The Best ‘Star Trek’ Villains Who Give Starfleet Nightmares

Appears In: Star Trek: The Original Series; also appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek Into Darkness 

Species: Augmented human

Background: As one of a group of superhumans, Khan solidified control of a major part of Earth, with a domain that encompassed much of Asia. Although he was incredibly powerful, he wasn’t nearly as despotic as he might have been (and certainly not like many of his fellow superhumans). He was deposed, but managed to escape Earth and was cryogenically frozen until discovered by the Enterprise.

Why He's A Bane To Starfleet: Khan attempts to take over the Enterprise in an episode of the original series, after which Kirk defeats him. However, he returns in The Wrath of Khan, set on vengeance. He comes perilously close to killing Kirk - whom he's determined to destroy to avenge being left to die - but ultimately fails. 

Khan also served as the main antagonist of Star Trek Into Darkness, albeit with slightly different motivations. He's forced to develop superweapons for Admiral Marcus, after which he rebels and tries to take over the Enterprise, before being defeated by Spock.

Appears In: Star Trek: First Contact; also appears in Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Picard 

Species: Borg

Background: As her name suggests, she is the epitome of the collective consciousness of the species known as the Borg. In many ways, she's the guiding intelligence of the collective as a whole. In addition to being ruthless in her approach to all other life in the universe - which she sees as inherently inferior to the Borg - she also views her role as bringing order to chaos.   

Why She's A Bane To Starfleet: After her initial appearances, she became one of the most powerful and potent threats faced by the crew of the Enterprise. Unsurprisingly, her primary goal was the propagation of the Borg, even if this meant the extinction of all other life forms. 

She pursued this with relentless efficiency even though - like many other great Star Trek villains - she also had moments of complexity, particularly once she started to feel the sting of loneliness and despair. Although she was a formidable foe, she was beaten many times before her final demise in Picard.

Appears In: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Species: Klingon

Background: As a Klingon, Chang was a skilled warrior who took a dispassionate and sometimes ruthless view toward the world. He harbored a particular dislike for the Federation, and was motivated by the belief that war cannot be prevented. Given his prowess as a warrior, he understandably took part in several conflicts within the Klingon Empire.

Why He's A Bane To Starfleet: Given his longstanding antipathy to the Federation, Chang was particularly angered by the prospect of his beloved Empire turning to them for any kind of assistance, which did indeed happen. He joined a conspiracy whose sole intention was to keep the Empire and Federation from declaring peace, which caused the demise of several of his own people, including Chancellor Gorkon. 

Chang went to extraordinary lengths to destroy the peace process, even though he was ultimately destroyed by the Enterprise, despite using an invisible ship to launch attacks.

Appears In: Introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series; also appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Species: A humanoid reptilian species 

Background: Even before Captain Kirk and the Enterprise encountered one of the Gorn, there had been other moments of contact between this species and the Federation. They were notorious for their predatory attitude toward any warm-blooded creatures, including humans.

Why They’re A Bane To Starfleet: The most notable incident concerning the Gorn on-screen is when Kirk has to engage one in hand-to-hand combat. It initially seems as if the creature might defeat him, but he eventually emerges victorious. In typical Kirk fashion, however, he shows the creature mercy rather than killing it. After decades of obscurity in the Star Trek universe, the Gorn returned in Strange New Worlds, updated as a violent threat for Captain Christopher Pike, despite the series taking place a decade before the Gorn's initial appearance in The Original Series.

Appears In: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Species: Cardassian

Background: A member of the Cardassian race, Gul Dukat for a time ruled over the planet of Bajor. While charming and charismatic, he's also shown to be very authoritarian, ruling with an iron fist. He was particularly embittered once his position was taken away from him.

Why He's A Bane To Starfleet: Dukat was one of the most potent villains faced by Benjamin Sisko, the commanding officer of Deep Space Nine. The two clashed numerous times throughout the series, and Dukat was determined to get back what he thought was rightfully his. Perhaps the gravest threat he posed, however, occurred when he allied himself with the Pah-wraiths, sinister beings who possessed his body. He's ultimately foiled and imprisoned forever, thanks once again to Sisko.

Appears In: Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation; also appears in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Species: Klingon

Background: After his initial appearance in The Next Generation, Gowron became Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. Throughout the series he faced a number of challenges to his position, sometimes necessitating intervention from Picard and others on the Enterprise. 

Why He's A Bane To Starfleet: Gowron became more of an antagonist in Deep Space Nine. Among other things, he disinherited Worf and his entire family, and attempted to force Benjamin Sisko to surrender Gul Dukat and the rest of the Detapa Council. He was repeatedly prone to challenging the Federation with demands, no matter how unreasonable, which ultimately led to a shattering of the peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. Wolf eventually killed him in hand-to-hand combat.