Kirk was "one of the guys" in STXI, on equal footing with Sulu, Uhura, McCoy and the rest. As a stowaway cadet, he didn't command anyone.
As much as I enjoyed the film, and Chris Pine's performance as Kirk, I'm not sure he'll be a convincing authority figure in Star Trek XII.
Can anyone picture him doing captain's logs? Ordering his crew around? Chewing out disobedient whelps? He spends STXI "sticking it to the man"/playing by his own rules/whatever, but how does that help him when he's "the man"?
BTW, This thread isn't about Kirk's uber-promotion. That's been discussed to death already. This is about the XI-version of character. OCD STXI trolls please stay away.