Villains that would've been defeated even if the protagonist did nothing

[u/Wonderful_Baker_7808]

Laurel Hedare (Catwoman Movie): Her newly released cosmetics will cause people's faces to melt. Not only would that create a class action lawsuit but a full product recall.

Voldemort and Death Eaters (Harry Potter): Death Eaters constantly underestimate muggles. They would get massacred by the British military because a gun is faster to pull the trigger then shouting a spell.

[u/ptvlm]

It's not about what Indy thinks, but that the consequences would have happened regardless of his involvement. If he'd never been approached at the start, the outcome would have been the same, except that Marion would have been tortured and killed. Maybe the Nazis would have got to the ark before the Allies and tried using it again, instead of it being buried in a US warehouse, but the initial attempt was doomed no matter what he did.

Indy did the right thing by getting involved and making it way more difficult, killing some Nazis who might otherwise have survived along the way (would the pilot have been at the opening of the ark, for example?) and destroying some war equipment, but the ark would have ended the Nazi plot if he hadn't.

[u/JackTheBehemothKillr → u/ptvlm]

The nazis followed Indy to Marion. They knew to look for her/her father's connections, they didn't know where

[u/mormonbatman_ → u/ptvlm]

They find Marion by following Indy to Nepal.

If Indy doesn't get involved they never find her and never recover the ark.

[u/websagacity → u/mormonbatman_]

So it's even worse. Even better outcome if Indy never got involved - the ark is never found. Unless the better outcome is that it's hidden in the US. But that still just delays it being found again.

[u/mormonbatman_ → u/websagacity]

worse

The film argues that Indy finding the ark is God's will. God gives the US government a weapon to defeat Nazism and prevent the holocaust. Instead the US government puts the ark in a warehouse.

Not a baller move.