Star Trek Into Darkness is a 2013 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof.

Set in the 23rd century, the film follows Kirk and the crew of USS Enterprise as they are sent to the Klingon homeworld seeking a former Starfleet member-turned-terrorist, John Harrison.

In 2259, Captain James T. Kirk is removed from command of the starship USS Enterprise for violating the Prime Directive by revealing the ship to the primitive inhabitants of the planet Nibiru in order to save them, and Spock, from a cataclysmic volcanic eruption.

During an emergency meeting on the situation, Harrison uses a ship to ambush and kill Pike and other senior officers, before transporting to Kronos, homeworld of the hostile Klingons.

Harrison is taken to Enterprise's brig, where he reveals his true identity as Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered superhuman who was awoken by Admiral Marcus from centuries of sleep and forced to develop advanced weapons after threatening to kill his crew, whom he smuggled into the torpedos.

In June 2008, it was reported that Paramount Pictures was interested in signing J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the producers of the 2009 Star Trek film, for a sequel.

[36] Although a script was completed, uncertainty regarding the extent of Abrams's involvement led to the film's being pushed back six months from its scheduled June 2012 release.

[44] Lindelof said that Khan was considered a character they needed to use at some point, given that "he has such an intense gravity in the Trek universe, we likely would have expended more energy NOT putting him in this movie than the other way around."

References to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were eventually added to the script, but Lindelof, Orci, and Kurtzman "were ever wary of the line between 'reimagined homage' and 'direct ripoff'.

Orci noted that when trying to create the "gigantic imagery" required by a summer blockbuster, Kurtzman suggested a scene where Enterprise rose from the ocean.

With that as a starting point they (and Lindelof) came up with the cold open in Nibiru, which blended action and comedy and was isolated from the main story in an homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

On April 24, 2013, it was announced that British singer Bo Bruce and Irish songwriter Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol had collaborated on a song for the film's soundtrack entitled "The Rage That's In Us All".

[81] One story told by cast members during the promotion concerned an on-set prank initially devised by Pegg, which he later noted grew out of proportion.

While filming at the National Ignition Facility, Pegg and Pine (with the crew's help) tricked the arriving actors into believing there was "ambient radiation" at the location and they had to wear "neutron cream" to avoid being burned by it.

[87] On May 14, Abrams, Zachary Quinto, Pine, and Alice Eve appeared on The Urgant Show (Russian: Вечерний Ургант) in Russia.

As part of a contest Abrams designed after the release of Super 8 (2011), the prize for answering a series of questions would be walk-on roles for two people in Into Darkness.

"[109] Weeks after posting his article, Hunt himself was invited by Paramount to discuss about the issue of giving away the film's special features to different retail partners.

He suggested "[putting] together the true special edition that should have been delivered from the start, with all of the extras that got scattered around to different retailers, including the enhanced audio commentary, plus all-new content just for this release... [and] to consider offering the IMAX version of the film ..."[110] Into Darkness earned $13.5 million on its opening day in the United States and Canada, lower than Star Trek's $30.9 million.

[113] Into Darkness reached the top spot of China's box office with a $25.8 million gross, tripling the overall earnings of the previous film during its opening weekend.

[114] Star Trek Into Darkness ended its North American theatrical run on September 12, 2013, with a box office total of $228,778,661, which places it as the 11th highest-grossing film for 2013.

[4] Scott Mendelson of Forbes contends that the film's box office performance was the result of Paramount's inability to sell the basic components of the film's story, and inclusion of Khan "for little reason other than marketability and then spent the next year or so lying to everyone and claiming said villain wasn't in the picture [...] With no added value elements to sell, Paramount was forced to craft a generic campaign based around Benedict Cumberbatch as "Generic Bad Guy", so the excitement never took hold [...] This was adding to the idea that merely withholding basic story elements is tantamount to promising stunning plot twists [...] and it made fans and general moviegoers less excited about Star Trek 2 than they were four, three, or even two years ago.

The site's consensus reads, "Visually spectacular and suitably action packed, Star Trek Into Darkness is a rock-solid installment in the venerable sci-fi franchise, even if it's not as fresh as its predecessor.

[122] Cumberbatch's performance attracted praise from critics, with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calling it a "tour de force to reckon with" and his character "a villain for the ages".

[124] Jonathan Romney of The Independent noted Cumberbatch's voice, saying it was "so sepulchrally resonant that it could have been synthesised from the combined timbres of Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Alan Rickman holding an elocution contest down a well".

Scott dismissed the film in The New York Times: "It's uninspired hackwork, and the frequent appearance of blue lens flares does not make this movie any more of a personal statement".

Just by putting the same words in different characters' mouths didn't add up to anything, and if you have someone dying in one scene and sort of being resurrected immediately after, there's no real drama going on.

[128]The film was criticized for a scene with actress Alice Eve's character Carol Marcus in her underwear, which was called "wholly unnecessary" and "gratuitous".

[130] On Conan, Abrams addressed the matter by debuting a deleted scene of actor Benedict Cumberbatch's character Khan taking a shower.

[134] There have been similar accusations of whitewashing by fans[135] and American Sikhs,[136] with Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang tweeting "The casting of Cumberbatch was a mistake on the part of the producers.

[The script] was a little bit of a collection of scenes that were written by my friends [...] And yet, I found myself frustrated by my choices, and unable to hang my hat on an undeniable thread of the main story.