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Star Trek Into Darkness: Cumberbatch is (Probably) Khan!

With the newest installment in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness (perhaps the most controversially capitalized title of all time), due out May 17th, rumors have been coming fast and furious, not least that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch’s shadowy antagonist “John Harrison” is in fact the rebooted Khan Noonien Singh, villain of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and possibly Kirk’s greatest nemesis.

Denials have been frequent and with varying degrees of equivocation, though co-star Alice Eve’s recent straight-out “No” went some way towards putting speculation to rest. Now it seems that Entertainment Weekly has let the genetically engineering superhuman out of the bag with the upcoming headline ‘VOYAGE INTO THE NEW STAR TREK KIRK & KHAN’, which would seem to confirm that the man most directly responsible for the death of Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is set to return to our screens. Played by Ricardo “Rich Corinthian Leather” Montalban in The Original Series and movie spinoff, Khan’s Indian-based backstory will presumably be revised to reflect the casting of possibly the most English actor currently in existence.

This may all turn out to be a tachyon storm in a teacup, but in any case it’s intriguing news and would seem to gel with the idea of “John Harrison” as a man with a serious grudge against Star Fleet. Plus, it gives us the excuse to break out our best James T. Kirk impersonation. So, all together now… “KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!”

In Star Trek Into Darkness, the crew of the Enterprise find a seemingly unstoppable force which has attacked Starfleet and left Earth in chaos. Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are tasked with leading the deadly manhunt to capture the party responsible and settle an old score.

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Robert Wallis

You can also read Rob's work at www.ofallthefilmblogs.blogspot.com.