Benedict Cumberbatch was poorly cast for Star Trek: Into Lameness. He was so disingenuous and cringe worthy in that movie especially when he announced he was Khan. The rest of the people on set had no reaction to that and why should they? They didn't know who Khan was. Very stupid to throw Khan into that movie for the sole purpose of fan service. I dismissed Benedict as a good actor based solely on that movie until I saw him elsewhere. Then I realized he was thrown into a bad script and bad movie and did what he could.
Ricardo Montalban on the other hand is a superb actor IMO. His portrayal of Khan can never be replicated let alone surpassed. It is why still to this day he was regarded as one of the top Trek villains of all time.
I admit I never saw the ST:TOS episodes involving Khan, so I'm probably missing something significant. But the Khan character in ST2 always seemed more bluster than competent to me. The scene where Kirk stalled for time while he worked out how to lower the shields on Khan's ship was perfectly parodied in Galaxy Quest. "You have to give me a minute to put it in a box for ya."
Other than his having a magnificent silver mane and a better tan than the pasty Brit, I'm still struggling to see what makes a Mestizo Montalban a better fit for the role of a Singh than Cumberbatch. Would Danny Trejo have been a better fit? Anyway, I thought Cumberbatch demonstrated better range.
Trejo probably wouldn't have been interested anyway, considering his disappointment not making the cast of Star Wars.
