Mathayus (The Scorpion King)

Mathayus
First appearance	The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian
Last appearance	The Mummy Returns
Created by	Stephen Sommers
Portrayed by	Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Michael Copon
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Title	Scorpion King
Spouse	Cassandra
Children	none

Mathayus is the name of the fictional warrior commonly known as the ‘Scorpion King’ in the fictional world of Universal Pictures’ The Mummy remake trilogy. Although he only appears in person in The Mummy Returns (as both a normal man and a human-scorpion monstrosity) and his own spin-off film The Scorpion King, the character was the first lead-starring role for professional wrestler and aspiring actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. A prequel entitled The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian is in development for a tentative 2009 release, and Dwayne Johnson will not be returning to play his younger self; instead, young actor Michael Copon will inherit the role.

Character Biography:

For the actual historical ruler named Serqet, see King Scorpion

The Scorpion King (film)

As told in the spin-off 2002 film The Scorpion King, Mathayus was once an assassin-for-hire of Akkadian origin in Ancient Egyptian times. (Due to numerous historical contradictions and inaccuracies in the film, a precise date is never given, but estimated at “before the time of the pyramids…” which would imply more than 3000 years BC.) His childhood and teenage years remain mysterious (the newly-announced prequel will address this topic), but at some point he, along with his two beloved brothers, became a mercenary, trained extensively in the deadly arts and only applying service to those whom they personally favor.

As the film begins, Mathayus is infiltrating a hut atop a snowy mountain in the Himalayas, guarded by menacing-looking thugs. Inside is a party of wild men, dirty and repulsive and bloodthirsty. They have captured one of Mathayus’ brothers, and seem to enjoy murder for sport, bragging that they have killed Mesopotamian, Assyrian, and Babylonian men…but never an Akkadian. Just as the leader of the feral thugs is about to scald the tied-up warrior, Mathayus drops a massive boulder down the hut’s chimney, blocking his entrance. Then, revealing himself from a cloud of dust and smoke pulls out his bow and shoots two men with so much force that they go flying through the air and out the roof. A large struggle then begins, with Mathayus displaying many clever moves and punches as he takes down his enemies one by one, until only the snarling leader is left. He easily takes care of him by first crashing a wooden chandelier over him, which does not harm him at first, and then pulling the rope taut, sending the chandelier along with the man (whose crotch is impaled on deer antlers) speeding back upwards and into the ceiling, killing him. Mathayus then frees his brother, saying sarcastically, “you’re lucky we have the same mother…”

Some time later, Mathayus and his brother attend a secret meeting with a band of brave rebels lead by King Pheron, who are resisting the invading forces of Memnon, a tyrannical warlord who has been conquering numerous lands left and right in a mission of dominating the Earth. His most important weapon is a sorcerer who tells him predictions of every battle’s outcome, giving him the strategic advantage. He and his family are paid fifteen blood-rubies (which greatly annoys the King’s obnoxious son) as payment for hunting down and murdering the sorcerer, thus giving the rebels a chance in battle without their sworn enemy knowing their every move. Also during this time Mathayus faces off with an imposing Nubian warrior named Balthazar, who is distrustful of Akkadians, who happen to be a nearly extinct people, save for the three assassins. Mathayus then swears, “as long as one of us still breathes…the sorcerer will die.”

The next night, the three mercenaries sneak into one of Memnon’s war camps, and here Mathayus meets briefly a bumbling captured horse thief, Arpid, who will later be an important ally. Dealing with the squabbling, begging crook with the help of a punch to the face, Mathayus continues on his mission, followed by his two brothers…until Mathayus suddenly notices shadowed figures hidden behind a tent. Realizing that they have been set up, he shouts quickly to his brother’s “back!” but they are too late to move fast enough, and a group of hidden archer’s volley of arrows mercilessly cut through the two men. Mathayus, however, had had a head start to retreat before the soldiers appeared and fired, and managed to leap onto a tent roof before Memnon’s men learned of his presence. Bitterly and painfully watching his family be killed before his eyes, the assassin then slices a hole in the tent and drops down…to discover the Sorcerer himself standing a few feet away, his back to Mathayus. When the Akkadian pulls back his bow for the killing shot, the sorcerer turns around to face him, and is revealed to be a radiantly beautiful sorceress. She tells her surprised and hesitating attacker that he has been betrayed, and reveals that she knows his name and mission.

Just then a soldier appears behind the sorceress (who is named Cassandra) and Mathayus quickly redirects his aim to shoot the man. Then, unsheathing his sword, the Akkadian then engages a group of Memnon’s elite in a violent fight, and impresses Cassandra with his amazing fighting and killing prowess. However, Mathayus is then attacked with a pitchfork pinning his neck to a support post. Quickly restrained and bound, he then watches as Memnon enters, along with King Pheron’s son. He reveals himself as the traitor who tipped-off Memnon of the planned assassination. He offers his decapitated father’s head as a sign of his allegiance. Then, in an exceptionally cruel act, Memnon takes one of Mathayus’ knives and forces him to watch as the warlord slits the throat of the only still-conscious brother he saved from the savages at the film’s opening. He is then about to be killed also when Cassandra intervenes, claiming that the gods favor the Akkadian this night, and that he must not be killed by Memnon’s hand lest they suffer ill fortune. Mathayus is then knocked unconscious.

The next morning, Mathayus awakens to find himself buried up to his chin in the sand along with Arpid while watched by two guards. They have been condemned to being eaten alive by carnivorous fire ants, which begin swarming out of their nests and toward the two helpless prisoners…well, not quite. Arpid has somehow managed to dig himself out and single-handedly knocks out the guards. Mathayus bargains with the wily thief that, in return for not killing him and allowing him to come along on the Akkadian’s adventures, he saves Mathayus from his grisly fate.

After this, the two reluctant partners-in-progress begin for Memnon’s vast city Gommorah, to avenge Mathayus’ murdered brothers. They are able to sneak in by Mathayus pretending to be a bounty hunter who has caught a notorious thief (an unconscious Arpid being the bounty in question). While Arpid relaxes at a street-side bar, Mathayus makes his way towards Memnon’s palace, and encounters a young boy who tries to steal his pack of blood rubies. However, Mathayus does not punish the boy, but instead gives him one ruby in exchange for the boy showing him a secret way into the palace. As the Akkadian hides atop a battlement, Memnon is in the courtyard down below practicing his fighting skills. Mathayus sees his chance to shoot him while relaxing with a group of women, but then sees that the young boy who had helped him has been caught with the ruby, and Memnon takes this as proof of thievery. As punishment, the boy is to have his hand chopped off, and Mathayus is torn between saving the child or taking this rare opportunity to kill the distracted warlord. Finally, he gives in and shoots an arrow, knocking the axe out of the executioner’s hand, but in doing so reveals himself.

Mathayus manages to then escape as Memnon’s soldiers pursue him. While hiding, he comes across the king’s personal magician and inventor, a witty and pure-of-heart man who disapproves of his masters. He helps the Akkadian escape the room before Memnon’s top general Thorak barges in, and threatens to kill the magician should he ever find proof of treachery. During this time, the magician also reveals his new invention: Chinese magic powder (gunpowder) bought from the Orient.

During his flight, Mathayus ends up in Cassandra’s bathhouse, and sees her rise from the water stark naked. Surprised, she draws a small knife, but then Memnon’s soldiers smash through the door, and Mathayus grabs onto the sorceress and escapes down the tub’s plumbing system. They arrive out in a wishing well outside the palace, and Cassandra finds herself the object of attention by a very, very, very lucky impoverished boy. Mathayus then rises right after her and carries off the nude woman through the city streets, finds her a skimpy slave cloak, and the two then walk out the gates just as the guards begin to shut and lockdown the city. They then meet up with Arpid (who is in the process of stealing Mathayus’ faithful camel) and continue into the desert wasteland known as the Valley of the Dead, knowing that Memnon will send his forces to recover his stolen sorceress.

During a night camping in the desert, Cassandra attempts to run off, but is caught by Mathayus. He tells her that she can run away if she wants, but that the desert will probably kill her quicker than he will. She then claims to have always hated Memnon, who kidnapped her as a child.

The next day, Mathayus sights a team of soldiers lead by Thorak, and advises his companions to hide under a blanket while he deals with the warriors alone. In what appears to be a suicidal act, Mathayus charges at the soldiers atop his camel, and Memnon’s forces attack with confidence…until they see a monstrous sandstorm barreling across the desert on Mathayus’ heels: his own army. As the storm engulfs them, Mathayus easily begins to kill off the confused and blinded soldiers until Thorak is left. As they fight to the death, a mortally wounded Thorak then unveils an arrow dipped in scorpion venom, and stabs the Akkadian in the leg, who then howls in pain and falls unconscious…

Once the storm passes, Cassandra and Arpid find Mathayus alive but fatally wounded by the quick-acting venom. In an unexpected moment of charity and self-sacrifice, Cassandra absorbs the poison from Mathayus, saving him but making her sick. But her magical abilities keep her from being affected too much, and later states that even though Mathayus has been cured, he will still have scorpion venom running through his veins for all time.

While resting in a large oasis, Mathayus and his companions (along with the exiled magician, who they came across successfully testing his explosive Chinese powder) are captured by the warriors of Balthazar, who reveals that this is his home. He accuses the Akkadian of treachery, citing the sorceress as a spy, and in anger Mathayus challenges Balthazar to a fight. With mutual pleasure, the two mighty warriors attack with their swords held high…but upon the first blow their weapons shatter in half from the pure force and anger of their strength. The battle then evolves into a brutal fistfight, and eventually Mathayus subdues the Nubian leader. He then tries to tell the amazed crowd about the extreme conditions and battles they will have to face when Memnon arrives to slaughter them, saying that they must make a stand.

That night, a disturbed Cassandra comes to visit Mathayus, and says that she has seen a vision of Memnon’s unstoppable army being victorious and that, when he finally faces Memnon, Mathayus will die. He then reassuringly tells her, “I make my own destiny…” and the two spend the night having sexual intercourse. Early the next morning, Cassandra heads back in secret to Gomorrah, to try and do something to delay Memnon’s slaughter that is to take place that day. Mathayus manages to rally support for one last attack on Memnon’s palace, and the inventor creates a plan to place sacks of powder by the support beams of the building, while their combined forces lead by Balthazar will draw off any distraction. Mathayus, however, will deal personally with Memnon and rescue Cassandra, who has already revealed herself to be treacherous, and is about to be killed by a furious Memnon when the Akkadian appears just in time.

A deadly, intense sword duel then erupts, the two great swordsman finally meeting in a battle to the death in which Mathayus is shocked by Memnon’s mind-blowing fast agility and ruthless fighting skills. At one point the warlord even sets fire to his twin swords, and knocks Mathayus from the balcony of the palace onto a stone table inside the chamber. Then, at that moment, one of Memnon’s soldiers appears and fires an arrow at the Akkadian. In a desperate attempt to save him, Cassandra leaps into the way and tries to take the shot, but Mathayus swings her away in time to be struck in the shoulder. Incredibly, Mathayus manages to shrug off the pain, and rips out the arrow, feeding it into his bow. As the gunpowder below finally lights and explodes in a massive fireball, Mathayus bids his nemesis farewell with the line, “Catch this!” He then fires the arrow right into Memnon’s stomach with so much force that the warlord is sent tripping off the balcony and to his death, engulfed in the fireball-explosion.

With Cassandra at his side, Memnon’s forces surrender and pledge allegiance to the Akkadian, who becomes their new king. Now finally accepting and friends with each other, Balthazar and Mathayus part ways as the Nubian returns to his land, while Mathayus and his queen Cassandra rule in an age of peace.

The Mummy Returns

By the time of the first sequel to The Mummy, Mathayus has become a well-known warrior of conquest, attacking and gaining leadership of many lands in a way similar to his past enemy Memnon. Apparently, Mathayus’ status as King has made him just as cruel and power-hungry. In his few moments of footage in the film, Cassandra is apparently not with him, suggesting that either she had died years ago or was just keeping care of the throne while Mathayus went off on his crusades.

In the opening prologue of the film The Mummy Returns, a voiceover done by Ardeth Bay tells a tale that a great general known as the Scorpion King created a campaign to conquer Egypt, attacking the capital city of Thebes. He was eventually defeated, and he and his army were driven into the sacred desert of Ahm Shere.

As he slowly died of heat and dehydration, Mathayus swore a desperate pact with the god Anubis: If his life was spared and he could have command over Anubis’ army of jackal soldiers, the warrior would sacrifice his soul, freedom, and loyalty to the dark deity. Accepting the deal, Anubis created an oasis right in the desert where Mathayus stood, and the Scorpion King then returned to Thebes, and, with the Army of Anubis under his control, finally conquered the city. But as he reveled in his victory, Anubis then stole his soul on the spot (in the process making the warrior drop a magical bracelet that would eventually be called the Bracelet of Anubis), and transformed Mathayus into a demonic monster that was half-man, half-scorpion. This terrible beast was then placed inside the Gold Pyramid of Ahm Shere, where he slumbered until the day when his bracelet would reveal the location of the fabled Oasis. When this happened, the Scorpion King would reawaken and retake command of the Army of Anubis, completely taking over the planet. Whoever could slay the revived Scorpion King could either send the Army of Anubis back to the Underworld forever, or use it under his/her own command and conquer the world.

This is the plan of Imhotep, a cursed mummy with supernatural powers who has been re-awakened by his loyal cult of followers. The mummy’s faithful worshippers then try to steal the Bracelet of Anubis, which has been finally been found by the O’Connell family of archeologists. It turns out that Richard and Evelyn’s son, Alex, had put on the Bracelet out of curiosity, and now it is permanently on his wrist until the day the Scorpion King awakens and conquers the world...which is now about six days. They decide on kidnapping the boy himself, and using him to follow the Bracelet’s instructions to the Oasis of Ahm Shere’s secret location.

In response, the boy’s family embarks on a rescue mission, following Imhotep’s band to the Oasis, and in the middle of the vast jungle is the golden pyramid itself. The two groups reach the Pyramid at roughly the same time, and Imhotep (whose immortal powers have been stolen away by Anubis in order to create a fair fight against the Scorpion King) summons Mathayus from his long slumber. At this moment, Rick O’Connell attempts to kill Imhotep in revenge, and Imhotep poses as a priest faithful to the monster. He convinces the Scorpion King that Rick is the one sent to kill him, and while the creature is distracted chasing after O’Connell, Imhotep steals the Spear of Osiris. Being the only weapon that can kill the Scorpion King, the mummy tosses it at the creature, but Rick leaps into the air and snatches it at that precise moment. He then personally stabs the Scorpion King in the gut, and commands that the newly awakened Army of Anubis and their master, “go to hell!” With a bellow of anger and pain, the Scorpion King then explodes into ash (along with his jackal-men Army) and is no more.

The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian

A new prequel film is now in production for a 2009 release, and will concern a younger Mathayus played by Michael Copon, telling his origins and back-story before becoming an assassin. Dwayne Johnson will not reprise the character, and the film’s villain has been confirmed as being named “Sardon.”

Characterization:

As portrayed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the film The Scorpion King, Mathayus was once a man who knew only death and murder as his purpose in life, but possessed a soft spot for children and women. He was a sarcastic warrior who enjoyed battle and a greatly humorous person during combat and in dangerous situations, perhaps to give him more confidence in his predicaments. He also has a close friendship with his two brothers, and strongly believes in vengeance and honor, frequently quoting an old Akkadian oath: “Live free…die well.”

However, by the time of The Mummy Return’s prologue, Mathayus is now a ruthless king and general who is in the process of a massive crusade against the known world. When his forces are defeated after a seven-year-long campaign against the Egyptian capital Thebes, Mathayus finds himself stranded in the vast desert, dying of thirst. Then, in his final moments before blacking out and dying, the Scorpion King made one last attempt to redeem his honor and defeat his enemies, pledging service to the God Anubis in return for using his invincible Army. This displays Mathayus’ Akkadian sense of justice and warped sense of redemption.

In the newly-announced prequel which is now in production with actor Michael Copon now playing a young adult Mathayus, it can be expected that more facets of the great warrior’s personality and shadowy past will be explored and explained.

Anachronistic Errors and Historical Contradictions:

The film The Scorpion King has many historical innacuracies and is more of a fantasized ‘alternate universe’ of Egypt during the Predynastic Period. Among the film’s many errors include:

• The narrator describes the events of the film as being "before the time of the pyramids." Most of the pyramids of Egypt were constructed during the Old Kingdom. This contradicts a scene from The Mummy Returns showing Mathayus leading an army against Thebes; the capital of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom.
• The name Mathayus is Greek, meaning “Matthew.”
• This film uses steel and iron weapons in a time thousands of years before such weapons were invented.
• The name Memnon is Greek, and the film is set more than a thousand years before the Greeks found the Mediterranean Sea.
• Cassandra’s name is Greek, but she is actually East Asian.
• Gun powder was not invented until several thousand years after the film takes place, contradicting the inventor’s claim to have bought the recipe from China.
• The film uses modern English dialogue, when (following the example of the Mummy films) in reality the whole film should have been subtitled, with the characters speaking Ancient Egyptian. But this probably would have confused and annoyed the moviegoing audience, so this can probably be taken as a rough English ‘translation’ of the Ancient Egyptian dialogue which the characters would have used in the time period.
• The bandits at the film’s beginning claim to have killed Babylonians, Mesopotamians, Assyrians and Myceneans. But in real history, the Assyrian, Babylonian and Akkadian empires were all Mesopotamian and existed in different time periods. The Mycenean civilization did not exist until roughly 1000 years B.C.. This contradicts the narrarator’s claim that the movie takes place "before the time of the pyramids", which were first built around 3000 B.C.

Inspirations for the Character:

It is possible and sometimes quite obvious that the Scorpion King character had been influenced (either indirectly through coincidence or on purpose) by prior sword-and-sorcery heroes and mythological warriors, some outright or in minor details. These include:

• Conan the Cimmerian/Barbarian Robert E. Howard’s Conan tales and the 1982 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger-These stories and films were a major stylistic influence on both the character and his world. Both men are outlaws with brutal upbringings, and they both eventually become King of their respective country’s.
• Hercules the Greek legends and Myths surrounding the character-It may be possible that some influence was taken from this mythological warrior.

Reaction and Legacy:

The Scorpion King character was Dwayne Johnson’s first-ever starring role as a leading man, paving the way for him becoming a modern-day action film celebrity. He has appeared and starred in films such as The Rundown, Doom (film), Walking Tall, Be Cool, and Gridiron Gang.

Reviews for the Scorpion King were mostly negative or mixed, with many critics focusing on the overly stylized concept of history that the film adopted, and the unoriginal, unrealistic story line. However, some, such as noted critic Roger Ebert, sensed potential in Johnson, saying that he had the charisma and coolness to become his own action star in the tradition of action movie actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.