 Khan returns in the 1982 feature film Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan . Captain Clark Terrell ( Paul Winfield ) and First Officer Pavel Chekov ( Walter Koenig ) of USS Reliant are searching for an uninhabited world to test the Genesis device , a powerful terraforming tool . They beam down to what they believe is Ceti Alpha VI . Khan 's followers capture Terrell and Chekov , and Khan explains that the barren world is Ceti Alpha V ; the sixth planet of the system exploded shortly after Khan and his followers were marooned . The cataclysm caused massive climate disturbances , rendering the planet into a desert , and many of the survivors — including Khan 's wife — were killed by the only surviving species of animal , the Ceti eel . Only twenty of Khan 's followers survive . Swearing vengeance on Kirk , Khan implants Ceti eels in Terrell and Chekov 's brains , rendering them vulnerable to suggestion . Khan then seizes control of Reliant , intent on capturing the Genesis device . 
