Frank Wolff

"*Know this about the jungle. Everything that you see wants to kill you... and can.*"
—Frank Wolff to tourists[src]

**Frank "Skipper" Wolff**, born **Francisco Lopez de Heredia**, is one of the central characters of *Jungle Cruise*. He is portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

## History

### Biography

#### Origins

"*My father was a mercenary and he was recruited by Aguirre's father in Algiers. When my father died protecting him, he took me in. Raised Aguirre and me together, like brothers.*"
—Frank Wolff[src]

Francisco Lopez de Heredia was a 16th century mixed-race hispanic man who was the son of a mercenary in Aguirre. Francisco's father came under the service of a basque nobleman whom the family became close with. When Francisco's father died, he was adopted by the nobleman and raised alongside the nobleman's son Lope de Aguirre as brothers.

Frank was cartographer of the 1556 expedition to find the Tears of the Moon in the Amazon Rainforest which could heal Lope's sickly daughter Anna. Francisco and Lope were amongst the only survivors of the expedition's shipwreck along with remaining conquistadors Sancho, Melchor and Gonzalo. The group traversed the jungle while on the verge of death, with Francisco mapping the rainforest along the way. They were saved by the Indigenous Puka Michuna tribe whom guarded the Tears of the Moon which they used to save the conquistadors' lives.

When the tribe's chief deemed Lope unworthy of using the petals to save Anna, Lope had his men massacre the tribe and kill their chief. Francisco however defected to aid the tribe, causing the arrowhead which was key to using the tree to be lost. With his dying breath, the Puka Michuna's chieftain cursed Lope and his conquistadors, including Francisco. As Lope blamed Francisco for their curse and they fought various times until Francisco sealed them up in a cave where they were petrified into stone.

#### Curse

From around 1907 to 1914, Frank assisted in constructing the town of Porto Velho in Brazil. Francisco would have many friends though they died around him. He also had many pet jungle cats, all of whom he named, "Proxima". Frank also constructed a ship for himself which he named *La Quila* after a moon goddess from Incan myth. Frank would have many failed attempts in finding the Tears of the Moon, desiring to end his curse and commit suicide.

#### Skipper of *La Quila*

"*This is the highlight of the tour. It's my favorite part of the jungle. Ladies and gentleman, get ready for the eighth Wonder of the World. Wait for it.. The backside of water!*"
—Frank Wolff[src]

By 1916, Francisco had changed his name to Frank Wolff and had a jaguar named Proxima. Frank also had good relations with the Puka Michuna and their chieftain Trader Sam though he spread myths about them being cannibalistic headhunters to profit off of their exoticism while providing them with over-the-top outfits.

Following its founding on the April 8th of 1911, Frank was enlisted as a skipper of the Jungle Navigation Company, an international British colonial business established by one Dr. Albert Falls who had at some point visited the region in search for the Tears of the Moon and took an arrowhead which was key to finding the tree. Frank ran the company's charter in the town of Porto Velho where he ran a charlatanizeid, "Jungle Cruise" attraction using crude mechanics and paid actors impersonating the Puka Michuna. Assisting Wolff in this operation was a young boy named Zaqueu.

Due to engine repairs, Frank owed money to harbourmaster Nilo Nemolato who ran a more popular and successful boat company called, "Nilo's River Adventure". In 1916, Nilo and his pet cockatoo Rosita intended on receiving the money with interest and attempted to repossess La Quila. To avoid this, Frank impersonated Nilo and stole his would-be-customers Lily and MacGregor Houghton whom he learned were searching for the Tears of the Moon with Dr. Falls' arrowhead. When Frank's identity was revealed, he offered them a cheaper price while planning to betray them alongside the Puka Michuna to find the Tears of the Moon.

#### Freedom

After being freed from his curse, Frank accompanied Lily to London where she and MacGregor rebuked the *Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society* that rebuked her expedition out of sexism. With Lily, Frank was able to indulge in his love of new technology such as automobiles and dress in more contemporary men's fashion.

#### Mapping the Rivers of Adventure

"*Here is adventure, here is romance, here is mystery*"
—F.W.

At some time, Frank Wolff went on an expedition to map the mysterious and supernatural, "Rivers of Adventure", a series of waterways connecting exotic regions across the globe into, "The Wilds of Adventureland". Wolff mapped a yet undocumented route along the rivers, seemingly starting at the company's river base in the Amazon rainforest. While in the Amazon, he likely reencountered man-eating piranhas and documented the shop and canoe rental-service *Boats & Baits*.

Using the Rivers of Adventure, Frank would have entered *Gorilla Country* in the Congo Basin before entering the Nile river in North Africa (either in Egypt or Sudan) passed the African Veldt, Chimp Country and the backside of Schweitzer Falls where he illustrated the native wildlife. After this he entered the Mekong river and a flooded Cambodian shrine dedicated to Khmer king Jayavarman VII which connected to a secret bathing pool used by Indian elephants. Following this, Frank used the Rivers of Adventure to travel back to the Amazon rainforest where he completed his expedition.

Frank documented his voyage on a Jungle Navigation Company map which he gifted it to Dr. Albert Falls with the words, " To Albert, Here's to many more adventures of a life-time- **F.W.**" and, "Here is adventure, here is romance, here is mystery". This map would be passed through the Falls family and modified over the years to unknown extents for company usage.

### Development history

Frank was made as a counterpart to the live-performed skippers of the Jungle Cruise attraction. Frank is designed after Humphrey Boggart's character Charlie Allnut from the 1951 adventure-romance *The African Queen*. This is a tribute to how imagineer Harper Goff was inspired by said film when creating the Jungle Cruise.

## Appearances

### Attractions

#### Jungle Cruise

##### Disneyland

In Disneyland, Frank's jacket appears in the Jungle Navigation Company's boathouse in the Lost Delta of India, within the possession of Alberta Falls along with Lilly's clothes. A map made by Frank also appears in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, being ripped up by chimpanzees aboard the *Mekong Maiden*.

##### Walt Disney World

In the Magic Kingdom, his peaked cap can be found within an office in the Amazon River Base. Also in the Amazon River Base is a map of the *Rivers of Adventure* made by Frank for Dr. Albert Falls and the Jungle Navigation Company, signed, "Here is adventure, here is romance, here is mystery" and, "To Albert, Here's to many more adventures of a life-time- F.W.". Said map is modified by Alberta Falls who references it as an old family map belonging to her grandfather.

### Printed-materials

#### Jungle Cruise (Disney Classic)

Frank is the skipper of the *Amazon Belle* where he and Lily give kids a tour of the jungle in this Little Golden Book. The children refer to Frank as, "**Albert**" in this story.

### Video-games

#### Disney Mirrorverse

*Main article: Frank Wolff (Mirrorverse)*

Frank is a character in this game, named the **Warden of the Forest** and **Natural Navigator**. Due to his curse combining with stellar magic, he has superhuman plant body parts.

*Stellar Magic has amplified Frank's curse connection to the jungle, allowing him to act as it's warden to control the plants within the jungle. Frank uses this natural magic to help would-be adventurers find their way through the jungle, while putting on a good show.*
## Trivia

* Frank Wolff is often misconstrued as protagonist of the Jungle Cruise film due to the movie's marketing and his actor's top-billing. In actuality, the protagonist of the film is Dr. Lily Houghton who is central character in the plot and drives the movie's story, with Frank not truly becoming a leading character until the movie's third act.
* Despite being a Spanish character, raised in Basque Spain and who spent centuries exclusively in Brazil, Frank has a 20th century American accent.
* It is odd that Frank used mechanical animals, hired performers and trained animals to con early 20th century tourists, as all of these skills and show elements could have more easily been used to just be put on display as a show and would have been seen as a novelty.
* Frank turning to stone might be an allusion to actor Dwayne Johnson's professional-wresting stage-name, "The Rock".
* Frank Wolff is similar to the character Captain Jack Sparrow from the film *Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003) which influenced the Jungle Cruise film. Like Sparrow, Frank Wolff is a rogue archetype deuteragonist central to marketing who lies to and decieves the main characters for personal profit, is in debt to a villain due to his boat, leads them into a trap, and has a backstory connecting to the villains cursed by the film's South American MacGuffin. Like Sparrow, he is also emblematic of the character *Han Solo* from Star Wars (1977), being a rogue archetype hired by the main characters out of a cantina while in debt to a local gangster, has a furry partner-in-crime that accompanies him in the cantina, and boasts about the speed of his ship which is describes as looking like garbage.
* The group of conquistadors serving Lope de Aguirre of whom Frank was a member is an allusion to Lope de Aguirre's band of conquistadors from 1560 who were taken out on a quest to find El Dorado before learning it was a goose-chase made to dispose of them and rebelling with Aguirre as their leader. Frank actually mentions El Dorado as, "Cities of Gold" alongside mention of the Fountain of Youth and cursed conquistadors while giving one of his tours.
* On Frank's map of the Rivers of Adventure, he quotes Walt Disney's words regarding Adventureland. These words are repeated in their original form on the Disneyland version of the map which was made by Dr. Albert Falls and assembled by Alberta.
* Frank's map in the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise has the crest for the *Society of Explorers and Adventurers*, a colonial secret-society in the attraction's backstory. This might indicate Frank was a member though the map is also noted as having been modified by Alberta Falls, granddaughter of S.E.A. member Dr. Albert Falls who could have added it on in her modifications.
* Frank's actor Dwayne Johnson also portrayed Maui in the film *Moana* which is connected to *Disney's Polynesian Village Resort*. He also portrayed the Scorpion King on *The Mummy Returns*, a franchise which has been compared to the Jungle Cruise film.
* The surname Wolff might be an allusion to Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, a historic ship-builder who founded the company *Harland & Wolff* that built the infamous *RMS Titanic*.
* Jungle Cruise was the fifth jungle movie which Frank's actor Dwayne Johnson had starred in.
* Reportedly, Dwayne Johnson has it in his contract that he is not able to lose a fight which may be reflected in the Jungle Cruise film's plot/action scenes.

## Gallery

Francisco in his conquistador daysFrank turned into a statueFrank and Proxima in Disney Sorcerer's ArenaFrank in Disney Mirrorverse
## References

1. ↑ https://www.buzzfeed.com/crystalro/jungle-cruise-disneyland-easter-eggs
2. ↑ https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/jungle-cruise/news/26aug2021-disney-completes-the-updates-to-the-jungle-cruise-in-magic-kingdom.htm
3. ↑ https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/jungle-cruise/news/16jul2021-new-props-added-to-the-office-in-the-jungle-cruise-queue.htm
4. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/photos-new-trophy-wall-alberta-falls-and-map-murals-added-to-jungle-cruise-queue-at-the-magic-kingdom/