Trait #1: Ruthless
"He tasks me... he tasks me and I shall have him. I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's Flames before I give him up!" -Khan, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Okay, I know Spock said brilliance first, but I want to start here because that quote basically sums up everything that is great about Ricardo Montalban's Khan. It even gives most of us chills just hearing him say it! Such hate and anger radiating from the genetic superhuman. Even to the last, when
Reliant was dead in space within the Mutara Nebula, Khan practically blown to bits & his entire crew perished, out of pure spite for Kirk, manages to activate the Genesis device, but is the sole casualty when Spock irradiates the warp core, similar to Kirk in
Into Darkness, to get the
Enterprise moving again.
"To the last, I will grapple with thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." -Captain Ahab, "Moby Dick" Ricardo - 1; Benedict - 0
Trait #2: Resolute
"Well, let's play this out logically then, Mr. Spock. Firstly, I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve, then if yours holds I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew... Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people. Now, shall we begin?" -Khan, "Star Trek Into Darkness" This is probably the hardest of traits to contrast between the two, considering that Khan's resolve is what makes the character. The ultimate resolve for Khan Prime is to exact revenge upon Kirk for leaving him in exile on a barren planet, while the ultimate resolve of the new Khan is to rescue his men being held hostage by Admiral Marcus. In fact, it could even be argued that the primary antagonist of
Into Darkness is Marcus more so than Khan; in fact, it isn't until Marcus is killed that Khan goes over the edge. One of the defining differences between Montalban and Cumberbatch is that Cumberbatch's Khan seems to care very deeply about his friends from the
Botany Bay to the point where he is willing to take the entire quadrant to war to save them, to the point in the storytelling where you actually sympathize with Khan Noonien Singh. You read that right. Khan Prime, on the other hand, tends to see even his friends as mere subjects, or at least not nearly in the high regard his alternate counterpart does. Khan Prime's entire motivation seems to be to see Kirk's broken body at his feet. Which is why, but not by much, Cumberbatch takes this one. Ricardo - 1; Benedict - 1