WARNING!! THIS POST CONTAINS MAMMOTH SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE UPCOMING MOVIE “STAR TREK: INTO DARNESS” AND ITS CURRENT PREQUEL COMIC “STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN TO DARKNESS”!!

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I am – Hercules!!

The info derived from the big March 7 Brazil screening of about 40 minutes of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” has sort of dovetailed into the info we’re getting from the prequel comic-book miniseries “Countdown to Darkness,” co-written by Mike Johnson and “Into Darkness” screenwriter Bob Orci.

We learned in last month’s second issue of “Countdown to Darkness” that Alex Marcus (kin to “Wrath of Khan” icon Carol Marcus) was first officer to long-lost (and world-class Prime Directive scofflaw) Starfleet captain Robert April.

The Brazil screening revealed Peter Weller is playing Admiral Marcus, who mentors Jim Kirk after Admiral Pike demotes Kirk and boots him off the Enterprise.

We learned also from Brazil that Kirk earns his demotion by putting the needs of the one (saving Spock from melting to death inside an alien volcano) over the needs of the many (Starfleet and its bizarre obsession with postponing contact with civilizations that have not yet figured out how to move faster than light).

“Countdown to Darkness” seems to be all about putting The Prime Directive in a larger context. Does Kirk’s defiance of the directive in the movie stem from his experience hanging out with the directive-defying April?

And does Weller’s character take pity on Kirk due to Kirk’s encounter with April in this four-color tale?

More on today’s “Darkness” issue in spoiler-cloaking invisotext.

Spock implies this week that it was wrong of him to put the needs of the few (or the one) above the needs of the many. Of course, Kirk is demoted in the movie for doing precisely this to save Spock. Bitter irony!

We learn April was hiding something important from Kirk about his private little war on Phaedus.

While Uhura deals with Mudd off-ship, Scotty is not her pick to take command of the Enterprise.

Thanks to her cooter’s interest in the handsome Kirk, we learn this week if the hot blonde Bajoran has any connection to the disreputable Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Much else transpires this issue. Pick up a copy today.

Oh, and for those who follow my radio adventures, we’ll be interviewing “Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness” writer Mike Johnson sometime between 8:05 p.m. and 10 p.m. PT This Saturday On KERNradio.com.

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