Is Khan Noonien Singh Star Trek’s top villain? Not according to Nerdist

Khan Noonien Singh isn’t Nerdist’s top villain choice, and I agree.

A good hero is measured by how good his nemesis is. The villain. The antagonist. The evil-doer. No good hero can truly be a captivating character without someone behind him, pushing or pulling at him. Without Khan Noonien Singh, James Kirk is just screaming into a microphone while in his really fancy basement. Batman is just a crazy person in leather without The Joker. It’s not Buffy, the smoothie slayer after all. What’s Hall without Oates?

Ok maybe the last one doesn’t count, I don’t know my 80s pop music like I should, but the rest are valid. Kirk and Khan, Buffy and the vampires, and of course Batman and the Joker. All iconic to some degree. All great rivals, all bookended by a great villain.

So why then does Nerdist seem to think that Khan isn’t the top guy in the villain’s equation? Well, simply put, because in the Star Trek hierarchy; he’s not.

Khan Noonien Singh bows to just one man’s lore in Star Trek

The Nerdist listed their Top 13 villains in Star Trek, with Seshka being at number 13. At first, that one was confusing but then I remembered that she made Chakotay think she had his kid and ran off with it. That’s messed up. Supervillain behavior there. So that checked out.

We see the usual affair, a lot of Klingons, but number one really didn’t come as a surprise. Not if you’ve seen him in Deep Space Nine.

We’re talking about the good ol’ fashion Space Nazi, Gul Dukat. For as villainous and dastardly as Khan was during his heydey, the things he did to the heroes of the story; Kirk and the USS Enterprise, don’t really stack up.

He kidnapped the crew of the Reliant, put slugs in the ears of two of their ranking officers (forcing one to kill themselves), and fired on the Enterprise, killing some crew members.

Really, that’s a Klingon Tuesday if you ask me.

Dukat killed Jadzia Dax, committed numerous acts of terrorism against Deep Space Nine, and oh yeah, slaughtered millions of Bajorans to try and “save” them. Sure, Khan may be evil, but he isn’t Dukat evil.

Dukat is truly the measuring stick for the perfect villain in Star Trek.