'Star Trek 2' Villain Benedict Cumberbatch: Who Is He Playing?

It's gotta be pretty awesome to be Benedict Cumberbatch right about now. People love his take on "Sherlock," he's about to take flight as the iconic Smaug in "The Hobbit," and as if all that wasn't cool enough, the British actor has just been announced as the new villain in "Star Trek 2." Not a bad way to kick off 2012! Which "Star Trek" villain is Benedict Cumberbatch playing? The question remains, though: who is Cumberbatch playing? We tackled that very question in this week's edition of Talk Nerdy to Me, and you can see our thoughts by clicking the video above. But the speculation doesn't end there. We reached out to some of our favorite "Trek" fans across MTV Movies, MTV Geek and NextMovie for their insight into Cumberbatch's character. Read on for what they had to say! Valerie Gallaher, MTV Geek "Who I hope Cumberbatch plays: one of the classic quirky original 'Trek' villains such as Charlie X and Gary Mitchell. Basically, any character with the ability to warp reality with his brain, as Cumberbatch is so delightfully cerebral. I'd also be really happy with Q. Who I don't want Cumberbatch to play but there's a good chance he will: Khan Noonien Singh or a new Klingon villain with a name like G'Kahk, leading to a WTF action figure in the bargain bin." Jordan Hoffman, NextMovie's Planet Fanboy "I hope Benedict Cumberbatch is playing ... a new character! I thought the first film did a fantastic job of updating the luminary figures from original series, but now that the launch has happened I say let the ship fly freely! If 'Trek' 2.0 continues to simply make callbacks to what we already know, it will never truly succeed as its own, um, Enterprise." Kevin P. Sullivan, MTV Movies "Like many people, I want to see Cumberbatch play Khan, but I think his arc will take a different shape than Ricardo Montalban's did in 'Wrath of Khan.' The alternative timeline set up by Abrams' first 'Trek' will definitely result in an unfamiliar Khan, but I'd love to see him start off as an ally to Kirk, eventually turning into the villain we all love." Kara Warner, MTV Movies "I am as excited as anyone about the 'Star Trek' sequel. I am not excited about obsessing over plot details and character descriptions. I prefer to remain as blissfully ignorant as possible, so I can go into the theater expecting to be as surprised as I am entertained. That being said, I do not wish to speculate about what role Benedict Cumberbatch has landed. As a huge fan of the rising star, going way back to his role in 2006's 'Starter For 10,' a smaller British film which co-starred a bunch of future stars like James McAvoy, Rebecca Hall and Alice Eve, I'm just thrilled he's in the movie. End of story." Alex Zalben, MTV Geek "First guess: he's playing a new character named Noonidict Khanberbatch. Second guess: he's reprising his role as Smaug in 'The Hobbit,' because the new 'Star Trek' and 'The Hobbit' movies secretly cross over, and every geek's brains will literally melt in the theaters. Third, more reasonable guess: he's playing some sort of new Vulcan character. Given his propensity for emotionless geniuses (Sherlock), and the idea that maybe 'Star Trek 2' is a direct continuation of the first movie, rather than a standalone adventure, it might make sense to have a survivor of the destruction of Vulcan as a heavy in the sequel... Though I'm still holding out hope for a dark, gritty version of Harry Mudd." Who do you think Cumberbatch will play? Sound off in the comments and on Twitter!