History YMMV / StarTrekIntoDarkness

* EvilIsSexy: With Creator/BenedictCumberbatch playing the BigBad, this was inevitable.

* WTHCastingAgency: The RaceLift. As mentioned, intentional on the part of the filmmakers. Having said that, Cumberbatch's performance was [[SubvertedTrope almost unanimously praised and/or anticipated]], even from people (like Creator/GeorgeTakei) who criticized his casting.

** In the climax, would Khan [[spoiler:have tried to wipe out the ''Enterprise'' whether or not Kirk ordered Scotty to incapacitate him once they dethroned Admiral Marcus?]] After all, he doesn't seem surprised when [[spoiler:he recovers too fast for Scotty or Kirk to defend themselves]], but there is a hint of disappointment. He also has VillainRespect by telling Kirk that he likes a man who has a conscience. Perhaps [[spoiler:he would have kept his word]], or maybe not. It's left up to the viewers.

** Whether Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's version of Khan was an effective villain, or whether he should have just been an original character. Even the AuthorsSavingThrow presented in the ''Khan'' comic miniseries (where he is shown to have [[spoiler:undergone plastic surgery in order to justify an apparent RaceLift situation]]) is controversial for some.

* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesKhanNoonienSingh Khan Noonien Singh]] is a superhuman with incredibly high-intelligence. Though believed to be genocidal and seeking to dispose of any race not on the same superiority level as his own kind, the tie-in comic ''Star Trek: Khan'' reveals Khan to have been a beloved and benevolent leader over his people despite being a conqueror. Preserved along with his crew for hundreds of years in cryo-sleep, Khan is awoken by the warmongering Admiral Alexander Marcus and as Commander John Harrison is forced to design the fighter starship the USS ''Vengeance'' and torpedos to go with it. Khan rebels by inciting a bombing of the secret Defense division and then mowing down several Starfleet officers, including Admiral Christopher Pike, in an ambush where he specifically targets Marcus. Khan learns his crew still lives in their pods in the torpedos he hid them in and surrenders himself to Captain James T. Kirk and the USS ''Enterprise''. Khan then provides the info of the Vengeance and helps Kirk take it over, brutally kills Marcus and then attempts to escape and fights off Lieutenant Spock after nearly crashing the damaged ship into Starfleet Headquarters.

** The Klingons redesign look more like [[Film/BattlefieldEarth Psychlos]] wearing a trenchcoat.

* CargoShip:
** Kirk and the ''Enterprise'', of course.

%%* CargoShip: Kirk and the ''Enterprise'', of course.

* DracoInLeatherPants: John Harrison, [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch natch]]. Some people actually hoped that Harrison would pull a HeelFaceTurn. Oh and he even wears leather pants.

** Science officer [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/d/d0/Science_officer_0718.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130606102047&path-prefix=en 0718]], the completely bald cyborg crew member. He also has almost no lines, but with his [[BadassBaritone deep robot voice]], piercing blue eyes, and cybernetic implants in the back of his head, he certainly made quite an impression for a lot of people.

** On the flipside, John Harrison/[[spoiler:Khan]] gets a lot of this due to his sympathetic motivations to save his crew [[spoiler:from Marcus]]. Throw in Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's charismatic performance, [[EvilIsCool stylish]] [[BadassLongcoat threads]], and [[BadassBaritone booming voice]] and we've got a full blown example here.

* {{Woolseyism}}: During the bar scene with Scotty and Keenser, a piece of music played that had different lyrics depending on where it was released. For example, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu was chosen by Creator/JJAbrams himself to provide the song for the Japanese release, which is titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2GQAk_lRy4 "Into Darkness".]]

* MoralEventHorizon:
** [[spoiler:If his plot to start a war with the Klingons didn't do it, Admiral Marcus definitely crosses the line with the revelation that he ''never'' intended to spare the ''Enterprise'' or her crew, no matter what Kirk said or did.]]
** John Harrison[[spoiler:/Khan]] has several possible MEH's:
*** [[spoiler:Manipulating Thomas Harewood into blowing up himself and a Starfleet institution by curing his daughter's condition.]]
*** [[spoiler:Attacking a gathering of Starfleet officers, killing Admiral Pike in the process.]]
*** [[spoiler:Attempting to murder the ''Enterprise'' crew after his people were returned to him ([[OutGambitted or so he thought]]), at a point where none of the crew posed any threat to him.]]
*** [[spoiler:Setting the fatally damaged ''Vengeance'' on a collision course with San Francisco after believing that his crew had been killed.]]

** This isn't the first film where Creator/PeterWeller plays a character who [[spoiler: [[Film/RoboCop1987 "dies" from head trauma.]]]] As an added bonus, Weller's character, Admiral Marcus is the leader of The Federation and has green-lit the clandestine development of advanced weapons of war, much like company OCP in the original ''Robocop'' trilogy.

** One fairly common criticism of the film is that it's also not ''that'' different from [[Film/StarTrek2009 the previous film]], and retreads many of its emotional beats at the expense of moving the story forward. The main conflict is all about Kirk and co. trying to stop an angry and vengeful villain commanding a giant [[MatchingBadGuyVehicles evil black]] ship from directly attacking Earth due to a grudge against a Starfleet officer, it largely revolves around Kirk trying to prove himself as a leader and fighting for Admiral Pike's approval, and one of the big action set-pieces features Kirk ejecting from the ''Enterprise'' in zero gravity to board an enemy spacecraft (he even comments that it reminds him of the Vulcan mission, except he's jumping horizontally instead of vertically).

** One fairly common criticism of the film is that it's also not ''that'' different from [[Film/StarTrek2009 the previous film]], and retreads many of its emotional beats at the expense of moving the story forward. The main conflict is all about Kirk and co. trying to stop an angry and vengeful villain from directly attacking Earth due to a grudge against a Starfleet officer, it largely revolves around Kirk trying to prove himself as a leader and fighting for Admiral Pike's approval, and one of the big action set-pieces features Kirk ejecting from the ''Enterprise'' in zero gravity to board an enemy spacecraft (he even comments that it reminds him of the Vulcan mission, except he's jumping horizontally instead of vertically).

* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesKhanNoonienSingh Khan Noonien Singh]] is a superhuman with incredibly high-intelligence. Though believed to be genocidal and seeking to dispose of any race not on the same superiority level as his own kind, the tie-in comic ''Star Trek: Khan'' reveals Khan to have been a beloved and benevolent leader over his people despite being a conqueror. Preserved along with his crew for hundreds of years in cryo-sleep, Khan is awoken by the warmongering Admiral Alexander Marcus and as Commander John Harrison is forced to design the fighter starship the ''USS Vengeance'' and torpedos to go with it. Khan rebels by inciting a bombing of the secret Defense division and then mowing down several Starfleet officers, including Admiral Christopher Pike, in an ambush where he specifically targets Marcus. Khan learns his crew still lives in their pods in the torpedos he hid them in and surrenders himself to Captain James T. Kirk and the ''USS Enterprise''. Khan then provides the info of the Vengeance and helps Kirk take it over, brutally kills Marcus and then attempts to escape and fights off Lieutenant Spock after nearly crashing the damaged ship into Starfleet Headquarters.

* ValuesDissonance: [[spoiler:Khan's RaceLift was because of this. Had Khan--whose name might suggest that he is Muslim to people who have little knowledge of Sikhs--been cast by an Indian or Middle-Eastern actor, "John Harrison's" overtly terrorist actions may have led to further UnfortunateImplications with the character. In particular, Khan's last act after believing that he's lost his crew is to ''fly his aircraft into several buildings''; the 9/11 comparisons would be unavoidable.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: Having Creator/BenedictCumberbatch play someone with a specifically non-white ethnicity ([[spoiler:the originally dark-skinned Khan]]). [[http://www.racebending.com/v4/featured/star-trek-whiteness/ This article]] goes into detail about the impact this decision has on ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and in the context of whitewashing. Ironically, Orci wanted to avoid other unfortunate implications--see ValuesDissonance below.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The VillainEpisode comic book tie in reveals that [[spoiler:Khan had plastic surgery done so he appeared to be white, as opposed to Indian, his natural heritage]].
** Kirk getting reprimanded for his actions towards the beginning also qualifies. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Turns out that when you're a cocky, inexperienced captain of a starship who keeps breaking the rules]], [[spoiler:you eventually get removed from command]].
** Due to the disastrous handling of the extras for the [=BluRay=] release (which included an enhanced version of the film that was locked to iTunes and most of the available extras only available through exclusives at multiple retailers), Paramount released a [[http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/062314_0600 new box set]], which includes the IMAX scenes in the film and loads of special features. It also includes the 2009 film with all of the goodies from the 3 disc set as well.

** Both Creator/PeterWeller (Marcus) and Creator/BruceGreenwood (Pike) have portrayed ComicBook/{{Batman}} in animation prior to this film, Weller having played the elderly Caped Crusader in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Greenwood having portrayed (alternate-universe, younger versions of) him in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'' and coming back for ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. This film may be the closest we can get to having Batman in a ''Star Trek'' film yet, with ''two'' actors who've played him before, no less!

** [[spoiler:Creator/LeonardNimoy's]] one scene is very short and a bit of a PlotHole, but most audiences loved it so much they hardly even noticed. [[TearJerker Sadly]], it would turn out to be his last – [[ActorExistenceFailure ever]].

* TheWoobie: Thomas Harewood. The man's daughter is dying, [[AdultFear he's helpless to save her]], and he winds up being manipulated by [[BigBad Harrison]] into [[spoiler:killing himself and dozens of others in a suicide bombing in exchange for his daughter being cured]].

* FoeYay: We can also add this in with Harrison and Kirk or Spock as well.

** Science officer [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/d/d0/Science_officer_0718.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130606102047&path-prefix=en 0718]], the [[BaldOfAwesome completely bald]] cyborg crew member. He also has almost no lines, but with his [[BadassBaritone deep robot voice]], piercing blue eyes, and cybernetic implants in the back of his head, he certainly made quite an impression for a lot of people.

** ''Enterprise'' vs. ''Vengeance''. Yes the ''Vengeance'' totally outperformed the ''Enterprise'' in virtually every area, but that's no excuse not to have an actual starship battle between the two; in fact, it would have made for a great David vs. Goliath scenario, in which Kirk and company would have to come up with elaborate strategy (much like hiding in the Mutara Nebula) to overcome this monster. The fact ''Vengeance'' was meant to be a dark, militarized counterpart to the ''Enterprise'' would have made such a battle all the more fitting.