Star Trek: 10 Captains That Totally LOST IT

6. James Kirk Learns To Belt

Sometimes, you've just got to let it all out...

Kirk and Khan's vendetta is a story for the ages. From their first battle of wits in The Original Series to the nail-biting showdown in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, their epic story was so good they told it twice.

Jim Kirk always had a roguish streak and a penchant for risk, but we're used to it being balanced by his fortitude and ingenuity. We watched him take on many an adversary over the years, but there was something about Khan Noonien Singh that managed to get under his skin. Perhaps it was the superiority on display, the cruelty born of arrogance, or the way he took joy in taunting Kirk. Whatever it was, Khan knew how to press his buttons and make it personal.

The Wrath of Khan sees the supervillain get the better of Kirk not once, but twice. And when Kirk finds himself marooned in the Genesis cave, with Khan gloating over the comm about how he's hurt him and will leave him buried alive, the headstrong captain finally snaps.

In one of the defining moments of the motion picture era, Kirk screams the name Khan in utter fury.

Despite eventually defeating Khan, it's fair to say that Kirk remained rattled throughout the tempestuous events of the next film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. But there's no doubt that it's in the Genesis cave, bellowing Khan's name to the heavens, that we see the moment that James T. Kirk is driven over the edge.

And let's be honest, the world would be a far less colourful place without the iconic scene.