Cumberbatch is playing . . .
 

Time to cast your vote old school Trek09 folks. Just saw the trailer, and why not very classic Trek, I am curious who Cumberbatch is playing.

I am voting he is playing an entirely new character.

Either he is Khan who somehow got into Starfleet or he is Gary Mitchell. Obviously this guess is based upon the writer's claim that he is an iconic TOS character which could very well be a lie.
Furthermore I guess that his character will be altered slightly, probably roughly as much as Kirk. I also think that there is a decent chance that the character will be as interesting as Cochrane in FC and not, like in the previous movie, merely a cheap way to hedge themselves against dislike from old-school fans with massive fan-wank.
I nonetheless maintain my basic criticism of Trek being not bold enough to go where no one has gone before, a structural issue that might not even be solved by the next series.

Sam Kirk, a Changeling, youngified Cochrane who is angry about Starfleet messing up nacelle designs...

Not Gary Mitchell. He wouldn't need weapons.

Looking at the poster for the film you can see Benedict Cumberbatch and make out at least three London landmarks: 1 The Gherkin, 2. St Paul's Cathedral and 3. the London Eye.

I assumed initially that they had just been thrown in there to tell you it is London, but using Google Earth I have found that they are near enough correct in scale relative to their real-world positions to each other.

And that vantage point in London is near-enough in line with the building used as the headquarters of the secret organisation dealing in extra terrestrial matters known as "Torchwood" in Doctor Who (2006 series).

These are the relevant buildings in Google Maps: A being Torchwood Tower, and the other three are the buildings seen in the poster

So, at this point my current theory is this:

'Secret organisation Torchwood captures and clones brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes, and due to the collapse of Torchwood in mysterious circumstances the clone is not activated until the 23rd century. Confused, angry, and possessed of a vast intellect, he tries to bring order and sense to this new world. Only one person can stop him. His name? Spock.'

Benedict Cumberbatch's character even says "I have returned."

I think he's probably playing some Solitaire partaking of a light snack before a good night's sleep

I think you guys should invade the US but not the old territories but the West Coast, take Hollywood, give it to the BBC and let Moffat do the next Trek series. ;)

Strange this is, there's no London in the teaser, it's all about San Fran again XD

Oooh, good idea. I'l go down to Cardiff and suggest that to them. :D

Are you sure? I just saw a lot of futuristic buildings and two different shots of water. One of which looked like a bay such as you might find in San Francisco, but the other could well be the River Thames. It looked like a River and the surroundings were pretty level, much like parts of London.

The bit where it looks like the Enterprise is falling in looks like the bay, but the one with the nacelled shuttle emerging looks like a London shot.

Lots of water in this film.

I'm unclear about the role London may play (I didn't spot anything overly London like in the teaser though 30 St Mary Axe aka The Gherkin is quite visible in the poster) in the film other than perhaps being another location attacked at some point. The opening Cityscape appears to be San Francisco as that's consistent with the skyline in the first film.

I also thought I saw the TransAmerica Pyramid during it and that looks like the Bay bridge in the background which would seem right from my memories of being in San Francisco.

The starship plunging into a bay (anyone else think it looked a bit like the outline of an NX Class vessel?) also looks like San Francisco again because of the general look of the background so my suspicion is that most of the city material in the teaser appears to be that city. Which would make sense if the villain is assaulting Starfleet and it's heart.

Of course, if it's Mitchell and he has vastly increased psi powers then that could explain how he might have the ability to bring down starships and 'detonate the fleet' which remains a phrase the exact meaning of which is unclear since why would the E escape his abilities in that way.

I also think the ship emerging from a sea could be the Enterprise. While you just see nacelles and the emergence of the letters NCC I think you can also see briefly a saucer begin to emerge as well.