Iron Man villain captains a starship in Star Trek

Actor Faran Tahir last appeared in a summer blockbuster tormenting Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man as the villainous Raza. This summer, Tahir changes sides, as starship Capt. Richard Robau in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek.”

“You go back to being about 10 years old again the first time you walk out onto the set,” Tahir said in a recent phone interview with The Oklahoman. “My first thought was, I can’t believe it. It’s a pop-culture icon, ‘Star Trek’ is, and we’ve all grown up with it. So, to be in it, and to be a captain of a ship, it was great fun.”

On Robau’s ship, the USS Kelvin, are George and Winona Kirk. Winona is pregnant with future captain of the starship Enterprise, James T. Kirk.

“My first officer is Captain Kirk’s dad, and Captain Kirk is born on my ship while all this hoopla is going on,” Tahir said.

Tahir said Abrams wanted to reach a generation of moviegoers who had missed out on “Star Trek.”

“All the franchise series are gone now, and there hasn’t been a ‘Star Trek’ movie in a while,” Tahir said. “So, he realizes that there’s a lost generation that hasn’t got to own the ‘Star Trek’ saga. And he has created a very smart bridge, by keeping the spirit of the original ‘Star Trek’ alive and updating it, and bringing in the backstory so that a whole new generation can own it.”

One update might be that the future is now a little grimier.

“Everything is very recognizable as far as the ‘Star Trek’ world is concerned, but you will see that things are a little bit more gritty, a little bit more real,” Tahir said. “My ship, what I liked about it was that it wasn’t as pristine and clean as some of the ships have been. It looked like a ship that’s been out there for a while, it has some mileage on it. It gives that real tangible, gritty feeling to it.”

Tahir is used to gritty, after filming desert sequences in 2008′s “Iron Man.” “Iron Man 2″ is filming now, and while Tahir is signed on for sequels, he said he thought if his character were to return, it would more likely be further down the line.