Doctor Carol Marcus was a female Human who was one of the leading scientists in the Federation. She was once romantically involved with Starfleet officer James T. Kirk – a relationship from which she bore a son, David Marcus – but she opted to devote her life to her research and to raising David.
Early life
Carol Marcus was born to Alexander Marcus and a woman with the maiden name Wallace. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
According to script notes for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "Carol Marcus is in her early forties, attractive and intelligent." This would place her birth in the early 2240s.
According to her dossier on the Star Trek Into Darkness App, Carol Marcus was born in 2233 in New York City. Her mother's name is given as June.
Involvement with James T. Kirk
It was during the late 2250s or early 2260s when Carol Marcus became involved with Kirk. Though she gave birth to their son, David, Carol felt that she and Kirk had no basis for a lasting relationship, with Kirk traveling around the universe while she worked in a lab, so she asked that Kirk leave her alone to raise the boy. That they both cared more for their careers than they did for each other was never disputed. As Carol saw it, she and Kirk lived in entirely different worlds, and she wanted her son to be raised in hers. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
The Star Trek Chronology (1st ed., pp. 37 & 151; 2nd ed., pp. 47 & 268) conjectures that it was in 2261 when Carol Marcus gave birth to David and asked Kirk to have no influence on the boy's upbringing.
Project Genesis
Carol continued with her work, enjoying much success. In 2284, she proposed the most ambitious and potentially dangerous of her plans to the Federation, dubbed "Project Genesis". Once her proposal was accepted for Federation funding, she began a three-stage development process aboard the station Regula I, accompanied by a highly skilled team of scientists which included her son, Dr. David Marcus.
She and her team made remarkable progress and, by 2285, they were ready to try out their new invention. However, before they could find a suitable planet on which to test the Genesis Device, Khan Noonien Singh and his band of "supermen" intervened, bringing Kirk back into her and David's life.
Though she didn't share her son's mistrust of Starfleet, Carol was incensed when told that her project and all her files were to be taken by the crew of the USS Reliant, under orders of the new Admiral Kirk. She was determined to fight this unexpected incursion into her territory, though she was willing to give her former lover the benefit of the doubt. When it turned out to be Khan, not Kirk, who stole the Genesis Device, she gratefully accepted Kirk's assistance. When Khan came to the lab, she led a few of her team down into the Genesis cave in Regula to hide the Genesis Device from him. Kirk found and rescued her.
Carol Marcus with Admiral Kirk and Doctor McCoy, proudly observing the newly formed Genesis Planet
Throughout the quest to save the device from Khan's evil plans, it was apparent that, although Carol Marcus still felt affection for Kirk, her true love was her work. Even as havoc was erupting all around, she gazed on the glory of the Genesis Planet forming exactly as her specifications and years of research had indicated it would. The Genesis Project appeared to be a success, and her pride in her work was unmistakable.
The encounter with Khan gave Carol the opportunity to reunite David with his father. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) When her son was later killed by Klingons on the Genesis Planet, Carol was left with her projects and her research, the life that had sustained her for many years. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
Legacy
Almost a century later, in 2374, Captain Kathryn Janeway referred to Dr. Marcus in her captain's log when Janeway was in search of the omega molecule and found herself having to face enforcing the Omega Directive.
In her log, she noted that, in spite of her apprehensiveness, she now knew how Carol Marcus must have felt when she developed the Genesis Device, watching helplessly as science took a destructive course. Janeway, however, noted that, unlike Marcus, she had at least a chance to prevent it from happening. (VOY: "The Omega Directive")
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