Star Trek Into Darkness’ Alice Eve Controversy Explained

Alice Eve’s underwear scene in Star Trek Into Darkness remains controversial over a decade after J.J. Abrams’ sequel to his blockbuster Star Trek (2009) was released. Star Trek Into Darkness continued the voyages of the young crew of the Starship Enterprise commanded by Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). Abrams’ sequel revealed itself as a remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and reintroduced some key characters from the 1982 film, including a young version of Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve), into the rebooted Kelvin alternate timeline. One of Star Trek Into Darkness‘ most maligned moments is when Carol strips to her underwear and is ogled by Captain Kirk.

Soon after Star Trek Into Darkness was released in the summer of 2013, J.J. Abrams and his team found themselves defending Alice Eve stripping to their underwear. Co-writer Damon Lindelof tweeted an “apology” for why Carol Marcus appeared “gratuitously and unnecessarily” in her undies, and his justification was, “Because… uh… MYSTERY?” (This was a tongue-in-cheek reference to J.J. Abrams’ infamous “mystery box” style of filmmaking.) Co-writer Alex Kurtzman explained that Abrams’ and his collective of writers “thought about” the ramifications of Carol’s Star Trek Into Darkness underwear scene: “It’s not something that we went into blindly and certainly we all sat in a room going, okay, we’re going to be criticized for this, but how do we justify this…?” Yet many fans don’t believe Kirk ogling Carol in her underwear is justifiable. Rather, it comes off as a gratuitous example of the male gaze obviously intended to titillate the audience.

Why Alice Eve’s Carol Marcus Underwear Scene In Star Trek Into Darkness Is Still Controversial

It’s still the main thing Alice Eve’s Carol Marcus is remembered for

Star Trek Into Darkness was released in 2013 just as the #MeToo movement began to force Hollywood to hold those who have abused their power and victimized women accountable. Alice Eve’s underwear scene was one example of the audience pushing back against Star Trek gratuitously exploiting a female character. The argument was also made that overall, in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies starring Chris Pine, the female characters aren’t as well-written as the men. Thus, Carol Marcus’ character in Star Trek Into Darkness was so underdeveloped, Alice Eve stripping to her nethers ended up as the only thing the audience remembers about her role in the film.

For her part, Alice Eve doesn’t understand why her Star Trek Into Darkness underwear scene is controversial, and the actress is proud of how hard she trained to get into incredible shape for that scene. Alice explained to FandomWire: “The feeling I shouldn’t have done it, or that it was exploitation, was confusing to me.” Meanwhile, Trekkers who don’t take issue with Carol Marcus stripping cite that Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Original Series was also sexually charged and that J.J. Abrams’ movie was merely honoring an aspect of the franchise that has been prevalent since the 1960s.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds May Introduce Carol Marcus

Strange New Worlds Won’t Repeat Star Trek Into Darkness’ Mistake

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series set in the Prime Star Trek Timeline, and Strange New Worlds season 3 could introduce Carol Marcus. In Strange New Worlds season 2’s musical episode, “Subspace Rhapsody,” Lieutenant James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) confessed to Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) that he has an on-again/off-again girlfriend named Carol. Thus, Kirk can’t pursue a romantic relationship with La’an. This sets up the younger version of Carol Marcus, who was played by Bibi Besch in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and is the mother of Kirk’s son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick).

If Carol Marcus joins Strange New Worlds season 3, she will either be pregnant with David or just give birth to him. Thus, Strange New Worlds‘ introduction of Carol won’t be based on her sex appeal, regardless of who is cast as Carol Marcus. Dr. Marcus is also the future creator of Project Genesis and the Genesis Device, and Strange New Worlds will likely want to lay the foundation for her genius and her concern for the galactic problems of overpopulation and food supply. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ Carol Marcus will probably be a far cry from Alice Eve’s version in Star Trek Into Darkness, although Eve did deliver a fine performance in the film, which is usually overlooked because of her underwear scene.