The Scorpion King movies ranked starts with the eponymous 2002 Dwayne Johnson vehicle before spawning a five-movie series of fantasy fun. Long before ing The Fast Saga as Hobbs, The Rock - as he was still credited at the time - was first seen as the Scorpion King in 2001's The Mummy Returns. Introduced as a conquering warlord in the film's beginning and a human-scorpion hybrid creature in its finale, the Scorpion King's backstory would be explored a year later in the spin-off, The Scorpion King.

In The Scorpion King, he is re-introduced as Akkadian assassin Mathayus, but in The Scorpion King's straight-to-video sequels would later the role on to Michael Copon, Victor Webster, and Zach McGowan, respectively. Each portrays Mathayus at different points in his life in different adventures involving magic, monsters, and swordplay. The Scorpion King movies aspire not to be grand art but simply silly sword-and-sorcery fun with campy performances and larger-than-life characters, each a chapter in the timeline of The Mummy franchise.

The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015)

Victor Webster Stars As Mathayus

Mathayus returns for another adventure of magic and ancient artifacts in The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power. In The Quest for Power, Mathayus (Victor Webster) teams up with Valina (Ellen Hollman) against his old friend Drazen (Will Kemp) on his mission to retrieve the ancient crown of Lord Alcaman to conquer the world. The movie did feature big stars, like The Incredible Hulk's Lou Ferrigno, MMA legend Royce Gracie, and kickboxing great Don "The Dragon" Wilson, who only appears briefly in the film's opening action scene.

This ended up being Webster's final appearance as Mathayus. In this last appearance, he and the ing cast did their best to add energy to the film, although it received mostly poor reviews. There were few major critical reviews, and the audience seemed soured on the franchise, with the Popcornmeter sitting at a low 21% rotten. One reviewer wrote, "Another average tv movie sequel that is just as interesting as the 3rd film......again not a bad film but not worth ing either."

The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012)

Victor Webster Stars As Mathayus

The first actual sequel to The Scorpion King after it spun off from The Mummy movie franchise, 2012's The Scorpion King: Battle for Redemption opens with Mathayus (Victor Webster) as a wandering former king after the fall of his kingdom, Gomorrah. Mathayus is soon called upon to be a warrior once more to stop the conquest of Talus (Billy Zane), who hopes to use the Book of the Dead to usurp the Egyptian kingdom of his brother Horus (Ron Perlman).

It is to the credit of The Scorpion King franchise that Mathayus's fighting style evolves from movie to movie.

Victor Webster reinterprets Mathayus into a somewhat more sullen warrior with a strong heart and brings a new dynamic to the hero's action scenes. It is to the credit of The Scorpion King franchise that Mathayus's fighting style evolves from movie to movie, from Michael Copon's agile kicks to Dwayne Johnson's pro-wrestling-style brawling and Webster blending both with the Johnson-like build he carries.

Battle for Redemption has a genuinely star-studded cast, with The Scorpion King sequel movie featuring Dave Bautista, late MMA fighter Kimbo Slice, Perlman, and Zane, and it is Zane who truly makes the film an even more fun time. He knows what kind of movie he's in and is gloriously hammy as the scheming Talus. Battle for Redemption knows what its audience is after, but it received mostly negative reviews, and even the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a low 15%.

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)

Michael Copon Stars As Mathayus

The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior travels back in time to the origins of Mathayus before The Rock started The Scorpion King franchise, with Michael Copon taking on the role. Determined to avenge the murder of his father, Mathayus teams up with a crew of allies to bring down the villainous ruler of Akkad, Sargon (Randy Couture). Directed by Highlander's Russell Mulcahy, Rise of a Warrior does a decent job of following up its much higher-budgeted predecessor with plenty of swordplay, martial arts, and sorcery.

Copon exudes an innate likability in the role, much like Johnson.

Michael Copon's portrayal of Mathayus is a less self-confident version during his youth and the beginnings of his life as an adventurer. Copon exudes an innate likability in the role, much like Johnson. Like most of the movies in the franchise, the audience score was low, sitting at 18% on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter. One fan wrote, "Lackluster sandal action flick has not much to offer besides some production value, but is highly predictable - and forgettable."

The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018)

Zach McGowan Stars As Mathayus

After Quest for Power, The Scorpion King franchise had a minor rebound with 2018's The Scorpion King: Book of Souls. Mathayus (Zach McGowan) has become a blacksmith and retreated from his life as an Akkadian adventurer. Despite his retirement, Mathayus is recruited by Khensa (Mayling Ng) to stop the evil warlord Nebserek (Peter Mensah) in his plot to conquer the world with a sword known as the Fang of Anubis. The two men pursue the only relic that can destroy it, the Book of Souls.

Zach McGowan, the latest successor to The Scorpion King movie lead role, is a serviceable lead as a more weathered Mathayus doing what he does best again and reminded of the legend he built for himself. Peter Mensah keeps the tradition of over-the-top Scorpion King villains alive and well with his scene-chewing portrayal of Nebserek. This movie was a massive rebound for fans, who awarded it with a high 81% fresh Popcornmeter score, with one person writing, "It's bad, but its the sort of bad that is just downright awesome."

The Scorpion King (2002)

Dwayne Johnson Stars As Mathayus

Dwayne Johnson's first time as a leading man in The Scorpion King is as cheesy and goofy an action-hero debut as there has ever been, but it is engaging as a sword-and-sorcery epic. In The Scorpion King, Akkadian assassin Mathayus is determined to avenge the murder of his brother Jesup (Branscombe Richmond) by the tyrannical Memnon, while stopping his growing conquest with the help of Memnon's clairvoyant seer Cassandra (Kelly Hu). However, Johnson's Mathayus severs any real connective tissue with his villainous role in The Mummy franchise.

While Johnson was still finding his footing in Hollywood, his chops as a leading man with a talent for action and comedy shone through well in The Scorpion King. The Scorpion King is a fun and enthusiastically entertaining popcorn throwback to old-school sword-and-sorcery movies. It is also the only installment t of the franchise to get a lot of critical attention, sitting at 40% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score is a lower 37%. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:

"Like every other action movie, it's designed for a 14-year-old boy's mentality, but it's enjoyable enough to turn most people into 14-year-old boys."

The Best Viewing Order To Watch The Scorpion King Movies

There is more than one order to watch The Scorpion King movies, and it all depends on the viewer to determine what order they watch them in. The first order is the order of release. This means it starts with the character of Mathayus appearing in the second The Mummy movie and then moves on to the first movie in the series, the prequel, and then all the sequels, including the 2018 reboot.

Another way to view the franchise is by watching them in chronological order:

The difference here is that the first movie is The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, a prequel to the actual Scorpion King franchise. This is then followed mostly in order by the rest of the spinoff franchise before the character's first appearance. The Mummy Returns is the last movie in the character's chronological series. While this lets the viewer see the Scorpion King character in the order of his life events, it removes many of the Easter egg moments, so it is all about what the viewer wants to get out of the viewing.