In the 23rd century, the Federation starship USS Kelvin is investigating a "lightning storm" in space. A Romulan ship, the Narada, emerges from the storm and attacks the Kelvin. Narada 's first officer, Ayel, demands that the Kelvin 's Captain Robau come aboard to negotiate a truce. Once aboard, Robau is questioned about the current stardate and an "Ambassador Spock", whom he professes not to know. Narada 's commander, Nero, kills him, and continues his attack on the Kelvin. George Kirk, the Kelvin 's first officer, orders the ship's personnel, including his pregnant wife Winona, to evacuate the ship while he pilots the Kelvin on a collision course with the Narada, as the auto-pilot function has been damaged. At the cost of his life, Kirk ensures Winona's survival as she gives birth to James T.
A race of extraterrestrials called Mimics has taken over continental Europe. In England, General Brigham, head of humanity's United Defense Force, orders Major William Cage, a public affairs officer with no combat experience, to cover the next day's amphibious assault in France. Cage objects to the dangerous assignment and threatens to blackmail Brigham to avoid it. Brigham has Cage arrested; Cage is knocked out trying to escape. He wakes in handcuffs at a forward operating base at Heathrow Airport and discovers he has been demoted to private, charged with desertion, and assigned to a combat squad named "J" squad under the command of Master Sergeant Farell.
On the run from their enemy, the planet-destroying Gorg, the Boov find Earth a suitable place to call "home". Led by Captain Smek (Steve Martin), they commence their "friendly" invasion of the planet, relocating the humans, whom the Boov deem as simple and backwards, to other parts of the planet while the Boov inhabit their homes in a quick and bloodless conquest. One of the Boov, named Oh (Jim Parsons), is a more excited, freethinking member of the species, who decides to invite the Boov to his apartment for a housewarming party, despite the race's antipathy towards him. Not far from Oh is a preteen girl named Tip (Rihanna), who drives away through her home city to find her mother Lucy (Jennifer Lopez) after being separated from her during the invasion, leaving her with only her calico cat Pig and fueling her hatred for the Boov.
2263. Sur une planète, le capitaine James T. Kirk agit à titre d'ambassadeur pour conclure un traité de paix entre deux peuples ennemis. En guise de cadeau, il apporte un artéfact qui faisait partie d'une puissante arme inconnue. Cependant, le chef de la planète s'emporte, croyant qu'on veut se moquer de lui et soumettre son peuple. Kirk tente de l'apaiser, mais le chef préfère attaquer Kirk, imité par ses congénères. Grâce à Scotty, Kirk retourne sur le vaisseau USS Enterprise. Après cette mission manquée, Kirk se questionne sur son rôle dans Starfleet. Après trois ans de mission et alors que son anniversaire approche — il aura un an de plus que son père quand il est mort —, il n'éprouve plus qu'ennui et malaise, même si son équipage est l'un des meilleurs selon ses dires.
In the Sonoran Desert, French scientist Claude Lacombe (François Truffaut) and his American interpreter, mapmaker David Laughlin, along with other government scientific researchers, discover Flight 19, a squadron of Grumman TBM Avengers that went missing more than 30 years earlier. The planes are intact and operational, but there is no sign of the pilots. An old man who witnessed the event claimed "the sun came out at night, and sang to him." They also find a lost cargo ship in the Gobi Desert named SS Cotopaxi. At an air traffic control center in Indianapolis, a controller listens as two airline flights narrowly avoid a mid-air collision with an apparent unidentified flying object (UFO), which neither pilot chooses to report, even when invited to do so. In Muncie, Indiana, 3-year-old Barry Guiler is awakened in the night when his toys start operating on their own. Fascinated, he gets out of bed and discovers something or someone (off-screen) in the kitchen. He runs outside, forcing his mother, Jillian, to chase after him.
In 2005, scientists discover an extrasolar planet, which they name Planet G, with conditions similar to Earth. In 2006 NASA transmits a powerful signal from a communications array in Hawaii. Meanwhile, slacker Alex Hopper gets arrested while attempting to impress Sam Shane, daughter of U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Terrance Shane. Stone Hopper, Alex's older brother and a naval officer, is infuriated at Alex's lack of motivation and forces Alex to also sign up and earn a commission in the U.S. Navy.
On the planet Krypton, using evidence provided by scientist Jor-El, the Ruling Council sentences three attempted insurrectionists, General Zod, Ursa, and Non, to "eternal living death" in the Phantom Zone. Despite his eminence, Jor-El is unable to convince the Council of his belief that Krypton will soon be destroyed when its sun explodes. To save his infant son, Kal-El, Jor-El launches a spacecraft containing him toward Earth, a distant planet with a suitable atmosphere, and where Kal-El's dense molecular structure will give him superhuman powers. Shortly after the launch, Krypton is destroyed.
In 2077, the Earth has been devastated by war with an extraterrestrial invader, the Scavengers (Scavs). Humanity is relocating to Saturn's moon Titan via the Tet, a large tetrahedron-shaped space station. Gigantic offshore fusion energy generators drain the oceans to produce power for the colonists on Titan.
After the sudden death of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a former American Civil War Confederate Army captain, Carter's nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara), attends the funeral. Per Carter's instructions, the body is put in a tomb that can be unlocked only from the inside. His attorney hands Burroughs Carter's journal, which Burroughs reads in the hope of finding clues to Carter's cause of death.
Dr. Jumba Jookiba is arrested and put on trial by the Galactic Federation for "illegal genetic experimentation", as evidenced by his Experiment 626, a living creature which is capable of creating untold chaos. Jumba is imprisoned while Experiment 626 is supposed to be exiled on a desert asteroid. 626 manages to escape in a spaceship and activates the hyperdrive, causing its guidance systems to malfunction and randomly set a course for Earth. The Grand Councilwoman dispatches Jumba and Agent Pleakley, the Council's Earth expert, to the planet to have 626 captured discreetly. 626 lands on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, but is knocked unconscious by a passing truck and taken to an animal shelter.
In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones, representing the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a fifth element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a divine light capable of defeating the evil. The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, that they will come back with the element stones in time to stop the great evil when it returns.
In the summer of 1982, Sam Brenner and Will Cooper are thirteen-year-olds who love playing in the local arcade. Brenner enters an arcade game world championships. At the event, the MC tells that a time capsule will be launched into space containing a videocassette that includes scenes from the championships. Brenner and Cooper meet Ludlow Lamonsoff, a child who's in love with Lady Lisa, the main character of the game Dojo Quest. Brenner succeeds in every game, but finally loses to Eddie Plant in Donkey Kong.
In 1928, a solitary mountaineer encounters a glowing sphere. He loses consciousness and when he wakes, the sphere has gone and there is a scar on his hand where a sample of his DNA has been taken.
Billions of years ago, beings called the Guardians of the Universe used the green essence of willpower to create an intergalactic police force called the Green Lantern Corps. They divided the universe into 3600 sectors, with one Green Lantern per sector. One such Green Lantern, Abin Sur of Sector 2814, defeated the malevolent being Parallax and imprisoned him in the Lost Sector on the desolate planet Ryut. In the present day, Parallax escapes from his prison after becoming strengthened by an encounter with crash survivors on the planet, feeding off of their fear to gain strength before pursuing and nearly killing Abin Sur, who escapes and crash-lands on Earth where he commands his ring to find a worthy successor.
On August 12, 2011, large masses thought to be meteors land in the oceans near several major coastal cities. The objects are discovered to be spacecraft containing hostile extraterrestrial life. Marines from Camp Pendleton arrive in Los Angeles, including SSgt. Michael Nantz (Eckhart), an Iraq War veteran. Nantz was to begin retirement, but because of the attack, he is made the acting platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, Echo Company, of the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines.