As you can see, Benedict Cumberbatch has seemingly joined a great tradition of villains observed from behind glass. More specifically this reads like the villain being captured by his own will so that he may spark off his grand plot for revenge- a device we’ve seen in both Skyfall and The Avengers just this year. That said, something different could be going on here.
The big news is that this photo comes with a listing that has Benedict Cumberbatch playing a character named “John Harrison.” Obviously that is neither “Khan” nor “Gary Mitchell,” but it is most certainly “bullshit.” It also seems to allude to the Japanese teaser’s final shot, which itself alludes to Wrath of Khan. We went a little deeper into all this stuff this morning, as the reactions to the first 9 minutes of the film hit online.
The character may use the name for some amount of time or have some kind of Ras Al Ghul/Silver Surfer thing going on wherein he’s actually playing a harbinger for Khan or Mitchel or whatever, but something’s up. I’m willing to put a few dollars on it. In fact, I’m seeing some tweets suggesting a character named Harris is present in the original series Trek episode that introduces Khan, so chew on that if you’d like. I’m still betting on Mitchell, but I know all of the run-arounds and early-movie teases about the identity of the baddie aren’t for nothing.
Godddamn, JJ is playing the net like a fiddle this time around. He’s got this mystery box thing on lock.