What just occurred to me is this dumb name for this film is strangely close to a name that if used with one word changed could have made a very interesting Jones film - "The Spear of Destiny". For those that dont know what this is, the Spear of Destiny is the spear that was thrust into the side of Christ by the Roman soldier during his crucifixion. As the spear came in contact with the Blood of Christ it was said to hole immense power and was passed down through Kings. Hitler was very interested in it and is supposed to have taken possession of it in Austria.
So
"Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny" is actually a thing. And apparently the rumors of Hitler searching for the Spear of Destiny directly inspired Lawrence Kasdan while writing his script to "Raiders", which originally included a reference to Hitler's search for the Spear, but this was cut before filming due to Lucas worrying it would cause a copywrite conflict with other adventure stories that already involved the Spear of Destiny.
But all this means that there's a lot of history with Indy and the Spear of Destiny already in place, so that would really have made a much more appropriate film premise.
Though I guess is might be too similar to the "Librarian" films they made for TNT in the 2000's, at least one of which features him hunting down the Spear of Destiny, to control a pyramid or something? Fun films, but very dumb. I'm pretty sure Lara Croft went after the Spear in one game as well. So it might be a little too over-used by now.
I've always thought the Staff of Moses would also make a great Indiana Jones adventure. In Exodus, when Moses dies, God literally takes Moses' body and buries it himself. Imagine Jones trying to find a tomb built by God himself!
Also imagine the climactic scene. Indy is running from the big bad with the sraff in one hand and the love interest in the other and they come up to a body of water. Trapped! He looks out at the water, exhausted desperation on his face. Looks down at the staff. "Noooo..." he mutters exasperated. Looks back, bad guys getting closer. Looks back at the water and slowly raises the staff....
Shit. If I can do this why is it so God damn hard for Hollywood?
If you've ever seen the show "Grimm", the Staff of Moses is a major part of the finale, for what that's worth. Not a great way to end the show, sadly, but it's the only time I've seen the staff brought up in any media.
If there must be more Indy, I think going outside the Bible would be good just to mix it up. How about finding Excalibur, or Gae Bolg, or Ra's solar barge? There's a ton of mythological artifacts not directly tied to God Himself. Instead they're reduced to OC Donut Steel artifacts that they made up.
Honestly, there aren't that many artifacts that are both well-known enough and important enough to warrant an Indy film at this point. Excalibur would definitely fit, and might even count as a Christian artifact. Mjolnir would've worked, but Marvel have probably ruined that option. Pandora's Box would work well, and it could fit it in with a Nazi or Soviet plotline about making a bio-weapon, but that's already basically the plot of a Lara Croft film.
There's really not a lot left to look for, the Holy Grail is kind of the big, ultimate, final artifact to find. That's why it's called the Holy Grail.
There's a reason the game was about Atlantis, what else is there to find that is well known to western audiences? Temple of Doom was consider "the bad Indy film" largely because nobody knows what those glowing stones are supposed to be.
And I'm not really sure what the Nazi's would want Excalibur for anyway; besides making Hitler the King of England, it doesn't really have any real power. And even if he found it, I doubt the Brits would accept the legality of it, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government after all.
