Krall Krall , formerly Balthazar M . Edison , was a Human male who served in the United Earth Military Assault Command Operations and later the Federation Starfleet , until he was stranded on the planet Altamid . Edison became the brutal warlord Krall after the use of energy transference technology severely mutated his body . As Krall , he despised the ideals of the Federation and sought its destruction . Early life . Edison was born in Murrysville , Pennsylvania on Earth . ( ) United Earth Military career . Edison served in MACO , a branch of the United Earth Military . He began his service history as a boot camp officer . He was promoted to major , and later acting colonel , during the 22nd century . He fought in both the Xindi and the Romulan wars , during which he witnessed millions of Humans perish by alien hands . ( ) Starfleet career . Following the foundation of the Federation , MACO was dissolved and Edison became a Starfleet officer and was given command of the . Unknown to Starfleet , Edison deeply resented what he saw as being put out to pasture , his calling as a soldier rendered obsolete by the Federation ' s embrace of diplomacy and tolerance . Despite this , he led his ship and crew on many missions for Starfleet using his tactical training and knowledge of advanced combat to successfully complete those missions . In 2164 , the " Franklin " was displaced by a wormhole while inside the Gagarin Radiation Belt . The ship crashed on the distant planet Altamid , with Edison , Anderson Le , and Jessica Wolff as the only survivors . Edison sent out a distress call but , receiving no response , came to believe that he had been abandoned by the Federation . As his resentment festered into violent hatred , Edison resolved to destroy the Federation and prove that peaceful coexistence led only to weakness . ( ) Stranded on Altamid . Becoming Krall . On Altamid , Edison found technology left behind by a previous civilization , including Swarm ship s , a drone workforce , and an energy transference process that allowed him to " drain " other individuals to prolong his own life . Using their newly - acquired Swarm , Edison , Le , and Wolff captured scores of alien ships and drained their crews to survive , which also mutated their biology to resemble that of their victims . In time , Edison became " Krall " , suppressing much of his Human identity and ceasing to speak in English . Searching for the Abronath . Krall learned that the natives of Altamid once created a super - weapon called the Abronath , which they had split in two and launched into space . He located one piece after decades of work , but not the other . ( ) Alternate reality . Raid and destruction of the " Enterprise " . In 2263 in the alternate reality , Krall discovered from Starfleet logs , accessed through a captured Magellan probe , that the second piece of the Abronath had been placed into storage on the . He dispatched Wolff , now " Kalara " , to lure the " Enterprise " to him . Upon the arrival of the " Enterprise " at Altamid , Krall attacked with his Swarm . He destroyed the " Enterprise " , captured most of the crew , and eventually coerced Ensign Syl into relinquishing the second Abronath piece . His weapon complete , Krall departed Altamid with his Swarm to wipe out all life from the nearby Starbase Yorktown , whose multicultural population he saw as the epitome of the Federation ' s degeneracy . ( ) Attack on Yorktown . Krall ' s Swarm overwhelmed Yorktown ' s defenses and was on the verge of breaking inside when he was engaged by the " Franklin " , commanded by the " Enterprise " ' s former captain , Captain . The " Franklin " , and later the starbase , used a VHF radio broadcast to disrupt the Swarm ' s internal communications network and destroyed most of the craft . Krall managed to enter Yorktown , but the " Franklin " physically stopped his ship short of his destination . Having drained many " Enterprise " crew members before and after the battle , Krall had regained much of his Human physiology and was thus able to disguise himself as a Starfleet officer . This allowed him to make his way , unimpeded , to the central atmospheric processor on Yorktown , where the Abronath ' s effects would be disseminated throughout the station . He was intercepted by Kirk , and the two fought while redirected the processor to vent into space ; Kirk then ejected both Krall and the Abronath out of Yorktown . Shortly after , Krall was consumed by the Abronath , leaving only the Starfleet insignia from his stolen uniform . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " I am Lieutenant Nyota Uhura of the USS Enterprise . And you have committed an act of war against the Federation . " " " " Federation ? ! Federation is an act of war . " " " " . . . Why did you sacrifice yourself for him ? " " " " He would have done the same . And if he made it off that ship , he will come for us . " " " " I am counting on it , Lieutenant Uhura . " " " " This is where the frontier pushes back . " " " " My old friend . " " " " Captain ' s log , I don ' t remember the stardate . All distress call s unanswered . Of the crew , only three remain . I WON ' T ALLOW IT ! The indigenous race abandoned this planet long ago . They left behind sophisticated mining equipment and a drone workforce . They have some sort of technology that prolongs life . I will do whatever it takes for me and my crew . The Fed - Federation do not care about us . You ' ll probably never see me again . But if you do . . . be ready . " " " " What happened to you out there , Edison ? " " " " Edison ? I have to say , Kirk , I ' ve missed being me . We lost ourselves but gained a purpose ! A means to bring the galaxy back to the struggle that made Human ity strong . " " " " I think you underestimate Humanity . " " " " I fought for Humanity ! Lost millions to the Xindi and Romulan wars . And for what ? For the Federation ? ! To sit me in a captain ' s chair and break bread with the enemy ! " " " " We change . We have to . Or we spend the rest of our lives fighting the same battles . " " " " You lost . There ' s no way for you to make it back there ! Give up ! " " " " What , like you did ? ! I read your ship ' s log , Captain James T . Kirk . At least I know what I am ! I ' m a soldier ! " " " " You won the war , Edison . You gave us peace ! " " " " Peace . . . is not what I was born into . " " " " You . . . can ' t stop it . You will die . " " " " Better to die saving lives , than to live with taking them . That ' s what I was born into . " " Appendices . Background information . Krall was portrayed by Idris Elba . Precisely what the writers of aimed to achieve by creating this character was one of the first discussions they had . Recalled co - writer Doug Jung , " " We were trying to find something that felt it was worthy of the fifty - year anniversary [ of " Star Trek " ] – so a character who could challenge the Roddenberry universe [ was called for ] . " " The writing team additionally " wanted to have a villain who felt bad and intimidating , " stated Jung . ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 27 ) Another goal the writers had was differentiating Krall from the two main antagonists in the previous two films , Nero and , both of whom were driven by revenge . Regarding Krall , Simon Pegg explained , " " The thing that we didn ' t want him to be was just out for revenge [ . . . ] We wanted his motivation to be more complex , and more mysterious . " " ( ) Similarly , " Star Trek Beyond " Director Justin Lin wanted the character to have a legitimate reason for hating the Federation , which the filmmakers had decided they wanted to examine in the movie . " " If we really want to deconstruct what the Federation means , we need to have an antagonist with a valid point of view , " " Lin reasoned . " " It can ' t just be someone twirling their moustache . For the audience , when they hear [ Krall ' s reasons ] they might not agree with them , but they have to accept it ' s a valid point of view . " " ( " " , issue 326 , p . 71 ) Lin also stated , " " Once I ' d posed Simon and Doug that challenge , and we were trying to come up with ideas to deconstruct it , I thought they did a great job of writing and creating Krall . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 10 ) Having Krall be thematically tied to Kirk " made him more interesting , " as Jung phrased it . ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 27 ) He elaborated that the character originated by paralleling Kirk ' s personal search for purpose in his own life with an alternate viewpoint of the Federation ' s purpose . Making Krall a former MACO seemed to work well for the character . " " We knew what we wanted him to go through . We knew we wanted him to have this sort of idealistic , philosophical difference with Starfleet , " " said Doug Jung , " " but we didn ' t quite have why – so we were like , ' Maybe he came from this world that was taken over by the Federation , ' but then we were sort of like , ' Well , why don ' t we wrap it back around in the mythology ? ' and we got to , ' Why don ’ t we make him a former member of MACO ? ' [ . . . ] For him to be in that sort of precipice of [ historical , political ] change and to be a guy who is being asked to make a big change , and is unable to do it , that sort of just fit in thematically with everything we were sort of saying . So it was a gift of fifty years of " Trek " lore rising to the surface when we need it . " " A challenge in writing the character was deciding how and when to reveal that Krall was sustaining himself with DNA harvested from his victims . The writers found that idea very easy to discuss , though quite difficult to establish in the film , so they had many different iterations of how the revelation was depicted . " " There were ways we could have done it to demonstrate that he has this technology , " " observed Doug Jung , " " but again , if you get too into it you start to cast light on some of the things that might not be quite as believable – or , you just tip your hat too much that he ' s not who he is [ . . . ] Ultimately we just sort of decided that we needed it to be part of the whole reveal package . It ' s a complex idea , if you really think about what he had to do and how he had to get there . " " Another tough consideration regarding the writing of Krall was , in Doug Jung ' s words , " " How do we portray this guy without giving away too much , to kind of make him interesting and try to make him seem like he ' s not just another dude with a beef . " " As such , there was some question as to how Krall ' s true history would be revealed . " " Because we were preserving that surprise , there was no other way to do it than to basically have him talk about it , " " Jung continued . " " And to have him talk about it in the past was much better than to have him talk about it in the future . There was one version where he was talking about [ it ] in the future , and he explained it all , and it leaves [ the audience ] wondering , ' Why are you explaining this to us ? No one cares . We just want you dead . " " In backstory that was conceived for the movie but omitted from it , Krall ' s takeover of the alien society and technology on Altamid would have been portrayed as having been possible because the aliens were essentially mindless , weapon - less drones . " " He took this energy source and perverted it in a particular way , and took over what was essentially a mining colony out there , " " explained Doug Jung . " " It was one of those things where we felt that he didn ’ t have an invading force , but he was taking his skills as an ex - soldier and applying them in a way that he probably never thought he would have to do . " " Krall ' s make - up originally included a phase which looked particularly Human - looking . Because it was deemed too transparently Human , however , that phase of the make - up was deliberately discarded . The costume designed for Krall was intended to seem unique and merge with the alien ' s body . " " Justin wanted you to look at Krall and not be sure whether its him or an armor , where the man within starts and stops , " " reflected Costume Designer Sanja Hays , " " and he wanted you to not be sure how he changed , and what really happened with him . Justin wanted us to create something you hadn ' t seen in previous " Star Trek " movies , or previous sci - fi movies . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 41 ) A concept sketch of Krall can be found at . As Justin Lin saw it , there was only one real contender for the role of Krall . " " Idris was my top choice by far , " " the director said . " " Because a lot of times antagonists don ' t really have a lot of screen time . So you need someone who can command a presence and be able to fully commit and carry that through very surgically . We had a great first conversation . " " ( " SFX " , issue 276 , p . 50 ) During that initial discussion , Elba and Lin conversed for about an hour . ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 10 ) " " But at the very end he paused , " " continued Lin . " " I was like , ' Aw , shit . ' He goes , ' It ' s gonna be four hours of make - up every morning , right ? ' I said , ' Yup … ' It was four hours every morning , and he [ did it ] . " " ( " SFX " , issue 276 , p . 50 ) Elba collaborated with the writing staff on the minor facets of the character , the actor pitching small character details , which the writers managed to incorporate into the portrayal of the character . ( ) Kirk actor Chris Pine remarked that , in his performance as Krall , Elba " " was very alive and present , and changing stuff from one take to the next . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 21 ) Justin Lin was delighted with Idris Elba ' s performance as Krall , enthusing , " " He was awesome . He ' s delivering a 100 % every time . " " ( " SFX " , issue 276 , p . 50 ) Noted Simon Pegg , " " Our villain is a very interesting force . " " Pegg commented , too , that working with Elba on the minor details of the character was " a really productive process " that Elba " was really good at . " ( ) Doug Jung said about Krall , " " He ' s got the classic " Star Trek " villain qualities to him . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 27 ) Jung was pleased that the character ' s actual backstory was effective . " " One thing that surprised me , " " he admitted , " " is that no one was saying ' Oh , there ' s Idris Elba in a lot of makeup ; there ' s an NX ship that seems like it shouldn ’ t be there . He ’ s going to end up being the [ captain . ] " " In Chris Pine ' s opinion , Elba " came up with this really rather extraordinary character . " ( " SFX " , issue 276 , p . 55 ) actress Zoë Saldana offered , " " I really liked this character , Krall . I like what he ' s about . He also represents a lot of individuals in the past 10 to 15 years [ . . . ] [ He ' s ] a very lethal Big Bad – and , the make - up is astounding ! " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 46 ) actor John Cho remarked , " " The composite [ character design ] I saw was incredibly frightening . " " Cho also called Krall " an interesting bad guy . " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 67 ) actor Karl Urban agreed , " " He ' s a worthy adversary because , like all good villains , he forces the protagonists to question themselves and to question their direction . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 62 )