Warning: contains spoilers forStar Trek#27!
Star Trekjust made a cheeky cal-lout against the multitude of Spock variants. Mister Spock has been one of the franchise’s most popular characters for its entire duration, and in the process he has become a pop culture icon. As such,three different people have played the adult Spock over the years, and this embarrassment of Spocks gets a call-out inStar Trek#27.
Star Trek#27 is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Mike Feehan and Tess Fowler. To lighten the mood aboard theTheseus, Sisko throws a dinner party and invites his crew. As the night wears on, the crew starts playing games, one of which is to name three people, alive or dead, they would like to meet. T’Lir, the sole Vulcan aboard the ship, gives Spock as their answer. Scotty reminds themthere is only one Spock, butT’Lir fires back, saying there are at least three Spock variants available.
Spock Is aStar Trek, and Pop Culture, Icon
Three Different Actors Have Left Their Mark on the Character
Spock is warp and woof in theStar Trekfranchise, and he is one of its most recognizable characters. Debuting inStar Trek’sfirst pilot, “The Cage,” Spock became a pop culture sensation, and made a star out of actor Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy would play Spock for the duration of the originalStar Trek’srun, and reprised the role for the first six feature films starring Kirk and company. Furthermore, Nimoy would return as Spock duringStar Trek: The Next Generation’sfifth season. Finally, Nimoy’s Spock helped kick off the Kelvin Timeline in 2009’sStar Trek.
Quinto’s performance as Spock drew praise not only from fans, but Nimoy himself, and established a precedent for theStar Trekfranchise moving forward.
That same film recast key roles from the Original Series, using new and younger actors, which gave rise to the second Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Quinto’s performance as Spock drew praise not only from fans, but Nimoy himself, and established a precedent for theStar Trekfranchise moving forward. Before JJ Abrams’Star Trek, the idea of recasting Spock, Kirk and Uhura seemed blasphemous, but in the years since the film, those roles have been recast again, forStrange New Worlds.Star Trek: Discovery’ssecond season introduced another Spock, from early in his career, played by Ethan Peck.
How Many Spocks Are There in the Multiverse?
Star TrekCalls Out Its Spock Problem
ThelargerStar Trekmultiverse is littered with other Spock variants that further illustrate T’Lir’s point. Perhaps the best known is Mirror Spock. Introduced in the second season episode “Mirror, Mirror,” this Spock variant channels logic to his own unscrupulous ends. Despite his dark nature, this Spock would eventually go on to help overthrow the very Empire he served. The existence of Mirror Spock raises questions over what other variants could be found in the multiverse. AsStar Trekcontinues to lean into the multiverse concept, these questions may get an answer.
After Star Trek III, Spock’s Mind Was Saved By…His Mirror Universe Counterpart?
At the end of Star Trek III, Spock’s body was restored but his mind still needed time to heal–and he got a boost from his Mirror Universe variant.
While T’Lir does not state which three Spocks they would love to meet, it is easy to see it as a callout to the variants fans have seen inStar Trekthus far. Three actors have played Spock over the past 58 years, each one making the role their own. T’Lir’s comment about “three variants” is a funny and light-hearted allusion to Nimoy, Quinto and Peck’s time as the Vulcan. Each actor brought something special to the role of Mister Spock, and the franchise honors this with a cheeky callout.
