Carol Marcus (Star Trek)

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Carol Marcus
Species:	Human
Gender:	Female
Home planet:	Unknown
Affiliation:	Starfleet
Posting:	Project Genesis leader aboard space station Regula 1
Portrayed by:	Bibi Besch

In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Dr. Carol Marcus was one of the leading molecular biologists in the Federation. She was a major character in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and was portrayed by Bibi Besch.

[edit] Overview

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Carol devoted her life to her research. In the early 2260’s Carol became involved with a young Starfleet officer named James T. Kirk, and in 2261 she gave birth to their son, David Marcus. However, she felt that they had no basis for a lasting relationship, with Kirk traveling around the universe while she worked in a lab, so she asked that Kirk leave her alone to raise the boy. That they both cared more for their careers than they did for each other was never disputed, but Kirk was still deeply hurt at being asked to have no part in his son's life. As Carol saw it, she and Kirk lived in entirely different worlds, and she wanted her son to be raised in hers.

Carol continued with her work. She enjoyed much success, and in 2284 she proposed the most ambitious and potentially dangerous of her plans to the Federation: Project Genesis. Once her proposal was accepted for Federation funding, she began a three-stage development process, accompanied by a highly skilled team of scientists which included her son, Dr. David Marcus.

She and her team made remarkable progress and by 2285 they were ready to try out their new invention. However, before they could find a suitable planet on which to test the Genesis Device, Khan Noonien Singh and his band of “supermen” intervened, bringing Kirk back into her and David’s life.

Though she didn’t share her son’s mistrust of Starfleet, she was incensed when told that her project and all her files were to be taken by the crew of the USS Reliant, under orders of the new Admiral Kirk. She was determined to fight this unexpected incursion into her territory, though she was willing to give her former lover the benefit of the doubt. When it turned out to be Khan, not Kirk, who stole the Genesis Device, she gratefully accepted Kirk’s assistance.

Throughout the quest to save the device from Khan’s evil plans, it was apparent that, although Carol Marcus still felt affection for Kirk, and vice versa, her true love was her work. Even as havoc was erupting all around, she gazed on the glory of the Genesis Planet forming exactly as her specifications and years of research had indicated it would. The Genesis Project appeared to be a success, and her pride in her work was unmistakable.

The encounter with Khan gave Carol the opportunity to tell David who his father was and to mend some old wounds between her and Kirk.

Carol does not appear in the next Trek film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock so her fate is unknown. It has been postulated in the Genesis Wave series of books that Carol Marcus lived into the 2370s, concealed on a distant planet out of fear of what could happen if her knowledge fell into the wrong hands. She was abducted by a race of sentient plantlife, which made her hallucinate that Kirk and David were still alive and tricked her into building a Genesis device that released a wave of energy across space, terraforming planets in its path into something that could be inhabitated by their species.

Fortunately, the wave was thwarted by the efforts of Starfleet after Geordi La Forge was able to come up with a plan to cancel it out, and Marcus was able to throw off her captors' conditioning after she caught a cold, their systems somehow being weakened by her disease. She, along with Maltz (A member of the Klingon crew who were sent to the Genesis Planet in The Search for Spock), then destroyed the station they were on to prevent the release of a new Genesis Wave, finally departing to the peace and reward that had so long been denied to them.

[edit] Trivia

In the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, it's mentioned in passing that Kirk had a fling with a "little blonde lab technician." Kirk's best friend, Gary Mitchell, had set them up - he "outlined her whole campaign for her." Kirk, learning that it was Mitchell who set the whole thing up, exclaimed "I almost married her!" Some fans have speculated that this technician could be Carol Marcus.