Star Trek Countdown To Darkness 1
Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness is a 4-issue miniseries that serves as a Star Trek Into Darkness prequel but you’ll be disappointed if you were hoping for the comic book to shed some light on the villain’s identity (or for me to stop using that pun).

Not only are we no closer to finding out who is John Harrison, we now have a new mystery: who is Robert April?

The Enterprise surveys Phaedus, a class-M planet that is supposed to be inhabited by a pre-warp civilization but that assumption is challenged when they detect a high-frequency energy field that blocks communication and transporters.

Captain Kirk leads a landing party to investigate the source but their shuttlecraft is fired upon. They crash land on the surface of the planet, where they discover that the aliens have been armed with Starfleet phasers.

“I gave them their weapons. And the tricorder,” announces a rugged-looking man in a Starfleet uniform. “My name is Robert April … former captain of a ship called Enterprise!”

In the original draft for the Star Trek Pilot, the Enterprise was commanded by Captain Robert April before creator Gene Roddenberry settled on Christopher Pike.

The character has made several appearances in books, comics and most prominently in Star Trek: The Animated Series. Commodore Robert April is forced to take command of the Enterprise when the crew turns into children in “The Counter-Clock Incident.” Which version this is remains to be seen.