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Published Aug 26, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Nero

Who is the Romulan captain with an axe to grind towards Spock? Let’s explore the Kelvin timeline and find out!

StarTrek.com

Welcome back to the Star Trek Villain Showdown as it heads towards the ultimate final face-off between Khan and Gul Dukat !

Before we get to the epic battle between those two nefarious foes, we’re showcasing a few honorable mentions who kept our Federation crews on their toes. There’s the fanatical Kai Winn Adami who wreaked havoc on Deep Space 9 along with Gul Dukat. We also got Spock’s wayward half-brother Sybok . Now we’re diving into the Kelvin timeline to meet the Romulan miner turned vengeful captain, Nero , and his sole mission to destroy Spock’s home world and family.

Who Was Nero?

Nero , portrayed menacingly by the brilliant Eric Bana, opens Star Trek (2009) at the helm of the Romulan mining vessel turned warship the Narada as it emerges from a black hole and immediately launches a vicious assault on the Federation ship the U.S.S. Kelvin .

Upon learning the stardate—2233—and discovering Captain Robau ’s lack of knowledge of Ambassador Spock , Nero lashes out and kills Robau in anger. As the Narada continues its full-scale attack on the Kelvin , the now acting captain George Kirk sacrifices his life by plotting a collision course with the Narada in order to give the 800 survivors of the crew, including his wife Winona and newborn son James T. Kirk , a fighting chance at escape and survival.

Why Was Nero Searching for Spock?

Nero arrives in 2233 through the black hole from over 150 years in the future. Following his assault on the Kelvin , Nero and his vessel waited another 25 years before the arrival of Ambassador Spock, providing him ample time to sit with grief over the loss of his wife, unborn son, and home planet Romulus.

In the year 2387, Nero, off-world on a mining expedition, faced the destruction of his family and Romulus due to an adjacent supernova. Ambassador Spock, in his Vulcan Science Academy Jellyfish vessel, attempted to neutralize the supernova’s effects with a black hole created with red matter. However, Spock was unsuccessful in reaching Romulus before its annihilation.

Nero directs his all-consuming rage towards Spock, who had sought to mitigate disaster, and the Federation, who did not aid in the dying planet’s evacuations. Unbeknownst to Nero, former admiral Jean Luc Picard left the Federation to command a rescue armada to aid in the evacuation of 18 billion Romulans off their planet, as explained on Star Trek: Picard ’s “Remembrance .”

Nero’s Incursion Creates an Alternate Timeline — The Kelvin Timeline

The crew aboard the U.S.S. Kelvin were not familiar with the Romulans as first visual contact with the race would not occur until 2266, as seen in The Original Series ’ “ Balance of Terror ” episode.

The singularity event pulls Nero and his crew on the Narada , as well as Spock and his Jellyfish , into its red matter-created black hole, sending them into the past. While Nero arrives in 2233, Ambassador Spock finds himself in 2258, setting up a time paradox with the younger Commander Spock , first officer to Captain Christopher Pike , aboard the not yet christened U.S.S. Enterprise .

It’s Nero’s actions in 2233 that trigger the creation of an alternate reality, dubbed the "Kelvin" timeline, changing course and the history for the Federation and the last of the Romulan Empire’s present future in the Prime Universe.

The Assault on Earth and Vulcan

In order to inflict the same amount of pain onto his adversary Spock, Nero seeks to punish the half-Vulcan, half-human ambassador by having him witness the destruction of his two home worlds — Vulcan and Earth. Nero believes destroying Vulcan and the Federation will ensure a future for Romulus, one where they are the ultimate power in the universe.

When Ambassador Spock arrives in 2258, Nero and his crew are ready to intercept. Marooning the elder Spock to Delta Vega, Nero forces him to witness the destruction of Vulcan with Spock’s supply of red matter.

As the Federation dispatched several starships to aid the Vulcan planet, Nero spots the Enterprise and wants the younger Spock, of the Kelvin timeline, to witness Vulcan’s destruction and know it was brought by his hands as well.

The Enterprise is unsuccessful in thwarting Vulcan’s destruction, as the red matter created a black hole at the center of the planet. This caused the planet to implode on itself. Both the young and elder Spock face the mass genocide of their people, including the loss of their mother, Amanda Grayson .

It is Nero’s deep desire to attack Spock’s people and planet that ultimately cements his short-lived present. Now on the radar of both the Federation and the U.S.S. Enterprise , Pike, Spock, George Kirk’s son Jim , and the rest of the crew will stop at nothing to stop Nero from doing what he did to Vulcan to Earth and other Federation planets. It’s this narrow-minded pursuit to kill Spock that has Nero and the Narada engulfed by the red matter he sought to exploit when he attempts to destroy Earth. Refusing aid from Captain Kirk and the Enterprise after his ship is fatally damaged, Nero declares he’d rather witness Romulus suffer a thousand times and goes down with his ship.

Holding a Mirror to Spock

In Star Trek (2009), Nero and his actions present a treacherous mirror of the Romulans to Spock and Vulcans. In fact, Romulans and Vulcans descended from the same ancestry ; Romulans are distant cousins from Vulcans who rejected Surak and his teachings that led Vulcans to master their emotions via logic. Those who rebuked those teachings would become what we now know as Romulans. The Romulans were a very moral people with an absolutist view of what’s right or wrong. As such, they were incredibly xenophobic and isolationists, which was why and how they went unnoticed by the Federation for as long as they did.

In the film, both Nero and Spock grapple with the loss of their loved ones and witness the destruction of their entire home worlds. However, how they react to the all-consuming grief and despair sets them both on mirrored paths. While Nero pursues the road of narrow-minded revenge, both the young and elder Spock head down the path of hope and survival, ensuring their Vulcan history and the remaining surviving Vulcans can rebuild an enduring future.

Where does Nero rank for you on the never-ending list of nefarious Star Trek foes? Let us know @StarTrek on social! And come back to StarTrek.com next week as we had to the Star Trek Villain Showdown finals as Khan goes head-to-head with Gul Dukat!

Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Distribution Group on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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Why Eric Bana's Nero Is The Most Dangerous Villain In Star Trek History

When J.J. Abrams rebooted the original characters of "Star Trek," it kicked off an interesting era for the brand. His trilogy of films came before Paramount+ streaming created a monopoly on content all things Trek and had a universe all its own. To use our favorite Vulcan's iconic quote, it was fascinating. Starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as the beloved duo of James T. Kirk and Spock, the films use an alternate timeline that created a series of movies all its own. This alteration allowed die-hard fans to not feel their legacy had been tarnished while also helping attract new fans.

Abrams also did this by introducing the Romulan villain, Nero (Eric Bana). After a supernova destroys his entire planet, a black hole created by Red Matter pulls Nero and his ship back in time to the day of Kirk's birth. This singular change creates a domino effect that permanently affects the course of events. Regardless if it was purposeful or not, Nero's actions do something almost unprecedented in "Star Trek" history, making him one of the most formidable villains.

Nero changed Star Trek canon forever

For almost 60 years, "Star Trek" has had some of the most legendary villains that will live on in infamy. The Borg Queen is one who never gets old because of the existential dread she inspires. As the leader of the Borg hive, her only interest is in simulating people into her extensive network and erasing all sense of identity. Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) temporary assimilation causes residual trauma that never leaves him. Khan reappears in "Star Trek: Into Darkness" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," because of his relevance to the Eugenics Wars. But no matter how singular these villains are, Nero has done something they have not.

Nero traveling back in time and destroying Vulcan is so savage and permanent that other villains pale in comparison. Not only does he enact genocide against the Vulcans, but his damage to the "Star Trek" timeline can never be corrected. The timeline in the reboot has changed the course of Kirk and Spock forever. Kirk has to live with the death of his mentor Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), even though he lives on in the prime timeline. This change was so severe that in "Into Darkness," Kirk is the one who dies from radiation, and not Spock as portrayed in "The Wrath of Khan." This substantial change can only be compared to another antagonist in "Star Trek" history –  Q (John de Lancie) is a villain who returns time and again after being introduced in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Only Q has had as much of an impact

John de Lancie has only appeared in "Star Trek" a dozen or so times as Q, but that is the beauty of his character. As an omnipotent god-like being, he can come and go as he pleases, and there is no way to defeat him. He is such a hallmark of the series, that he even returned for Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Picard" as a touchstone for the former captain. As soon as de Lancie heard the plan for his character, he was on board. "I asked how they were going to deal with the age and that type of stuff. And [showrunner Terry Matalas] said, 'We will [make it happen] and more importantly, we want you how you are now,'" de Lancie told The Hollywood Reporter . 

No one could doubt that Q is a more endearing villain than Nero. The actor has been a part of the "Star Trek" universe for decades and is as welcome as "The Next Generation" crew. And that is why Nero is that much more insidious. Though Q can rewrite realities and play the Enterprise crew like pieces on a chessboard, he is ultimately a trickster figure. He never does anything that cannot be undone — even if it's just by the grace of his power. Nero has no such aspirations. He has no redemption. He only wants to cause suffering, and in a universe that values its utopian society, there is nothing worse than that.

Screen Rant

Star trek's 2009 movie hid the full power of nero's ship (& its borg connection).

The Narada, Nero's ship in the 2009 Star Trek film, had a much deeper history than fans initially thought - including a tie to the Borg!

Nero, the villain of 2009’s Star Trek film, had a powerful ship - but the movie obscured just how dangerous it was. The ship, called the Narada , was the instrument of Nero’s vengeance against Spock and the Federation, but as revealed in Star Trek: Countdown (the comic prequel to the movie), it was far deadlier than anyone realized, easily rivaling anything in the 23rd - and even the 24th - centuries.

By the early 2000s, the Star Trek franchise was seemingly running out of gas, and Paramount decided to completely reboot the franchise, creating an alternate timeline (called the Kelvin timeline) that allowed the studio to recast the iconic roles of Kirk and Spock. However, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman needed a way to create this timeline. Enter Nero and the Narada. Thrown back to the 23rd century by a singularity, the Narada attacked the USS Kelvin , thus creating a new timeline. The Narada was a massive and awe-inspiring ship, but its origins were not revealed in the film. However, IDW Publishing released a special, four-issue miniseries, Star Trek: Countdown that bridged the gap between the Prime and Kelvin timelines - and readers learned the Narada ’s shocking origin.

Related: Star Trek Officially Names the Best Ship in the Federation's Fleet

The Narada Was the Romulans' Greatest Accomplishment

Star Trek: Countdown #3 is written by Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, working from a story by Kurtzman and Orci, and was drawn by David Messina. The Romulan home world has just been destroyed by a supernova, and Nero blames both Spock and the Federation for his loss. A miner, Nero takes his ship to a secret Romulan facility, whose existence is known only to a few. The station’s commander welcomes him and gives him a tour of the facility. She reveals the existence of a new, Romulan super-ship, one created from Borg technology, which has been adapted to Romulan designs. This innovation will give Romulan ships superior firepower, warp and cloaking capabilities; furthermore, the weapon can identify and adapt to various threats. The commander feels the Narada would be an excellent choice to be fitted with the weapon.

Nero Was Using Borg Technology

This issue reveals the Narada’s backstory, and it runs far deeper than movie fans realized. The Narada was a unique looking ship, not conforming to any known Romulan designs. The reason: it was made from Borg technology , and upon a closer look, fans can see subtle hints of the Borg in the superweapon fitted onto the Narada . A centerpiece of Borg tech is the ability to adapt to any attack, and the Narada has this feature as well. Perhaps a true testament to the Narada’s power and strength came when Captain Kirk’s father piloted the Kelvin directly into the enemy ship; while it disabled the Narada , it failed to destroy it. Nero repaired it and embarked on a crusade of revenge.

As stated earlier, the Narada was light years ahead of anything else seen in the 24th century, outside a Borg cube. By traveling back to the 23rd century, Nero and the Narada far outclassed any other Federation vessel, but it still was not enough to save him from defeat at the hands of the Enterprise crew. The Narada was lost at the end of the movie, marking an end for one of Star Trek ’s most powerful ships.

• View history

The Narada was a Romulan mining vessel that was in service in the late 24th century .

In 2387 , the Narada was commanded by Nero ; his second-in-command was Ayel .

• 3.1 Weapons
• 4.1 Background information
• 4.2 Apocrypha
• 4.3 External link

History [ ]

Following the destruction of Romulus by the supernova of the Romulan sun in 2387 , Nero took the Narada to intercept Ambassador Spock , who was attempting to create an artificial black hole which would consume the star before it destroyed more worlds. Both the Narada and Spock's ship, the Jellyfish , went missing after they were pulled into the black hole.

Interior of the Narada

The Narada emerged from the black hole, 75,000 kilometers from the edge of Klingon space , in the year 2233 , creating the alternate reality . There, the Narada encountered and attacked the USS Kelvin , easily overpowering the much smaller Federation starship . During the attack, the Kelvin 's commanding officer, Captain Richard Robau , was killed, forcing Lieutenant George Kirk to take command. With his ship heavily damaged and facing imminent annihilation by the Narada , Kirk gave the order to abandon ship. To save the lives of those evacuating in the shuttles , Kirk rammed the Kelvin into the Narada . Although the Narada sustained enough damage to ensure the safety of the Kelvin 's evacuees, the vessel was still operational.

The unfinished Narada surrounded by Klingon warbirds

The Narada warps after the Jellyfish

Twenty-five years later , the Narada was involved in an attack on a Klingon prison planet and the destruction of 47 Klingon warbirds . Shortly thereafter, the Jellyfish , with Spock aboard, emerged from the black hole and was immediately captured by the Narada . The Narada then left for Vulcan and drilled a hole into the planet , all the way to its core . When the Federation sent a small fleet to Vulcan to investigate the seismic disturbance , the Narada destroyed them shortly before the USS Enterprise arrived. The crew of the Enterprise successfully stopped the drill, but were unable to stop Nero from injecting red matter , taken from the Jellyfish , into the core of the planet, creating a black hole, which quickly consumed Vulcan.

The Narada is consumed by a black hole

Following Vulcan's destruction, Nero interrogated the captured Christopher Pike using Centaurian slugs , forcing the helpless captain to reveal Earth 's planetary defense codes . Nero took the Narada to Earth and began drilling into the San Francisco Bay . However, the drill platform was destroyed by that era's Spock using the Jellyfish , which he confiscated from the Narada . After drawing the Narada away from Earth, Spock rammed the Jellyfish into the Narada . The remaining red matter that was aboard the Jellyfish was ignited, creating a massive black hole that slowly began to crush the ship. Kirk offered to assist the crew of the Narada , but Nero refused. Kirk then had the Enterprise fire upon the Narada to ensure its destruction until the ship was pulled apart and ultimately devoured by the black hole. ( Star Trek )

• See : Narada personnel

Technical data [ ]

Weapons [ ].

Despite being only a mining vessel in its own time, the Narada possessed weaponry far more advanced than those of any of the ships it encountered in the 23rd century. The primary weapons seemed to be highly destructive missiles , each of which could break into several component projectiles. These projectiles were powerful enough to penetrate the standard shields that starships of the time utilized. The Narada housed at least enough of these weapons to easily destroy entire fleets of ships; more than fifty vessels were destroyed over twenty-five years.

As a mining vessel, the Narada also had an immense drilling apparatus , which was a platform at the end of a lengthy metallic line seemingly hundreds of kilometers long. The drill emitted a powerful beam that could penetrate a planet's surface and continue all the way to its core. The high energy output from the beam itself also acted as a disruptor of sorts, causing localized interference in both communications and transporter signals.

With the Jellyfish in its possession, the Narada could also deploy bombs loaded with the incredibly destructive red matter.

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

The Narada was designed by James Clyne . Production designer Scott Chambliss wanted the ship to be asymmetrical, in contrast to the "perfect symmetry" of the Enterprise . Chambliss contemplated "the scariest thing in space" and looked to a kitchen knife, imagining "500 gigantic knife-edge points". "That's how the Romulan ship developed, with a kitchen knife and the twisted imagination of James Clyne," he said. During development, the ship was referred to as "Hanson's Ranch" to keep its name secret. ( Star Trek - The Art of the Film )

J.J. Abrams wanted the ship's interiors to feel mysterious by having them be "amorphous, to have a sense of no corners, ceilings or floors". To minimize the size of the set, Chambliss called on his experience in theater to build a set where parts could be moved around to create another section of the ship each day. Cinematographer Dan Mindel used "abrasive" yellow-green lighting to suggest the angry and fragmented mindset of the Romulan crew. Visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett complemented the feel by underlighting the digital shots "in classic horror movie style", based on a lighting test "that went wrong, but I actually liked the look" of.

ILM model supervisor Bruce Holcomb stated the Narada was six miles (ten kilometers) long, [5] while Post magazine mentions it is five miles (eight kilometers) long. [6] The film's Blu-ray gives a final estimate of the ship's length at 30,737.3 feet (9,368.7 meters). Regardless, the ship was one of the largest digital models ever built by the company: according to Roger Guyett, the detail required near 1:1 scale.

Apocrypha [ ]

The Narada , before being retrofitted in 2387

In the Star Trek prequel comic book miniseries Star Trek: Countdown , the Narada 's advanced weaponry and appearance are explained as being the result of the ship being retrofitted with salvaged and reverse-engineered Borg technology. The Tal Shiar in the 24th century had been experimenting with Borg technology, and Nero's ship was the experimental vessel used. The Narada was retrofitted at The Vault ( β ), a cloaked military installation in deep space, subsequent to the destruction of Romulus. The Borg nanoprobes allowed the ship to grow and repair itself, and also take on a much larger and more menacing appearance. The ship's speed was increased from Warp 9.8 to "…immeasurable transwarp speeds." This information also appeared on the Blu-ray release of the film in the supplement section "Starships." While the Narada itself was not referenced in Star Trek: Picard , that series confirmed that the Romulans had access to Borg technology in the form of the Artifact , a disabled Borg Cube .

The Borg connection paid off in the sequel to Countdown , Star Trek: Nero . After Nero escapes from Rura Penthe – the " Klingon prison planet " – the Narada takes him to V'Ger , which Nero uses to calculate where Spock will arrive. By then, the Narada had seemingly developed a telepathic link with Nero that allowed him to command the Narada remotely.

In Star Trek: Ongoing 's " Mirrored, Part 1 ", set in the alternate reality's mirror universe , Kirk – Spock's first officer – commandeers the Narada from Nero following the Terran Empire's conquest of the Klingon Empire. He attacks and destroys the Enterprise , and sets course for Vulcan. However, after recovering Spock Prime, he is outmaneuvered by Spock Prime, Uhura, and Spock – Uhura having saved Spock's life before the destruction of the Enterprise – and is killed before he can destroy Vulcan, with the two Spocks remaining on Vulcan to rebuild while Uhura takes command of the Narada .

The Narada 's connection to the Borg is confirmed in the Star Trek: Boldly Go series – set before the completion of the USS Enterprise -A – when the Federation is attacked by a Borg sphere seeking answers about the temporary presence of a fragment of the Collective in this galaxy, but their primitive technology at this time allows the Federation and the Romulans to destroy the sphere and save those who have been assimilated.

In Star Trek Online , while the Narada itself doesn't appear, it's revealed that after her disappearance, the Tal Shiar continued their experiments with Borg technology. This results in Mogai - and D'deridex -class ships being retrofitted in similar ways and looking almost identical to the Narada .

The 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has the Narada as card #107.

External link [ ]

• Narada at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein
• 3 John Paul Lona

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