Raiders of the Lost Ark is universally praised as a near-perfect movie, but the Indiana Jones submarine plot hole remains a controversial topic of discussion. This controversy was popularized by the Big Bang Theory episode “The 21-Second Excitation,” in which the guys get excited to see a new cut of the first Indiana Jones movie with an additional 21 seconds in its runtime. Leonard claims the extra scene “finally solves the submarine controversy.” Without these 21 seconds, a scene in which Indiana Jones hitches a ride on a German submarine from the middle of the ocean to the shore of a remote island lacks an adequate explanation.

Indiana Jones's inexplicable ability to ride a submersible for miles without drowning or slipping has become notorious as a supposed inconsistency in what is otherwise an untouchable masterpiece. Even the best action movies of all time can have plot holes, but this one stands out in Raiders of the Lost Ark because the rest of the movie is so carefully crafted and constructed by writer George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg, and the rest of the production. However, with the help of deleted scenes, hints that made it into the final cut, and an explanation in the official novelization, the Indiana Jones submarine sequence makes a little more sense.

What Is Raiders Of The Lost Ark's Submarine Controversy?

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, after successfully retrieving the Ark of the Covenant in a stunning truck chase, Indiana Jones and Marion escape with the crew of a cargo ship called the Bantu Wind. However, their victory is short-lived. In the midst of its voyage, the ship is intercepted by a German submarine and the Nazis seize the Ark and take Marion hostage. Instead of Indiana Jones doing nothing and allowing the Germans to leave with the love of his life and his hard-earned MacGuffin, he dives into the ocean and heads for their sub.

Indiana Jones swims out to the sub, Captain Katanga and his crew cheer him on, and all of a sudden, the Nazis have traveled to a remote island to unveil the Ark with the hero threatening them with a rocket launcher. Thanks to a few convenient cuts, the movie never has to explain how Indiana Jones managed to ride a submarine back to shore without drowning or losing his grip. Raiders of the Lost Ark explains all of Indiana Jones's other death-defying stunts in the movie – traversing the booby-trapped Peruvian temple, escaping from the Well of Souls, surviving the opening of the Ark – but not his submarine ride.

How Indiana Jones Survived The Submarine Ride

A deleted scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark shows that the sub stayed on the surface for the whole journey, and Indiana Jones clung to the periscope. U-boats didn’t need to dive below the surface very often in peacetime. Since the movie takes place in 1936, before the outbreak of World War II, there was no need for the Germans to hide underwater and conceal their identity. While this scene was removed, there's still a hint of it in the final cut. When the sub gets to the island, it doesn’t have to resurface, suggesting it never dove.

There's another solid explanation for the controversial submarine plot hole in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Campbell Black’s official novelization explains that Indiana Jones secured his iconic whip to a deck railing of the sub, then when it arrived at the island, he ditched the vessel and swam to shore. Indiana Jones has escaped death many times throughout the franchise. He jumped out of a crashing plane in an inflatable raft, rode a tank over the edge of a cliff, and he survived a nuclear bomb test by encasing himself in a refrigerator. It would take a lot more than a submarine ride to kill him.

The Indiana Jones Submarine Controversy Is A Genre Staple

While the Indiana Jones submarine question might seem like an outlandish detail in the otherwise brilliant movie, it is that kind of over-the-top and even ridiculous acts of heroism that go back to the inspirations for the Indiana Jones movies. The Indiana Jones franchise is an homage to the old adventure serials of the past with dashing heroes pulling off incredible feats to save the day. While they were not superheroes exactly, the serials weren't afraid to stretch logic and believability to make these heroes all the more impressive. Such is the case with Indiana Jones and the submarine, as well as various other instances in the franchise.

Harrison Ford and the character of Indiana Jones help to ground things in these movies and allow them to embrace that silliness from time to time. However, it is still a tricky thing to balance as going too far can go from heroic to cartoonish. The best example of this is the infamous "nuking the fridge" sequence in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It is one thing to omit some details to help Indiana Jones look more heroic, but it's no longer fun if he seems indestructible.