I Thought Jean-Luc Picard Was The Borg Queen's Greatest Rival, But Another Star Trek Captain Proved Me Wrong

The Borg are one of the most terrifying antagonists ever created by Star Trek, and they really had the chance to shine in Star Trek: Voyager. The hordes of drones, incapable of individual thought, are in many ways the anti-Federation, where everything that makes cultures unique is homogenized in services of the Collective. And yet, Star Trek's Borg Queen (Alice Krige, Susanna Thompson, Annie Wersching, and Jane Seymour) has served as the sole individual in the Collective – the face of the faceless Collective. The Borg in Star Trek declare that "resistance is futile," and nine times out of ten, they're right.

Nevertheless, multiple Starfleet captains have proven that they can, in fact, resist the overwhelming force of the Collective. Captain and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard had a long history of battling the Borg Queen and the Collective, helping to finally destroy the Borg in Star Trek: Picard. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) also did extensive battle with the Borg while stranded in the Delta Quadrant, developing a personal enmity with the Borg Queen. Both Captain Janeway and Admiral Picard had both personal and military victories over the Borg Queen, but only one of them was the greatest foe she ever faced.

Captain Janeway Was The Borg Queen’s Real Greatest Enemy

Admiral Picard May Have Killed The Borg Queen, But Admiral Janeway Made That Victory Possible

While both Captain Janeway and Admiral Picard dealt immense damage to the Borg Queen and to the Collective, the destruction Captain Janeway unleashed on the Borg was utterly unparalleled. Part of what makes the Borg such formidable antagonists is the sheer impossibility of facing them in battle.

At the battle of Wolf 359, for example, one Borg cube destroyed thirty-nine Starfleet vessels. But, in the Star Trek: Voyager episodes, "Scorpion," Captain Janeway managed to successfully negotiate with the Collective. When she met the Borg Queen in "Dark Frontier," Captain Janeway successfully rescued Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) from within the Queen's inner chambers. Moments like these are part of what makes Captain Janeway one of the best Captains in Star Trek, and I never tire of rewatching these episodes.

But Captain Janeway's greatest victory over the Borg Queen came in the final episodes of Voyager, "Endgame." In "Endgame," a time-traveling Admiral Janeway dealt an absolutely devastating blow to the Collective while working with the captain. Admiral Janeway unleashed a nanovirus into the Collective through the Borg Queen directly, while Captain Janeway collapsed the Borg system of transwarp corridors. These two blows may not have ended the Collective in an instant, but they certainly signed its death warrant. Admiral Janeway's virus prevented the Collective from assimilating new drones and sent the Collective down the slow path to destruction.

Why Janeway Was A Better Rival For The Borg Queen Than Picard

She Did More Damage With Worse Odds

Of course, Admiral Picard was no slouch when facing the Borg Queen himself. The Borg queen was capable of uploading her consciousness into different bodies when one vessel was destroyed, and Jean-Luc Picard destroyed the vessels of several Borg Queens. In both Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Picard, Admiral Picard killed two different incarnations of the Borg Queen. Captain Janeway, by contrast, only killed one in Voyager's "Endgame." To a casual observer, this would seem to suggest that Admiral Picard was the bigger threat, but his ultimate victory over the Collective was only possible because of Captain Janeway.

Admiral Janeway's nanovirus is what weakened the collective enough that killing the Borg Queen destroyed the Collective. The Collective were a threat in Picard, but nowhere near as much as they had been in any earlier Star Trek installments. When Captain Janeway faced down the Borg Queen, she was the leader of a lone starship pitted against the Collective at its full power. The two times Jean-Luc Picard faced the Borg Queen, he was supported by the Federation and, in the second instance, facing only the weakened vestiges of the Borg.

Any way you look at it, Captain Janeway dealt more damage to the Borg with fewer resources than Admiral Picard. Despite impossible odds and a personal enmity with one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy, Captain Janway was triumphant time and time again. For this reason, Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway was the greatest rival the Borg Queen ever faced.