James Tiberius Kirk, a character from the fictional Star Trek universe, was the captain of the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A). He appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the first seven Star Trek movies, and on each occasion was played by William Shatner.

Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2228.

He had a distinguished career in Starfleet Academy, becoming the first person to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test by rewriting the program to allow him to win. In his first assignment, he served as Ensign aboard the USS Republic, NCC-1371 in the year 2250. He was promoted to Lieutenant immediately after his graduation from Starfleet Academy in 2254, and served aboard the USS Farragut, NCC-1647 until being promoted to captain in 2264. As captain of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, he followed Christopher Pike and preceded a string of others that included Jean-Luc Picard. He was promoted to admiral in 2269, but never enjoyed the position. He was relieved to be demoted back to captain after stealing the Enterprise and sabotaging the USS Excelsior in 2285.

With Carol Marcus, he had a son named David, who was killed by Klingons in 2285. He recorded in his log that he could never forgive them for the death of his son, which was used as evidence against him when he was accused of murdering Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in 2291.

In 2294 he was lost when the Enterprise B was damaged by the Nexus. However, he was actually still alive in another plane of existence, where he was rescued by Captain Picard, only to be killed on Veridian III in 2371.

See also: Mr. Spock, slash fiction