Star Trek Into Darkness completely misfired with its version of Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), the iconic villain from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Khan originally debuted in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Space Seed.” Played with gusto by Ricardo Montalbán, the augmented superman and his followers were awakened from cryogenic slumber by the crew of the USS Enterprise. A product of the Eugenics Wars in the late 20th century, Khan had conquered much of Earth before he was overthrown. Khan’s showdown with Admiral James Kirk (William Shatner) in The Wrath Of Khan remains one of the franchise’s high-water marks.
After several years in limbo, Star Trek was revived with the J.J. Abrams-directed 2009 film titled simply Star Trek. That film showcased younger, alternate reality versions of Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) before they became the Captain and First Officer of the Enterprise. Establishing the new Kelvin timeline, Star Trek was a critical and financial hit, and seemed to promise a bold new creative direction for the franchise. However, things got decidedly bumpier in the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Star Trek Into Darkness Didn’t Understand Khan
Khan was chosen as the villain for the sequel, accompanied by a somewhat ridiculous publicity campaign designed to conceal the truth of his identity. This alternate reality version of Khan wasn’t found by the Enterprise, but rather by a vessel under the purview of Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller), the leader of the morally ambiguous Starfleet black-ops division Section 31. Khan’s followers were kept in stasis and held hostage by Marcus to coerce Khan into assisting Section 31 under the pseudonym “John Harrison.” Khan would eventually manipulate Kirk and his crew to get his revenge on Marcus.
There’s very little of the original Khan in this new iteration. Montalban’s theatrical bravado is replaced by Cumberbatch’s simmering rage. Kirk and Khan have essentially no connection in the film, and the lack of that dynamic leaves a hole at the heart of the story; the film’s climactic battle is, oddly, between Spock and Khan, with an assist from Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana). And while Cumberbatch is a great actor, casting a white man in a role originated by a Mexican man of Spanish descent is a mistake that’s difficult to ignore.
Star Trek Needs To Give Khan A Long Rest
It seems unlikely Cumberbatch’s version of Khan will be revisited anytime soon. The Kelvin film series is in limbo at the moment, with the proposed Star Trek 4 enduring a steady wave of creative departures since the last entry, 2016’s well-liked but box office-challenged Star Trek Beyond. It’s entirely possible we’ve seen the last of the Kelvin films.
Star Trek is currently thriving on the small screen, with five television series in active production and more coming. Those shows would do well to avoid using Khan in any capacity. The Star Trek: Picard season 2 finale made a sly reference to Khan through Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner), and director Nicholas Meyer has discussed working on a prequel series about the augmented superman. Both of those notions are bad ideas. Khan is arguably the franchise’s best villain, but if Star Trek Into Darkness proved anything, it’s that his story has been told, and it’s time to move on.
