Joseph Korso

Joseph Korso is the secondary antagonist of Titan A.E.. Though he is human, like Cale and Akima, he works for the Drej and Drej Queen, an alien group that wishes to eradicate humans. He is voiced by Bill Pullman.

Background
Born and raised on Earth before 2106 (AE 0) Korso served in the United States military, presumably as a member of the National Guard. At the time of the Drej's destruction of Gaea in 2106, he was stationed in Pierce, Colorado as part of the security detachment assigned to the Titan Project. During his stationing in Pierce, he became acquainted with the Project's head researcher, Professor Samuel Tucker, Cale's father, and came to consider him a friend. After the destruction of Gaea, Korso spent several years trying to track down Tucker, who had disappeared into deep space aboard the Titan that day. Finally concluding that Tucker was most likely dead, he gave up the search for the Professor, and instead turned his efforts toward trying to find Cale, Tucker’s son, whom he presumed still had the map to the location of the Titan, given to him by his father the day Gaea was destroyed.

Scouring the Andromeda Galaxy for clues to Cale’s whereabouts, he enlisted the help of a female human pilot, Akima Kunimoto; a male Akranian named Preed as first mate; Stith, a female Sogowan as weapons’ specialist; and Gune, a male Grepcan as navigator, to comprise the crew of the Valkyrie on the mission to find Cale and locate the Titan. Eventually making contact with Tek, one of Sam Tucker’s alien associates on the Titan Project, and the one who had taken custody of Cale after Sam disappeared, Korso found the two now living aboard Tau-14, a deep space salvage station.

Role in the Film
Korso is the captain, and possibly the owner, of the Valkyrie, and the leader of the mission to find the Titan. Throughout the film, he serves as Cale's mentor and surrogate father figure, showing him that it's alright to ask for help and rely on others for it; to never give up, no matter how great the challenge; and to stand up for what you consider important. He goes back on his teachings for most of the latter half of the movie though, outright telling Cale that "the human race is out of gas; it's circling the drain- it's finished" and life adrift in space as a human is "about grabbing what you can before somebody else beats you to it."

Despite this betrayal of trust, he redeems himself in the final scenes of the movie, even going as far as to sacrifice himself (acting as a human conductor for a jammed breaker switch onboard the Titan) to ensure that the Titan's planet-generating capabilities are restored and the Drej are destroyed in the process.

Trivia

 * Joseph's last name is Korso.
 * Joseph Korso is the captain of the Valkyrie.
 * Joseph Korso was animated by Len Simon.