Star Trek’s Mirror Universe is full of evil variants of Spock and Kirk, as well as some truly horrifying weapons, and now the franchise has confirmed that one of them is more powerful than fans thought. In the mid-1980s, DC’s Star Trek title brought the Mirror Universe back and in issue 12, one of their most nefarious weapons revealed its true destructive potential.

Star Trek #12 was written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran. The Mirror Universe is staging an invasion of the Federation, and plans to capture the Excelsior and use it as their flagship.

They are successful in planting their flag on the ship, but aboard the ISS Enterprise, Scotty and Saavik have rigged the Tantalus Device in Kirk’s quarters to hone in on particular areas of the Excelsior.

They use the Tantalus Device’s disintegration feature to attack Excelsior’s engine room, helping disable the ship.

Star Trek’s Mirror Universe Is One of the Franchise’s Most Endearing Elements

The Mirror Universe Features Some of Star Trek’s Worst Weapons

Introduced in the second season Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror,” the Mirror Universe has become one of the most popular, and parodied, aspects of the franchise. The Mirror Universe is a bleak and miserable place. Earth sits at the center of a massive empire built on conquest and subjugation. The Vulcans are equally as menacing in this universe: the goateed Spock oozes evil and ruthlessness. The Mirror Universe has also appeared, in one form or another, in Enterprise, Deep Space Nine and Discovery. Watching normally moral Starfleet heroes act badly has proven irresistible to fans.

The Mirror Universe, in addition to featuring sadistic riffs on beloved Star Trek icons, also has some of the most fearsome weaponry in the franchise. Agony booths, used to torture dissidents and mutineers, are one of many ways the Terran Empire exerts its influence. Portable agonizers show this commitment to cruelty even further. Yet no Mirror Universe weapon was as twisted as Kirk’s Tantalus Field. Stolen from unknown parties, the Tantalus Device allowed Kirk to not only spy on anyone on the ship, but also discreetly vaporize them if he so desired.

The Tantalus Device Could Be One of Star Trek’s Most Powerful Weapons

Mirror Kirk Never Unlocked Its True Potential

And in Star Trek #12, the true destructive power of the Tantalus Device is revealed. Ironically, it took two characters from the Prime universe, Scotty and Saavik, to unlock its potential. The duo boosted the power of the Tantalus Device, using it to take the Excelsior off the table. Mirror Kirk, in his arrogance, never thought of expanding the device’s scope as Scotty and Saavik do in Star Trek #12. The two turn a device used in the Mirror Universe simply for surveillance and murder into an extremely powerful weapon, confirming its true potential.