| “ | Imagine. To peer across the world and know the enemy's secrets. To place our thoughts into the minds of your leaders. Make your teachers teach the true version of history, your soldiers attack on our command. We'll be everywhere at once, more powerful than a whisper, invading your dreams, thinking your thoughts for you while you sleep. We will change you, Dr. Jones, all of you, from the inside. We will turn you into us. And the best part? You won't even know it's happening. | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko to Indiana Jones, talking about the power of the Crystal Skull. |
| “ | How fortunate our failure to kill you, Dr. Jones. You survive to be of service to us once again. | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko |
Dr. Irina Spalko (Russian: Ирина Спалько; Ukrainian: Ірина Спалко) is the main antagonist of the 2008 action-adventure film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise.
She is a highly skilled Soviet Agent who acquires artifacts for the Soviet Union. Interested in psychological warfare, Spalko was tasked by the late Joseph Stalin to find the Crystal Skull of Akator and deliver it back to the Temple of Akator in South America.
She was portrayed by Cate Blanchett, who also played Marissa Wiegler in Hanna, Penelope in Family Guy, Lady Tremaine in the live-action Cinderella remake and Hela in Thor: Ragnarok.
Biography[]
A Soviet agent born in a small mountain village in the eastern regions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, she was believed by those in her village to be a witch as her apparent psychic powers began to manifest themselves through animal control. She was a Ukrainian dominatrix.
An impressed Joseph Stalin inducted her into researching psychic warfare, awarding her with the Order of Lenin three times. She is skilled in fencing and hand-to-hand combat and is Indiana's main antagonist as she brings the crystal skull to Akator to utilize the power there for her country's militant purposes. Ironically, her desire for knowledge proved her undoing when the crystal skull entity grants her desire to know everything, and an alien figure emerges and indicates that Spalko is too dangerous to remain alive. Her mind overloads, she disintegrates and her ashes scatter into the portal along with her felons.
Arrival/Battle at Area 51 (The Warehouse)[]
Colonel Irina Spalko arrived at The Warehouse in Nevada, known as Area 51 after Antonin Dovchenko and the KGB captured Indiana Jones and George McHale who were digging in Mexico for artifacts. Questioning Indy for about her origins for him to answer that she was born in Eastern Ukraine, she gives her highest marks and introduces herself formally, confirming her rank as colonel, receiving the Order of Lenin three times and the Hero of Socialist Labor; she explains these things because of her high intelligence and reading people's expressions with ease, knowing things in people before anyone else, and what she doesn't know, she finds out. She demonstrates by puttting her hand in front of Indiana's face and concentrated as hard as she could to read his mind, only for him to chuckle. Lightly patting his cheek, she mildly insults him by saying his mind was hard to read, slightly impressed by this.
Upon opening the Warehouse with millions of stored artifacts, questioning Indiana of his knowledge of the place. Indiana tries to deny it, but Irina specifically mentions the crate she and her team were looking for, specifically mentioning its height, width, size, and what was in the box. Indiana further tries to deny it, but Irina reminds him of a mission on the mummified remains he uncovered a decade ago with a team uncovering it. Upon denying a third time, Spalko drew her rapier and points it at his neck, finally getting him to find what she was looking for.
While looking for the crate, Indiana requested Irina to hand him some gunpowder, as the crate's contents were highly magnetized. Questioning his motives, Indiana explains the gunpowder's metal should point the way before tossing it, the light revealing the stream being attracted. Knowing Indiana was telling the truth, she allows her troops to let him use the gunpowder to show them the crate. And by pinpointing its exact location with shotgun shells, Irina ordered her men to pull the box from the pile of other crates. With the crate being highly magnetized, Irina disarmed her rapier to prevent it from getting stuck to it and her fascination of uncovering the corpse, Indiana and Mac take the chance to rearm themselves and point them at her. The Soviet soldiers lower their weapons momentarily but raise them again as Mac turns against Indiana. Irina questioned him if he had no defiant last words, he simply replied, "I like Ike", before dropping his rifle, shooting one of the soldiers toes and making his getaway. Irina orders her troops to capture him, but Indiana managed to escape, to which Irina decides to make her getaway from the Warehouse with the corpse. However, Indiana confronts her by invading onto the truck she was driving and managed to shove her off. Making off with the corpse with the Crystal Skull, she congratulated Mac's effort on his part.
Re-Encounter in the Amazon Forest[]
Upon capturing Indiana and Mutt Williams, Irina reveals her intentions of using Indiana once more. She reveals the fact that she needed Indiana to get to the lost kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the city of Akator. She said that they tried to use Harold Oxley to transfer the skull's knowledge into him, but his mind was severely clouded due to overexposure of staring into its eyesockets too long, and believes Indiana will be a better subject, as it will help obtain the knowledge Oxley knows about Akator's location. Upon getting Indiana to talk to Oxley, she threatens to kill Mutt with her rapier, only for Mutt to prepare himself to death after combing his hair. Amusingly admitting that she "chose the wrong pressure point", she brings out Mutt's mother, Marion Ravenwood, much to Indy's surprise, which got him to cooperate. Her theory of psychic communication proves to be true as Indiana told her to get him some paper to write with. Once she does, she realized that Oxley was doing autowriting, and he drew ideograms. Once they were drawn, Indiana analyzes that they were also directions. By assisting him, Indiana says that the way to Akator is through the Amazon River, down the Sono. Upon trying to uncover the rest of the information, Mutt caused a big distraction by catching them off guard punching one of the soldiers giving them time to flee. They look for them, and were able to recapture them again with the very clouded Oxley.
Battle in the Amazon[]
As the Soviets took the capture heroes, Indiana, Mutt, and Marion fought back in a vehicle chase to retrieve Oxley and the Crystal Skull to get to Akator before they did. This confrontation finally makes Irina enraged and orders their troops to slow them down. By running out of ammo with her rifle, she switches to close-combat by drawing her rapier, engaging Mutt in a sword duel on clashing vehicles. Upon the duel, she was impressed with Mutt's swordsmanship, telling that he fight's like a young man, "eager to begin and quick to finish". This confrontation also causes her to unintentionally swap vehicles with Mutt, causing her to be in the same vehicle with Marion. As she attempted to attack her, Marion hit the brakes hard, causing Irina to fall forward and use the duck's gatling gun right in front of her. She managed to get back in her own vehicle and attempts to ram Indiana and the others off the cliffside, bidding him farewell in Russian, only to be interferred by Mutt again with monkeys, giving Mutt the advantage to take the Crystal Skull. When Indiana crashed into a dirt mound, Irina exclaimed her soldier to turn the truck only for it to happen too late and crashing into the same mound. She points her gun at them in exasperation, but was interrupted when a siafu ant bit her hand and she crushed it with her hand. The huge ant colony swarms the area they were in, causing them to run from them. Irina managed to climb to safety to get out of reach from the siafu ants. When the rest of her soldiers came, she and the others climbed down the mountain but they lost Indiana and the others when they got to the river first so quickly with Marion driving the duck into the Sono.
Discovery in Akator and Death[]
With help of Mac's tracking devices, Irina and her soldiers managed to find the entrance to Akator, have her troops mercilessly kill the Ugha tribe, and follow Indiana into the temple. Bewildered by the Crystal Skeletons, she analyzed that they were a hive mind, separate beings with a single consciousness. She takes the Crystal Skull from Oxley and puts it back on the one whose head was missing. Oxley was speaking Mayan to the skeleton, to which Irina asks Indiana what he was saying. Indiana translates that the skull was grateful and that it wanted to give them a gift. Disregarding everything else, Irina was inquisitive to know what the Crystal Skeleton knew. It turns out, the temple of Akator was a huge UFO and the Crystal Skeletons were actually aliens. Irina ignores Indiana and his comrades escaping and her soldiers being sucked up into the portal above her, eager to know the knowledge they had. They started transferring the knowledge, and she became fascinated. However, as the skeletons formed together to form a singular alien, much alive and well, the knowledge turned out too be too much for her. The alien, aware of Irina's true nature, further transfers the knowledge into Irina with no hesitation, causing her eyes to burn and her entire body to evaporate into ashes, into the portal above, killing her.
Quotes[]
| “ | Irina: Where was he found? Dovchenko In Mexico. They were digging in the dirt, looking for this stuff. |
„ |
| ~ Irina Spalko's first lines. |
| “ | Indiana: You're not from around here, are you? Irina: Where is it you would imagine I am from, Dr. Jones? Indiana: Well, the way you're sinking your teeth into those "wubble-u"s, I should think maybe Eastern Ukraine. Irina: (takes off glove and extends hand) Highest marks. Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko. (draws hand back, holding three fingers) Three times I have received Order of Lenin. Also, medal as Hero of Socialist Labor. And why? Because I know things. I know them before anyone else. And what I do not know, I find out. Now, what I need to know now... (puts her finger on Indy's forehead) is in here. (She closes her eyes, puts her hand in front of his face and concentrates hard on trying to read his mind. Indy chuckles, to which she lightly taps his cheek.) You are a hard man to read, Dr. Jones. Indiana: Ouch. |
„ |
| ~ Irina Spalko meeting Indiana Jones for the first time. |
| “ | So, we will do this - what is expression? - old-fashioned way. You will tell us. You will help us what we seek. | „ |
| ~ Irina before ordering her men to open the doors to the Warehouse, Area 51. |
| “ | Irina: This Warehouse is where you and your government have hiden all of your secrets, yes? Indiana: This is a military warehouse. I've never been here before in my life. Irina: Object we seek: rectangular storage container, dimensions 2 meters by 0.5 meter by 66 centimeters. Contents of box: mummified remains. This is no doubt familiar to you. Indiana: What makes you think I've got any idea what box you're talking about? Irina: Because, 10 years ago, you were part of the team that examined it. Indiana: Look- (Irina draws her rapier, pointing it at Indy) even if I... knew what you were talking about. Irina: You will. Help us. Find it. |
„ |
| ~ Irina telling Indiana what she and the Soviet Union were looking for, exposing the latter's history upon uncovering it and forcing him to find the objective her team sought. |
| “ | Irina: Don't toy with me, Dr. Jones. What is the point of all this? Indiana: If it's still magnetic, the metal in this gunpowder should point the way. |
„ |
| ~ Irina questioning Indiana's methods, before finding his theory to be true. |
| “ | Irina: No defiant last words, Dr. Jones? Inidana: I like Ike. |
„ |
| ~ Irina Spalko toward Indiana's assumed defeat, before the latter gets the opportunity to escape. |
| “ | He's not gonna get out of here alive! BLOCK THE EXITS!! | „ |
| ~ Irina ordering her men to stop Indiana from escaping. |
| “ | You did well. | „ |
| ~ Irina congratulating Mac's efforts. |
| “ | Irina: How fortunate our failure to kill you, Dr. Jones. You survive to be of service to us once again. Indiana: Well, you know me, always glad to help. Irina: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of words." You recognize those words? It was your own Dr. Oppenheimer after he created the atomic bomb. Indiana: He was quoting the Hindu bible. Irina: It was nuclear intimidation. But now this next level of weapon is ours to have, yours to fear. Indiana: Weapon? What weapon? Irina: A mind weapon. A new frontier of psychic warfare. That was Stalin's dream. Indiana: (chuckles) Now I know why Oxley put the skull back where he found it. He knew you were looking for it. Irina: That skull is no mere deity carving. Surely you knew that the moment you laid eyes on it. It was not made by human hands. Indiana: Who made it, then? (Irina gives him a knowing look) Come on. Irina: The body we found in New Mexico was not the first. We'd already dissected two others from similar crash sites in Soviet Union. Indiana: Saucer men from Mars. Irina: The legends about Akator are all true. Early men could not have conceived it, much less built it. It was a city of supreme beings with technologies and paranormal abilities. Indiana: You gotta be kiding me. Irina: Why do you not choose to believe with your own eyes? (uncovers alien body) The New Mexico specimen gave us hope. Unlike the others we'd found, its skeleton was pure crystal. A distant cousin, perhaps. Maybe they, too, were sent to find Akator. Perhaps we're all searching for the same thing. (covers body back up) There is no other explanation. Indiana: There's always another explanation. Irina: The skull was stolen from Akator in the 15th century. Whoever returns it... Indiana: "Returns it to the city temple will gain control over its powers." I've heard that bedtime story before. It's a legend. Why do you think Akator even existed? Irina: You should ask your friend that question. (Dovchenko orders a soldier to take Oxley inside) We're certain he's been there. |
„ |
| ~ Irina crossing paths with Indiana once more, successfully capturing him, telling the latter about Joseph Stalin's dream and confirming that the Crystal Skull came from the body of an alien. |
| “ | He is the divining rod that will lead us to Akator. But we need someone to interpret him for us. His mind, it seems, is quite weak. Let's hope yours is stronger. | „ |
| ~ Irina about to being using the Crystal Skull on Indiana to interpret Oxley's sayings. |
| “ | Irina: The skull's crystal stimulates an undeveloped part of the human brain, opening a psychic channel. Oxley lost control of his mind by staring too long into its eyes. We believe you can get through to him after you have done the same. Indiana: I've got a better idea; you look at it. Irina: The skull does not speak to everyone, it seems. Surely you're not afraid, Dr. Jones. You've spent your entire life searching for answers. Think of the truth behind those eyes. There may be hundreds of skulls at Akator. Whoever finds them will control the greatest natural force the world has ever known. Power over the mind of man. Indiana: Be careful; you might get exactly what you wish for. Irina: I usually do. |
„ |
| ~ Irina before using the Crystal Skull to open the psychic channel in Indiana's mind with the latter warning the former that she'll get what she wishes; foreshadowing her demise later at Akator. |
| “ | Imagine. To peer across the world and know the enemy's secrets. To place our thoughts into the minds of your leaders. Make your teachers teach the true version of history, your soldiers attack on our command. We'll be everywhere at once, more powerful than a whisper, invading your dreams, thinking your thoughts for you while you sleep. We will change you, Dr. Jones, all of you, from the inside. We will turn you into us. And the best part? You won't even know it's happening. | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko to Indiana Jones, talking about the power of the Crystal Skull. |
| “ | Cover it. | „ |
| ~ Irina ordering her men to cover the Crystal Skull, successfully transfering the psychic channeling power to Indiana. |
| “ | Irina: Enough! You will speak to Oxley and lead us to Akator, yes? Indiana: Нет. (No.) Irina: Take him outside. |
„ |
| ~ Irina's irritation with Indiana when the latter broke Mac's nose. |
| “ | Clearly, I have chosen the wrong pressure point. Perhaps I can find a more sensitive one. | „ |
| ~ Irina admitting threatening Indiana by killing Mutt wouldn't work before summoning Marion Ravenwood instead. |
| “ | So, Dr. Jones, you will help us? A simple "yes" will do. | „ |
| ~ Irina successfully forcing Indiana to help her again. |
| “ | Autowriting! I should've seen this. | „ |
| ~ Irina realizing Oxley was drawing directions using autowriting. |
| “ | ''JONES!!!'' | „ |
| ~ Irina's villainous breakdown. |
| “ | You fight like a young man: eager to begin, quick to finish. | „ |
| ~ Irina upon dueling against Mutt. |
| “ | ''TURN!!!!!'' | „ |
| ~ Irina's second breakdown, before inevitably landing in a siafu ant hill with Indiana and the others. |
| “ | Irina: Look at them...! Still waiting for the return of the one who was lost. They are a hive mind. One being physically separate, but with a collective consciousness. More powerful togeter than they can ever be apart. (takes the Crystal Skull from Oxley) Imagine what they could tell us. Indiana: I can't imagine. Neither could the humans that built this temple, and neither can you. Irina: Belief, Dr. Jones, is a gift you have yet to receive. My sympathies. Indiana: Oh, I believe, sister. That's why I'm down here. |
„ |
| ~ Irina Spalko's bewilderment of discovering the Crystal Skeletons, analyzing that they have a hive mind before putting the Crystal Skull back to its skeleton. |
| “ | Indiana: Mayan. He's speaking Mayan. Irina: What does he say? Indiana: He says he's grateful and he wants... "It." It wants to give us a gift. A big gift. Irina: I want to know everything. I want to know. |
„ |
| ~ Irina Spalko demanding that she wishes to know everything the Crystal Skeleton knows. |
| “ | I want to know. I want to know. Tell me. I'm ready. I want to know. | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko's third breakdown, desperate to obtain the knowledge of the Aliens. |
| “ | I can see... I CAN SEE! | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko obtaining the knowledge. |
| “ | No more! Cover it. Cover it... | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko being overwhelmed by the knowledge overpowering her. |
| “ | Enough!! ENOUGH!!!! | „ |
| ~ Irina Spalko's last words before the knowledge burns into her eyes and burns her into ashes, leading to her death. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite the huge amount of fan backlash Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull received, Cate Blanchett's performance as Irina Spalko received critical acclaim by both film critics and fans, who regarded her as the best part of the film, with even Steven Spielberg stating that Spalko is his favorite villain in the series.
- Additionally, Spalko is the first, and so far only, female main Indiana Jones villain. Her predecessors René Belloq, Mola Ram and Walter Donovan as well as her successor Jürgen Voller were all male.
- Irina Spalko is one of two main antagonists of the film series who is not affiliated with the Nazis, the other being Mola Ram from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. However, Mola Ram is the only one who doesn't belong to a military faction, as Spalko is a agent of the Soviet Union.
- In the novelization of the film, it's revealed that Irina Spalko's "psychic powers" present in the film were apparently real. Furthermore, it's detailed that Spalko had an unhappy childhood as all people in her village ostracized her and her family due her reputation as a "witch", leading Irina to perform experiments with animals to understand biology and life until her own mother came to fear her.
- In the TV special LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick, Spalko's mission is changed from that of the film. Instead of taking the Crystal Skull to Akator, her mission is to take the Skull from Akator, which Indiana Jones and Mutt Williams have also planned. After Indy and Mutt manage to make Spalko hit her Jungle Cutter against the entrance of Akator, leaving it out of action temporarily, they advance and enter the temple. Once there, Spalko appears and engages in a sword fight with Williams, which ends with Spalko falling through a hole to an unknown fate while Jones and Williams escape from the ruined temple.
- In LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, Spalko gets the power she wants. She becomes so intelligent that she can control objects with her mind and shoot destructive mental rays from her eyes. However, she ends up being defeated by Indy and Marion, causing her power to overtake her and make her body explode, causing her remains to be pulled into the portal of the interdimensional beings. In the portable versions of the game, Spalko battles Indy and Oxley, shooting them with her pistol from afar until these two succeed in making the crystal skeletons use their mental ability to raise her upwards. However, after this event, Spalko's ultimate fate is left ambiguous.
External Links[]
- Irina Spalko on the Indiana Jones Wiki
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 Villains
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