"Sherlock" Actor to Play Trek's Newest Bad Guy

The game is afoot...

If you can believe Internet rumors, Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch is slated to portray the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness. If you haven't seen him as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's contemporary incarnation of the sleuth, you're missing something grand. If you are familiar with Cumberbatch's work on Sherlock, then you probably agree that the thought of casting him as a Trek bad-ass is, in a word, elementary.

The first I heard was  few days ago on the IMDB, that Cumberbatch was rumored to play Khan Noonien Singh in what I assumed was going to be a re-tooling of the classic Trek episode, "Space Seed." (Say what you want about Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban will always be known for Khan).
So, Cumberbatch as Khan? Why not? I could totally see that working.

Until I saw this photo...

Um, yes. That's Benedict Cumberbatch, but it's not Khan. I mean, it can't be Khan. Khan is not clean cut, he's a super-warrior so bad-ass that the entire planet Earth banded together to get him and his followers on a space ship and exile him into space. Khan is a warrior of the outer space wasteland, he can't look like a frigging butler! And wait, is that a Starfleet insignia on his shirt? Khan was never in Starfleet. He was sent into exile before there ever was a Starfleet.

So what gives...?

Next, I saw this photo...

Well, he's definitely wearing a Starfleet uniform and it appears Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) are speaking to our unidentified villain in a brig-type setting. So at the very least Cumberbatch plays a traitor to the Federation.
The second rumor I heard, and I admit I found it very fascinating, was that Cumberbatch would be playing Gary Mitchell. Trekkies like me know Mitchell as the bad guy from the original series' second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." (The first show to feature William Shatner as Kirk and featured Sally Kellerman in a supporting role). Since Khan was revisited with his own feature length film back in 1982 why not give another villain a second shot in the spotlight?

Whoever Cumberbatch plays, I'm anxious to see this film. The Trek reboot breathed new life into a franchise that does not deserve to die, and a powerful follow up will ensure at least another sequel soon.

Besides, it looks like Sherlock has a fight scene with Spock and succumbs to a neck pinch...

Oh yeah, I'm sold.  See you in May, new Star Trek moviefilm.

Guardian of the Universe Gamera says, "I auditioned for the role of 'Ensign Rickey' and I got the part. Sadly, Paramount Pictures did not have a red shirt in my size and went with someone else."