The Scorpion King is a 2002 action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell. The film stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the lead, with Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan in supporting roles. It is both a prequel and spin-off of The Mummy franchise and launched The Scorpion King film series.

Before the time of the pyramids, a horde of warriors from the East, led by Memnon, invades and conquers almost the entirety of the local tribes. No tribe is willing to fight Memnon, as his sorceress Cassandra can foresee any attack. Mathayus, along with his half-brother Jesup and their friend Rama, the only three true remaining Akkadians, are hired by King Pheron of the free tribes to kill Memnon’s sorceress for 20 blood rubies.

The Akkadians sneak into Memnon’s camp but are ambushed by guards who were warned by Pheron’s son, Takmet, who pledged allegiance to Memnon and killed his father as proof of his betrayal. Rama is killed, while Jesup is captured. Mathayus finds Cassandra but spares her life before he is captured. After witnessing his brother’s execution, Mathayus is buried up to his neck in the desert to be devoured by fire ants at dawn. He escapes with help from a fellow prisoner, the horse thief, Arpid, and desires to finish his mission and avenge his brother.

Mathayus sneaks into Memnon’s stronghold, Gomorrah, and enters Memnon’s palace with the help of a street urchin. Memnon’s sympathetic court magician, Philos, helps direct Mathayus to the courtyard where Memnon is training. Mathayus tries shooting Memnon from the watchtower, but instead saves the street urchin from having his hand cut off by Takmet under suspicion of theft. He barely escapes Gomorrah, abducting Cassandra along the way.

Memnon sends his warrior, Thorak, and a group of his men to kill Mathayus and retrieve Cassandra. He provides Thorak with an arrow tipped with scorpion venom to kill Mathayus. Mathayus detects the following group and leads them into a nearby cave under cover of a sandstorm. Mathayus kills Thorak and his men, but he is pierced with a poisoned arrow from a dying Thorak.