Whatever happened to Shortround? He was in the 2nd Indy movie and not in the third. Presumably he took a spike through the heart from some elaborate trap when he got too far ahead of Indy in between the two movies.
He became a wacky inventor, and he and his friends discovered a pirate ship full of treasure and a mutant Raiders fullback. They joined forces to battle Anne Ramsey, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi.
Okay, according to Professor Wikipedia:
Post-
Temple of Doom, Short Round went to boarding school. Short Round has a cameo in Marvel Comics'
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, rescuing Indy from a pirate attack in the Caribbean before returning to boarding school. According to
The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones (published 2008), Short Round eventually became an archaeologist and tracked down the Peacock's Eye (the diamond over which Indy and Lao Che have a minor misunderstanding at the beginnning of
Temple of DoomThat's the
canon answer. It's more fun to pretend that Indy did something really un-Indy-like to explain for Short Round's absence, though. Used him as a human shield or knee-capped him to buy time when they were being chased by alligators, sold him into slavery as part of some bargain for some relic or another. Who's to say he
didn't? Like you said, they don't make mention of him in
Crystal Skull, and Indy sort of has a knack for getting into hairy situations that required split-second decision making.
A lot of "accidents" can happen in the jungle. Maybe Short Round just cheated at cards one time too many?
Anyway, here's the non-canon answer.
Short Round also appears in a non-canonical crossover story in an issue of
Star Wars Tales. Han Solo and Chewbacca are aboard the Millennium Falcon when they are attacked by Imperial forces. They are forced to leap to hyperspace blind and end up in our solar system, where they crash-land in Earth's Pacific Northwest. Believing they are on Endor due to the large trees, they venture out to investigate. Han is killed by Indians. Chewbacca leaves the wreckage of the Falcon and a dead Han behind and goes to live in the trees. The Indians believe he's a sasquatch. 126 years later, Indy and Short Round stumble upon the wreck of the Millenium Falcon and Han Solo's remains. Indy, spooked by how 'eerily familiar' the remains are, decides to leave them in peace.
I know it's just a joke, but that would have been an awesome stinger sequence at the end of
Return of the Jedi: Special Edition. Right up there with that scene they never shot of Boba Fett's escape from the Sarlaac. (Which would have been a great addition that enhanced the movie, not like that gosh-awful Jabba at Docking Bay 94 sequence. Just imagine, right after the skiff leaves with Han, Luke and crew, there's a slow panning shot across the desert, and then you just see a familiar gloved hand punch through the surface of the sand.
