10 Star Trek Villains Who Actually Won

3. Khan - Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan
Paramount Pictures

For winning quotes alone, Khan has it in the bag. The Melville-quoting villain goes out in a blaze of hate and glory, choosing not to simply die a broken and bitter man, but to take as many others as he can with him.

The Genesis device is armed and counting down aboard the USS Reliant and the USS Enterprise is dead in the water. At best, she can crawl away, but there won't be sufficient time to avoid the Genesis shockwave.

Aboard the Enterprise, Spock commits the ultimate sacrifice to get the ship back up to working capacity, burning in poisionous plasma to get the engines back online.

Khan, unaware of any of this, issues his fateful last words and his breath catches in his throat. He watches Kirk's ship limp away and, as he dies, he is secure in the knowledge that if there is a hell, he may soon being seeing Kirk there.

While Spock does ensure that the ship reaches escape velocity, it is at the cost of his life. Khan may not have taken Kirk's life from him, but he took away the man who was more than a brother to him.

He hurt him.

Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"