Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes : 10 Things We Want To See

Occasionally a comic comes along and you’re utterly astonished that no one’s done it before. Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes is just that kind of comic. I mean, consider this: the crew of the Enterprise have met the X-Men — THE X-MEN — but have never crossed-paths with the Legion? Doesn’t that seem wrong, somehow?

Thankfully, the fine folks at IDW Publishing and DC Comics have teamed-up to remedy this with a six-issue mini-series, and they’ve put writer Chris Roberson and brother artists Jeff and Phillip Moy at the helm.

We absolutely loved the first issue! And what with all the juxtaposing of Trek and Legion lore, it really got us to thinking about all the stuff that could happen in the series and how cool it could be.

With that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of 10 things we’d like to see in Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes. Beam down after the jump and see for yourself.

1) Super Karate vs. Kirk Fu

In the 31st Century, Val Armorr AKA “Karate Kid” is the universe’s greatest martial artist, having mastered ALL of the martial arts by the time he was a teenager. This guy has triple black belts in martial arts forms that you’ve never even heard of, okay? Where talking about a guy who managed to once use a possessed Mon-El’s own momentum against him to toss him half way across the galaxy. K-squared over here skipped completely past “wax on, wax off” and went straight to “Hey, so how do I chop a planet in half?”

This guy’s no joke.

But then again, James Tiberious Kirk has a martial art actually named after him, so there’s that.

Nevertheless, if these two end up coming to blows in ST/LSH, our money’s on Karate Kid. But we kind of hope Kirk’s able to at least get in one of his patented off-the-wall-back-leg-to-the-face move as seen in the video below at 00:18.

2) Uhura meets Tyroc

In many ways, Lt. Nyota Uhura is the character who most effectively captures the multicultural message of Star Trek. In a time when there were very few African American women on television, and certainly none in a position of high regard, Nichelle Nichols’ depiction of Uhura blazed a trail for all women of color who would follow.

And then there’s Tyroc. Debuting in 1976, Tyroc is the first Earth-born Legionnaire of color. Sounds okay so far, right? Well, in his first appearance we discover that in the 30th Century, all the black people have relocated to a magic island called Marzal that only appears for a couple years at a time. Sort of a Wakanda meets Brigadoon situation.

Marzal was originally conceived as a way of explaining why there had been very few people of color shown in the Legion up to that point. Unfortunately, it’s reason for being doesn’t change the fact that it does the exact opposite of Star Trek and shows a future people separated by their differences instead of united in their equality.

You know these two would have a lot to talk about, and we don’t mean just about leg-grooming. It would make one hell of a scene — Uhura finding out about Marzal and taking Tyroc aside to give him a piece of her mind.

3) Sun Eater vs. The Doomsday Machine

While Uhura / Tyroc illustrates an obvious difference in the two franchises, because the science fiction zeitgeist of the previous decades inspired so much of what both Legion and Star Trek do in the 60s, it’s no surprise they have more similarities than differences.

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Take the Sun Eater and the Doomsday Machine for example. Both are enormous, seemingly unstoppable, artificially-designed planet-killers set loose on the universe. Both debuted in 1967 — the Sun Eater in Adventure Comics #352, and DM in the Trek episode appropriately titled “The Doomsday Machine.” And both of the stories each is most associated with feature someone sacrificing themselves to stop the weapon.

We can’t help but think it’d be pretty awesome to see these two planetary threats paired up and set loose on the guys they nearly defeated on their own the first time around.

4) Khunds meet Klingons

The Khunds are a violent and warlike race of conquerors that first appeared in Adventure Comics # 346 (1966), almost an entire year before the Klingons debuted in the classic Trek episode, “Errand of Mercy.”

Both the Legion and the Enterprise have had their fair share of trouble with these jerks on their own. Imagine how hard things would get if the Klingons formed an alliance with the Khunds.

5) Scotty and Ultra Boy in a drinking contest

As the Legion’s resident bad boy, Ultra Boy has done his fair share booze-guzzling over the years. And when you take into account that he has nearly the same power-set as Superboy — his limitation being he can only use one ability at a time — he makes for a formidable opponent no matter what the case.

Unless, of course, it happens to be a case of scotch whiskey.

Let’s face it, Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott is good at just about two things: keeping the Enterprise running and knocking back scotch. And you know he’s done both at the same time.

6) Spock vs. Brainiac 5

One’s an emotionless Vulcan Science officer; the other’s a teen from Colu with a twelfth level intelligence. Neither is exactly what you might call warm and fuzzy.

Considering these fan-favorites have already been featured on their own variant cover, it’s a safe bet we’ll be seeing these two go head-to-head at some point. And really, won’t you feel just a little bit cheated if they don’t at least sit down for an intense game of Tri-D Chess.

7) Legion of Super-Tribbles

This, of course, needs no explanation.

8) Kirk “meets” Shadow Lass…