Like James Bond and Han Solo, James Tiberius Kirk has always had main character energy. Nobody would have called it that back in the 1960s, of course, but the man who shares a name with a Roman emperor (those guys weren't shrinking violets either) tends to be the biggest presence on any starship bridge.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. James T. Kirk isn’t Captain Kirk yet on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds… but that changed in a hurry this week. In Thursday’s episode,

We're so used to seeing James T. Kirk be the most confident person in any room, even in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. To see him so shaken and upset after his first taste of acting as captain was truly jarring, but ultimately made for one of the most compelling episodes of Season 3.