What if Cumberbatch is not the "Villain"?

[ralph]

Do you think that Harrison is being guided by another villain more powerful like Bane and Talia in The Dark Knight Rises?

It is an interesting theory, because is hard Harrison does all of this without having an internal help.
How can he go to Kronos? How does he manage weapons, ships, confidential information only with his skills?
He would be a mixture of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt.

 

[bullethead]

How would a hero justify blowing up a Federation building in London? Then assassinating a gathering of Starfleet Command? Heroes generally take on the bad guys, while doing their best to protect the innocent.

His actions make a bit more sense if he just thinks that Starfleet Command's upper ranks are stupid and/or corrupt. Getting them all into one place and killing them all would be faster than letting military courts handle it (especially if you think they're stupid/corrupt too).

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Do you think that Harrison is being guided by another villain more powerful like Bane and Talia in The Dark Knight Rises?

Maybe there will be a scene at the end of the credits that goes something like this:

SCENE: Harrison enters a dim room, dusting himself off. A figure stands in the darkness.

Harrison: I have done as you asked, and have exacted my vengeance. Now it is time.

Figure: There is a proverb that says: 'Revenge is a dish that is best served cold'... It is very cold... in space.

The figure emerges from the shadows, and we see it is .... Khhaaaaan!

 

[Kemaiku]

His actions make a bit more sense if he just thinks that Starfleet Command's upper ranks are stupid and/or corrupt. Getting them all into one place and killing them all would be faster than letting military courts handle it (especially if you think they're stupid/corrupt too).

Maybe, but wanted to 'get their attention' by blowing up a mass public transit hub in the heart of London in the middle of the day, likely killing hundreds of commuters, across the Atlantic who had nothing to do with it all.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Do you think that Harrison is being guided by another villain more powerful like Bane and Talia in The Dark Knight Rises?

It is an interesting theory, because is hard Harrison does all of this without having an internal help.
How can he go to Kronos? How does he manage weapons, ships, confidential information only with his skills?
He would be a mixture of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt.

Ages ago there was rumour of Cumberbatch's character having a mentor, although I have no idea whether it originated as supposed insider knowledge or just fan speculation.

 

[Bengoshi2000]

Based on the scant, available information, I'm willing to postulate that Harrison (whoever, or whatever he is) is acting on his own to correct/punish the unforgivable "crime" committed by "your commanders" (I'm assuming that Harrison speaks this line to Kirk). But that begs the question of what this crime is that Harrison "cannot forgive."

My gut feeling is that Admiral Marcus and others in the upper echelons of Starfleet were neck deep in some operation (probably covert, but definitely sinister) that resulted in the harm to Harrison that he, in his own mind, can only put right by bringing Starfleet (or the Federation) to its knees. I.E. he believes himself a hero, morally superior, executing his judgment on Starfleet Command.

That might make Harrison more sympathetic to the audience and simultaneously make Admiral Marcus a villain. But to pull this off the "crime" committed by Starfleet Command would have to be something so horrific that the audience is almost coerced into sympathy with Harrison.

What I'm saying is that something dumb like "Tribble Genocide" probably isn't going to make me sympathise with Harrison...

Maybe I'm expecting too much though...

 

[yousirname]

I hope the 'crime' isn't something as simple as abandoning Harrison behind enemy lines or something like that.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Maybe, but wanted to 'get their attention' by blowing up a mass public transit hub in the heart of London in the middle of the day, likely killing hundreds of commuters, across the Atlantic who had nothing to do with it all.

What if the trailer is purposefully misleading? Say, Harrison did not blow up the hub, and the attention quote refers to something else, say the helicopter offensive. The explosion in London could have been an attempt to frame him.

It could also be that it wasn't him in the helicopter and these scenes were also cut to be misleading, but that would be going too far, and I assume it contradicts something that's already released elsewhere.

It's unlikely, but I would not mind if the real plot strays from what appears to happen in the trailer. And as it is, there is a lot of room to make him a hero, or not make him the ultimate villain.

As for a more realistic option, it is possible that whatever he is going after is so unimaginably horrendous that his actions are close to being justified. Something on the scale of building Genesis-like devices for genocide against the Klingon empire and the Romulan empire. Yeah, something like that would make him redeemable.

I hope the 'crime' isn't something as simple as abandoning Harrison behind enemy lines or something like that.

Blowing people up because you're butthurt? I told you Cumberbatch is playing Charlie X.

I have my hopes that he's not as immature as me and Charlie. I am betting that he has his reasons, and they are good. Perhaps not good enough to justify what he has done, but good enough to not reduce him to such low level.