10 Horror Movie Villains Who Became Smarter In The Sequel

Arnold Vosloo's Imhotep is understandably a bit of a lone wolf when it comes to proceedings in 1999's first installment. There isn't a great deal of planning to go with his campaign for global domination either. The man - mummy? - was quite literally brought back to life by accident, as a result of some overly curious light reading from Rachel Weisz's Evelyn.

When he returns in the aptly named The Mummy Returns, Imhotep is noticeably more intelligent after his first brush with humans from outside the Age of the Pharaohs. For starters, the former High Priest uses human acolytes to his advantage without turning them into moaning, zombie-like followers this time around. Funnily enough, said sentient acolytes prove to be considerably more useful than individuals who can be tricked by someone simply imitating their mindless moans of "Imhotep".

Imhotep is also smart enough to realize that he can't finish off the O'Connells without using the deadly rage of the Scorpion King to his advantage, slyly feigning fealty to Dwayne Johnson's nightmarishly bad CGI depiction of the legendary warrior so as to unleash his fury on Brendan Fraser's Rick. His masterplan? Lull the Scorpion King into a false sense of security, so as to catch him unawares and claim the power of the Army of the Dead by killing him.

It was a great plan, foiled only by Rick O'Connell's stunning slow-mo spear catching skills. And who could have realistically prepared for that?