Origin
Star Trek Canon Special Note
Not everything listed in the origin is Canon. That is because only television shows and movies are considered canon. This being a comic website there are many things here that are not canon. So unless it is contradicted in film it should be listed as part of the character biography.
Lieutenant Sulu was assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise in 2265 where he was the head of the astro-science department. On ship he was known for his skills in mathematics, fencing, and botany. He was later promoted to helmsman. In 2266, the Enterprise was sent back in time after a near-collision with a black hole, this lead to the Enterprise being photographed by the United States Air Force, not wanting to disrupt Earth history, Captain James Kirk and Sulu transported to the military base to retrieve any evidence of the Enterprise being detected.
During the Enterprise refit in 2270, Sulu was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and served aboard the Enterprise under the command of Captain Willard Decker. It is at some point during this time that Sulu fathered a daughter named Demora Sulu who was born in 2271, she would later hold the same position as her father in 2293, as the helmsman of the Enterprise-B. Also at this point Between between 2270 and 2285, Sulu was promoted again to the rank of Commander and assigned to teaching at Starfleet Academy.
Sulu was later penned for promotion to Captain and given command of the USS Excelsior, but due to the Genesis incident and the subsequent stealing of the Enterprise, command was given Captain Styles instead. In 2286, Sulu was the pilot of the HMS Bounty, the Klingon ship which was stolen after the Enterprise was destroyed. After taking the Bounty back in time to the year 1986, Sulu also piloted a Huey 204, which carried the container for two humpback whales. On returning to the year 2286, Sulu along with the rest of the crew are given their new ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise A. In 2287 the then newly commissioned Enterprise A is called to Nimbus III to defend the inhabitants against a group of raiders led by Spock’s brother, Sybok. Once again, Sulu is at the helm of the ship and pilots it to the edge of the galaxy.
In 2290, Sulu was finally promoted to the rank of Captain and given command of the USS Excelsior, taking with him Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand who was assigned the position of ship’s communications officer. Three years later, the Excelsior was assigned to the Beta Quadrant to catalog gaseous anomalies, it is there that the ship detects a shock wave created by the explosion of Praxis, one of the moons of Qo’noS, this lead eventually led to the battle between with the USS Enterprise and the prototype Klingon Bird of Prey, in which the Excelsior warps in later to assist.
Creation
Sulu was created for the television show Star Trek by Gene Robbenberry. The character was played by George Takei. In the new film he is played by John Cho.
Character Evolution
In a small run of comics by Power Records the character of Sulu was depicted as a black man but in comics and film after this he was still depicted as he originally was. It is unknown why this transformation was made. Uhura in the same series was depicted as being a blonde blue eyed woman and lesser know character M’Ress was depicted as a blue alien.