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Dr. Carol Marcus (played by Bibi Besch) played a prominent role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She was instrumental in creating one of the more radical technologies in the Star Trek universe, Project Genesis. She worked on the research along with David Marcus (played by Merritt Butrick), who is her son with Captain James T. Kirk. However, she did not make an appearance after The Wrath of Khan, despite the next movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock being centered around the Genesis technology.
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan Noonien Singh (played by Ricardo Montalban) will detonate the Genesis device to destroy the USS Enterprise. However, his plan backfires as the explosion results in the creation of the Genesis Planet.
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, David and Lieutenant Saavik (played by Robin Curtis) will find that the planet is unstable, but it does regenerate Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy), who had died in the previous movie. Despite her contribution to the project, Carol is missing in action.
Who is Dr. Carol Marcus?
Dr. Carol Marcus is a Federation scientist who is known for her work on Project Genesis. It was one of the more ambitious and radical technologies that the Federation was developing secretly aboard the station Regula I along with many high-level scientists. One of the research members was also her son, Dr. David Marcus. The Genesis Device is capable of creating organic life through pre-programmed Genesis matrix.
We get a quick throwback to Carol and Kirk’s relationship in one of the more amusing storylines in Star Trek. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, episode 9 titled ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ , a young Kirk (played by Paul Wesley) is an up-and-coming Starfleet officer, who is visiting the Enterprise. He reveals his romantic relationship with Carol while he was at Starbase 1. She is pregnant with his son, David, at the time.
Alice Eve portrayed the role of Carol Marcus in J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness set in the Kelvin timeline. She plays the daughter of Alexander Marcus (played by Peter Weller), a dishonest Starfleet Admiral. But she did not appear in the franchise again.
What happened to Carol in Star Trek?
In The Wrath of Khan, the USS Reliant is asked to find a suitable planet to carry out the Genesis experiment. However, they encounter Khan, who hijacks the USS Reliant. He wanted to weaponize the Genesis project. He will kill many of the research members and gets his hands on the device. Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew tries to stop Khan.
Kirk will meet Carol and it is revealed for the first time that David is Kirk’s son. From the conversation between the two former lovers, it is understood that Kirk knew about his son all along. While Carol wanted to work on her research, Kirk wanted to travel the galaxy. So, they decided that Carol will raise their son by herself.
At the end of The Wrath of Khan, Spock will die due to exposure to radiation. While in the Mutara Nebula, Khan will set off the Genesis torpedo, which will lead to the formation of the highly volatile Genesis planet. Spock’s body is placed in a photon torpedo casing and left on the new planet.
Carol does not return to Star Trek
While Carol was the driving force for the project, she does not turn up to see the planet the device had created. In her place, David and Saavik would explore the planet in Star Trek III. In real life, producer Harve Bennett wanted Bibi Besch to return, but due to budgetary limitations, she was written out of the screenplay. The makers felt that adding her character will also further confuse the storyline.
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, David reveals that while building the Genesis matrix, he had used a highly unstable matter called protomatter. This results in erratic environmental conditions and animal mutations on the planet. Nonetheless, it also regenerated Spock, who was aging drastically.
From what it would seem, David’s little side experiment was probably not a sanctioned approach. A case can be made that the project was still under development, so Carol would have stopped it if she was aware of the anomaly. But we will never know that.
Kirk's reaction to David’s death drew much criticism from the fans. For an emotionally charged person, his priorities seemed perplexing. Add to it, Carol was nowhere to be found. If Carol and Kirk were shown grieving their son, the characters would have got a much-deserved closure.
Also, that is not the last time we will see the Genesis Project. In Star Trek: Picard Season 3, the Genesis II Device is seen in the Daystrom Station, which is known to store the Federation’s most secretive technology. It would appear that the device got an update with or without Carol’s involvement. The existence of the device leaves the possibility of the technology making a comeback in a future Star Trek project.
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