Mason was an undercover government agent working for the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960s. She was pulled into the orbit of Indiana Jones, Helena Shaw's godfather, when the septuagenarian archaeologist displayed a more adventurous lifestyle than his age would have suggested.
Biography
On August 16, 1969, Agent Mason was tailing Helena Shaw, a person of interest to the CIA for at least four years who was pursuing the Antikythera, a device sought by Nazi turned NASA physicist Doctor Jürgen Voller. Known to Mason as Professor Schmidt of Alabama University, Voller's interest in the mechanism had been appeased by the US government in exchange for his expertise which had led to the success of the Apollo 11 mission and thus the USA's victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War.[1]
When "Schmidt" and his fellows went rogue, Agent Mason and other CIA members tracked Voller to Tangier, Morocco, where Shaw was offloading the Antikythera at the Hotel L'Atlantique, four days later and detained him and his Neo-Nazi enforcers Hauke and Klaber in a helicopter. Frustrated by the additional damage and civilian casualties caused by Voller's search, Mason was informed that the US had decided sever ties with the physicist and send him back to Alabama. However, it was too late: the Nazis no longer needed support to achieve their ends either.[1]
On the flight out of Morocco, Klaber and Hauke attacked the CIA personnel and hijacked control of the aircraft. Mason was shot on board when trying to stop the Neo-Nazis from getting away and Voller took the time to reveal his true identity to her before she succumbed to her wounds.[1]
Behind the scenes
- "Think about it during the '60s, when the CIA and the FBI were recruiting more Black people to get involved with undercover work, with the Black Panthers and all that stuff. Who is this old guy running around, throwing things, jumping out stuff? What am I dealing with here?"
- ―Shaunette Renée Wilson[src]
Mason was portrayed by Shaunette Renée Wilson in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth Indiana Jones film.[2]
Contacted by director/writer James Mangold with the film's script through a Zoom meeting, Wilson was cast as Mason without auditioning after sharing her thoughts about the film, accepting it due to being an Indiana Jones movie. During filming, Wilson enjoyed learning how to have fun with Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) and was happy at collaborating with Mangold although some changes were made as, initially, Wilson found how Mason left the story a "little too offensive and a bit problematic" with some uncomfortable language use, persuading Mangold to refrain from shooting the scene as originally planned.[3]
Wilson has hinted at her character's governmental connections by pointing out how Mason fits in the story's setting, as the CIA and the FBI were known for recruiting black agents in the 1960s to do undercover work such as spying on the Black Panther Party.[2]
Appearances
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (First appearance)