Mathayus is the Akkadian warrior that was well known as the Scorpion King among all that knew his identity, and would become an ancient evil that was stopped from decimating the Earth by Rick O'Connell. He is one of the two main antagonists in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns, and the main protagonist of The Scorpion King saga.
In The Mummy Returns and the the first Scorpion King movie, he is portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in his first villainous role. Johnson also portrayed Sarge in Doom and Agent 23 in Get Smart. Mathayus is played by Michael Copon, Victor Webster, and Zach McGowan in the sequels.
History[]
Rise of the Akkadian[]
Mathayus was picked by King Urmhet to protect the lord of Khemet and a concubine from a dangerous beast. The beast was summoned by Magus, who convinced him to join forces before Mathayus declined to the sorcerer. He got sent to Magus' prison and met an elderly prisoner named Hammet. He eventually found his way through the Netherworld and retrieved the Sword of Osiris. Magus reveals himself as the man who mislead Mathayus into helping him summon Set, the Chaos God once he sacrifices Mathayus' brothers. Once Magus died at the hands of Mathayus, he became a vessel for Set, which Mathayus quickly defeated and rescued his brothers.
The Last Akkadian[]
Mathayus, along with his two brothers, the last of a dying people, the Akkadians, Mathayus became a mercenary, training extensively in the deadly arts and only applying service to those whom he and his brothers personally favoured, though upon the death of his brothers, Mathayus went on to end the reign of Memnon, a murderous warlord who sought to conquer all around him, and went on to become a warlord himself known as the Scorpion King. Upon Memnon's death, Mathayus ascended power by assuming the role of a king, becoming a formidable ruler in ancient Egyptian times, before the era of the Pyramids.
Mathayus' Campaign[]
One siege on the city of Thebes was the final battle that the monarch and his men fought as they were forced out into the deserts where Mathayus earned the favour of the god Anubis himself and returned to decimate Thebes with a deadly army, losing his soul once the battle ended so that he was condemned to return to the Anubis' sacred oasis known as Ahm Shere that had been given him by Anubis, awaiting a challenger in a hibernation-like stasis and under a severe transformation that caused Mathayus to lose his humanity.
Return and Death[]
“ | GO TO HELL, AND TAKE YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU! | „ |
~ Rick O'Connell, after fatally impaling Mathayus. |
5,000 years later, Mathayus remained in his state until he met the resurrected High Priest Imhotep and the adventurer Rick O'Connell, both of whom sought Mathayus' destruction, but only Rick achieved it, sending the warlord and his forces back to the Underworld.