The Admirals character makes no sense whatsoever

[James T Kirk]

Ok so for a while he had you believing that he was a just mis-guided guy trying to erase a really bad mistake.

Then he turned into a horrific sociopathic villain.

"If it makes you feel any better... I was never going to spare your crew".

Ok so how did this guy become an Admiral?

The only even remotely possible reason he could have for destroying the Enterprise would be to stop word from getting out of what he had done, but would a Starfleet Admiral really behave this way?

The character just doesnt make any sense at all.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It makes perfect sense to me. Plan A was to ignite a war with the Klingons. But once blown, Kirk and his crew had to die to keep Marcus' plan from becoming public knowledge.

And, have you ever seen The Original Series? I think back then Starfleet hired people on the edge of sanity - Decker, Tracy, Garth etc.

 

[ComicGuy89]

The only even remotely possible reason he could have for destroying the Enterprise would be to stop word from getting out of what he had done, but would a Starfleet Admiral really behave this way?

There's your answer right there.

The admiral was not just trying to erase a really bad mistake. He was a warmongering sociopath that was itching to have an excuse to wipe out the Klingons.

Star Trek has a history of insane or evil (or both) admirals. Even just counting the "classic" movies, you have Cartwright and Dougherty, one from each era.

As TVTropes so succinctly summed up their list of insane admirals:

Really, the list of admirals in Star Trek who are not either insane or talking heads giving generic orders off a viewscreen is awfully short.

 

[C.E. Evans]

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
--Captain James T. Kirk, "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

It could be said that some Starfleet admirals have too much power, and even in the time of the Federation, the temptation to abuse that power can be too great for some (especially if they think what they're doing is for the greater good and the Federation is too idealistic and namby-pamby to do what needs to be done).

However, I think for one admiral that goes off the rails, hundreds (if not thousands) of others do not. But because quite a few admirals have become extremists over the past century or so, it can make the admiralty look somewhat bad from a historical perspective (a few bad apples souring the entire barrel of otherwise good ones).

 

[Set Harth]

Ok so for a while he had you believing that he was a just mis-guided guy trying to erase a really bad mistake.

No.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

Vice Admiral Leyton attempted a military takeover of Earth, and he was meant to be from the bright and shiny 24th century Starfleet too.

 

[SeerSGB]

It makes perfect sense to me. Plan A was to ignite a war with the Klingons. But once blown, Kirk and his crew had to die to keep Marcus' plan from becoming public knowledge.

And, have you ever seen The Original Series? I think back then Starfleet hired people on the edge of sanity - Decker, Tracy, Garth etc.

I think Plan A from the get go was to frag the Enterprise; hence taking out her warp drive. Kirk kills Khan, Marcus kills Kirk, "Those Klingon bastards launched a terrorist attack on Earth and destroyed the Federation flagship!"

 

[Nerys Myk]

Ok so for a while he had you believing that he was a just mis-guided guy trying to erase a really bad mistake.

Then he turned into a horrific sociopathic villain.

"If it makes you feel any better... I was never going to spare your crew".

Ok so how did this guy become an Admiral?

The only even remotely possible reason he could have for destroying the Enterprise would be to stop word from getting out of what he had done, but would a Starfleet Admiral really behave this way?

The character just doesnt make any sense at all.

Was Into Darkness your first experience with Star Trek?

 

[SeerSGB]

A pretty good analog to Marcus is Cartwright. Cartwright backed political assaination, set Kirk up to take the fall, and was ready to kill the Federation President all in the name of keeping the Federation safe.

 

[Makarov]

I really think they should have taken out the "I was never going to spare your crew" line. The only reason that's in there is to dumb it down, and tell the audience, here's the bad guy. It ruins the wonderful ambiguity that they just set up.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Nah, its a good villain moment.

 

[Makarov]

It'd be better if he just cut the viewscreen and fired after Kirk's apology. Or really any other line would have been better, because it's so cliche.

 

[Dukhat]

The more important thing here is why no one else has ever used the username James T Kirk until now.

 

[C.E. Evans]

The more important thing here is why no one else has ever used the username James T Kirk until now.

Variations of it has been used before.

James T. Kirk
James_T_Kirk

Haven't seen them in ages though...

 

[Opus]

This wasn't too hard to follow:

Marcus sends Kirk and the Enterprise to the edge of Klingon Space to fire torpedoes into a supposed barren area of Kronos (Qu'onos). A secret computer virus is implanted in the ship's computer by Section 31 to disable Enterprise while out there. Enterprise fires torpedoes. Klingons find Enterprise disabled. Klingons destroy Enterprise and the war Marcus wants begins.

Marcus was never going to spare Enterprise' crew. He sent them to slaughter to begin with.

 

[Opus]

This wasn't too hard to follow:

Marcus sends Kirk and the Enterprise to the edge of Klingon Space to fire torpedoes into a supposed barren area of Kronos (Qu'onos). A secret computer virus is implanted in the ship's computer by Section 31 to disable Enterprise while out there. Enterprise fires torpedoes. Klingons find Enterprise disabled. Klingons destroy Enterprise and the war Marcus wants begins.

Marcus was never going to spare Enterprise' crew. He sent them to slaughter to begin with.

 

[SeerSGB]

I really think they should have taken out the "I was never going to spare your crew" line. The only reason that's in there is to dumb it down, and tell the audience, here's the bad guy. It ruins the wonderful ambiguity that they just set up.

This wasn't too hard to follow:

Marcus sends Kirk and the Enterprise to the edge of Klingon Space to fire torpedoes into a supposed barren area of Kronos (Qu'onos). A secret computer virus is implanted in the ship's computer by Section 31 to disable Enterprise while out there. Enterprise fires torpedoes. Klingons find Enterprise disabled. Klingons destroy Enterprise and the war Marcus wants begins.

Marcus was never going to spare Enterprise' crew. He sent them to slaughter to begin with.

Hell, for all we know Scotty could have been right: something in the torpedoes fucked with the workings of the warp-core.

 

[Maurice]

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
--Captain James T. Kirk, "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

To be accurate, Kirk was quoting a few words from a larger statement, which is even more germane to Marcus.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887​

 

[The Wormhole]

Ok so how did this guy become an Admiral?

Starfleet Admirals have almost always been evil, corrupt, or just a general pain in the ass. One of the few decent ones was Admiral Ross, and even he collaborated with Section 31.

The character just doesnt make any sense at all.

They could have been a bit clearer with his motivations and he does come off as a clichéd moustache-twirling bad guy. And Vengeance is as subtle as a sledgehammer. But the basics of the character make sense. He's a Starfleet Admiral who feels he needs to militarize Starfleet to save the Federation from its own pacifism.

 

[Black Cloud S31]

Of course he needs to kill them all othervise he will be frontpage news.