New Villain Sequel Rumors, No Khan

The scripting on Star Trek continues and even though the pages have probably only been seen by a few, it seems already the rumor machine is in full gear with a recent report saying that a previous Star Trek villain may be used as the big bad and it is not Khan. Khan not being used in the film is a pretty easy call to make as it is probably safest to stay away from that as the film would be unfairly compared to the Wrath of Khan and I don't care how good the script of Abrams is, they will lose in the comparison. A source to Bad Ass Digest says:

It’s definitely a character that will make fans of TOS excited. Think along the lines of Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta. Actually it’s one of those that I named.

Harry Mudd was an irritating space grifter that was good for comedy relief. Any attempt to make him more credible would just mean he isn't Mudd. Trelane, if you follow the Trek books too, was essentially a teenager from the Q Continuum who used his god like powers to use the crew of the Enterprise to entertain himself. Again an annoying character good for an episode but not much else. Any attempt to update him for a movie would make him something new and not Trelane as created.

Gary Mitchell was the bad guy in the first aired episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (Where No Man Has Gone Before). He was the best friend of Kirk's that gained godlike powers when the Enterprise attempted to go pass the galactic barrier. In the tradition of "absolute power corrupts absolutely", Mitchell began using his developing god like powers for petty purposes resulting in Kirk needing to kill him before he fully gained control of them. Of the group this probably has the most interesting story potential, except selling him as Kirk's best friend will be difficult and that is where most of the emotional draw of the story was from to begin with. Without that, it’s basically another episode of the first few seasons of Stargate.

As for the last two maybe villains, The Horta are a silicon based life form that the Enterprise made first contact with after they began killing miners. Spock used a mind meld to learn that there were sentient creatures trying to protect their eggs. For an episode great, for a movie not so much. The Talosians were first used in The Cage, the real pilot episode of TOS with Captain Pike. The nixed episode was later repurposed for the The Menagerie, considered in the top 5 of greatest Trek episodes ever. They are high power telepaths that have the ability to make you see and experience anything they want you too. They used those powers to create a zoo of sorts of various life forms including Pike and his away team. The Talosians were not really sold as good or bad, just superior and wanting to study lesser beings (like a zoo does). Of the group they probably have the most potential for a movie. Of course using mind powers to warp ones perception of reality is used often in a random X-Men comic book and in cartoons so not exactly original anymore either.

Overall I am not particularly impressed with this list, making me think the list is a bunch of BS. I personally think the villain will be a Klingon captain or something more traditional where can mine Federation politics or circumstance for a story that can more easily reflect current world circumstances as that has been a much more successful formula for the Trek, especially the movies. The only reason Khan worked is because they had the original episode that established the history and Khan's hatred. Since the movies are set in a now rebooted history, mining that history doesn't exist so the "return" of Khan would have to once again be his origin story, which wasn't really that great to first time around. The main lesson of Khan I hope the writers take is really just how to take an existing character and kick him up a notch, rather than create a new villain with similarities but not much else and slap an old name on him or her.