- This page details a counterpart of James T. Kirk in the Kelvin timeline; for the James T. Kirk in the primary universe see James T. Kirk; for the James T. Kirk in the mirror universe see James T. Kirk (mirror); for the James T. Kirk in the mirror universe of the Kelvin timeline see James T. Kirk (mirror) (Kelvin timeline); for the James T. Kirk in all other alternate universes see James T. Kirk (alternates).
James Tiberius Kirk was a 23rd century Human Starfleet captain best known as the commanding officer of the Federation starship USS Enterprise. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek; TOS movie & novelization: Into Darkness)
Biography
Early life (2233-2255)
Born on stardate 2233.04, James T. Kirk was the son of George and Winona Kirk. He was born in space, aboard a medical shuttlecraft from the USS Kelvin, just moments before his father's death. He was named after his maternal grandfather (James), and his paternal grandfather (Tiberius).
Kirk grew up in Iowa on Earth, living with his mother and Uncle Frank in or near the town of Riverside. Life with Winona's brother was difficult for the family, with George Kirk's oldest son expressing frustration with "being a Kirk" in Frank's household, and leaving to live with his grandfather. Young Jim stole his father's antique automobile, which Frank had claimed as his own. Kirk drove it off a cliff, barely escaping with his life. (TOS - Operation: Annihilate comic: "Part 1"; TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek)
As a boy, Kirk enjoyed walking with his eyes closed because "It made old places feel new." Kirk first kissed a girl when he was eleven or twelve, "depending on how you technically define a 'kiss.'" He went skinny-dipping in the Riverside Quarry. (TOS - Starfleet Academy novel: The Gemini Agent)
Kirk's rebelliousness continued well into his teens and early twenties, though his academic aptitude scores were off the charts. He attended Riverside Central, where he was kicked off the basketball team in his senior year. (TOS - Starfleet Academy novel: The Gemini Agent) In 2255, Kirk attempted to pick up Starfleet Cadet Nyota Uhura at a bar, and subsequently became involved in a bar fight with four other cadets. The fight was broken up by Captain Christopher Pike. Pike, who was an admirer of Kirk's father, having written his Academy dissertation about the Kelvin, saw the troubled young man's potential as something that Starfleet needed, and encouraged him to enlist, rather than remain "the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest." Though initially refusing, Kirk reported to the Riverside Shipyard the next morning, where he met Leonard McCoy and left for Starfleet Academy. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek)
Starfleet Academy (2255-2258)
As a top-performing Academy student, Kirk was invited to participate in Advanced Tactical Training at Starfleet Command College. In summer 2255, after six months of training, Cadet Kirk was elected captain of Team Delta for the final round of ATT testing. Kirk and his Delta teammate Braxim rescued Cadet Gaila when she was attacked by the mysterious serial killer known as the Doctor. Kirk began a flirtation with a barista named Hannah, a botany grad student. Kirk saw the Doctor near the Palace of Fine Arts, but the killer moved away too fast for him to follow. When Kirk and Hannah encountered members of a gang called the Mongol Saints, Kirk used an emergency transporter band to beam Hannah to the Academy shuttle hangar while he used his Starfleet close-combat training on the gang members.
During the ATT Science mission final, Kirk realized that complex, fast-growing plants might be intelligent and ordered his team not to take samples from them. Kirk also realized that the Doctor was a scientist collecting specimens in San Francisco. Kirk's team received a positive assessment from their test's programmer - unknown to Kirk, his future colleague Commander Spock. Meanwhile, McCoy, Uhura and Dr. Patricia Park had determined that the Transamerica Pyramid was the Doctor's hideout. Kirk and McCoy entered the building's spire and battled the nanites. They were nearly killed, but the nanites retreated and left Earth after determining that "Assimilation is not advisable at this time". A few days later, Hannah invited Kirk to "study" with her at her apartment. (TOS - Starfleet Academy novel: The Delta Anomaly)
During the Academy's "dead week" in May, Kirk experienced a mysterious illness which left him with a six-hour gap in his memory. He was charged with fifteen violations of the Cadet Honor Code and became a suspect in a bizarre computerized attack on Cadet Pavel Chekov. The culprit proved to be T'Laya, a Vulcan cadet who became romantically involved with Kirk but was the agent of the Gemini Project, an initiative of the Jolan Movement on Romulus. Assigned as the first officer of the USS Farragut for the Zeta Fleet Training Exercise under the command of his nemesis, Cadet Viktor Tikhonov, Kirk followed T'Laya's suggestion to advise Tikhonov to resolve the Zeta scenario with diplomacy, allowing both sides to succeed. T'Laya said goodbye to Kirk and transported away to a Romulan science vessel. (TOS - Starfleet Academy novel: The Gemini Agent)
Kirk spent two academic quarters aboard the USS Farragut. In 2256 he earned the Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission for valor. (Star Trek (App))
Among Kirk's friends at the Academy were Gary Mitchell and Lee Kelso, who were both a year ahead of him. Mitchell helped Kirk with his homework assignments and would later claim that Kirk would never have become captain of the Enterprise without him. (TOS - Star Trek, 1st story arc comics: "Issue 1", "Issue 2")
Kirk is in trouble for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru scenario.
While in Starfleet Academy, Kirk had become friends with McCoy. By 2258, Kirk had already taken the Kobayashi Maru scenario twice and failed. He decided that he would win the third time, with McCoy curious as to how. Kirk managed to cheat the test and succeeded in winning. Spock, who programmed the "impossible" test, was angered at this.
While discussing his cheating ways with his superiors, Kirk stated he didn't believe in a no-win scenario, something his father also agreed upon. During this discussion, it was reported that Vulcan had sent a distress call, and many of the cadets were called into action, including McCoy, Spock, and Uhura, as well as Pike.
As he was under academic suspension, Kirk was not given an assignment, but McCoy injected him with a vaccine in order to give him the appearance of a disease and transfer him aboard the USS Enterprise under his medical care. Once aboard Kirk awoke during tactical officer Pavel Chekov's mission broadcast, which mentioned a "lightning storm in space" - the same thing the Kelvin had reported just before Nero's vessel had attacked it. Kirk knew something was very wrong. He escaped from Sickbay and found Uhura, who had mentioned receiving Romulan messages the night before, and presented his theory that they were jumping into a trap to Pike and Spock on the Bridge. Both were angrily dismissive of his theories at first, but Spock soon concluded that his logic was sound (for reasons not yet known to the others, he changed his mind when Uhura confirmed a crucial piece of Kirk's story), and as such Pike ordered shields raised, as they maintained course and found the rest of the fleet destroyed.
Nero spared the Enterprise but insisted that Pike board a shuttlecraft and come aboard his vessel. While in transit, Pike had Kirk, helmsman Hikaru Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson make an orbital jump to land on and disable the drill apparatus mining into the planet. He also handed over command to Spock, and left Kirk as first officer. Kirk and Sulu were able to land on the drill, fight off two Romulans, disable the drill, and be transported back to the ship.(TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek)
Marooned (2258)
Kirk just after the elder Spock's mind meld.
After Spock had the Enterprise set course to rendezvous with the remainder of the fleet instead of pursuing Nero's vessel, Kirk protested openly on the Bridge. Spock decided to have Kirk removed from not only the bridge but the ship for his actions, marooning him on Delta Vega. When McCoy insisted he could handle him, Spock replied that this could only be done by placing him in permanent stasis, and even that might not work. Kirk woke up in his pod and climbed out. He climbed out of the hole in the ice and noticed nothing around but snow, ice and coldness. After wandering, he was spotted and chased by a monster. Another, bigger monster ate that one and Kirk was chased again. He desperately tried to escape, fleeing into an ice cave, but it was all for naught: the creature moved right through the cave, knocked him down, and wrapped its tongue around his leg.
However, just as the monster prepared to pull him in, out of nowhere, someone approached it with a torch, and as Kirk looked on in shock, the creature released him and ran away. When the stranger - an elderly Vulcan - turned, he stared for a brief period before recognizing the young man as James T. Kirk, claiming to be his lifelong friend, and, most shockingly, responding to Kirk's insistence that they didn't know each other by identifying himself - as an elder Spock, and mentioning that Kirk, not "himself", would be the Captain of the Enterprise by now in his timeline. Kirk initially didn't believe a word of it, but his attitude changed after this older Spock mentioned Nero. He then mind melded with Kirk to help him explain how Nero had altered history (told that, in addition to the two of them, Dr. McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov were already on the Enterprise, he suggested that the timeline was attempting to "fix" itself), leaving Kirk emotional. Spock also told Kirk that, where he came from, the father this Kirk never knew had been his inspiration to join Starfleet, and had proudly lived to see his son command the Enterprise.
Spock advised Kirk to bring up an emotional reaction from the young Spock, showing him to be in violation of Starfleet Regulation 619 (an "emotionally compromised" commander must resign command - Spock responded to Kirk's obvious unfamiliarity with the rule by recalling that his old friend never cared about such things) in order to take control, and become the Captain of the Enterprise, as he was in the original timeline.
Kirk and Spock traveled to an outpost on the icy planet, and found a man called Montgomery Scott, "exiled" for a failed transporter experiment, who Spock recognized, knowing him from his own timeline. Using transwarp beaming (which the Scotty Spock knew had perfected in the future), Scott and Kirk beamed aboard the Enterprise, and were eventually captured by security (led by the one-time cadet who started the Iowa bar fight three years prior) on the orders of young Spock.
Taking Command (2258)
Kirk in his first moments as Captain.
With the advice of the elder Spock, Kirk provoked the young Spock to attack him by mentioning the death of his mother and the annihilation of his planet. Told that he had never loved her, Spock attacked Kirk, and though Kirk tried to defend himself, Spock got the upper hand and began strangling him. His father stopped him from killing Kirk.
Spock resigned command and after McCoy told Kirk they had no Captain and no First Officer to replace him, Kirk stepped up and took command based on Pike's orders. Kirk then decided either "we're going down or they are." Kirk was then confronted by the others on the bridge about how he had returned to the ship, but was able to convince them that the older Spock was his benefactor, and that their Spock must not know of the other's existence.
Shortly afterwords, Spock, having regained control of himself after hearing his father reveal the depth of his own love for his wife, then volunteered to go to the Narada to stop Nero, with Kirk letting him, but also stating that he would go too. Spock told Kirk that he would try to stop him with a rule, but Kirk would only just ignore it.
The Wrath of Nero (2258)
Kirk aboard the Narada.
Kirk and Spock beamed aboard Nero's ship. However, instead of beaming in with the element of surprise, they were beamed in the middle of many of Nero's men. Kirk and Spock drew their phasers and a phaser fight ensued, with Nero's men being killed.
Kirk leaps after Nero.
Kirk found Nero and a fight ensued. Nero easily overpowered him, but upon hearing that Spock had destroyed the drill furiously ran to the bridge, leaving Ayel to fight Kirk. Nero jumped from ledge to ledge and Kirk quickly jumped after him, but slid and hung onto the ledge. Ayel jumped after Kirk and picked him up by the neck, but Kirk grabbed his disruptor - offered last words, Kirk chose "I got your gun!" - and shot him in the chest, killing him.
Kirk on the bridge
Kirk found and rescued Captain Pike, who repaid his savior by taking his disruptor and gunning down two guards before they could shoot the defenseless human, and was beamed off the Narada, and back to the Enterprise where he gave Nero a chance to beam to the Enterprise and survive. After Nero refused, Kirk easily had all weapons fired and Nero was killed, along with the destruction of the Narada.
Captain of the USS Enterprise (2258-)
After the destruction of the Narada, the Enterprise returned to Earth, where Kirk would receive a promotion to Captain, and assignment as now-Admiral Pike's replacement as the commanding officer of the Enterprise. As Captain, Kirk would retain Sulu and Checkov at the helm and navigation stations, while appointing McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura as Chief Medical Officer, Chief Engineer, and Chief Communications Officer respectively. Kirk also welcomed Commander Spock's offer to remain on board as the Enterprise's First Officer. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek)
After his promotion, Kirk also called Hendorff to the conference room to apologize for insulting him. (TOS comic: "Star Trek, Issue 13")
Months after the destruction of Vulcan, the Enterprise set out on a mission to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. By this time Kirk had recruited Gary Mitchell and Lee Kelso to his crew. The ship's encounter with the force field at the edge of the galaxy mutated Mitchell into a superhuman being. Kirk attempted to maroon Mitchell on Delta Vega I, where Mitchell killed Kelso. Kirk was forced to kill Mitchell. (TOS comics: "Star Trek, Issue 1", "Star Trek, Issue 2")
While en route with medical supplies to Makus III, Kirk was forced to choose between getting the supplies to the plague-ridden colony on time, or leaving Spock, McCoy and Scott in a damaged shuttle on Taurus II. (TOS comic: "The Galileo Seven, Part 1") Fortunately, Uhura hijacked a shuttle, rescuing the stranded crew members. (TOS - The Galileo Seven comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
Landing on Deneva while investigating a historical pattern of civilizations destroyed by insanity-inducing parasites, Kirk was pleasantly surprised to be rescued from an attack by his own brother, George Samuel Kirk, Jr.. Despite some residual anger at him for leaving home, Kirk helped his brother rescue his wife and son while Scott rid Deneva of the blastoneurons. Kirk bade goodbye to his brother once again as the Enterprise traveled to deliver specimens of the parasites to Starbase 10. (TOS - Operation: Annihilate comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
When the Enterprise crew received a distress call from a Vulcan science ship, one of the attackers escaped with a hostage. He then contacted the Enterprise informing them that he was a survivor of the Narada, and had stolen a red matter sample recovered by the Vulcan scientists, intending to sell it to the Romulan Star Empire. Kirk made the decision to breach the Romulan Neutral Zone and pursue the hostage taker. After being arrested by the Romulans, Kirk tried to explain to the Romulan Senate what happened, but they did not believe him. However, Spock, disguised as a Narada miner, learned the kidnapping was a Vulcan plot to infiltrate the Empire and detonate red matter on Romulus. After the truth was revealed and the plot foiled, Kirk was allowed to return to his ship while the Romulans kept the red matter. (TOS - Vulcan's Vengeance comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
Returning to Earth after the incident, Kirk chose to detour at Beta III to investigate the story of the Archon that he had heard from a professor. Sulu and O'Neill were sent to a human settlement, but after losing contact with them in an attack, Kirk beamed down. After being attacked by the Lawgivers and discovering their god Landru was a computer from the Archon, McCoy took him to a woman named Ariel who revealed the truth of Landru's Federation origins. Scott disabled the computer, freeing the planet's inhabitants from its control. Afterwards Kirk contacted Pike, who promised to send aid to the colonists. (TOS - The Return of the Archons comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
2259
Investigating Klingon activity on Iota Geminorum IV, Kirk and Spock fought off the tribbles' natural predators as Scott and Chekov worked to disable a bomb, all while almost being suffocated by the fast-replicating furry animals. Returning to the Enterprise, Kirk was informed by Pike that San Francisco was overrun by tribbles: Scott explained he had sent the one from Delta Vega back to his nephew Chris. After Spock deduced cold temperatures prevented the tribbles from reproducing, the infestation in ship's engineering and on Earth was contained. (TOS - The Truth About Tribbles comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
Kirk was ordered to make contact with the indigenous people of Gamma Trianguli VI. He managed to reason with the locals and prevented his away team from dying of poison, lightning strikes, stepping on mines or being eaten by the natives. (TOS comic: "IDW Star Trek, Issue 13")
Other events
Kirk commanded the Enterprise in battle against Cardassian, Romulan and Klingon forces while traveling through their respective areas of space. (ST video game: The Mobile Game)
- The exact timing of the game's events is not given.
Gorn Encounter
On Stardate 2259.32, the Enterprise received a distress call from a space station harvesting the power of a binary star. There was too much interference to beam the crew aboard, so Kirk and Spock took a shuttle to rescue the crew. They encountered T'Mar, a childhood friend of Spock, who explained that they were gathering energy to power the Helios device, which would speed up the terraforming of New Vulcan, but unwittingly opened a rip in space. Beaming to New Vulcan, Kirk and Spock met with T'Mar's father Surok, who explained that the station's power from the base was lost after they were attacked by creatures - who called themselves the Gorn - from the Rip. Kirk and Spock entered the locked-down sections of the base to recover the infected survivors, but were unable to stop the Gorn from stealing the Helios device and kidnapping Surok.
On stardate 2259.33 Kirk opted to take the infected personnel to a nearby starbase instead of pursuing the Gorn Commander's ship through the Rip. At the starbase, Kirk, Spock, and T'Mar met with Commodore Daniels, who implied he gave T'Mar the specifications for the device as he knew it would create a wormhole. Suddenly, the Gorn attacked the starbase and kidnapped T'Mar. Just as he was about to be beamed back aboard the Enterprise, Spock tackled the Gorn Henchman, bringing him aboard the ship. Kirk and Spock pursued him to the shuttlebay before he could commandeer a shuttle. Spock mind-melded with the Henchman, learning Surok was killed after confessing he had no insight into the device, but that his daughter would. Kirk had the Henchman imprisoned.
Kirk resolved to enter the Rip. After the Enterprise entered the Gorn's galaxy, Kirk and Spock took a shuttle with Sulu and McCoy to a nearby planet. When their shuttle was shot down, Kirk and Spock used wingsuits to glide to a Gorn outpost and blow it up before infiltrating a base to rescue T'Mar. They found Daniels, who was killed in an ensuing firefight. The Gorn brought Kirk and Spock to the Gorn Commander, who had them taken to an arena to fight his soldiers to the death. Angered by their besting of his champion, the Gorn Commander had Spock infected to fight Kirk to the death. Suddenly, Sulu's shuttle arrived and McCoy shot Spock with a finished antidote, while the Commander fled to his ship with T'Mar and the device.
The shuttle returned to the Enterprise, which had been taken over by the Gorn. Kirk and Spock space-dived to engineering and beamed McCoy and Sulu back on board. They helped Scotty and Keenser reactivate the warp cores, and restored power to sickbay so McCoy could replicate more of the antidote for airborne dispersal. Kirk and Spock headed to the bridge where the Henchman was holding Uhura hostage, demanding Kirk give them control of the ship. Kirk responded by directing their shuttle to crash into the viewscreen, decompressing the Gorn into space.
With only an hour before the Rip would close, Kirk and Spock space-dived to the Gorn Commander's ship, where they disabled the targeting platform to give the Enterprise a fighting chance, and entered the core where T'Mar and the device were being held. Kirk and Spock destroyed the device, defeated the Commander, and were beamed back to the Enterprise with T'Mar. The Enterprise warped back to the Milky Way Galaxy before the Rip closed. In his captain's log, Kirk stated that T'Mar had recovered enough to continue working on New Vulcan, and the Enterprise had been ordered to survey the planet Nibiru. (TOS video game: Star Trek))
Encounter with April
En route to Nibiru, Admiral Marcus recalled the Enterprise to do a survey of Phaedus IV. When they arrived at Phaedus, the Enterprise detected a energy field originating. Kirk, knowing that a civilization at the level of the Roman Empire never shot a energy field into space, decided to investigate this to find out who did this and why. Kirk took Spock, Sulu, and Hendorff to investigate it. As their shuttle descended, it came under fire and was forced to crash land. Kirk and the others survived the crash. Kirk then went with spock to look around. They were then surrounded by Phaedans armed and equipped with starfleet equipment and weapons. Kirk then met a man who said he was Robert April, former captain of the USS Enterprise.
At first, Kirk did not believe that he was not Captain April and that he and his fellow Phaedans shot him down. When they came underfire, Kirk and Spock followed him into a cave. Kirk was then briefly taken by April who used it to seal the cave. Kirk did not trust April, despite him giving his phaser back. April then told them that the rulers of the planet attacked them. Kirk then demanded to know why Starfleet thinks he's dead. April just assured him that he was on his side in a funny way as Kirk saw it. When they got to April's home, Kirk demanded to know the truth about April. After April told Kirk how he save the few white Phaedans from the Shadow Phaedans, April asked Kirk about his relationship with his first officer Spock. Kirk told him that it was evolving, to which Spock concur. Kirk was then showed the Shadow's army by April and was told that Sulu and Hendorff were their prisoners. Kirk, angry about April lying to him and losing his mind, promised that after his men were resuced, he would take him to San Francisco to a holding cell.
When Spock ran off to resuce Sulu and Hendorff, Kirk grabbed a phaser rifle and decided to go after him, ignoring April's advice. Kirk then met up with Uhura and April's supplier, Mudd. Kirk then went with Uhura to rescue Spock, Sulu, and Hendorff. Kirk then took April and Mudd up to the Enterprise. Kirk then told April that he would honor his request for food and supplies to help the white Phaedans, knowing that the Shadows were being supported by the Klingons. Kirk was told that April kept this from this because he needed their help. Following their discussion, Kirk ordered April and Mudd to Sickbay to chek on their health. Kirk then talked to spock about his behavior, which has been seen as suicidal since Vulcan's destruction. Kirk says that fine, but should he take unwarranted action again, Kirk would assign him to the boring-est assignment at Starfleet HQ. Kirk decide to forgo punishment, knowing that Uhura would carry it out for him. Kirk then went to sickbay, but April and Mudd was not there. Kirk, Spock and the crew were locked off from bridge, when April initiated Protocol 31, putting the Enterprise under his command. Kirk then tried to convince April to stop or he would risk starting a war with the Klingons.
When April refused, Kirk, Spock, and Scotty then attempted to take control of the Enterprise back. Kirk and Spock then used the Jeffries tubes to reach the bridge. En route to the bridge, Kirk and Spock were separated when April blocked the jeffries tubes. Kirk then met up with the Uhura, McCoy and the rest of the crew in a room. Kirk then saw a Klingon warship. Just as that happened, Scotty was to turn off and reset the Enterprise. Kirk and Spock were then able to subdue April and Mudd. Kirk was then able to take command back and escape before Commander Kor sent boarding parties. Kirk then questioned April about him trading the Enterprise and it's crew to the Klingons for Governorship of Phaedus. Following that, Kirk saw that April was right about his actions.(TOS - Countdown to Darkness comics: "Issue 1", "Issue 2", "Issue 3", "Issue 4")
Encounter with Khan
James T. Kirk in 2259
In 2259, the Enterprise was ordered to the planet Nibiru to observe a primitive civilization. Kirk violated the Prime Directive by exposing the Enterprise's existence to the planet's natives in order to rescue Spock from a volcano, and after the Enterprise returned to Earth, Kirk was demoted to first officer for his actions and Pike was reinstated as commander of the Enterprise, all on the orders of Admiral Alexander Marcus. Following an attack on a secret Section 31 facility in London by John Harrison, Kirk and Pike attended a meeting at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. During the meeting, Kirk began to wonder why anyone would attack the facility, and realized that it was to cause the meeting to take place. Harrison attacked the meeting, killing Admiral Pike and then escaping, despite Kirk destroying his fighter. Marcus then placed Kirk back in command of the Enterprise and ordered Kirk to kill Harrison, who had fled to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS, with 72 long range photon torpedoes.
Khan in 2259
Despite his orders, Kirk was convinced to capture Harrison and bring him to justice rather than kill him, so he led Spock and Uhura to Qo'noS to capture Harrison. Upon arrival, the group was attacked by Klingons, but rescued by Harrison. When Harrison learned the Enterprise had exactly 72 torpedoes pointed at the planet, he immediately surrendered to Kirk. Returning to the Enterprise, Harrison revealed his true identity as Khan, a genetically engineered superhuman who was awakened from his nearly 300-year-long period of suspended animation by Admiral Marcus to develop advanced weapons for a possible future war between the Federation and the Klingons. The torpedoes were found to contain cryogenic pods with Khan's colleagues inside.
The Enterprise was soon intercepted by an unmarked Federation warship, the USS Vengeance, designed by Khan and commanded by Admiral Marcus. Marcus demanded that Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refused. The Enterprise attempted to warp to Earth, but was attacked by the Vengeance mid-warp. With the Enterprise severely damaged, Kirk offered to hand over Khan and the 72 cryogenic pods in exchange for the lives of his crew. Marcus refused, revealing that it was his intention all along to destroy the Enterprise. The Vengeance prepared to open fire, but suffered a power outage caused by Scott, who had infiltrated the ship after following coordinates given to Kirk by Khan. Kirk allied himself with Khan and boarded the Vengeance, where they took control of the bridge. Feeling Khan to be untrustworthy, Kirk and Scott tried to incapacitate him but were overpowered. Khan then killed Admiral Marcus and took control of the Vengeance.
Khan negotiated with Spock, beaming Kirk and his boarding party back to the Enterprise in exchange for the 72 torpedoes but planning to destroy the Enterprise. Spock instead beamed armed torpedoes to the Vengeance, keeping the cryo-pods on the Enterprise. The torpedoes incapacitated the Vengeance, and both damaged starships started descending towards Earth. Kirk managed to realign the Enterprise's warp core, enabling the crew to regain control of the vessel, but suffered fatal radiation poisoning in the process and died. Khan intentionally crashed the Vengeance into San Francisco, where Spock pursued him on foot. McCoy realized that Khan's blood contained regenerative properties that could reanimate Kirk. McCoy ordered Kirk to be immediately cryogenically frozen in order to preserve his brain function. Meanwhile, Uhura aided Spock in subduing Khan. Kirk was then healed with Khan's blood and returned to active duty. (TOS movie & novelization: Star Trek Into Darkness)
Kirk and Spock then attended Khan's trial, acting as adjunct counsel. Kirk then gave an opening statement at Khan's trial. (TOS - Khan comic: "Number One")
A year later, Kirk spoke with April about his, Section 31's, Marcus's, and Khan's plan to start a war with the Klingon Empire. April warned Kirk that the Federation could not peacefully coexist with the Klingons and that Khan was just the start of their plans. (TOS - After Darkness comic: "Part 3")
A week after the encounter with April, Kirk presided over the rechristening of a restored Enterprise. (TOS movie & novelization: Into Darkness)
Five-year mission
The ship departed for the first five-year mission of exploration ever attempted by Starfleet. Soon, Kirk was force to change course to New Vulcan to help Spock with his Pon farr. (TOS movie & novelization: Star Trek Into Darkness, TOS - After Darkness comic: "Part 1")
The Enterprise at Parthenon 559.
Kirk was then sent to investigate a distress call from a Federation mining team on Parthenon 559. Kirk and his landing party then found that the miners had stumbled across Gorn and attacked them, leading to a brutal retaliation from the Gorn. (TOS comic: "Star Trek, Issue 24")
Kirk then took the Enterprise to Deep Space K-11 in 2261, to give his crew a chance to contact their families before starting the five year mission. Before leaving, Kirk brought aboard Sulu's sister, Yuki to the Enterprise. However, as the mission started, the Enterprise intercepted a distress call from the Klingon colony on Khitomer. Kirk then decided to investigate, seeing it as the chance to extend a olive branch of peace to the klingons. Kirk then led the landing party to search for survivors. However, Kirk and the landing party were then captured by the Klingons. Kirk was then brutally interrogated by Commander Kor, who refused believe his mission was just to catch Khan. Kirk was then taken to Qo'nos. (TOS - The Khitomer Conflict comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
Later that year, following an encounter with an anomaly referred to as a "quantum storm," the Enterprise was transported to an alternate reality and met a female version of himself named Jane Tiberia Kirk. Aside from her gender and the fact that he lost her mother rather than her father as an infant, the female Kirk's life closely paralleled his own. (TOS - Parallel Lives comic: "Part 2")
Encounter with Q
Kirk meeting Q.
On stardate 2261.34, while using the turbolift to reach the bridge, Kirk encountered a man who he had never seen before. After the man mentioned that Kirk's Enterprise design is much better than "the beige look", Kirk becomes confused as to his meaning and continues to the bridge. Q then summoned a civilian ship, the Smallwood, and five Klingon warships to test Kirk and his crew. However, Lieutenant Uhura was able to discover that it was an illusion. Q then applauded Uhura's actions. Q then domonstrated his powers by allowing things to phase through him and then talk to Kirk on the Enterprise's hull about his belief in "no-win scenarios". Q then showed Kirk the day he died in the warp core. Kirk, his crew and the ship were then pushed 108 years into future, to Terok Nor.
Kirk, his crew, and the Enterprise were then taken prisoner by Dominion's Jem'Hadar troops. (TOS - The Q Gambit comics: "Part 1", "Part 2")
Starfleet service record
| location | assignment | dates | rank or rate | assignment insignia | rank insignia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starfleet Academy | student officer | 2255-2258 | cadet |  |
|
| USS Enterprise | junior officer | 2258 | lieutenant |  |
|
| acting first officer | |||||
| acting commanding officer | |||||
| commanding officer | 2258-2259 | captain | 
| ||
| first officer | 2259 | commander | 
| ||
| commanding officer | from 2259 | captain |
|
Appendices
Connections
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_meets_Q.jpg){kind=link}
| USS Enterprise (Kelvin timeline NCC-1701) personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
0718 • Amos • Boma • Chapel • Chapin • Chekov • Cordry • Mae Darwin • Froman • Gaetano • Galliulin • Hannity • Hawkins • Hendorff • Jae • Jeanine • Jin • Kai • Keenser • Kelso • Kirk • Kyle • Latimer • Leslie • Madeline • Marcus • Martine • McCoy • McKenna • Moto • Mitchell • Olson • Pike • Puri • Rand • Satine • Scott • Sir Olden • Spock • H. Sulu • Y. Sulu • Syl • Tomlinson • Tyvanna • Uhura • Wadjet • Zahra • unnamed USS Enterprise (Kelvin timeline NCC-1701) personnel |
|
| see also: • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel • roster | ||
| USS Farragut personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| USS Farragut (NCC-1647) | Akanke • Ayers • K. Bogle • A. Chenowyth • Crane • A. Drake • Galt • Garrovick • Gilhooley • Hasegawa • T. Kegin • Hellund • Kelly • Keyes • J.T. Kirk • Konerko • V. Leigh • McKone • G. Mitchell • F. Morgan • D. Morwood • Ojibwe • Pavano • Piniella • Poquette • N. Rabin • Smiley • L.H. Styles • Tolan • Vosberg • Yu • unnamed personnel |   
|
| USS Farragut (NCC-1729) | Bogle • P. Ellis • J. Gustavus • Phillips • R. Lee • D. Rodrieguez after being renamed USS Centurion: G. Aldus • J. Apius • C. Caecus • M. Secondus • L. Sejanus • J. Sicania • M. Volcinius | |
| USS Farragut (NCC-2582) | W. Ross | |
| USS Farragut (Kelvin timeline) |
J.T. Kirk • S. Garrovick • N. Uhura |
|
Background information
| This section is written from the Real World point of view. |
 |
- James T. Kirk was portrayed by american actor Chris Pine in Star Trek in 2009 and Into Darkness in 2013.
- James T. Kirk as a child was played by Jimmy Bennett.
Appearances
2233-55
2256 2258
2259
2260 2261 |
External link
- James T. Kirk (Kelvin timeline) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.