What Is Red Matter In Star Trek & Why Is It So Dangerous?

Though Spock’s intentions were pure, Red Matter is dangerous and should not be taken lightly. In essence, the substance creates a black hole in space that absorbs any material it touches. The technology can be used to contain exploding stars, but as Nero demonstrates in «Star Trek,» it can also be mishandled and weaponized. Because the Red Matter creates a singularity in space, Nero uses it to destroy an entire civilization.

Wanting Spock to endure the pain that Nero felt watching his home destroyed, the Romulan plants Red Matter at the center of Vulcan. Just as it did with the star that went supernova, the substance creates a black hole that destroys Spock’s entire planet. Both Spock Prime and this universe’s Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) watch as their home is turned into nothing. Quinto’s Spock beams to the surface of the planet to save who he can, and even though he is successful in rescuing his father and other Vulcan elders, he loses his mother after she falls into a chasm created by the planet-wide destruction.

Nero uses the Red Matter to become a war criminal, utterly unremorseful as he enacts genocide on an unsuspecting planet, even though Romulus has not even been destroyed in the Star Trek Kelvin timeline. The events of the film make it clear that, due to its incredible destructive power, Red Matter does more harm than good.