Star Trek’s Most Underrated Villain Was RoboCop

Peter Weller is Star Trek's most underrated actor who played villains, despite his major roles in Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek Into Darkness. Weller is a Saturn Award-nominated actor who may be best known for playing RoboCop in Paul Verhoeven's 1987 sci-fi classic and its 1990 sequel, RoboCop 2. Weller is Academy Award-nominated for his 1993 short film, Partners, and Peter has appeared in over 70 films and TV series, including Dexter, Longmire, and Sons of Anarchy.

Star Trek boasts a cavalcade of diabolical villains throughout its nearly 60-year history of TV series and movies. Peter Weller has crossed over into both. Weller was the final big bad of Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 before Enterprise's hated series finale, "These Are The Voyages...", which was about Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Eight years later, Peter Weller made the jump to the big screen for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness. Yet Weller's two villains aren't as highly-regarded as other Star Trek adversaries.

Star Trek’s Most Underrated Villain Is Robocop Star Peter Weller

Weller Played Villains In Star Trek: Enterprise & Star Trek Into Darkness

Peter Weller was a casting coup for Star Trek: Enterprise season 4's villain, John Frederick Paxton. In Star Trek: Enterprise season 4's two-parter, "Demons" and "Terra Prime," Paxton was the leader of a xenophobic faction of humanity named Terra Prime. Paxton's goal was to expel all extraterrestrials from Earth to preserve humanity's "purity." To prove his point, Paxton cloned a child from the DNA of Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), in a failed attempt to show that Vulcans and humans aren't meant to procreate.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, Peter Weller played Admiral Alexander Marcus, the commander-in-chief of Starfleet. Marcus was perhaps an even bigger threat than Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), the genetically engineered villain whom the Admiral manipulated in order to militarize Starfleet and start a forever war with the Klingons. Admiral Marcus was so twisted, he was willing to destroy the USS Enterprise to achieve his goal, horrifying his own daughter, Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve).

In both Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek Into Darkness, Peter Weller's villainous characters failed to realize their master plans. The crew of Captain Jonathan Archer's (Scott Bakula) NX-01 Enterprise stopped Terra Prime, while Admiral Marcus was gruesomely murdered by Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. Yet Weller's John Paxton and Admiral Marcus were a cut above other Star Trek villains in malevolent ambition.

Why Peter Weller Isn’t Remembered As A Great Star Trek Villain

Weller Contributions To Star Trek Aren't Lauded Like They Should Be

Peter Weller is a top-level guest star who is sci-fi royalty thanks to RoboCop, yet he's often overlooked or forgotten for his Star Trek villain roles. In the case of his role as John Frederick Paxton, Weller joined Star Trek: Enterprise in its waning days. Despite finding its creative footing under showrunner Manny Coto, Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 was a canceled show that was never the ratings juggernaut or as popular as its Star Trek series predecessors. Weller's work on Star Trek: Enterprise hasn't been as widely seen, even by Star Trek fans.Star Trek Into Darkness wasn't as well received by audiences or critics as J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009). Peter Weller's role as Admiral Marcus was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Benedict Cumberbatch's role as Khan, and other issues with the film rehashing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Peter Weller's performances in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: Enterprise are both powerful and effective, but sadly, it seems they are both reflected by how T'Pol condemned John Frederick Paxton: "You're not significant."