Khan Noonien Singh, commonly shortened to
Khan, is a fictional villain in the Star Trek
science fiction franchise. The character first
appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series
episode "Space Seed", and was portrayed by
Ricardo Montalbán who reprised his role in
the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
In the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness,
he is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
The character once controlled more than a
quarter of the Earth during the Eugenics Wars
of the 1990s. After being revived from suspended
animation in 2267 by the crew of the USS Enterprise,
Khan attempts to capture the starship, but
is thwarted by James T. Kirk and exiled on
Ceti Alpha V to create a new society with
his people. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan, set fifteen years after "Space Seed,"
Khan escapes his exile and sets out to exact
revenge upon Kirk.
Harve Bennett, executive producer for Star
Trek II, chose Khan as the villain for the
film. To reflect the time spent marooned on
an inhospitable world, Khan was given a costume
that looked as though it had been scavenged
from different items and showed off Montalbán's
physique. Montalbán's portrayal has been
positively received by critics and fans; Khan
was voted one of the ten greatest film villains
by the Online Film Critics Society.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, set in the alternate
continuity established in Star Trek, Khan
is awakened almost a decade before the events
of "Space Seed." Khan is given the false identity
"John Harrison" and coerced by Admiral Marcus
into building weapons for Starfleet in exchange
for the lives of Khan's crew. He ultimately
rebels and comes into conflict with the crew
of the Enterprise.
Appearances
"Space Seed"
Khan makes his introductory appearance in
the episode "Space Seed," first broadcast
on February 16, 1967. According to the backstory
revealed in the episode, Khan is one of a
group of genetically engineered super-humans,
bred to be free of the usual human mental
and physical limitations, who were removed
from power after the Eugenics Wars of the
1990s. Khan had been both the most successful
conqueror and the most benign ruler of the
group, ruling more than a quarter of the Earth's
area across Asia to the Middle East from 1992
to 1996 with a firm but generally peaceful
hand until he was deposed. While most of the
supermen were killed or sentenced to death,
Khan and 84 others escaped Earth by way of
the sleeper ship SS Botany Bay. The Botany
Bay is discovered by the crew of the Enterprise
in 2267, with Khan and 72 of the 84 crew members
of the Botany Bay still alive, cryogenically
frozen in suspended animation.
When Khan's sleep chamber malfunctions, he
is transported to Enterprise, where he reawakens
and learns he is in the 23rd century. Given
spacious quarters while the Botany Bay is
towed to a starbase, Khan fascinates and charms
the ship's historian, Marla McGivers, while
using his access to the ship's technical manuals
to learn how to take over and operate the
Enterprise. McGivers agrees to help Khan revive
the other supermen, allowing him to organize
a mutiny. To coerce the Enterprise crew to
cooperate with him, Khan places Captain James
T. Kirk in the ship's decompression chamber
and threatens to kill Kirk unless the crew
submits. McGivers cannot stand by as her Captain
dies and frees Kirk, who neutralizes Khan's
men by using a "neural gas." Khan heads to
engineering and sets the ship's engines to
self-destruct, whereupon he is incapacitated
by Kirk. Captain Kirk conducts a hearing,
sentencing Khan and his followers to exile
on an uncolonized world, Ceti Alpha V. Khan
accepts Kirk's challenge—invoking the fall
of Lucifer in Milton's Paradise Lost—and
McGivers joins Khan rather than face court-martial.
Spock wonders what the "seed" Kirk has planted
will bear in a hundred years.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Khan returns in the 1982 feature film Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Captain Clark
Terrell and First Officer Pavel Chekov of
the USS Reliant are searching for an uninhabited
world to test the Genesis device, a powerful
terraforming tool. They beam down to what
they believe is Ceti Alpha VI. Khan's followers
capture Terrell and Chekov, and Khan explains
that the barren world is Ceti Alpha V; the
sixth planet of the system exploded shortly
after Khan and his followers were marooned.
The cataclysm caused massive climate disturbances,
rendering the planet into a desert, and many
of the survivors—including Khan's wife—were
killed by the only surviving species of animal,
the Ceti eel. Only twenty of Khan's followers
survive. Swearing vengeance on Kirk, Khan
implants Ceti eels in Terrrell and Chekov's
brains, rendering them vulnerable to suggestion.
Khan then seizes control of the Reliant, intent
on capturing the Genesis device.
Khan lures the Enterprise to the space station
Regula I, and he launches a surprise attack
that disables Kirk's ship. Kirk tricks Khan
by using a special code to remotely lower
the Reliant's shields, allowing the Enterprise
to inflict significant damage. Khan is forced
to withdraw to make repairs. Using the mind-controlled
Terrell and Chekov as spies, Khan captures
the Genesis device and leaves Kirk marooned
on Regula I. Spock deceives Khan into thinking
that the Enterprise is crippled, surprising
Khan when the Enterprise rescues Kirk and
escapes to the nearby Mutara Nebula. Goaded
into following Kirk, Khan pilots the Reliant
into the nebula, where shields and sensors
are inoperable. Due to Khan's inexperience
with three-dimensional space combat, the Enterprise
defeats the Reliant and Khan is severely wounded.
Refusing to accept defeat, Khan activates
the Genesis device, intent on killing his
foe along with himself. Khan quotes Ahab's
words of vengeance from Moby Dick as he watches
the Enterprise trying to escape on impulse
power. In an effort to restore the damaged
warp drive, Spock exposes himself to lethal
radiation. The Enterprise is able to escape
destruction, but Spock dies of his injuries.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Khan appears in the 2013 film Star Trek Into
Darkness, taking place in the alternate continuity
established in Star Trek. His backstory remains
the same, but instead of being found by the
Enterprise, Khan alone is revived by Starfleet
Admiral Alexander Marcus. Marcus anticipates
a war with the Klingons, and forces Khan to
develop warships and weapons for Starfleet
under the cover identity of "John Harrison",
holding Khan's shipmates hostage. Believing
Marcus has killed his crew, he goes rogue
and flees to the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS.
Marcus arms Enterprise with 72 advanced torpedoes
and sends Kirk and the Enterprise to Qo'noS
to eliminate Khan. Against orders, Kirk attempts
to capture him alive. Hikaru Sulu, in temporary
command of the Enterprise, orders Khan to
surrender or be fired upon with the advanced
torpedoes. Khan deduces that the torpedoes
are the ones he used to conceal his shipmates
in cryogenic suspension in attempt to smuggle
them out of captivity, and surrenders to Kirk;
once on Enterprise, Khan reveals his true
identity and explains Marcus's duplicity.
When Marcus arrives aboard the Khan-designed
USS Vengeance to tie up loose ends and destroy
the Enterprise, Kirk and Khan work together
to take control of Vengeance's bridge. Once
in control of Vengeance, Khan kills Marcus
and disables Kirk, Scotty, and Carol Marcus,
and demands that Spock return his crew. Spock,
having removed Khan's people from the torpedoes,
beams the weapons aboard the Vengeance and
activates the warheads, crippling the ship.
The USS Enterprise, crippled by the attack
of the USS Vengeance falls towards Earth,
and in an act of self-sacrifice Kirk exposes
himself to radiation from the warp core while
repairing it. Khan crashes the Vengeance in
San Francisco but is apprehended by Spock
and Uhura. After his blood is used to save
Kirk, Khan is placed back into cryogenic sleep
along with his crew.
Novels and comics
Khan has been depicted in various novels and
comic book publications. As with all non-television
and non-film Star Trek material, the publications
are outside of Star Trek canon.
Author Greg Cox penned three Star Trek novels
featuring Khan, published by licensee Pocket
Books. In the two-volume The Eugenics Wars:
The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Khan
is depicted as a North Indian from a family
of Sikhs. "Khan" is a title; his parents are
from Chandigarh, Punjab, India and are both
eugenic scientists. At the end of the second
novel, Khan and his followers are placed aboard
the Botany Bay by Gary Seven as part of a
deal to stop Khan's machinations on Earth.
The 2005 follow-up, To Reign in Hell: The
Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, relates what
happened to Khan and his fellow exiles between
the events of "Space Seed" and The Wrath of
Khan. A different version of Khan's exile
on Ceti Alpha V is depicted in IDW Publishing's
2010 comic miniseries Khan: Ruling in Hell.
From 2013 to 2014 IDW published a five-part
series of comic books telling the story of
the Into Darkness incarnation of Khan. The
first issue in the series acknowledges the
discrepancy of Khan's physical appearance
compared to that of the previous incarnation.
In keeping with the prime timeline's backstory,
Khan's beginnings, rise to power, and involvement
in the Eugenics War are depicted. It is also
revealed his birth name was Noonien Singh
and that he adopted the title "Khan" out of
admiration for Genghis Khan. The series goes
on to mention that Khan's anatomy and memories
were altered per Marcus's orders, so that
Khan would initially believe himself to be
the fabricated Harrison.
Development
Initial development
Writer Carey Wilber pitched "Space Seed" to
Star Trek producers Roddenberry, Gene Coon,
and Robert Justman with an 18-page outline
dated August 29, 1966. In the outline, Wilber
envisioned the crew of Botany Bay as criminals
sent on a 1500-year journey to make room on
Earth for others. Khan was represented as
a Nordic criminal with a "magnificent" body,
Harald Ericsson The producers suggested changes
to the outline in a series of memos; in memos
dated September 7 and 9, Coon suggested significant
changes to Ericsson. "I want to rather do
more with him than you have indicated in the
story outline,” he wrote. Believing that
Ericsson could be a worthy adversary for Kirk,
Coon suggested that the character be “in
fact very similar to James Kirk, our captain,
except that our captain has made an adjustment
to this world and this culture [...] In other
words, Carey, build us a giant of a man."
The first draft of the script introduced the
character as John Ericssen—who is revealed
to be a man involved in "The First World Tyranny,"
named Ragnar Thorwald. The character of Thorwald
was more brutal than Khan in the final version,
killing guards using a phaser. In the original
script, Kirk forgives Ericssen and offers
him and his people a chance at a fresh start—something
that remained in the final episode—but the
character committing murder would have precluded
such an ending, as NBC censors would have
necessitated the "bad guy" be punished for
his actions.
By the final draft, Khan is Indian; a character
guesses that Khan is from Northern India,
and "probably a Sikh." Khan's full name was
based on that of Kim Noonien Singh, a pilot
Gene Roddenbery served with during the Second
World War. Roddenbery lost touch with his
friend and had hoped that Khan's similar name
might attract his attention and renew his
old acquaintance.
In "Space Seed," Khan is presented as having
several positive characteristics: he is gracious,
smiling, fearless, and generous. He is not
threatened by the success of others, and encourages
their self-esteem. He is also ambitious, desiring
a challenge commensurate with his abilities,
but this ambition is not tempered by any consideration
of the rights of others. Author Paul Cantor
asserts that Khan is a mirror image of Kirk,
sharing his aggressiveness, ambition, and
even his womanizing tendencies, but possessing
them in far greater degree. During the episode,
several of the characters express their admiration
for the man even as they oppose him, with
Kirk referring to him as "the best of the
tyrants, and the most dangerous." The character's
Latino accent and superhuman appearance strongly
differentiate him from most Star Trek characters.
The Wrath of Khan
After the disappointing response to the first
Star Trek feature film, The Motion Picture,
Paramount executives appointed Harve Bennett,
a television producer who had never watched
Star Trek, to be executive producer for the
sequel. Bennett watched all the original series
episodes and chose Khan from "Space Seed"
as a possible villain for the film. Early
drafts of the script had Khan as a shadowy
tyrant leading a planet in revolt; later drafts
added the "Genesis device" which Khan would
steal.
Costume designer Robert Fletcher wanted to
emphasize the effects of their harsh environment
on Khan and his followers. "My intention with
Khan was to express the fact that they had
been marooned on that planet with no technical
infrastructure, so they had to cannibalize
from the spaceship whatever they used or wore.
Therefore, I tried to make it look as if they
had dressed themselves out of pieces of upholstery
and electrical equipment that composed the
ship," he said. Director Nicholas Meyer told
Montalbán to keep Khan's right glove on at
all times, in order to give viewers a puzzle
they could form their own opinions about and
add mystery to the character. Meyer has been
repeatedly asked if Montalbán wore a prosthetic
chest for his scenes, as his uniform was purposefully
designed with an open front. Meyer replied
in audio commentary for the film that Montalbán
is "one strong cookie," and that no prosthetics
were applied to the actor's sizeable frame.
At no point during The Wrath of Khan are Khan
and Kirk in the same location; they speak
to each other only over communication links
such as view screens. This was due in part
to the fact that the set of the Reliant was
a redress of the Enterprise bridge, and the
two actors' scenes were filmed four months
apart. Montalbán recited his lines with a
script girl instead of to William Shatner.
Montalbán said in promotional interviews
for the film he realized early on in his career
that a good villain does not see himself as
villainous. The villain may do villainous
things, but he feels that he is doing them
for righteous reasons. Montalbán further
stated he always tried to find a flaw in the
character, as no one is completely good or
completely evil; while Khan had a rather distorted
view of reality and therefore performed acts
of evil, he still felt that his vengeance
was a noble cause because of the death of
his wife. Khan quotes the character of Ahab
from Moby-Dick throughout the film, driving
home his lust to make Kirk pay for the wrongs
he has inflicted upon him.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Following the box office success of J. J.
Abrams' Star Trek reboot and the announcement
that actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto
had tentatively agreed to appear in two sequels,
Internet rumors began circulating about the
plot of the second film. Abrams hinted that
because of the alternate timeline created
in the first film, reintroducing Khan into
Star Trek lore remained a possibility. Abrams
told MTV, "[Khan and Kirk] exist—and while
their history may not be exactly as people
are familiar with, I would argue that a person's
character is what it is," Abrams said of the
notion that his Khan could be just as evil,
even if Kirk never stranded him on Ceti Alpha
V. "Certain people are destined to cross paths
and come together, and Khan is out there...
even if he doesn't have the same issues."
Writer Damon Lindelof declared that Khan's
"intense gravity," particularly regarding
the character's delivery of monologues, made
him an obligatory character to use, even if
its iconic status made the crew afraid of
the fan reaction. Lindelof jokingly stated
that "it was never really a 'Should we or
shouldn't we?' as much as it was 'We really
have to do this but if we don't get it right
people are going to kill us.'"
As part of the secrecy campaign, Benedict
Cumberbatch denied that he was playing Khan
during interviews, describing Harrison as
simply a terrorist with his own purposes,
as well as "someone that's activated and manufactured
in a way by Starfleet, and it's a scene that
has come back to haunt him." He discussed
the character's moral ambiguity saying it
fit the adage "one man's terrorist is another
man's freedom fighter," adding parallels to
the current world order "whether it's U.S.
foreign policy or the actions of some terrorists."
Into Darkness writers Roberto Orci and Alex
Kurtzman added that they used the character
of Khan not just for his popularity with the
fandom — “It’s so easy to fall into
the trap of doing something because you think
people are going to love it. You must come
up with what the movie can be on its own and
then, if it turns out the villain maybe can
be Khan, then you can do it. But you can’t
start there.” — but for fitting the sequel's
theme of "how far will we go to exact vengeance
and justice on an enemy that scares us."
Analysis
Superficially, Khan has been compared to Friedrich
Nietzsche's concept of the "Übermensch".
Khan is mentally and physically superior to
any normal human. In the Star Trek: Enterprise
episode "Borderland," Malik, the leader of
a group of "supermen" created from the same
genetic engineering project as Khan, quotes
Nietzsche, telling Archer that "Mankind is
something to be surpassed". Professor William
J. Devlin and coauthor Shai Biderman examined
Khan's character compared to the Übermensch
and found that Khan's blind pursuit of revenge
is against Nietzsche's ideals of transcendence
and self-creation of a meaningful life. Instead,
the authors offer Spock's self-sacrifice in
The Wrath of Khan as a better example of the
Übermensch.
Reception and legacy
Montalbán's performance as Khan was favorably
received by critics. Discussing the Star Trek
motion pictures, the Associated Press noted
that Star Trek films were measured by how
menacing their foe was, and that Khan was
among the best in the series; a 2002 review
of the Star Trek films ranked Khan as the
greatest enemy seen in any of the films. Reviewers
of The Wrath of Khan, such as Roger Ebert,
rated Khan as one of the strongest aspects
of the film. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael
said Montalbán's performance "was the only
validation he has ever had of his power to
command the big screen."
Critic Christopher Null notes that "it is
nearly gospel now among Trekkies that... Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the undisputed
best of the series, and will likely never
meet its equal," and calls Khan the "greatest
role of [Montalbán's] career". Though he
felt that the villain of Star Trek: The Motion
Picture, V'ger, was more cerebral and interesting,
author James Iaccino notes that most fans
and moviegoers preferred the archetypical
good-versus-evil fight the struggle between
Khan and Kirk represents. Villains in subsequent
Star Trek films have been measured by the
standard of Khan, with Paramount promising
fans that the villain of Star Trek Generations
would be equal to the genetic superman. IGN
ranked Khan as the best Star Trek villain,
noting that he set the pattern for revenge-seeking
villains in the series; in the decades since
the film's release, "even those with a passing
interest [in Trek] know the name." Star Trek
producer Rick Berman called the villain "threatening
and memorable."
Khan is also recognized as a great villain
outside of the Star Trek series. The Associated
Press called the character "one of sci-fi's
great villains". In 2002, the Online Film
Critics Society's 132 members voted Khan as
the 10th Greatest Screen Villain of all time,
the only Star Trek character to appear in
the listing. In 2006, Emmy Magazine voted
Khan "TV's Most Out-of-This-World Character",
beating out other science-fiction characters
such as The Doctor and Commander Adama. Editors
wrote that "Khan was so cool we would've bought
a Chrysler Cordoba if he'd told us to," referring
to an ad campaign Montalbán appeared in for
Chrysler. The character also had a cultural
impact outside of Star Trek fandom; a clip
from The Wrath of Khan featuring Kirk screaming
"Khaaan!" was one pop culture appropriation
that became a "popular fad" driving the success
of the website YTMND.
In 2004, the Star Trek franchise returned
to Khan's backstory in a three-episode story
arc on Star Trek: Enterprise. In "Borderland,"
"Cold Station 12," and "The Augments," a 22nd-century
scientist is portrayed as having revived genetically
engineered embryos from Khan's time and raised
them as "Augments." Enterprise producer Manny
Coto described these characters as "mini Khan
Noonien Singhs".
Benedict Cumberbatch's performance in Star
Trek Into Darkness drew praise from critics
with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine
calling it a "tour-de-force to be reckoned
with" and his character "a villain for the
ages." Joe Neumaier of New York's Daily News
wrote that Cumberbatch delivered "one of the
best blockbuster villains in recent memory."
Jonathan Romney of The Independent specifically
noted Cumberbatch's voice saying it was "So
sepulchrally resonant that it could have been
synthesised from the combined timbres of Ian
McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Alan Rickman
holding an elocution contest down a well."
The New York Times on the other hand praised
his screen presence saying "He fuses Byronic
charisma with an impatient, imperious intelligence
that seems to raise the ambient I.Q. whenever
he’s on screen."
Christian Blauvelt from website Hollywood.com
criticized the casting of Khan in Star Trek
Into Darkness as being "whitewashed into oblivion."
Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang tweeting,
"The casting of Cumberbatch was a mistake
on the part of the producers. I am not being
critical of the actor or his talent, just
the casting." Co-producer and co-screenwriter
Roberto Orci addressed the issue of the casting
saying, "Basically, as we went through the
casting process and we began honing in on
the themes of the movie, it became uncomfortable
for me to support demonizing anyone of color,
particularly any one of Middle Eastern descent
or anyone evoking that. One of the points
of the movie is that we must be careful about
the villain within US, not some other race."
See also
References
Further reading
Kelley, Wyn. "All Astir". Leviathan: A Journal
of Melville Studies 8: 101–106. doi:10.1111/j.1750-1849.2006.01138.x. 
Kelley discusses parallels between Khan and
Captain Ahab.
Greg, Cox. The Eugenics Wars Vol. 2: The Rise
and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh. Simon & Schuster.
p. 23. ISBN 0743406443.  Development of
character by Greg Cox.
Greg, Cox. To Reign in Hell: The Exile of
Khan Noonien Singh. English: Pocket Books.
p. 140. ISBN 0743457129.  Spin off book
into the character and history of Khan.
External links
Khan Noonien Singh at the Internet Movie Database
Khan Noonien Singh at Memory Alpha
