being stopped by a fridge landing in front of them which was carried from a mushroom cloud in the background.
- The Pirate Movie: The Arab Swordsman scene is parodied.
- The Rugrats Movie: The opening of the film parodies Raiders of the Lost Ark with Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil attempting to steal a golden relic from a temple, which is actually a banana split and flee from the temple after being chased by a boulder, which is actually the stomach of Tommy's pregnant mother, Didi.
- Rush Hour 3: During the montage when Lee and James Carter go their separate ways following an argument, Temple of Doom can be seen playing at the Chinese restaurant that Carter purchases some moo shu from.
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Indiana is mentioned during Mitty's search for Sean O'Connell.
- Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams: OSS agent Carmen can be seen picking up the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol from a pile of gold.
- Tomorrowland: At the memorabilia store Blast from the Past, an Indiana Jones Mighty Mugg of Mola Ram sits among the items.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Marshall College statue of Marcus Brody greets Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) when he and his family arrive at college.
- UHF: The opening scenes parody the Temple scenes with Weird Al Yankovic attempting to swipe an Oscar statue from the temple, and then is chased by a boulder through various locations.
- VeggieTales — Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush: The film and DVD cover parody Raiders.
Television
- Aladdin: Episode eleven is called "Raiders of the Lost Shark".
- American Dad: One scene from the series sees Stan Smith and his son parody the Map Room sequence, however their stand-in for the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra burns their paper map. Another scene has Smith and his alien companion Roger tied back to back like Indiana Jones and his father were. To get out of their predicament, Roger gets the idea to copy a scene he saw in a movie and simply kicks over a gas lamp to set the room on fire similar to what occured at Castle Brunwald.
- Arrow: In "Legends of Yesterday", Cisco Ramon likens two gems made of an element which glows in proximity to other objects of the same material to the Sankara Stones.
- Beeny's Restoration Nightmare: Episode two of series two makes mention of a property having "an Indiana Jones bridge."
- The Big Bang Theory: "The Precious Fragmentation" has the main characters returning from a garage sale with a box of random television and movie collectibles. Included is an Indiana Jones connect-the-dots book.
- The Big Bang Theory: "The 21-Second Excitation" has the characters watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on TV with Penny at the beginning of the episode and the plot involves them going to a screening of the film with 21 seconds of previously unseen footage. The Raiders March by John Williams is used twice, at the beginning and at the end when Sheldon Cooper steals the film reels and flees with the others as they're being chased by the audience waiting to see the film. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is also directly referenced and Leonard Hofstadter is called Short Round.
- The Big Bang Theory: "The Raiders Minimization" sees Sheldon Cooper attempt to ruin something for Amy Farrah Fowler as revenge for her spoiling his enjoyment of Raiders.
- Black Mirror: In "Playtest", globetrotter Cooper is compared with Indiana Jones due to his travels worldwide and later reenacts Temple of Doom by pretending to rip the heart out of a hologram of an old school bully.
- Cardinal Burns: In the third episode of the first season, the sketch show's "Kookyville" skit (a parody of US indie pictures) sees the main character using a View-Master to look at the world's landmarks. He misnames them all, finally calling the Leaning Tower of Pisa the "Temple of Doom".
- Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe identifies Raiders of the Lost Ark as a documentary while discussing the World War II set Wolfenstein series.
- Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe: When Brooker finds Harrison Ford's Sky Movies advert disagreeable in the second episode of season two, he closes the segment by saying "So sling your hook, Doctor Jones." In the third season's third episode, while explaining that a 4DX cinema's technology can release bubbles into the audience, Brooker struggles to think of a movie that could utilize it before settling on "Indiana Jones and the... Bubble... Hand... Man."
- Cheers: The Italian movie poster for Raiders (and The Empire Strikes Back) can be spotted in the background of the season three finale "Rescue Me" when Diane Chambers walks away from a phone booth. In the season five episode "House of Horrors with Formal Dining and Used Brick", Carla Tortelli sarcastically calls Norm Peterson Indiana Jones when he jumps at the sound of a ringing telephone at Carla's supposedly haunted house.
- The Chipmunks Go To The Movies had an entire episode dedicated to spoofing Raiders of the Lost Ark entitled Daytona Jones and the Pearl of Wisdom.
- Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers: The show was originally pitched starring Kit Colby, "an Indiana Jones type of guy, complete with the leather jacket and the fluffy collar" before he was turned into Chip in the final version and given an Indiana Jones fedora on top of Colby's outfit.[1]
- Community: Abed has plans to go to a showing off the (then) four Indiana Jones movies in "Social Psychology" and watch the first three. Annie later gives him the films as an apology gift.
- Community: In "English as a Second Language", Jeff Winger gets Abed, who "can only relate to people through movies", to stop looking at Annie by saying that she's the Ark of the Covenant.
- Community: When Jeff states that he treats his body like a temple in "The Psychology of Letting Go", Nurse Jackie tells him that the body "is a temple of doom and you know what? Like the real Temple of Doom, it represents the inconvenient fact that all good things--be they people or movie franchises--eventually collapse into sagging, sloppy, rotten piles of hard-to-follow nonsense."
- Community: In "Critical Film Studies", Jeff gets Abed the briefcase from Pulp Fiction for his birthday but Abed explains that it is a fake, stating that the place where Jeff bought it from once sold him Indiana Jones' real whip despite shifting around seventy of them a year.
- Community: Abed's apartment displays a working scale model of the Raiders boulder scene in "Remedial Chaos Theory" which says "Adios, Sapito" [sic] upon activation. When Jeff sees it, he remarks "Indiana Jones and the Apartment of Perpetual Virginity."
- Community: A flashback to 2008 in "Historic Origins" sees Troy Barnes telling his former social group that "Crystal Skull was aliens, so it's a pretty great film."
- The Daily Show: In 2014, correspondent Jason Jones begrudgingly traveled to India in a series of segments called India Jones and the Election of Doom to report on the nation's attitude to democracy and its process. The segments used The Raiders March and included nods to Fedora placing his hat on Indiana Jones, chilled monkey brains, a map sequence, and Jones's escape from the Hovitos.
- DC's Legends of Tomorrow: In addition to referencing the franchise in "Raiders of the Lost Art", Raiders is cited as an inspiration for Nate Heywood/Steel becoming a historian with the very creation of Indiana Jones and Star Wars coming under threat when the timeline is altered so a young George Lucas quits film school. The following episode, "The Legion of Doom", sees Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson seek help from Stein's daughter Lily over the Medallion of Longinus by saying that they're doing research for a project that is "sort of like Indiana Jones." Heywood later remarks in "Doomworld" that the pet mouse Axel looks like an "Indiana" to him.
- Doctor Who Confidential: In "Call Me the Doctor", actor Matt Smith reveals that part of the costume of his character, the (Eleventh) Doctor, was inspired by Indiana Jones' Barnett College teaching attire.
- Doctor Who Confidential: "When Time Froze" reveals that the script for the episode "The Wedding of River Song" contains the action "The Doctor walks through an Indiana Jones tunnel".
- Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide: On the Eleventh Doctor's fashion sense, writer Steven Moffat said that "He's somewhere on the bow tie axis between Indiana Jones and Stan Laurel."
- DuckTales: The forty-fifth episode is called "Raiders of the Lost Harp".
- EastEnders: The episode broadcast on 12/27/11 has a character in hospital remarking that "This sort of thing never happened to Indiana Jones." The 6/19/12 edition depicted a family watching an undisclosed movie which had The Raiders March playing over it.
- The Fairly OddParents: "The Big Bash" — Timmy (dressed like Indy), Cosmo, and Wanda search for Peruvian coffee beans in a temple, much like in the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Family Guy: "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" — Peter and Meg Griffin paraphrase Indiana Jones and Lao Che's exchange about the antidote to the poison.
- Family Guy: "Stuck Together, Torn Apart" — A parody of Raiders of the Ark's Map Room scene occurs when Peter Griffin affixes the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra to a stick in the attic and uses the window to create the beam of light.
- Family Guy: "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" — The episode includes a cutaway to a parody of Indiana Jones trying to claim the golden idol.
- Family Guy: "Blind Ambition" — Peter Griffin's fight with a giant chicken climaxes on an airport and the pair brawl around the Flying Wing.
- Family Guy: "Peter's Got Woods" — The episode includes a crate being stored at Hangar 51. As does its follow-up "Back to the Woods".
- Family Guy: "Jungle Love" — Peter, Lois and Chris Griffin with Jock Lindsey escape from angered villagers the same way as Indiana Jones fleeing the Hovitos. The sequence keeps the music intact, and Meg Griffin is left behind to suffer a death like Barranca.
- Family Guy: "The Courtship of Stewie's Father" — Rescuing child slaves from a Disney World attraction involves Peter and Stewie Griffin reenacting the Temple of Doom minecart sequence, including Michael Eisner trying to take Peter's heart like Mola Ram.
- Family Guy: "Stewie B. Goode" — Stewie Griffin, as Short Round, recalls being in India with Indiana Jones and Willie Scott. When Scott starts screaming as the Temple of Doom roof spikes close in, Griffin makes an aside that she's only there because she's sleeping with the director.
- Family Guy: "Road to Germany" — A sequence in which Brian and Stewie Griffin, and Mort Goldman exit their crashing plane mimics the same situation from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom complete with raft, "We're not sinking, we're crashing!" quote and Slalom on Mt. Humol from the movie's score.
- Family Guy: "Hannah Banana" — A spoof of the "Love you" student occurs when Chris and Peter are fueding at the breakfast table. Chris closes his eyes to reveal the words "Hate You" written on his eyelids.
- Fanboy and Chum Chum: Season 2, Episode 24; "Microphonies" Fanboy receives a box with a microphone in the mail. As he opens it, he reaches into the box by making a hole, and says "Kali Ma......". Chum Chum then follows and says "Omnomshiba, Omnomshiba".
- Fantastic Four: In the booby-trapped passages beneath Doctor Doom's lair in "The Mask of Doom, Part II", The Thing Ben Grimm exclaims "Hey, Doctor Doom watched an Indiana Jones picture!" when the team is faced with a giant ball rolling towards them.
- The Flash: In "All Star Team Up", Cisco Ramon asks "Bees. Why did it have to be bees?" when he discovers that he'll be dealing with the insect. In "The Trap", Ramon refers to his death in a dream state where his heart is ripped apart, as going all "Kali Ma Temple of Doom". Ramon reacts to Julian Albert's attire in "Attack on Gorilla City" with "Indiana Jones much?" and, upon meeting Albert for the first time, Harrison Wells acknowledges him as Indiana. When The Flash, Barry Allen, observes a cultist ritual in "The Wrath of Savitar", he describes it back to Ramon as "some serious Temple of Doom stuff".
- FlashForward: In "Revelation Zero Part 1", FBI agent Mark Benson visits a therapist who has several Mighty Muggs figures from various franchises on her windowsill. The Arab Swordsman is amongst them.
- Frasier: "Daphne's Room" — Indiana Crane and the Disposal of Doom is one of the episode's title cards.
- Frasier: "Breaking The Ice" — Roz Doyle and the Temple of Doom is one of the episode's title cards. It's followed by a scene in which Doyle compares the reaction that her lover gave when she accidentally told him that she loved him with Indiana Jones's face during his escape from the Raiders boulder.
- Frasier: "Everyone's A Critic" — Niles Crane points out that Poppy Delafield kept forgetting the name of Tennessee Williams and calling him Indiana Jones instead.
- Frasier: "Frasier-Lite" — Speaking of his pregnant wife once again rolling over and pinning him in her sleep, Niles Crane says that he "even saw it coming this time, like the big rock in that Indiana Jones movie."
- Friends: "The One with the Cooking Class" — A store clerk flirting with Ross Geller claims that, as a paleontologist who works out, he is like Indiana Jones. Ross agrees, and later likens himself to Jones again prior to his date with the clerk, telling her that he'll grab his whip.
- Fun at the Funeral Parlour included a shopkeeper character called Harrison Ford whose shop sign was written and colored in a style similar to the Indiana Jones franchise logo.
- Futurama: The episode "Anthology of Interest II" contains a story entitled Raiders of the Lost Arcade.
- Futurama: In "Assie Come Home", the Planet Express crew investigate the wreck of a spaceship. The ship's crated storage includes Ark of the Covenant stenciled on a container (as well as boxes for the Holy Grail and Golden Fleece).
- GLOW: Unimpressed with the Mayan-themed aesthetic of the venue that she and her director are scouting for a wrestling show, Ruth Wilder makes an aside that "the place looked great in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" followed by her gruffly saying "Snakes. I hate snakes".
- Gogglebox: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is among the programs watched.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: In the Season 4 premiere, ""Beanstalks and Bad Eggs", Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and Autolycus (Bruce Campbell) break into the booby-trapped home of a warlord to steal a pouch. The whole scene is an homage to the opening of Raiders, with Hercules playing the Satipo role (Sorbo even mimicks Alfred Molina's greedy hand gestures) and Autolycus filling in for Indy.
- "Hollywood": Apple's advert for the iPad includes a clip of Indiana Jones running across the Pankot rope bridge.
- How I Met Your Mother: In "Definitions", Ted — having become a college professor — is given the gift of a fedora and bullwhip from Marshall "that used to belong to [his] favorite professor of all time". Later, The Raiders March plays when Ted is runing across the college campus late for his class.
- How I Met Your Mother: In "Field Trip", when Ted mentions to his Intro to Architecture class that some might have "confused architecture with archaeology and think we're gonna do some cool Indiana Jones stuff today" some of the students break off from the group and leave.
- How I Met Your Mother: In "Romeward Bound", Ted says of the wedding planner that "Indiana Jones wouldn't look at this body. This is a body that would melt a Nazi's face."
- How I Met Your Mother: "Knight Vision" opens with Barney telling Ted that he has the choice of three women to hook up with which "brings to mind that religious text which we hold most sacred: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." The pair then recreate the Grail choosing sequence with Barney as Jones and Ted as Walter Donovan. For the rest of the episode the Grail Knight (credited as Knight Templar) appears before Ted to comment on the wisdom of his choices.
- I Want My Own Room: "Bird Hide" sees a buried item that looks like it could be a Second World War bomb, prompting one of the hosts to claim they need a hero. This cues The Raiders March, and when the 'bomb' is dicovered to simply be a bottle, the graphic "Indiana Elliot and the Bottle of Doom" appears on-screen.
- The Inbetweeners: "Thorpe Park" — Will McKenzie states that he once waited three hours to go on the "Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland Paris".
- Indiana Jones: The True Story: As well as using the Indiana Jones name for the title, the documentary on Roy Chapman Andrews also includes clips from the Indiana Jones movies.
- Jackie Chan Adventures: The titular protagonist is an archaeologist who often goes on adventures all around the world, usually in search of supernatural artifacts. Jackie even repeats Indy's famous catch phrase, "It belongs in a museum."
- Kaeloo : The episode "Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel" has Quack Quack dress like Indiana Jones and Mr. Cat dress like a Nazi, and they go on a quest to find the Wholly Gruel, a parody of the Holy Grail.
- The Lone Gunmen: Someone speculates who would win in a match between Indiana Jones and Han Solo.
- Lost: Of Sawyer's nicknames for Walt Lloyd, Short Round is included in the first season's eighteenth episode.
- The Love Boat: The series' final season (1985-86) employs a radically different opening sequence than those before it. Instead of starting immediately with a roll call of the guest stars set against the backdrop of the Pacific Princess, the sequence opens up with a series of images from around the world, including the Great Wall of China, Istanbul, Venice, London, Japan and other things far beyond the typical Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta run of the early seasons. In the London sequence, a theatre cinema is shown, where an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom marquee, conveniently centred in the middle of frame, is clearly visible. The familiar Indiana Jones logo is not trivial, nor is it likely mere coincidence, but rather adds to the now-more-exotic, globetrotting feel of the new title sequence.
- MacGyver: "The Legend of the Holy Rose Part 1" — Asked to help find the Holy Grail, MacGyer responds with "Indiana Jones already did that, I saw the movie!"
- Magnum, P.I.: "Legend of the Lost Art" is a parody of Raiders as well as a reference to Tom Selleck being selected for the Indiana Jones role before it was prevented by his commitments to do Magnum, P.I.
- Midsomer Murders: The observer of a fight between an archaeologist's son and another man comments that it is "better than Indiana Jones".
- Modern Family: In "Disneyland", father and son Phil and Luke Dunphy make Indiana Jones their first port of call at the park.
- Mongrels: The show's documentary opens with "The Map Room: Dawn" playing. Also in the series pilot, neutered cat Marion attempts to lower himself into a veterinary hospital to retrieve his testicles, observing that the situation reminds him of Indiana Jones. The camera cuts to a tank of snakes below and Marion's companion asks if he means Raiders of the Lost Ark but the cat points out that he was actually referring to the latest movie, which he saw as "a massive pile of bollocks" and the camera shows various animal testicles gathered in a heap.
- Montana Jones: Italian-Japanese anime series about a 1930s globetrotting treasure hunter called Montana Jones.
- Muppet Babies' opening sequence included a parody of animated Baby Kermit, in Indy's gear, swinging away from a film clip of the boulder trap in the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: "Read It and Weep" contains several allusions to Indiana Jones during the adventures of Daring Do including the Word of God challenge from the Grail Temple and the Fertility Idol pedestal.
- One Foot in the Grave: During the sitcom's 1995 Christmas special, "The Wisdom of the Witch", main character Victor Meldrew complains to his wife that their malfunctioning television set sounds like Indiana Jones is inside cracking his whip.
- The One Show: The magazine program included a segment called Raider of the Lost Archive featuring a parody of the boulder chase in the title sequence with reporter Gyles Brandreth dressed as Indiana Jones managing to escape through a closing door with a film reel in hand. The title also uses the same font as Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Outnumbered: The third episode of the fourth series features an argument between father and son Pete and Jake Brockman about whether the game of Subbuteo they're playing is a more realistic recreation of an actual association football match compared to the FIFA video game series. Seeing the size of the ball next to the players for the first time, Jake exclaims that "It's like the ball that chases Indiana Jones!"
- Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures: Episode seventeen is called "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime".
- Parks and Recreation: In "Farmers Market" married co-workers Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt hold a Harrison Ford movie night in which Crystal Skull is chosen for viewing. The next morning, Wyatt discusses the plausibility of surviving a nuclear explosion in fridge before being cut off.
- Parks and Recreation: The episode "One in 8,000" has Andy Dwyer tell his wife April that "Technically, we're all dying unless you choose the right Grail. It's the dusty one."
- Peep Show: In "Threeism", Mark Corrigan bonds with, and tries to court, a married woman who went to university with him. They share several Indiana Jones references with each other which culminates in Mark inviting her to his flat and writing "Love you" on his eyelids.
- Phineas and Ferb: The episode "Phineas and Ferb and the Temple of Juatchadoon" depicts the show's characters in an Indiana Jones parody. After locating and retrieving the Amulet of Juatchdoon, adventuring archeologist duo Ohio Flynn (Phineas) and Rhode Island Fletcher (Ferb) set off to Central America to help Isabella find the Lost Temple of Juatchadoon and her missing mother. However, Dr. Doofenshmirtz has other plans for the amulet – to awaken the evil corn colossus to give him the power to destroy the world.
- QI: "Series E" of the quiz show featured an episode focused on exploration in which a contestant's buzzer noise was the Raiders March. The boulder scene was mentioned as part of a clue to the cleaning method of Paris's sewers. "Series F"'s episode on film also utilised the theme as a buzzer. The franchise was referenced for a second time in the same episode with a question concerning the Wilhelm scream, and sound producer Ben Burtt mentioned.
- Quantum Leap: "A Portrait For Troian" sees Sam Beckett, in the body of Dr. Timothy Mintz, rescue Troian Claridge from her collapsing family crypt. She calls out to him as Tim but when rescued she reverts back to calling him Dr. Mintz prompting Sam to ask "Will I have to play Indiana Jones again to get you to call me by my first name?"
- Quantum Leap: "Another Mother" depicts Kevin Bruckner lying about his reasons for leaving the house by claiming that he and his friends are going to see Raiders again. He also mentions that if he doesn't leave, he's going to miss "the rock rolling out of the cave".
- Regular Show: Season 3, Episode 57; "Eggscellent" Mordecai tries to win a hat for Rigby who is in coma. He is sent into an underground chamber with hats, and only one of them is a true hat. There is a knight down there who is dressed quite similarly to the Grail Knight, and tells him he'd die if he chose the wrong one. He chooses the most generic-looking hat.
- Robot Chicken: "Federated Resources" contains a segment called "Corey & Corey Save the World" which closes with the Bush twins being locked in a crate which is then deposited in a vast warehouse.
- Robot Chicken: "Metal Militia" contains a segment called "Young Indy" in which a young Indiana Jones finds adventure on the playground at elementary school, recreating different scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a boy in a large plastic bubble playing the role of the Chachapoyan boulder trap, and the teacher taking the Staff of Ra.
- Robot Chicken: "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" contains a segment called "Palpatine's Trip", which parodied scenes from Return of the Jedi, including Emperor Palpatine referring to the Force pike used by the Imperial royal guard as a Staff of Ra. Another segment includes a Temple of Doom homage where, at a nightclub, Bossk (in white tuxedo) uses a rolling table as cover from machine gun fire and Dr. Evazan takes a platter to the face from a throw similar to the one Indiana Jones delivers to a Club Obi Wan henchman with a cymbal.
- Robot Chicken: "Due to Constraints of Time and Budget": segment "Don't Open Your Eyes" has the spirits of the Ark of the Covenant attempting to get Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood to open their eyes in the Raiders climax.
- Scrubs: "My Big Mouth": Inviting his friend to open up to him, Doctor John "JD" Dorian then visualizes her doing so as akin to the opening of the Ark. Like Arnold Ernst Toht, his face melts.
- Scrubs: "My Quarantine" has JD imagining his colleague's wife as escaping the quarantine lockdown being put into effect like Indiana Jones does when evading the spike trap in Temple of Doom. She rolls under the descending wall and her hand reaches back in quickly to grab her hat before it closes.
- Scrubs: "My Missed Perception" includes JD picturing his surgeon friend performing exploratory surgery as Indiana Jones. The sequence parodies the escape from the Chachapoyan temple with the removal of a "golden tumor" and the surgeon lamenting "Colon? Why did it have to be colon?" when he enters.
- Seinfeld: "The Parking Space" has the cast calling George Costanza "Indiana" when he's wearing a fedora.
- Sesame Street: Episode 4161 sees Telly Monster taking on injured adventuer Minnesota Mel's search for the Golden Triangle of Destiny. He dubs himself Texas Telly and in his pursuit of the triangle encounters a rolling boulder and a snake who both assist him. Telly also crosses paths with Wyoming Walt, who is seeking the Golden Pentagon of Destiny, as well as that hunter of the Golden Octagon of Destiny herself: Virginia Virginia.
- The Simpsons has a VHS and DVD home video collection of episodes entitled Raiders of the Lost Fridge featuring Homer Simpson fleeing a giant rolling donut in Indiana Jones attire.
- The Simpsons: "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", Bart Simpson re-enacts the prologue from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of acquiring the golden idol, Bart tries to get his father's coin jar. The sequence also includes Bart grabbing his cap as the garage door closes: a nod to Jones's escape from the spike chamber in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
- The Simpsons: "Mr. Plow" sees God melt the heavy snowfall in retaliation for Homer Simpson's boast that even the deity couldn't stop him and Barney Gumble. Two snowmen melt in a way reminiscent of the Ark of the Covenant's opening over which a similar music cue to that used in the Raiders scene plays.
- The Simpsons: "Little Orphan Millie" includes the character of Milhouse's uncle, Norbert Van Houten, who dresses like Indiana Jones and flies a biplane. A cue from "The Raiders March" is also played.
- The Simpsons: "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window" references Indiana Jones' ophidiophobia as an example of how "everyone has an animal they can't stand".
- The Simpsons: An alternate timeline in "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" where Artie Ziff is Bart Simpson's father has him telling the boy "You're just like Indiana Jones, son. A role played by Richard Dreyfuss in our universe!" as Bart uses a whip.
- South Park: "Free Hat", the four main characters try to stop George Lucas and Steven Spielberg from re-editing Raiders of the Lost Ark, adding Ewoks. The movie premiere of the special edition of Raiders has Spielberg dress up like Belloq at the Ark opening scene.
- South Park: "Meet the Jeffersons": The Ark of the Covenant lies among the wealthy Mr. Jefferson's possessions within his son's bedroom.
- South Park: "The China Probrem": The characters react to the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and believe that Indiana Jones was literally raped by his creators.
- South Park: "200": George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are among the celebrities looking for revenge for being made fun of by the titular town. With them is Indiana Jones wearing a leash and ballgag.
- Stargate SG-1: The episode "Moebius, Part 1" sees archaeologist Daniel Jackson approached at a funeral by the niece of the deceased. She explains that her aunt always talked about him, admitting that she had "always used to picture some Indiana Jones type."
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Throughout the series, the Indiana Jones is listed as a Shuttle-craft.
- That Mitchell and Webb Look: One sketch sees a man counter his soccer enthusiast companion's gloating as if he had personally been in the game by speaking of Indiana Jones's role in Raiders in the first person, asking if the man remembered when his 'team' found the Ark of the Covenant.
- That Mitchell and Webb Look: In a sketch from the fourth episode of the fourth series, a mention of Iraq is said to most likely bring up images of "Indiana Jones type fellas on the news."
- The Thick of It: In the fourth episode of the third season, Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship's Director of Communication, Malcolm Tucker, adopts the franchise's naming convention in commending Nicola Murray's enthusiasm to go after her political opposite, quickly dubbing it Indiana Murray and the Bum-dildo of Vengeance.
- The Thick of It: Season four, episode five — "The Ark has been opened and your face is gonna melt."
- Tiny Toon Adventures: The episode "Cinemaniacs!" has a sequence dedicated to parodying elements from Indiana Jones entitled 'Pasadena Jones and the Secret of Life'. It includes Buster Bunny as Pasadena literally riding the red line used in the movies on maps to show Jones traveling to his location, fleeing a giant rolling 8-ball and riding a minecart.
- The Venture Bros.: "The Trial of the Monarch" opens with Hank and Dean Venture opening a treasure chest dressed as Indiana Jones and Thomas Magnum respectively. Dressing as Belloq did during the Ark opening ceremony in "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel", Dr. Orpheus casts a spell from the ram staff that resembles the powers of the Ark.
- The Walking Dead: The first episode of season two has Daryl Dixon calling Korean American survivor Glenn Rhee (who wears a cap) Short Round.
- Warehouse 13: An episode pays homage to the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in which the approach to a top secret facility in the desert finds the military being greeted by a man stepping out of a car in Jones's attire.
- [Wikipedia:Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series) Whose Line Is It Anyway?]: A game of Sound Effects sees Ryan Stiles playing Indiana Jones with Colin Mocrie as his "sassy female sidekick."
- World Wrestling Entertainment: As part of the company's promotion for their Summerslam pay-per-view event in 2008, wrestler Chris Jericho parodied Raiders' idol and sandbag scene.
Comics
- All-Star Squadron #5 "Never Step on a Feathered Serpent" by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler, Jerry Ordway, and Adrian Gonzales, January 1982, has a reference to Hitler's quests for various artifacts of power, including his failed attempt to acquire the Ark of the Covenant.
- All-Star Squadron #6, "Mayhem in the Mile-High City", a fellow archaeologist (who is also the madman villain) clearly mentions Prof. Indiana Jones as a contemporary.
- The Amazing Spider-Man #608 depicts Indiana Jones on the television screen in Peter Parker's apartment.
- Avengers (vol. 4) #24: "I hate [ninjas] like Indiana Jones hates snakes." — Spider-Woman
- Captain America #268 (1982), from Marvel Comics advertises and features freelance artist Steve Rogers and his girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal emerging from a Brooklyn Movie Theater, discussing the impact of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Civil War: Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Peter Parker recalls that he and his aunt had missed the first ten minutes of Raiders.
- Doctor Strange Season One has a backcover summary which describes the story as "Part Indiana Jones, part Lord of the Rings".
- Dr. Slump: A vehicle has the designation of OB-CPO. One of the manga chapter covers features the titular character Senbei "Dr. Slump" Norimaki dressed as Indiana Jones, fleeing a giant rolling pumpkin. The penultimate chapter cover features Norimaki as Jones again, this time with his wife Midori as Willie Scott and Arale Norimaki as Short Round.
- Fantastic Four #241 (1982) sees Ben "The Thing" Grimm dressing as Indiana Jones as a joke for his traveling to Africa. He gets called "Idaho Smith" by the Human Torch, asked if he expects to find the Ark of the Covenant by Mr. Fantastic whose wife, the Invisible Woman, mentions that the movie is one even her husband had seen.
- Fear Itself: New Avengers: Mockingbird reflects on her life being saved by a combination of Captain America's Super-Soldier Serum and Nick Fury's Infinity Formula, observing that it could backfire and see her head melt off her body "like a Raiders of the Lost Ark Nazi".
- In the webcomic Homestuck, character Aradia Megido has an affinity for "Troll Indiana Jones" movies (a poster can be seen in her room). Furthermore she is seen wearing a fedora, and at one point used a bullwhip as her primary weapon. Another character, Jake English, has Raiders and Crystal Skull posters.
- Human Torch #7: While investigating a castle in the Balkans, Johnny Storm finds a locked wooden door. He sarcastically points out that he's no Indiana Jones but carbon-dates the lock as six-months old and, not wanting to destroy such a "precious artifact", uses his super powers to burn the hinges from the door frame to access the room beyond.
- Nightwing #2 (1995): With four ways to sneak into the country of Kravia, Dick Grayson/Nightwing chooses a night parachute drop onto a deserted stretch of coast on the basis that there's "something Indiana Jones-ish about it".
- Penny Arcade: In "Bibliophile", Tycho asserts that Gabe merely watching him play The Novelist would have the same desiccating effect as choosing the wrong grail.
- Siege: New Avengers: When Spider-Man is attacked by a brainwashed Spider-Woman, he laments that Short Round isn't present with a torch to break her free.
- Spider-Island: Peter Parker speaks of Reed Richards as being "like Albert Einstein and Indiana Jones rolled into one."
- Spider-Man: The Other references Raiders and uses Jones's "It's not the years, it's the mileage" quote as part of an explanation of Peter Parker's rejuvenated health.
- The Superior Spider-Man #7: When vigilante Cardiac breaks into a police impound lot for superhuman items and can't find what he's looking for among the crates, he asks himself why he gets the feeling that he'll "stumble across the Ark of the Covenant" before he gets what he's after.
- The Uncanny X-Men #268 (1990) partly set in 1941, depicts the first meeting of Wolverine, dressed in Indiana Jones' attire, with Captain America. Together, the two face off against Nazis.
- Uncle Scrooge: The Seven Cities of Gold: The Fantagraphics Books collection includes story notes that refer to the similarlity of the boulder sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the one from "The Seven Cities of Cibola" story which predated it.
- The Unwritten: In his introduction to the collection Inside Man, writer Paul Cornell references Raiders of the Lost Ark while discussing the comic's protagonists stepping into the conflicting worlds of the novel Jud Süß and its adaptation for film by the Nazis.
- War of the Green Lanterns: After Hal Jordan stops Guy Gardner from taking a gauntlet from its case, Gardner calls Jordan "Indy" and asks if he's scared that removing the gauntlet will cause a boulder to fall.
Literature
- The Best in the World: When rushing to catch a flight, author/pro wrestler Chris Jericho says that he "felt like Indiana Jones taking off in the biplane as the Incas threw their spears." He later states that he has to do what his boss asks and likens it to Steven Spielberg casting him in Indiana Jones 5: The Search for Abner Ravenwood as a character who gets "shot in the ball bag in the first minutes" and that if he wanted his part changed he'd be replaced.
- The Discworld Mapp: Llamedos Jones is the most notorious of Discworld's "semi-mythical religious explorers". Llamedos is a place analogous to Wales while Jones is a common Welsh surname.
- The Green Hornet: Still at Large: The Bantu Wind and Simon Katanga make cameo appearances in Richard Dean Starr's novelette, "The World Will End in Fire". The Bantu Wind serves as Hayashi Kato's transportation to China.
- Lights, Camera, Hairballs! Garfield at the Movies includes a movie poster for Indiana Cat and the Temple of Yarn.
- Sandstorm, a 2004 adventure thriller by James Rollins, has an archaeologist named Omaha Dunn, who is sometimes compared to Indiana Jones, both having place names as first names and working in the field of archaeology and artifact retrieval. Rollins later wrote the novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
- Undisputed: Jericho compares the explosion of an arena crowd to Belloq's head, later likens himself to Indiana Jones when he narrowly avoids slipping off a stage and mentions Marion Ravenwood escaping the skeletons at Tanis when pulling himself away from the patrons of a soup kitchen his band was sharing a building with.
Video games
- 1001 Spikes: The game's cover art pays homage to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom poster.
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate rewards players who kick fifty enemies from trains with the unlockable trophy/achievement "No Ticket", the excuse used by Indiana Jones to the zeppelin passengers in Last Crusade when he throws Vogel from the D-138.
- Assassin's Creed: Unity includes a heist mission called "It Belongs In A Museum".
- BloodRayne: In one of the Argentina stages, it is possible for Rayne to find the Ark of the Covenant within Nazi territory as an easter egg. A clear reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Bomberman GB: Bomberman adopts Jones's attire and whip for the game.
- Borderlands: For applying an elemental artifact, players unlock the trophy/achievement "You call this archaeology?", a quote by Henry Walton Jones, Senior.
- The Bureau: XCOM Declassified includes an unlockable achievement/trophy called "Top. Men."
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: The multiplayer map "Nuketown" is directly inspired by the Doom Town testing site from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, complete with mannequins, and an atomic bomb suspended in a cradle.
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: The game features an equippable fedora, which is described as feeling "right with a whip". It is found in an Egyptian tomb, at a point where the leather whip is one of the better weapons.
- The Cave: The game by former LucasArts employee Ron Gilbert includes one puzzle that involves a minecart section which is solved by the player character wielding a shovel to hit above them in a similar manner to Indiana Jones in Temple of Doom. The game also features an appearance by Chuck the plant, a running gag throughout several LucasArts games including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (and cut from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis).
- City of Heroes: Contact Sarah Peters would give a mission to rescue crate 9906753 from the Council. However, game developers later changed the number of the crate to 878-932 without explanation.
- Civilization Revolution: Collecting an ancient artifact will award Xbox 360 players with the achievement "Good Afternoon, Doctor Jones.", a quote by Belloq, which is displayed with an image of the Ark of the Covenant.
- Deadfall Adventures: Looking at an artifact, treasure hunter James Lee Quatermain says "'It belongs in a museum.' Yeah and the money from it belongs in my bank account."
- Duke Nukem 3D: The level "Hotel Hell" features Indiana Jones' corpse impaled on a wall and a trap that pays homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Upon seeing archaeologist's corpse, Duke says "We meet again, Dr. Jones."
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: As an easter egg, Indiana Jones appears after certain conditions in the game are met.
- Fallout: New Vegas: The game includes a battered refrigerator containing a skeleton, along with a fedora identified as a "Suave Gambler's Hat". One computer terminal sees an email outboxed to Marcus Brody.
- Gex: The first game of the series features geckos dressed in Jones' traditional outfit as enemies in a world named "Jungle Isle".
- Golden Sun: As the player explores the Altin Mines, they will have to knock down a log, triggering a trap and causing the player to be chased by a giant boulder.
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Archaeologist Harrison Jones — a portmanteau of Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones — quotes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with "That belongs in a museum!"
- LEGO Jurassic World: A Jurassic World storefront displaying palaeontology supplies includes Indiana Jones' hat and whip.
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: A member of SHIELD asks "Snakes. What did it have to be snakes?"
- Mass Effect 3: The Ark of the Covenant, referenced as an "early Earth artifact", appears as an easter egg in the Citadel mission Citadel Archives: Escape.
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village: In one scene Layton and Luke escape from a ferris wheel in a similar vein to Jones fleeing the giant rock.
- QuackShot: As well as the game adopting the Indiana Jones font for the in-game title, Donald Duck's treasure hunting sees him wearing a fedora for his adventure.
- RuneScape: Henry Jones Sr. can be seen in the MMO game's school near the Barbarian Village, as "Professor Henry".
- Schrödinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark
- Tales from the Borderlands includes an unlockable trophy/achievement called "It's Not The Years, It's The Mileage".
- Tales of Monkey Island: Upon examining the ancient engravings of a pillar on Flotsam Island, Guybrush Threepwood points out that he has neither the education, jacket or fedora to translate them.
- Tomb Raider: As a nod to Indiana Jones's influence on the series, the Ark of the Covenant was included in Lara Croft's home. In the remake Tomb Raider: Anniversary the Ark is gone. Instead the game includes a whip and fedora on a rolling boulder's pattern.
- Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft: The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol sits among Lara Croft's treasures in her mansion vault.
- Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation: At Angkor Wat there lies a skeleton caught in a spike trap with a whip and fedora lying next to it.
- Toy Soldiers: Cold War: The description for an unlockable avatar award, a flight jacket, paraphrases Eaton's "top men" line.
- Uncharted: A series of action-adventure video games involving globe-trotting adventurers who travel in search of legendary (often cursed) artifacts, is heavily influenced by Indiana Jones, but takes place in a 21st century setting. Harrison Ford appeared in a Japanese commercial advertising the third game.
- World of Warcraft: Harrison Jones paraphrases some of Indiana Jones's Barnett College lecture from Last Crusade. The World of Warcraft Jones also has a counterpart named Belloc, a heterograph of Belloq, who wears similar attire to Indiana's rival.
- WWE All Stars: Triple H mentions there are top men working on a match for himself and partner Shawn Michaels' opponents. Michaels asks who and in reply simply gets a firm, repeated "Top... Men..."
Miscellanea
- The Angry Video Game Nerd's forty-eighth episode was dedicated to reviewing video game adaptations of the first three Indiana Jones theatrical pictures to coincide with the fourth film's release.
- Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming - Comedian Richard Herring tells the story of his challenging Jesus Christ to a bicycle race. He recalls recognizing the man bringing Jesus' humble vehicle as the Grail Knight who complains that he has done other things besides Last Crusade.
- The Daly Show: In "Batman vs. Superman", Sam Daly sets the first three Indiana Jones films on the DVR for his father Tim.
- Doctor Jones by Danish band Aqua. The song's music video was directed by LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick's Peder Pedersen.
- The JBL and Cole Show: Episode 83: "The Trap is Set" closes with JBL telling Zeb Colter to call him Indiana Jones as he's close to acquiring the treasure he seeks. However, a confused Colter asks if it's because he's afraid of snakes.
- Milton Jones and the Temple of Daft, the 2015 stand-up show of Milton Jones not only utilizes the Indiana Jones naming conventions for its title, its poster adopts the franchise's font and parodies the Temple of Doom poster.
- Powerslave, the fifth studio album from Iron Maiden, has cover art which includes graffiti attributed to Indiana Jones in 1941 hidden amongst hieroglyphics.
- Red Nose Day 2015 (US): Anna Kendrick recreates the Grail choosing sequence in "Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade".
- Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast: Discussing similar television series appearing in the wake of big films, Mark Gatiss asks interviewer Richard Herring if he remembers Tales of the Gold Monkey then sings its theme as "Not Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not quite." to the tune of The Raiders March. While interviewing Joe Thomas, Herring tells the actor that the perception of time passing from Thomas' early 30s to pushing 50 will be "like the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" then mimes Donovan's death scene.
- Website TV Tropes.org features several tropes named after elements from the franchise: "The Indy Ploy", "The Indy Hat Roll", "The Indy Escape", "It Belongs In A Museum", "Temple of Doom" and "Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?"
- Zero Punctuation's review of LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures includes a post-credits review of the fourth film through the medium of mime and is introduced by an instrumental version of Anything Goes.