Changes: Imhotep (original)

Revision as of 22:15, 25 June 2018

Villain Overview

“	Death is only the beginning.	„
	~ Words of Imhotep.

Imhotep is the main antagonist of the 1932 classic horror film, The Mummy. He was an Egyptian High Priest who was cursed and mummified alive when he tried to resurrect his lost love.

In the 1932 film, he was portrayed by the late Boris Karloff, who also played Frankenstein's Monster in Universal's Frankenstein series, Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu, Hjalmar Poelzig in The Black Cat, and The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

Personality

Cruel, cunning and dishonest, Imhotep carried his position out with great intent. Although he was considered a friend by the Pharaoh, Imhotep was instead more focused on the mutual romantic love requited him by the Pharaoh's concubine, Anck-Su-Namun. Intent on gaining that which he desired, the High Priest once went out to break the rules and laws of his religion to attain that which he desired; Imhotep broke sacred law by taking the Book of the Dead out of its resting place, so as to read it and resurrect his love. Despite his love for the concubine, Imhotep could also be duplicitous and manipulative in nature, lying to Evelyn Carnahan about sparing her friends' lives, and betraying Baltus Hafez by leaving him to die. Imhotep was overconfident and arrogant in his resurrected years, feared little and did his best to work problems to his advantage.

Appearance

With discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922, alongside notions of a curse associated with mummies (see Curse of the Pharaohs for more information) and process of mummification on deceased Egyptians in the past, The Mummy is conceived as one of Universal Monster's iconic character, depicted as cursed undead being and reanimated mummy who awakened by desecration of his/her grave and proceed to wreaking havoc on humanity. With more horror films and other mass medias in 20th century popularizing the idea about both curses associated with mummies (particularly Egyptian ones) and concept of mummies rise as undead monster, The Mummy's characterization began to taking more sinister turn as the character's ambition expanded to world domination and possessing additional dark powers stemmed from very maladies that keeping him/her alive as undead being.

For The Mummy's incarnation of Imhotep, he is loosely inspired by the historical figure Imhotep, a noted polymath and counselor to the Pharaoh Djoser in the 27th century BC.

History

Imhotep was a High Priest during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep. He fell in love with Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, who was a priestess of the goddess Isis, but she grew ill and died. Distraught, Imhotep stole the Scroll of Thoth from its hiding place in the Temple of Isis and brought it to the princess's tomb in an attempt to resurrect her. He was caught in the act before the ritual could be completed and carried off by the Pharaoh's soldiers. Imhotep was sentenced to be buried alive for his sacrilege, and he was buried in a remote spot, the scroll in a casket along side him.

His body remained there until it was rediscovered in 1921 by the archaeologist Sir Joseph Whemple and his assistant Ralph Norton. Unsure of what to make of his find, Whemple brought in his friend, Professor Muller, a noted occult expert, to look at the mummy and he unopened the box. While Whemple and Muller debated over opening the box outside, Norton opened it and read aloud from the scroll. This awakened Imhotep, who took the scroll and walked off into the desert. The sight of the walking mummy drove Norton mad, and he spent the rest of his life in a straightjacket. Upset by what had happened to his assistant, Whemple left Egypt and went home to England, never planning to return. Eleven years later, in 1932, Whemple's son Frank was part of a new archaeological expedition in the same area as his father's had taken place. Imhotep, who had been restored to his normal appearance, approached Frank and his superior, Professor Pearson.

He used the alias of Ardeth Bey and claimed he was an Egyptian archaeologist. He claims to have found clues to the location of Ankh-es-en-amon's tomb, and leads them to it. He allows them to dig up the tomb and install its contents in the Cairo Museum. There he met Whemple, who had returned to Egypt to view his son's discovery. Imhotep stays in the museum past closing time in order to make another attempt at resurrecting his love's mummy. While using the scroll to call her spirit back from the land of the dead, he discovers that the princess has actually reincarnated in the form of Helen Grovesnor, a wealthy young Anglo-Egyptian woman living in Cairo. She also happens to be a patient of Professor Muller. Imhotep is discovered in the museum by the night watchman, whom Imhotep kills with a spell that stops his heart.

However, he leaves the scroll behind on accident. He goes in search of Helen, only to find her at Whemple's house, where she was taken after the Whemples discovered her trying to get inside the museum. Imhotep also learned that Whemple had been given the scroll by the museum staff after the guard was found dead. Professor Muller, coming to retrieve his patient, divined that Ardeth Bey was really Imhotep. Imhotep left the Whemples' house, but planned to retrieve the scroll. To this end, he brought Whemple's Nubian servant under his control. Later, he killed Whemple with his heart stopping spell and had the Nubian bring it to him. Meanwhile, Frank and Helen had begun to fall in love. This caused Imhotep to try to kill Frank, an attempt that almost succeeded, if not for the charm of Isis Professor Muller had given to Frank.

Imhotep called to Helen's soul, and brought her to the museum. There he awakened her memories and informed her of his true purpose: to make her into a living mummy like himself. Frank and Muller arrived at the museum before he could her, and Imhotep attempted to use his spell on them. However, they resisted Imhotep and drove him back. Meanwhile, Helen/Ankh-es-en-amon had kneeled down to a statue of Isis and prayed for help. The statue raised its hand and struck Imhotep with divine lightning, as well as the scroll. Imhotep disintegrated, and the scroll burned away.

Remake series

Main article: Imhotep (remake)

Dark Universe

Main article: Ahmanet

Powers and Abilities

Powers

As a mortal, Imhotep demonstrated great mystical powers as the pharaoh's high priest. After being resurrected as a mummy and suffer the curse of Hom Dai by his persecutors, he gained new powers alongside his old ones.

Invulnerability: Imhotep had demonstrated that he was virtually invulnerable to the weapons of the modern age, including both guns and swords. He demonstrated that even if he was hit by blades or bullets, he simply will not die. It is also logical to assume that he is immune to all known ailments and narcotics. In the 1932 original film he is also immortal and invulnerable.
Immortality: Having been resurrected more than once and being over 3000 years old, Imhotep is effectively immortal.
Superhuman Strength: Despite him being a walking corpse, Imhotep has demonstrated extraordinary strength for a 3000 year old rotting pile of flesh. He has shown to be capable of lifting a well fit full grown adult into the air several feet with great ease.
Self-Sustenance; As a mummy, Imhotep has shown to have no need to eat, drink or breath to survive.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Imhotep had demonstrated that he could heal from any form of physical injury. He must first however kill those who opened the chest containing the Book of the Dead by sucking them dry of all organs and fluids to make himself human again. Even after this, Imhotep can heal himself as well as reassemble himself in case any of his limbs are severed from his body.
Pestilence Inducement: According to Evelyn, those like Imhotep who suffered the curse of the Hom-Dai had the power to manipulate both diseases and pests such as locusts and scarabs. The first time he uses this power was after he accidently resurrected by Evelyn whom read the Book of the Dead out loud, where the mummy roars and conjures scarabs and locusts to attack everyone whom present in Hamunaptra.
Necrokinesis: A power he has demonstrated before his mummification, Imhotep has the power to resurrect the dead. He demonstrated such powers when he resurrected Anck-Su-Namun from her grave, as well as resurrect a small army of priests to do his bidding.
Eclipse Manipulation: Upon arriving in Cairo, Imhotep's powers had grew to the point where he could at will cause an eclipse which blotted out the light of the sun.
Telekinesis: Some speculate that Imhotep has the separate powers to manipulate both sand and water, however due to him being capable of demonstrating the ability to lift people up and throw them at a great distance, it is most likely due to his powers of telekinesis, which the said telekinesis was the very power that enhanced his strength. He has shown to be incredibly gifted with this power due to his ability to manipulate the sand and water, making a wall of either element and a large version of his face is visible.
Sand Manipulation: Imhotep has demonstrated in both his rotting form and even partially regenerated form that he has the power to turn his body into sand and fly out the window, either as a sandy tornado in various size or a jet of sands. He can carry immense loads with him while he is in this form which was seen when he dropped Beni Gabor and Evelyn Carnahan onto nearby sand. This power also enables him to turn into sand and enter places that are locked which was demonstrated when sand entered Evelyn's room and he formed from it.
Hypnosis: Imhotep had demonstrated the power to actually hypnotize people, putting them into any time period he desired. In 1932 film, Imhotep used this to brainwashed a Nubian to become his servant and even hypnotize Helen so she willing to mummified and reanimated as undead bride for him.
- Water Divination: Imhotep can reading the future, the present and the past and/or provide help to a problem at hand via Egyptian Occult means as well as allowed the others to see what he perceived, with water as medium. In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep did the same to Meela Nais their past selves.
Life-Force Absorption: Imhotep demonstrated this deadly ability by sucking the life essence and flesh of his victims. When he did this, his mouth would opens in 90 degrees and unhinged in process as if it vertically widens.
Blood Transformation: Imhotep has demonstrated the power to turn water or liquid into blood. Used to warn the whole building that he visited when he goes to kill an archaeologist for regenerating himself.
Heart Stopping: Imhotep can cause the hearts of others to instantly stop, effectively killing them via magic.

Abilities

Weapon Proficiency: Imhotep has demonstrated his skills in the use of swords, knives and even staff-based weapons.
Multilingualism: Imhotep had shown to mostly speak in his native tongue of Ancient Egyptian, however he was fully capable of speaking English(which skills in speaking English was exclusive in his cartoon incarnation). He also could recognize certain languages such as Yiddish (a form of Hebrew dialect) and even Arabic.

Weaknesses

Ancient Egyptian Artifacts: Being resurrected by the Book of the Dead, Imhotep proved to be near invincible. The only problem he faced even when fully regenerated, was a vulnerability to artifacts of mystical nature. Artifacts such as the Book of Amun-Ra or The Scroll of Thoth (1932 original film) had the power to strip him of his immortal powers, rendering him mortal.
Cats: According to Terence Bey, cats are the guardians of the underworld. Since Imhotep came back from the underworld, he will fear them until he is fully regenerated. Once that takes place, cats will no longer be a problem for the mummy.

Trivia

He was loosely inspired by the Egyptian polymath with the same name.
"Imhotep" is the title of a video game.
Imhotep was featured in the British comedy television series Look Around You. He is depicted as an invisible Moai.
In the 2010 Marvel Comics series S.H.I.E.L.D., Imhotep was the name of a man who formed the very first SHIELD.
For the most part, Imhotep is the Big Bad of The Mummy franchise.
In the 2017 remake film, Imhotep would be replaced by Princess Ahmanet, which marked the first time the titular mummy would be female. Also, the said film reimagines the titular antagonist's origins where she emerges in modern world for the first time, given majorities of the film mainly set on 1930s.
Imhotep appears as the secondary antagonist of "Monster Family".

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The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris: Menthu
The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian: Magus | Set | Apep

@@ Line 94: / Line 94: @@
 *For the most part, Imhotep is the Big Bad of ''The Mummy'' franchise.
 *In the 2017 remake film, Imhotep would be replaced by [[Ahmanet|Princess Ahmanet]], which marked the first time the titular mummy would be female. Also, the said film reimagines the titular antagonist's origins where she emerges in modern world for the first time, given majorities of the film mainly set on 1930s.
-*Imhotep Appears as the secondary antagonist of "Monster Family".
+*Imhotep appears as the secondary antagonist of "Monster Family".
 ==Navigation==

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