Real
Name: Richard "Rick" O'Connell
Rick O'Connell
Real
Name: Richard "Rick" O'Connell
Identity/Class: Normal human (but see comments)
Occupation: Adventurer, former spy, soldier
Affiliations: (formerly) French Foreign Legion; Beni Gabor; (subsequently) Ardeth Bey, Jonathan Carnahan, Evelyn Carnahan
Enemies: Imhotep; Mathayus the Scorpion King, Han (the Dragon Emperor)
Known Relatives: Evelyn Carnahan (wife); Jonathan Carnahan (brother-in-law); Alexander "Alex" O'Connell (son)
Aliases: None known
Base of Operations: (formerly) Egypt and Northern Africa; (later) England
First Appearance: The Mummy (1999)
Powers/Abilities: Rick is an excellent shot and good hand-to-hand fighter. He is extremely agile, exceptionally strong, and at the peak of human fitness.
History: Prior to 1923, little is known about Rick O'Connell. Apparently an orphan, at some point the young Rick joined the French Foreign Legion, and served in Libya. Rumours of a city full of gold spread through his unit, and became so strong that the entire division deserted together, walking from Libya to Egypt in search of the fabled Hamunaptra, City of the Dead. They found it, but death also found them. Trapped within the ruined walls, they faced an army of arabs, who killed almost all of them. Only two men appeared to have survived: the weasley Beni Gabor (who hid during the fight), and Rick O'Connell. The last man standing of his Legion, Rick walked across the desert back to civilisation.
A couple of years later a bar room brawl in Cairo saw Rick imprisoned, facing the hangman's noose. However a trinket he had brought back from the City intrigued local Egyptologist Evie Carnahan, and once she discovered he knew the way to Hamunaptra, she arranged for his release. Together with the prison overseer Gad Hassan and Evie's slacker brother Jonathan, they formed an expedition to visit the lost city. Things didn't go entirely according to plan: for one thing, another (American run) expedition turned up, guided by Beni; for another, a group of strange Arabs attacked them, trying to stop them from reaching their goal.
Nonetheless they eventually reached Hamunaptra, where the two expeditions agreed to an uneasy alliance, especially after the Arabs attacked again, and issued them a dire warning: Leave Hamunaptra or die! The reasons for this soon became clear, when their diggings unearthed and awoke an ancient Mummy, the wizard Imhotep, who would destroy the world if not stopped in time; the Arabs, members of tribes known as the Medji, were sworn to prevent his rising, or bring him down if he did awake.
To gather his power, Imhotep stalked and killed the four leaders of the American expedition, since they had taken his canopic jars; he then chose Evie as a sacrifice to resurrect his lost love, Anck Su Namun, and took her back to Hamunaptra to perform the ceremony. Rick, who had fallen in love with Evie, raced him there, accompanied by Jonathan. Using the magics hidden within the Book of Life, they were able to render Imhotep mortal once more, and Rick ran him through with a scimitar. As he died, his energy was drained out of him, and he reverted to his mummified state. Beni, who had allied himself with Imhotep, accidentally triggered a trap which sank the remains of the city beneath the sand; Rick, Jonathan and Evie managed to escape in time, but Beni and Imhotep were buried within Hamunaptra, apparently forever.
Or maybe not.
Nearly ten years passed. Evie and Rick married and had a son, Alex. Meanwhile an ancient cult dug up the remains of Imhotep, and brought him back to life, planning to use him to steal the powers of the Scorpion King, an even more powerful evil. Kidnapping Alex, who had unwittingly put on a bracelet which magically showed the route to the Oasis of Am Sher (where the Scorpion King was located), the villains set off with the O'Connell's in hot pursuit. Once more Rick faced his ancient adversary, as well as the half-human, half-demon Scorpion King. He killed the latter, and saw the former drop into the pits of hell.
During World War II, Rick and Evie became Intelligence operatives, spying on the Germans. In 1946, they and the now adult Alex took on the Chinese mummy Han, a.k.a. the Dragon Emperor.
Comments: Created by Stephen Sommers, Kevin Jarre and Lloyd Fonvielle. Played by Brendan Fraser.
Ben Martin wrote in to say "Despite his reluctant attitude, Rick is a sacred medji. I would say that he is easily in league with Marvel comics "Captain America", meaning that he is upper human in strength, agility, and fighting prowess." I won't argue with this definition of his abilities, although this still makes Rick qualify as a normal human, albeit a very above average one.
There is a cartoon series loosely based on the characters from the Mummy movies. This series is a retelling of the concept, not a continuation, though Rick is largely the same man. His voice in this incarnation is provided by John Schneider.
I.D.W. published a tie-in comic with a new story, The Rise and Fall of Xango's Axe, set shortly before the third movie around the time of that movie's release.
CLARIFICATIONS: None
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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