Top 7 guesses for who (or what) the new Star Trek villain may be

Trent Moore
Fri, 12/07/2012 - 9:41am

Speculation has run wild, like really wild, over who the mysterious villain will be in Star Trek Into Darkness. About the only thing we do know: It'll be played by the creepily awesome Benedict Cumberbatch.

So who will the Sherlock star be playing? We have no idea, but there have been a lot of hints filtered out through cast interviews and snippets scattered throughout the shiny new trailer.

As we make the long wait until the film's May 17, 2013, release date, we've put together a list of the most likely options—as well as a few dark-horse candidates that could shock us all by taking on Kirk and company next year.

Check out the list below and give us your best guess.

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Khan Noonien Singh
Easily the most popular option among fans. Many believe Cumberbatch will be playing Khan, one of the greatest villains ever from The Original Series. He was one of the most powerful survivors from the late-20th-century Eugenics Wars, and put up a heck of a fight in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A brief peek of a scene in the trailer also points to the fact it could be Khan, though it could just be a red herring.

Gary Mitchell
If folks aren’t guessing Cumberbatch is Khan, they’re betting on Gary Mitchell. Mitchell was a former Starfleet officer in The Original Series, and gained extremely strong psychic powers after an encounter with a galactic barrier. His powers developed exponentially, and he would definitely fit the bill as a potential big baddie.

Garth of Izar
Ah, the dark horse candidate. Gary Mitchell gets a lot of the buzz, but some fans believe Cumberbatch’s mystery man might be former Starfleet officer Garth of Izar. Garth of Izar was a highly decorated officer who went mad and genocidal. Definitely a lot of potential here.

Q
More of a long shot, Q was a powerful creature from a race of godlike beings called “The Q.” He was featured in The Next Generation, but was typically more of a pest than a massive, world-ending threat.

Khan/Joachim (With Peter Weller as Khan?!)
Unlikely, but it hasn’t stopped some fans from speculating. Former Robocop Peter Weller has a mystery role in the film, and some think it could be as Khan—with Cumberbatch playing his No. 2 Joachim, potentially setting up Weller’s Khan as a future big baddie. Again, unlikely.

An alt-timeline combination of Khan/Gary Mitchell
Intriguing option, and certainly possible. There’s always the option that J.J. Abrams and his team could combine attributes of Khan and Gary Mitchell into a new baddie under one of those names (or even a new name), for a unique baddie.

A completely new character
This one doesn’t get a lot of play, but behind Mitchell and Khan, it’s a likely option. Abrams could always create his own baddie for the sequel, like he did with Nero in the first Star Trek film. If this is the case, all the speculating in the world won’t help us over the next few months.