Captain Kirk's Deadliest Enemies
Film reboots have become extremely common in recent decades. Nostalgia drives the creation and sales of the revitalised beloved franchises. As such, usually choices made behind the scenes of the movies are made with fan-service in mind. However not every fan-service choice is the best story choice. 2013’s ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ saw the return of one of Captain Kirk’s most iconic rivals. Was he the right choice?
SPOILERS ABOUND
In Star Trek: Into Darkness, original Spock (or Spock Prime) says that Khan Noonien Singh is one of the most dangerous and deadly foes that his Captain Kirk ever faced.
To me, this straight away smacked of "Khan is Kirk's most well known enemy among the viewing public, so we'll just say he's the deadliest".
Now, Khan is definitely a formidable opponent, a genetically modified superhuman with strength and wits to outmatch any man, but Kirk has had his fair share of powerful villains cross his path. Often the enemy will be a strong man that Kirk can outwit or a wise man that Kirk can out-tustle, but even Khan is not the only one who is at least a match on both fronts. If the reboot Star Trek universe wants to keep drawing on original series characters, here's a few that could up the ante even more than his most famous foe.
Enjoy Kirk's greatest enemies in no particular order:
The Gorn Captain
This guy, despite being unnamed, is an iconic Trek baddie. On first glance, he looks like a monster, giving you the mindset that this will be a Luke Vs. Rancor type of fight. But it isn't. The Gorn has strength greatly superior to a man’s, but he also has wits enough to act as a starship captain.
In fact, during their battle, he sets a trap for Kirk that works, almost giving him the chance to drop the final blow. Kirk barely escaped alive.
Kirk's victory came from being able to use the planets raw materials to construct a makeshift bazooka (YES THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!). Using it to fire a diamond at almost point blank range was only enough to wound the Gorn, not kill him outright. It would take a real pounding to end him completely.
Gary Mitchell
Mitchell was one of Kirk's closest friends and served as one of his highest ranking officers for some time aboard the Enterprise. After being struck by a mysterious burst of energy, psychic powers slowly begin building in him subsequently warping his mind and changing him.
He begins being able to control things with telekinesis and absorbing information at incredible speeds. Every day his powers grow stronger, turning him into a godlike being. Eventually, seeing his superiority, he seeks to destroy or conquer anyone who he sees as beneath him.
It's up to Kirk to face his old friend and colleague who has outgrown him in every way.
Trelane
Trelane kidnapped a few members of the crew and held the Enterprise hostage, fully capable of destroying them all at a whim should he choose. He did not however, as he was more interested in playing with them
Many think that Trelane may be a member of Next Generations Q Continuum as he has a similar omnipotence and playful nature characteristic of their race. It was this playful nature that Kirk was able to manipulate in order to save his crew when Trelane began to become more interested in breaking his toys.
With that in mind, it may even be more fun to have Kirk meet Q himself for the first time. Picard, Sisko, and Janeway all had their own run-ins with him. There are even two non-canon conversations between Q and Spock, representing the dichotomy of chaos and logic respectively.
Romans and Nazis
Because why not?
The Vampire Cloud
The Dikironium Cloud Creature, although smelling like honey, was a deadly intelligent predator. Having wiped out a large number of crew aboard a ship that Kirk had previously served on, it had found the Enterprise and was looking to feed again. Being non-corporeal and able to shift itself out of time, traditional weapons had no effect on the creature that could drain the blood from it's victims in moments. It's unlike a lot of other enemies in that despite being intelligent, it can't be reasoned with. It just wants to feed.
Commander Kruge
A Klingon commander to equal Kirk in skill, tactics, and intelligence with the added aspect of being utterly ruthless. He killed Kirk's son, but Kruge, we have not had enough of you.
Nomad
When The Enterprise met this Dalek lookalike, it had already destroyed the entire populations of at least four planets.
The only thing that stopped it immediately blowing the ship into space dust was that Kirk coincidentally shared his name with the robots creator, leaving it to believe he was him.
Having the blighter on board was a messy practice. It wasn't long before Nomad had wiped clean Uhura's brain, killed Scotty, killed a number of security officers, and destroyed the entire engineering room staff. (A very bad day for red shirts.)
With a top speed of Warp 15 and the capability to absorb a direct hit from a photon torpedo, this guy is more than a match for Kirk one to one or the Enterprise as a whole.
Apollo
On one adventure Kirk and crew met the Greek God of the Sun himself, complete with godlike powers. He held the Enterprise still in one hand, ready to crush it between his fingers at any given moment should the humans choose not to worship him.
Learning that the Greek gods were advanced space travelers who had settled on Earth all those years ago and used their advanced technology to mimic supernatural powers, the Enterprise crew were able to work out a way to defeat him.
Apollo did make a reappearance in the brilliant fan series ‘Star Trek Continues’.
The Planet Killer
Before the Death Star was cool, Star Trek had the Planet Killer (sometimes referred to as the Doomsday Machine). It was a destructive device of unknown origin with the ability (as the name suggests) to destroy entire planets. The planets it annihilated were then broken down into fuel to self sustain it. As long as it had planets to eat, it would keep going.
One available weakness was that the machine only had the ability to focus on one target at a time, meaning that two starships in combat against it had a tiny advantage, in that one would live a few moments longer while the first was utterly destroyed.
Android Kirk
Indeed, what greater foe than himself? This Kirk knew everything that real Kirk knew, had all the same skills and expertise, but had the advantage of being a hardy android. Superhuman strength is part of the package.
Unfortunately, this rival never saw it's fullest potential as an enemy as it was quickly dispatched with a phaser blast from another android.
Mirror Kirk
The mirror universe is bound to come up in the reboot. It's a fan favourite. Dark incarnations of all the goodies. Characters with the skills of the counterparts, but a mean streak instead of the friendly team players.
Ambitious and dangerous they will stop at nothing to get their way. This is also their weakness though, as they will fight among themselves just as often as they will an enemy.
Kirk's own rise to power was through use of a deadly and powerful mysterious alien device called the Tantalus Field. With it he could remotely locate and practically delete anyone he chose.
Spock
When Vulcan mating season comes around, his alien biology causes Spock to lose all of his usual logic and much of his sense of self, practically turning insane in a bloodlust.
He is put in an arena, in a battle to the death against his Captain. Spock has always been the physically stronger of the two and the more intelligent. Coupled with insanity, he is a terrifying opponent. Bundled in with the idea that Kirk would not want to kill his best friend, that's a whole heap of a mess.
Comprehension Questions
How did Kirk defeat the Gorn?
Which enemy is also a Greek god?
What did the vampire cloud smell like?
Who killed Kirk’s son?
Do you agree with all of these alternate options? Would they be a more interesting or suitable enemy than Khan?
Which of these enemies do you think would make for the most interesting film story?
Are you a fan of Star Trek?
Can you think of any other enemies that could be on this list?
Why do you think people want to see the same characters return instead of new ones?
Do you think Trelane is a Q?
