It just hit me ... could John Harrison be Johnny from the first movie? If we ignore the deleted scene for a moment, it was never said he was Kirk's brother. But he could be his step brother ... the son his mother's husband, who could be named Harrison. Where he got his super powers from would still be a mystery, though.
So ... he'd be wanting vengeance upon Kirk, after all those years, because James Tiberius "too cool for you" Kirk blew right past on his quarry-bound Corvette joyride instead of stopping to ask whether Johnny wanted a ride? Nah. Couldn't be as simple as that. This would have to be a pretty epic grudge Harrison has going.
Who said he wanted vengeance upon Kirk? I think its Starfleet or Section 31 that he is holding a grudge against and Kirk just happens to get in the middle of it.
"That asshole blew a rock in my face when he screamed by me. It bruised my forehead. I SHALL STRIKE HIM AND HIS BELOVED FEDERATION DOWN WITH GREAT VENGEANCE!"
Could be that he moved to Britain sometime after he left his home and that's how he acquired his british accent.
Considering Johnny was originally Sam and was changed at the last minute over fears that naming him Sam would "confuse the non-fans," I don't think so. Besides, John is one of the most common names in the US. It stands to reason Kirk can know two of them.
Non-fans wouldn't know he's supposed to be Kirk's brother. Seriously, that is how Bad Robot justified the name change. It's stupid and retarded, I guess non-fans can't accept that he's a kid named Sam. If they don't know that's the name of Kirk's brother, than the name can be used. Or maybe it was part of a convoluted master plan setting up the villain for Into Darkness?
Well hell, I thought he was just some punk kid on the street. Would’ve made more sense if he’d been Sam IM-NSH-O.
The scene was originally filmed with young Jim yelling "Sam" and there was even a scene earlier establishing Sam running away from home. This is what caused Jim to steal the car and then he drives by Sam. But then that scene got deleted and Abrams felt that if they were'nt going to have a scene establishing the kid was Kirk's brother, than the kid's name had to be changed. Which was unnecessary, since a non-fan would just think he was a kid named Sam and fans would realize that was his brother.
So, is there any reason that John Harrison could not be Johnny? The age is about right, and Orci wouln't have lied when he said it was someone from canon.
John Harrison is clearly a pseudonym for John Harriman, Captain of the Enterprise-B. He travels back in time to get revenge on Kirk for embarrassing him during his ship's maiden voyage. The tagline for the new trailer will be... "Vengeance...arrives on Tuesday."
Actually, I’ll bet y’all are right. Betcha John Harrison is Johnny from ST(09). In fact, that makes extra JJ-sense what with him trying to cast Benicio del Toro or whomever for the role. He saw a coincidence, Johnny from the first film then remembered Mr. Harrison from TOS and saw a golden opportunity for a fanboy mindfrak, if you’ll pardon the expression.
So what? Nobody needs to give a crap! Do you think anyone would give a crap about a TOS extra that even the fans barely knew before some people here pointed out his existence? The point is that he would have a backstory with Kirk that will undoubtedly be explained in the movie. So you could use either someone completely new to canon, or you could use someone that had an insigificant appearence in the last movie, which gives the whole thing a bit of coherence. The general audience won't care either way. Have you ever seen Fringe? They are doing it there all the time ... dropping seemingly unimportant clues that only become important some episode or even seasons later.