20 Indiana Jones Easter Eggs You Never Noticed

6. Raiders Of The Lost Ark Borrows From Donald Duck

The opening sequence of Raiders has its origins in a Donald Duck comic book written by Carl Barks, believe it or not. It's no coincidence that the story in question, The Prize of Pizarro, was released in the summer of 1959, when Lucas and Spielberg were impressionable young boys, and it no doubt had quite an influence on their own creativity. In this comic, Donald Duck is exploring a temple with his nephews, and Scrooge McDuck in particular is put through the wringer by being forced to avoid a bunch of traps similar to those from the start of Raiders. Confirming that it's no coincidence is the presence of a giant rolling boulder. Other aspects of the plot are also apparent in other Donald Duck comics, and though it's not the first place you might expect Indy's adventure to be cribbed from, inspiration can often come in unconventional forms. Given how freely Lucas has admitted that Star Wars was inspired by the works of Akira Kurosawa, he and Spielberg were only too happy to admit the Duck's influence on the movie rather than downplay any similarity.