Alexander Marcus ( alternate reality ) Admiral Alexander Marcus was the head of Starfleet in the mid - 23rd century , and a member of Section 31 . He began a conspiracy to start a war with the Klingons using the 20th century genetically enhanced Human criminal . He was the father of . Early life . Alexander Marcus was the head of Starfleet . At some point , Marcus had a daughter named with a woman who had the maiden name Wallace . He was also the mentor of and inspired him to join Starfleet . Having been raised by him , Carol believed ( ultimately incorrectly ) her father to be a man who was incapable of killing innocents . ( ) Starfleet Career . Revival of Khan . Following the destruction of in 2258 , Marcus began seeking ways to militarize and better defend the Federation . In particular , he foresaw war with the Klingon Empire as inevitable . Section 31 discovered the , and Marcus revived , recruiting him under the name " John Harrison " to design weapons and ships . However , Khan resented Marcus ' s control over him and the use of his fellow surviving Augment s as hostages , and attempted to smuggle them out in the experimental photon torpedo es he created . He was discovered , and Khan was forced to flee alone , beginning a one - man war on the Federation as he presumed Marcus killed his crew . Kirk ' s demotion . When Captain violated the Prime Directive while on Nibiru , the matter was brought to Marcus ' s attention who as punishment , confiscated the from him and sent him back to Starfleet Academy . However , Pike convinced Marcus to alter the punishment for his protégé . Kirk was instead demoted to Pike ' s first officer . Conspiracy . On stardate 2259 . 55 , Khan coerced Section 31 agent Thomas Harewood into bomb ing the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London . Marcus received a message from Harewood before he died explaining Harrison threatened him , and the admiral declared a manhunt at a summit in Starfleet Headquarters . Khan , aware protocol dictated a summit like this one , appeared in an attack vehicle and opened fire . However , Khan was forced to flee and Marcus survived , though Pike was killed . The following morning , Kirk reported Harrison had used the confiscated transwarp beaming formula to escape to Qo ' noS . Marcus ordered Kirk to pinpoint and execute Khan with the 72 experimental photon torpedoes he had designed . Once Kirk discovered the truth from Khan , Marcus showed up in the — a warship designed by Khan — demanding Kirk hand him over . When Kirk attempted to flee to Earth to put Khan on trial and expose Marcus , the " Vengeance " caught up and crippled the flagship . Marcus ' s daughter Carol revealed she was on the " Enterprise " , but the admiral simply had her beamed up and prepared to wipe out all evidence of his scheme . Fortunately , Scotty had boarded the " Vengeance " at coordinates given by Khan and deactivated its weapons . Khan and Kirk donned Thruster suit s and flew over to the ship to commandeer the bridge during which Khan saved Kirk ' s life when the display compass in Kirk ' s helmet went dead leaving Kirk flying blind . Khan found Kirk amid the debris and guided him in . After taking over the bridge , Kirk believing that Khan intended to betray them ordered to stun Khan . Kirk then confronted Marcus over his betrayal of everything the Federation stood for , but Marcus angrily insisted that his actions were justified , and that without him the Federation would be destroyed in what he considered to be an inevitable war with the Klingons , a war he , ironically , was trying to start in the first place . Suddenly , Khan assaulted Kirk and Carol . Marcus briefly escaped to a console near the back of the bridge , but before he could achieve anything , Khan caught up with the admiral and killed him by angrily crushing his skull with his bare hands , prompting a horrified scream from Carol . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " By now , some of you have heard what happened in London . The target was a Starfleet Data Archive , now it ' s a damn hole in the ground , 42 men and women are dead . One hour ago , I received a message from a Starfleet officer who confessed to carrying out this attack , that he was being forced to do it by this man : Commander John Harrison . He ' s one of our own , and he ' s the man responsible for this act of savagery . For reasons unknown , John Harrison has just declared a one - man war against Starfleet , and under no circumstances are we to allow this man to escape Federation space . You here tonight represent the senior command of all the vessels in the region , and in the name of those we lost , you will run this bastard down . This is a manhunt , pure and simple , so let ' s get to work . " " " " Earth ' s perimeter sensors have not detected any warp signatures leaving the system , so we know he can ' t be far . You will park your ships in a blockade formation then deploy search vehicles and landing parties to run down every lead . This man has shown willingness to kill innocent people , so the rules of engagement are simple . If you come across this man and fear for your life or the lives of those nearby , you are authorized to use deadly force on sight . " " " " You got something to say Kirk , say it . Tomorrow ' s too late . " " - Alexander Marcus to James Kirk about his outburst " " All - out war with the Klingons is inevitable , Mr . Kirk . If you ask me , it ' s already begun . Since we learned of their existence , the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two planets that we know of , fired on our ships half a dozen times . They are coming our way . " " " " Well , shit ! You talked to him . " " " " That ' s a hell of an apology , son . But if it ' s any consolation , I was never gonna spare your crew . Fire when . . . " " " " You better stop and think about what you ' re doing , Kirk . You better think about what you did on Qo ' noS . You made an incursion onto an enemy planet ! You killed a Klingon patrol . Even if you got away without a trace , war is coming . And who ' s gonna lead us ? ! YOU ? ! If I ' m not in charge , our entire way of life is decimated ! So , you want me off this ship , you better kill me . " Appendices . Background information . Admiral Marcus was played by Peter Weller , who also played John Frederick Paxton in . The character was described by producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk as being their attempt to incorporate a trope of Hong Kong cinema into the film , where the hero ( Kirk ) and villain ( Khan ) must temporarily set aside their differences . Weller compared Marcus to General , the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in the 1960s , and a proponent of nuclear war . LeMay " " had eighteen nukes stored on his own that he didn ' t tell the or President Kennedy about – because he didn ' t deem them knowledgeable enough about war . That is unbelievable arrogance ! So , Admiral Marcus is basically like LeMay . " " However , he opined that Marcus actually has a conscience because he wants to undo his mistake , but what " " makes him bad , from a moralistic view , is that he ' s willing to sacrifice Kirk and the Enterprise to put this thing back in its shell . " Weller also disliked that people thought of Marcus as a " bad guy " , stating , " " Everything he says is true : The Klingons are coming , they do need Khan , and that ' s that . It ' s just that he ’ s going to sacrifice the entire " Enterprise " to get the job done , because the " Enterprise " started to believe Khan . But if the " Enterprise " had not believed Khan and had done what Marcus said , then there ' d be no movie , and everything would be cool . But the great writing in this is that the " Enterprise " wakes the dude up and listens to his game , and then everything goes to crap . But that ' s the " Enterprise " s hubris . That ' s them . They screwed up , not Marcus . Anyway , sorry to go off there . I just hate that . " " Weller added he liked the character ' s name because it reminded him of Alexander the Great and . found parallels between Marcus and , to which Simon Pegg responded " " Absolutely , he ' s definitely a Republican . " " Apocrypha . The IDW comic series " " , set in the alternate reality , reveals that was the first officer of a previous which existed subsequent to , but prior to the new . In addition , " " indicated that , as a commander , Marcus served on the admissions board of Starfleet Academy . Plus , " " , in issues 4 and 5 , shows how Marcus found Khan and how he used Khan , forcing him to initiate his one - man war against Starfleet . The virtual collectible card battle game " " is using pictures for card # 81 " Admiral A . Marcus " and card # 106 " Rogue Admiral A . Marcus " .