The Scorpion King’s Ending Explained

After going through the fight of Mathayus of Akkad against Memnon, The Scorpion KingThe ending of reveals how the character Dwayne Johnson ultimately becomes the titular king. Directed by Chuck Russell, The Scorpion King was released a year after 2001 The mummy returns and serves as a prequel/spin-off to The mummy films. Set long before The mummy films, The Scorpion King focuses on Mathayus, who is among the last surviving Akkadians. He, his half-brother, Jesup, and a friend, Rama, are recruited by King Pheron to kill a sorceress named Cassandra.

As Cassandra possesses the ability to predict the future, she proves to be a great threat to Memnon’s enemies as she helps him predict and prepare for all impending attacks. Although Mathayus’ initial plan fails and almost kills him, he does not give up and vows to dominate Memnon. After overcoming many challenges and setbacks throughout the film, he not only manages to save Cassandra, but also becomes the titular Scorpion King.

How Mathayus Becomes the Scorpion King in The Mummy Spinoff Finale

He dethrones Memnon and becomes the new king

In the middle of the way The Scorpion KingDuring the runtime, Menmon’s warrior Thorak poisons Mathayus before Mathayus kills him. Realizing that only he can save the world from Memon’s reign, Cassandra uses her magic to heal Mathayus. They then end up in the camp of the Nubian king Balthazar, where Cassandra has two distinct visions: while Menmon’s army brutally attacks Balthazar’s rebel camp in one, Mathayus dies during his fight against Menmon in the other.

When she tells Mathayus about her visions, he assures her that he makes his own destiny. In The Scorpion KingIn the final arc Mathayus and Balthazar lead an attack on Menmon and his men. Although everything initially goes as planned, Cassandra’s vision comes true after Mathayus is shot by an arrow from one of Menmon’s men. However, determined to “make your own destiny,” Mathayus takes the arrow out of his back and uses it to kill Menmon. With this, he dethrones Menmon and rightfully earns his place as the new Scorpion King.

Where The Scorpion King Is Set In The Mummy Timeline

The film takes place thousands of years before Brendan Fraser’s films

According to The mummy franchise tradition, The Scorpion King is set exactly 5,001 years before The mummy and The mummy returns. The mummy the films don’t delve much into what happened to the character Dwayne Johnson after the events of The Scorpion King. However, The Scorpion King It was followed by four sequels – The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, The Scorpion King 4: In Search of Powerand The Scorpion King: Book of Souls – which followed the character’s journey after he became the main figure.

How the Scorpion King Turned Evil in The Mummy Returns

The film and its sequels never explain what changes him

Surprisingly, although The Scorpion KingHis story was continued in four sequels, none of the films truly revealing how he went from a heroic figure to a villain. In The Scorpion Kinghe is portrayed as a morally righteous warrior who takes it upon himself to fight against tyranny. The mummy returns reveals that after gaining favor from Anubis, he destroyed the city of Thebes, which caused him to lose his soul. As a result, he was condemned to live in the oasis that Anubis had granted himforcing him to lose his humanity and become more ruthless over time.

He remained in his monstrous state of hibernation for over 5,000 years, until the resurrected High Priest Imhotep and Rick O’Connell awakened him. The mummy returns. Despite revealing these details about his past, The Mummy Returns never explores what led to the Scorpion King’s moral corruption. Even the follow-up Scorpio King the films run through his timeline but never highlight how he fell from grace. Because of this, it would be safe to assume that the acquisition of immense power came at a great cost and distorted his noble intentions.

How much of the Scorpion King is based on real Egyptian legends and history

The film surprisingly has some real historical parallels

The Scorpion KingThe plot of is entirely fictional and should in no way be taken as an Egyptian history lesson. However, interestingly, a Scorpion King existed in Ancient Egypt. Over 5,000 years ago, King Scorpion I was a ruler in the early Dynasty 0. He is credited with playing a crucial role in the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. His tomb is in the Abydos Desert and is believed to be the blueprint based on which subsequent rulers of Ancient Egypt created their own designs.

Although little seems to be known about the king, a 5,000-year-old graffiti, discovered in 1995 in the Theban Desert Road Survey, has Scorpion symbols that depict his victory over an unknown protodynastic ruler. The tomb of the Scorpion King also serves as some of the earliest evidence of wine consumption in Ancient Egypt. However, despite all the evidence pointing to the existence of a real Scorpion King, Dwayne Johnson’s action film appears to have nothing to do with the real story.

Does The Scorpion King Deserve A Reboot?

It’s hard not to question whether Dwayne Johnson is making the right decision

When The Scorpion King first hit theaters in 2002, grossed US$180.6 million worldwide against a production budget of US$60 million. Due to this, it was not a blockbuster, but it proved to be a commercial success after breaking even. The film also played a crucial role in paving the way for Dwayne Johnson to land more mainstream acting roles and establish himself as a bankable star. Since the film was a major milestone in the former WWE star’s acting career, it’s no surprise that he’s teaming up with Universal Studios to produce its reboot.

However, since 2002 The Scorpion King received mixed reviews from viewers and critics and was just barely above its break-even point, it’s hard not to question whether rebooting the film is a good idea. The mummy the films, which had much better box office numbers, were also rebooted in 2017. However, despite starring Tom Cruise, the reboot was panned by critics and even lost $60-95 million due to its high production budget and marketing.

The Scorpion King may not necessarily meet the same fate as the 2017 reboot. However, since it serves as a mere subset of the parent Mummy franchise, its potential success will largely depend on how well it reimagines the original film’s story and makes it more appealing to modern audiences. Only time will tell how the film will perform. However, with Jonathan Herman (Straight from Compton) as its screenwriter, The Scorpion KingThe reboot already appears to be on the fast track to success.