Works in this franchise with their own YMMV pages:
- Adaptation Displacement: The original Universal Horror Mummy, while well-regarded, is mainly sought after by classic horror buffs while these films have wider appeal by being closer to Indiana Jones than pure horror.
- Audience-Coloring Adaptation: To the point many fans were weirded out by The Mummy (2017) going for a darker vibe, closer to the original Universal Horror Mummy, instead of following this trilogy's pulpy, at times cheesy action-adventure.
- Awesome Music: Jerry Goldsmith's score for the first film is suitably grand, and Alan Silvestri's score for the second film has some suitably epic
tracks as well. (The Sommers Company logo at the end of the third film uses one of Silvestri's tracks.) - Complete Monster:
- The Mummy Returns: The Scorpion King, the wicked descendant of the heroic Mathayus, led an army to conquer the world. Upon defeat, he vowed himself to the dark god Anubis and was gifted with Anubis's mighty army with which he used to brutally exterminate countless innocent lives and entire cities that lay before him. Claimed by Anubis, he awakens many centuries later, intending to use his army to eradicate all who live.
- Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: Qin Shi Huang, the titular Dragon Emperor, ferociously conquered China two millennia ago. Forcing his defeated enemies to build The Great Wall of China, burying thousands of the dead and exhausted within the foundation, the Emperor cursed their souls to hold up the Wall for eternity. Seeking immortality, the Emperor enlisted the help of sorceress Zi Yuan but became enraged with her for sleeping with one of his Generals and tried to kill them both before Zi Yuan's curse turned the Emperor and his armies to clay. After his resurrection, the Emperor uses Shangri-La to become immortal and announces to his terra cotta warriors his intent to put the planet under his totalitarian regime.
- Estrogen Brigade: The trilogy is aimed mainly at male fans, but, due to the good looks of the male actors, it has a very loyal female following. The biggest following is for Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, due to his good looks, pretty blue eyes, and natural charisma. Brendan Fraser (Rick O'Connell) and Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) also have a lot of female admirers in the fandom.
- Fanon: It's fairly common to imagine Jonathan as a Shell-Shocked Veteran given the film's timeframe (mid-1920s placing it nearly ten years after World War I) and his age, proficiency with firearms, alcoholic tendencies, and general disdain for traditional heroism.
- Jerkass Woobie: In the end, all Imhotep wanted was to be with Anck-su-namun, even if he has to conquer the world in the process. Aside from the fact that he never had to go after the Scorpion King in the first place during the second film. In fact, the moment he regenerated and Anck-su-namun reborn, he had everything he wanted in The Mummy: his love, and eternity with her. The Scorpion King and the Army of Anubis was either blind greed or a plot For the Evulz.
- Magnificent Bastard:
- Ardeth Bay is the charismatic and determined leader of the Medjai and relentlessly protects Hamunaptra to prevent Imhotep from ever escaping his curse. Willing to lead massacres to keep Imhotep buried, his men wipe out Rick O'Connell's French Legion, stealthily ambush the river boat leading Rick's second expedition, and raids the party's base camp before warning them of "the Creature." When Imhotep is set free, Ardeth becomes of fervent ally of Rick and helps to rescue Evie from sacrifice and give Rick the chance to put down their enemy. When Imhotep rises again to challenge the Scorpion King, Ardeth again helps the O'Connells by assisting on the journey to rescue their young son Alex and valiantly leading the Medjai to defeat the supposedly unstoppable Army of Anubis.
- Imhotep, once the priest of Pharaoh Seti, murdered his king when he discovered the affair between Imhotep and his wife Anck-su-namun. Subjected to a horrific curse and rising anew thousands of years later, Imhotep easily eludes the heroes with his intelligence and powers to sacrifice heroine Evey to revive his true love. Returning years later with the aid of his dedicated order, Imhotep manipulates several thieves into opening his chest to restore his powers and hunts down the fabled Scorpion King to destroy him and gain the Army of Anubis, pretending to be the Scorpion King's servant to set him against Imhotep's nemesis Rick O'Connell. Even in his final moments, abandoned by his love when he needs her the most, Imhotep gives one last moment of respect and envy towards the O'Connells before accepting his final end.
- Older Than They Think: Many seem to believe that the idea of a mummy actually coming to life and magically attacking people is just a modern Western reaction to the exotic burial traditions of the long-gone ancient Egyptian culture. In fact, Egyptian mythology itself contains numerous tales of such occurrences being witnessed by their own people. Perhaps the most famous story is that of a prince who sought a magical artifact (the Book of Thoth) known to be entombed with a long-dead prince. Upon breaking into the tomb the live prince is confronted by the ghost of the tomb owner's widow, who begs him not to take the book as it bought their own family nothing but misfortune. When the live prince doesn't heed the warning, the mummy of the dead prince rises out of his sarcophagus and casts a spell that causes the tomb's solid stone floor to swallow the live prince up like quicksand.
- Sequelitis:
- While fans often think The Mummy Returns averts the trope, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor wasn't so lucky.
- The Scorpion King 2 is a prequel to a prequel to a sequel to a remake of a movie from the 1930's. Wheras The Scorpion King 3 and The Scorpion King 4 are sequels to the first Scorpion King film, which in fact was the prequel to a prologue of a sequel to a remake of the movie from the 1930's. Head hurting yet?
- Visual Effects of Awesome: The first two films feature some great special effects work, all aspects considered. The third however, to a much lesser degree due to moments of fairly jarring Special Effects Failure note , specifically Jet Li's character transforming into King Ghidorah as well as his character beheading someone earlier in the movie. The commentary notes that at times, the effects (such as swarms of insects or clouds of sand) were used to cover up the terrible acting of their crowd scene extras, so this was a case of the visual effects actually improving the acting level in a movie.
