Hikaru Sulu ( alternate reality ) Hikaru Sulu was 23rd century Human Federation Starfleet officer . As a starfleet cadet , he first served as helmsman of the under the command of . Sulu was involved in the defeat and death of Nero , a Romulan bent on the obliteration of the entire United Federation of Planets . As a result , he continued to serve as helmsman under the command of . ( ) A year later , in 2259 , Sulu was present when the " Enterprise " crew faced , an enhanced Human from the late 20th century with superior strength and intellect . However , the crew of the " Enterprise " managed to stop him and afterwards in 2260 , the " Enterprise " set out on the first five - year mission . ( ) In 2263 , during its five - year mission , Sulu was present when the " Enterprise " was destroyed by Swarm ships , led by Krall , stranding the crew on Altamid . The crew and Jaylah , who was also stranded by Krall , later managed to leave the planet after repairing the , a ship commanded by Balthazar M . Edison that went missing in 2164 . The crew traveled to Starbase Yorktown and stopped revenge plans put into motion by Krall , who was revealed to be Edison . Afterwards , Sulu continued to served under Kirk when he was given command of the and continued the five - year mission . ( ) Starfleet career . Sulu enlisted in Starfleet prior to 2258 . ( ) Helmsman of the USS " Enterprise " . Stopping Nero . Sulu took over at the helm of the because the originally - assigned helmsman , McKenna , was ill with lungworm . As the fleet went to warp on its maiden voyage , Sulu forgot to disengage the external inertial dampener , leaving the " Enterprise " in Earth orbit for several moments as the rest of the fleet jumped away . Though embarrassing , the extra time afforded by this delay caused the " Enterprise " to enter the Vulcan system after Nero ' s assault had destroyed the rest of the fleet , likely saving the lives of the crew of the " Enterprise " . ( ) Sulu participated in a space - dive along with and Chief Engineer Olson in an attempt to disable Nero ' s drilling rig as it drilled to the core of . He was a skilled fencer and used his training in hand - to - hand combat and a retractable sword to fight Romulan s on the drilling platform , saving Kirk from a potentially fatal attack by one of the Romulans . Subsequently , Kirk endeavored to return the favor , diving into a freefall to save a falling Sulu . ( ) Having been present when Pike appointed Kirk first officer , Sulu pointed out it was Kirk ' s right to sit in the command chair . During the Battle of Earth , Sulu carefully maneuvered the " Enterprise " into Saturn ' s orbit , where the planet ' s magnetic rings would shield the ship from the " Narada " s sensor s . He sped the " Enterprise " after the Romulan vessel when it left the Sol system in pursuit of the " " , firing all the " Enterprise " s phaser bank s to disarm the " Narada " s missiles . When the " Narada " was being sucked into a black hole but Nero refused an offer of help from Kirk , Sulu fired all phaser s and photon torpedo es at the ship . He was later present when Kirk was promoted to captain , and remained the ship ' s helmsman under his command . ( ) Nibiru . In 2259 , Sulu was piloting a shuttle on Nibiru to rappel Spock into a volcano that was endangering the Nibiran s . Ash from the volcano damaged the shuttle , breaking the wire holding Spock , and forcing Sulu to dive to the " Enterprise " , which was underwater . ( ) Stopping John Harrison . During a mission to find mass murder er John Harrison , Sulu vouched for seventy - two experiment al advanced long - range torpedo es being brought aboard the ship , though was refusing to allow them on board . While Kirk and Spock went to Qo ' noS to apprehend Harrison , Sulu sat in the command chair and broadcast a message ordering Harrison to surrender or be fired on . His message was so frightening that asked Sulu to " " remind me never to piss you off . " " ' ( ) Later , when the " Enterprise " was severely damaged and hurtling to Earth , Sulu defied Spock ' s issuing of an order for the crew to evacuate the ship , preferring to go down with it . ( ) The five - year mission . Almost a year later , Sulu attended a memorial service for those killed , and resumed working as helmsman on the repaired " Enterprise " . He and Kirk spoke about the taste he had developed for sitting in the captain ' s chair , and Sulu expressed interest in captaining his own ship . ( ) Sulu left his and daughter behind for his duties aboard the " Enterprise " . In 2263 , halfway through its five - year mission , the " Enterprise " stopped at Starbase Yorktown , where he met back up with his husband , , and their daughter . After receiving a mission to escort Kalara through the Necro Cloud in an attempt to find her crew , the ship was attacked by Krall ' s forces . In the midst of the battle , Sulu took the conn as Captain Kirk hid an artifact known as the Abronath from the attackers . Sulu , along with Kirk and Chekov , escaped from the ship in their Kelvin pod s to the surface of nearby planet Altamid . On the planet ' s surface , he , as well as Uhura and other surviving crewmembers , were captured by Krall . That night , Sulu and the others broke out of Krall ' s encampment and tried to send a message to Starfleet , only to find they were unable to . Sulu and the other crewmembers were finally rescued by Kirk , Jaylah , and others . With some difficulty , Sulu thereafter managed to fly the from the Altamid surface to a crash landing in Yorktown . ( ) Helmsman of the USS " Enterprise " - A . After Krall ' s attack on Yorktown was halted by James T . Kirk and his crew , Sulu attended a surprise birthday party the crew threw for their captain . At the party they watched the new " Enterprise " - A being built . Sometime later Sulu served as the helmsman of the as the crew continued their five year mission . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " He has lungworm , sir . He couldn ' t report to his post . I ' m Hikaru Sulu " . " " " So , what kind of combat training do you have ? " " " " Fencing . " " " " Attention : John Harrison . This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS " Enterprise " . A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location . If you do not surrender to them immediately , I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long - range torpedoes currently locked on to your location . You have two minutes to confirm your compliance . Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration . If you test me , you will fail . " " " " Captain ' does have a nice ring to it . Chair ' s all yours , sir . " " " " That ' s one heck of a cold . " " " " You have no idea who we are , but you ' ll soon find out . " " " " Mr . Sulu . You can . . . you know . . . fly this thing , right ? " " " " You kidding me , sir ? " " Appendices . Background information . Sulu is portrayed by John Cho . When introduced in the screenplay for , Sulu was described thus ; " " At 25 , he ' s the Federation ' s best pilot . " " Also in the script , Sulu was referred to as having a PHD in astrophysics , and at one point physically fought with Kirk , grabbing his wrist when Spock was trying to eject Kirk from the " Enterprise " , although Kirk retaliated by " elbowing " Sulu . Later in the script , Sulu manually flew the " Enterprise " from its command chair ( though , as it turned out , he is not actually shown in that chair until the subsequent film , ) . When Simon Pegg was asking the principal cast of if they had any requests for their own characters , John Cho had one thing in mind for Sulu . " " I wanted Sulu to advance emotionally [ . . . ] I didn ' t ask for a shirtless scene , " " he revealed , with a laugh . ( " SFX " , issue 276 , p . 50 ) " Star Trek Beyond " writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung intended Sulu to be gay , as a nod to Prime Sulu actor George Takei . When informed by Cho of the decision , Takei said he disagreed with the idea , feeling Gene Roddenberry had intended Sulu to be straight and that they should create a new gay character . Pegg argued , " " I don ' t believe Gene Roddenberry ' s decision to make the prime timeline ' s " Enterprise " crew straight was an artistic one , more a necessity of the time . " " While Pegg agreed with Takei that it was unfortunate there hadn ' t been an LGBT character before , imagining Sulu as gay meant they had one whose sexuality was not his defining characteristic . Pegg expounded on his reasons on his blog . Takei wrote he was nevertheless " flattered " by the decision and congratulated Pegg " " on his daring and groundbreaking storytelling . While I would have gone with the development of a new character in this instance , I do fully understand and appreciate what they are doing . " " Simon Pegg said he was thankful the ensuing debate " " has never been about whether there should be an LGBT character in " Star Trek " , it ' s been about who it should be , whether it should be a new character or an existing character . " " The idea of Sulu having a daughter came as a surprise to John Cho . " " I was excited about it , in terms of giving him some personal space , " " he admitted . Cho also found that Sulu ' s plight of his work requiring him to be away from loved ones for long durations was " easy to relate to , " due to Cho ' s work as an actor demanding the same thing from him . ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 66 ) Regarding Sulu ' s homosexuality , Cho commented , " " I liked the approach , which was not to make a big thing out of it , which is where I hope we are going as a species , to not politicise one ' s personal orientations . " " Although characters intended to be Sulu ' s and daughter appear in " Star Trek Beyond " , the nature of their relationships with each other is not established on - screen , aside from evidence that they are emotionally close . Between takes during filming , John Cho often put his portrayal of Sulu on the backburner and concentrated on making others in the cast and crew laugh . " " But as soon as the director yells , ' Action ! ' he transforms back into Sulu , and does his work so beautifully and gracefully . Then , as soon as we are prepped and break , he puts his character to the side and starts joking around the set [ again ] , " " commented actress Zoë Saldana , who did find Cho " very funny . " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , p . 46 ) Though the script of " Star Trek " suggested he was born in 2233 , Sulu ' s dossier at the " Star Trek " movie app lists him as being born in 2237 , to Hosato ( father ) and Yoshiko Sulu ( mother ) . He is also established as having a brother , Aiko Sulu . Hikaru is listed as being a survivor of a Klingon attack on the colony world Ganjitsu in 2248 . He enrolled in Starfleet Academy in 2255 . According to his dossier at the official " Star Trek " movie website , as with his prime timeline counterpart , Sulu was born in San Francisco . Also referenced in the same dossier , he was top of his class in astrosciences and advanced botany , and founded Starfleet Academy ' s European Swordsmanship club . His prime counterpart was the ship ' s chief of astrosciences in TOS pilot episode before becoming the helmsman in the series proper , and had expertise ( as revealed during the course of the series ) in botany and fencing . Sulu is pictured on cards # 58 " Combat Specialist H . Sulu " and # 96 " Lieutenant H . Sulu " of the virtual collectible card battle game " " . Apocrypha . In , while confronting Kirk about how he had been able to return aboard the " Enterprise " , Sulu mentions having a doctorate in astrophysics and a master ' s certificate in interstellar navigation , not to mention having completed a wide assortment of advanced seminars in subspace theory and related disciplines , and therefore could handle whatever explanation Kirk might give – though he recants this conclusion upon hearing the truth . A sister , named , was introduced in " The Khitomer Conflict , Part 1 " , an issue of IDW Publishing ' s " " series . She was posted on the " Enterprise " as an engineering officer after serving on the " Armstrong " , and was later revealed to be a member of Section 31 . Her friend had a crush on Sulu before her death due to the destruction of Vulcan . In the " " video game , Sulu and Kirk briefly discuss friendly sparring matches they ' ve had in the past . Sulu praises the captain and delivers himself a backhanded compliment at the same time , saying Kirk almost made contact last time . In the of IDW ' s " " comic series that is set after the events of , Sulu is temporarily promoted to Commander and assigned to the USS " Concord " as First Officer serving under the alternate reality version of Captain Clark Terrell . His family joins him there . By the , following the " Concord " ' s destruction at the hands of the Borg , he is posted to the , Kirk ' s interim posting while awaiting the construction of the , as first officer .