In the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes
in 3067 BC, a warrior known only as the Scorpion King leads his army to
conquer the city. However, the Scorpion King loses this decisive battle and
is forced to retreat into the desert of Ahm Shere with what is left of his
army. His soldiers die one by one from the desert's heat, and soon only the
Scorpion King is left alive. Dying, he swears an oath to the god of death,
Anubis, and the Scorpion King's soul is exchanged for his life and the power
to defeat his enemies. After eating a black scorpion, a great oasis is
formed around him, and he returns to Thebes with the Army of Anubis (a
numberless legion of demonic jackal-headed warriors) to exact his revenge.
The Scorpion King's new army easily overpowers their enemies, slaughtering
everyone in its walls. As soon as he completes his conquest, his soul is
taken by Anubis.
Precisely 5000 years later, in 1933, Evie and Rick O'Connell are exploring
another pyramid nine years after their previous adventure. During their
archaeological dig, Evie and Rick find another chest containing the bracelet
of Anubis. Back in London, their son Alex puts the bracelet on, providing
him with directions to the oasis of Ahm Shere. However, it also begins a
countdown of seven days, when it ends, the Scorpion King, and his army, will
reawaken. Alex is captured by an unholy Egyptian cult who have resurrected
Imhotep: their purpose for doing so is to use Imhotep's power to defeat the
Scorpion King, which would give him command of the Army of Anubis, with
which he could conquer the world. The cult, led by local museum curator
Baltus Hafez, includes the psychopathic warrior Lock-Nah, and Meela Nais,
the reincarnation of Imhotep's love Anck-Su-Namun, in order to lead him to
the oasis. However, the O'Connells set out to rescue Alex, accompanied by
Ardeth Bey, the Medjai warrior from the previous film, and Evie's hopeless
brother, Jonathan.
The instructions are given to Alex in stages, and he leaves clues to the
next location for his parents to find; however, they do not have long, as
Alex learns that if he does not reach the temple of the Scorpion King in
seven days after donning the bracelet, it will suck the life out of him.
Rick finds Izzy, an airship pilot from his past adventures who aids them in
tracking down the kidnappers. Each time the group learn the next location of
their journey, Ardeth sends the location in a message to a growing army of
Medjai, intended to stop the army of Anubis as it awakens. As they head off
to thwart Imhotep, the O'Connells learn of their connections to Imhotep and
the Scorpion King himself: in a past life, Evie was Nefertiri, daughter of
Seti I and protector of the Bracelet of Anubis. Rick is a Medjai, trusted to
protect Evelyn. Together with their son Alex, who is the path to Ahm Shere,
they make up the 3 sides of a pyramid. When the bracelet reaches the temple,
it will awaken the Scorpion King who will seek to reclaim his grasp on the
world with the aid of the army of Anubis. In the meantime, Imhotep presents
Meela a vision of her past life as Anck-Su-Namun, which expels her own soul
and replaces it with that of his lover of old, restoring her completely.
As the two groups arrive at the oasis where the Scorpion King's temple lies,
the cultists are attacked by mummified pygmies and ambushed by Rick, Evie,
Jonathan, and Ardeth Bey. The cultists are all killed with the exception of
Hafez, their leader. Rick saves Alex from Lock-Nah, who has been trying to
kill him through most of the journey: Lock-Nah is then killed by Ardeth, who
leaves the group to take leadership of the Medjai army. Rick must then run
with Alex to the temple before the sun strikes it and Alex dies. They make
it into the pyramid in the nick of time, and Alex is able to remove the
bracelet. However, when Jonathan and Evie catch up, Anck-Su-Namun walks into
the pyramid courtyard with Imhotep and stabs Evie to death. Hafez takes the
bracelet and descends into the pyramid and unleashes the Army of Anubis, who
engage the Medjai in battle.
Imhotep reaches the Scorpion King's lair, but his powers are stripped from
him by Anubis, who wishes him to fight the King as a mortal. Despite his new
disadvantage, Imhotep is able to summon the Scorpion King. He and Rick
engage is a furious battle, eventually leaving the two opponents equally
matched. The Scorpion King finally enters the chamber. His soul has been
restored to his physical body, albeit he is now in the form of a deadly
massive centuaroid scorpion monster. Imhotep feigns allegiance to the King,
who then focuses his wrath on Rick, killing Hafez in the process. Meanwhile,
Jonathan distracts Anck-Su-Namun while Alex (who learned ancient Egyptian
from his mother) finds the Book of the Dead and revives his mother, who
attacks and defeats Anck-Su-Namun, driving her away. At the same time,
Ardeth and the remains of the Medjai army defeat the Anubis warriors;
however, they discover that the Anubis forces cannot be killed and come
charging back across the dunes towards them. Outnumbered and with no hope of
victory, the Medjai prepare to fight to the end.
Rick sees a series of hieroglyphics on the walls, and realizes how to kill
the Scorpion King; a scepter that Jonathan has been carrying throughout the
film is the Spear of Osiris, which is the only weapon that can kill the
Scorpion King. Although Jonathan throws the spear and Imhotep nearly
delivers the blow himself, the Scorpion King is finally killed by Rick, who
orders him (and his army) back to the underworld. With his death, the Army
of Anubis, about to slaughter the Medjai, crumble into dust.
Rick and Imhotep race to escape the collapsing temple, as a chasm presumably
leading to the underworld appears, complete with souls lining its sides
reaching out for them. Rick and Imhotep fall in, but cling onto the edges of
the opening. Evelyn enters the room despite Rick's shouting for her to save
herself and risks her life to save her husband. Imhotep cries for
Anck-Su-Namun to save him as well, but she cowardly flees. Shocked and
heartbroken, Imhotep realizes his true love, whom he cheated death twice to
be with, has now betrayed him, in contrast to Rick and Evelyn. He gives Rick
and Evelyn a sad, envious smile before willingly casting himself into the
chasm to be dragged by the souls back to the afterlife; meanwhile, as she
flees, Anck-Su-Namun accidentally falls into a pit of scarabs where she is
eaten alive. Rick and Evelyn escape with Alex and Jonathan and meet up with
Izzy's airship which arrives just before the oasis is destroyed. They escape
unharmed and with a massive diamond that Jonathan pulls from the top of the
pyramid. The film ends with the group setting off into the sunset, with a
grateful Aredeth bidding them farewell from afar and Jonathan and Izzy
arguing over who should keep the diamond.
