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Every Dwayne Johnson Sequel, Ranked From Worst To Best

Published 4 hours ago10 minute read
Dwayne Johnson preparing to fight as The Scorpion King.
Original SR Image by Shawn Lealos

The best sequels include mostly a mix of movies he came into later in their existence, but a few were franchises he started from the ground up. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been one of the biggest movie stars of the last two decades, making him one of the most successful former WWE superstars to make the jump to Hollywood. Johnson started as a typical action star in movies like the underrated The Rundown and Walking Tall, but soon stepped up and became a blockbuster action star.

Other than his and a role in the Elmore Leonard adaptation Be Cool. Johnson worked to make himself a marketable star in his own films for the first decade of his career. However, once he had made his name, he jumped into some major franchises, including follow-ups to Jumanji, The Fast and the Furious, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and G.I. Joe. Add in a sequel to the Moana franchise, and Dwayne Johnson has become the king of sequels.

The first movie that Dwayne Johnson appeared in was The Mummy Returns. He then returned two years later for a follow-up to that film. The Scorpion King saw Johnson reprise the same role he played in The Mummy Returns, but this time he was the lead - in a movie. He played Mathayus, a warrior in the Black Scorpions, who sought revenge after his father's murder.

The Scorpion King montage

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This was a prequel film showing how Mathayus became The Scorpion King before Imhotep summoned him years later to aid in his attack on humanity. It was an interesting turn since he was a villain in The Mummy Returns, but this movie showed how that wasn't always the case. It is the worst of Johnson's sequels, receiving mostly negative reviews thanks to the cartoon-like CGI used to create Johnson's Scorpion King.

In what served as a shock to many G.I. Joe fans, the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra did away with some beloved team members and sent out brand-new characters for the second adventure. Channing Tatum's Duke, the star of the first movie and the long-time Joe leader, was killed at the film's beginning. played by Dwayne Johnson. Bruce Willis also signed on for a smaller role as the original Joe, General Joe Colton.

Dwayne Johnson's Roadblock and Channing Tatum's Duke in G.I. Joe: Retaliation

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Reviews were mostly negative, with critics saying the G.I. Joe sequel was better than the first movie but relied too heavily on the action and dismissed it for a "nonsensical" plot. With that said, the positive reviews proclaimed that the absurdity of the story made the movie fun, even if it made little sense. A third G.I. Joe team movie never arrived, and a reboot followed eight years later with Snake Eyes.

the-mummy-returns-cover.jpg
The Mummy Returns

April 26, 2001

T for Teen - Violence

Game Brains, Blitz Games

Universal Interactive

While The Mummy Returns was a fun addition to the franchise, it fell short of the first movie for two big reasons. The first was that the special effects were a huge step down. The first Mummy movie had mostly Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell fighting Inhotep himself, and that looked great., making it impossible to have the same feeling as the first film, which was a beloved adventure movie. Both of those problems hurt Dwayne Johnson's debut.

The Rock Scorpion King CGI mummy returns

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Why The Rock's Scorpion King CGI Didn't Work

The Rock's Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns is notorious for its terrible CGI, which suffered from a rush to complete the film using new technology.

This was Johnson's first-ever movie role, and director Stephen Sommers didn't have him do too much. He was there to look like The Rock and provide the threat of The Scorpion King. However, the biggest problem was when Johnson showed up. His character looked like a video game representation of The Rock's face, but on a weird-looking giant scorpion's body. If the filmmakers wanted it to look threatening, they failed, as the Scorpion King's appearance provided more laughs than gasps. Luckily, the movie was still decently fun, other than the CGI.

Dwayne Johnson's first sequel was in the Brendan Fraser franchise, The Mummy. 11 years later, Johnson replaced Fraser in a different franchise. In 2008. Fraser starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth, In that first movie, Fraser plays Trevor, a professor who ends up journeying through the center of the Earth based on what Verne wrote about in his novels (the movie posits that Verne's novels were true accounts). In 2012, Johnson was the lead in the sequel.

Jules Verne wrote The Mysterious Island novel in 1874.

Josh Hutcherson, who played Trevor's nephew Sean in the first movie and was part of the adventure, is back as a 17-year-old in the sequel, now an adventurer based on his journey in the first installment. Vanessa Hudgens is also in the film, and the two youngsters end up lost on the mysterious island with Johnson's former Navy officer, who is also Sean's stepdad. It was an interesting role for Johnson, who played a no-nonsense stepfather against type, but he was a fan favorite, winning a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for his role.

Fast X Poster
Fast X
ScreenRant logo

6/10

May 19, 2023

141 Minutes

Louis Leterrier

Justin Lin, Dan Mazeau, Gary Scott Thompson

Fast & Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The Fast And The Furious, Fast 5, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, Fast and Furious 8, F9: The Fast Saga1

Dwayne Johnson has been in five Fast and Furious movies, not including the spin-off he was a lead in. This 10th movie was a return for Hobbs after missing the ninth film in the franchise. However, while the film was a great action tale, it was only half a movie and ended on a major cliffhanger, which left fans wondering what was going to happen next.

Johnson showed up only in the post-credits scene.

Instead, Johnson showed up only in the post-credits scene, where he investigated where the villain Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) worked from, only to find out that the villain was looking to come after Luke Hobbs next. It was a nice surprise, but when it comes to Dwayne Johnson movies, it falls below every other appearance in the Fast and Furious franchise.

Be Cool

March 4, 2005

115 minutes

F. Gary Gray

When Be Cool came out in 2005, Dwayne Johnson had proven he was a legitimate action star, but he hadn't proven he could step outside that comfort zone. He got that chance when This was a sequel to Get Shorty, which starred John Travolta as Chili Palmer, a Miami-based loan shark who loves movies. The movie's other two stars (Rene Russo and Danny DeVito) were not involved in the sequel, with only Travolta making the return.

The story in the second installment sees Chili Palmer bored with the movie industry and finding a new love in the music industry, where he helps Linda Moon, a small-time club singer, get out from under the thumb of criminal producers. This is where he meets the producers' Samoan bodyguard, Elliot. Johnson stepped out of his comfort zone here, playing Elliot as a gay Samoan villain with a very flamboyant personality and style. Johnson stole every scene he appeared in and proved he could act when needed.

Fast & Furious 6 was Dwayne Johnson's second movie in the franchise. After working as one of the antagonists in his first appearance, as he spent most of the film trying to arrest Dom and his crew, in his second appearance. This film sees Luke Hobbs seek out Dom to ask for help in stopping a new criminal on the scene named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), and it puts Dom and his crew working with law enforcement for the first time, changing the franchise.

Fast and Furious Vin Diesel The Rock

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Seeing Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel fight in Fast Five was great, but seeing them team up in the sixth movie was the start of a change in the entire franchise's dynamic and storylines. Johnson's arrival helped transition the series from a car heist series to an action-adventure franchise that eventually morphed into an almost superhero series by the time Johnson had left. Johnson began to integrate himself as one of the main stars, starting in this movie.

Jumanji: The Next Level
ScreenRant logo

7/10

December 13, 2019

123 Minutes

Jake Kasdan

Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner

Jumanji

Dwayne Johnson helped lead the way in the Jumanji reboot-sequel in 2017 with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. A loose sequel to the Robin Williams movie from 1995 changed the story by having the kids who find the game board go into that world instead of the animals from that world coming into the real world. However, when they arrive in that world, t one of whom is portrayed by Dwayne Johnson.

This was a great Johnson performance, as he channeled DeVIto's movements and mannerisms.

In this third movie, the sequel to Welcome to the Jungle, the characters end up being put into different bodies, which created much of the humor. Instead of Johnson being the avatar for the brainy Spencer, like the first movie, he ended up the avatar for Eddie, Spencer's grandfather (Danny DeVito). This was a great Johnson performance, as he channeled DeVIto's movements and mannerisms brilliantly. The film wasn't as good as Welcome to the Jungle, but it was a fun turn for Johnson.

Dwayne Johnson left the Fast and Furious main franchise after he and Vin Diesel had a falling out. However, he remained in the franchise when he signed on for a spinoff movie, Hobbs and Shaw. This saw to stop terrorists from releasing a supervirus on the world. This was similar to what Johnson and Diesel did years earlier in the main series, but this combination actually worked better.

Dwayne Johnson's Fast and Furious Appearances

Movie

Release Date

Fast Five

April 29, 2011

Fast & Furious 6

May 24, 2013

Furious 7

April 3, 2015

The Fate of the Furious

April 14, 2017

Hobbs & Shaw

August 2, 2019

Fast X

May 19, 2023

There was no connection here to the Fast and Furious franchise other than Hobbs and Shaw having their rivalry built there, but this was a great film that stood on its own and works well for even people who don't know much about the main series' story. The film was a monster success, thanks to the chemistry of Statham and Johnson, and while there hasn't been a sequel yet, this is a series that could have legs if the two stars teamed up for another adventure.

Moana 2 (2024) official poster
Moana 2
ScreenRant logo

6/10

November 27, 2024

100 Minutes

David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller

Dana Ledoux Miller, Jared Bush, Ron Clements, John Musker, Bek Smith

Moana

In the first Disney animated Moana movie, Dwayne Johnson proved to be a major star. His singing was great, and his song "You're Welcome" was a huge hit that ended up climbing to 65th on the Billboard music charts. and Johnson's main songs didn't reach the level of anything he sang in the first movie, and Johnson had a smaller role this time around.

Matangi making her grand entrance in Moana 2

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While the first Moana had the titular character and Maui as mismatched partners battling a great evil, Moana had to find Maui here and then the two were split up for much of the film. However, once the film got its feet under it, the story held up to the first installment, with Maui and Moana helping each other find who they are supposed to be in the end. While the first movie was an Oscar favorite, the second wasn't even nominated.

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