High Evolutionary
The High Evolutionary is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Herbert Edgar Wyndham was a male human orn to a family of moderate means in London, England around 1910. He demonstrated a mechanical aptitude at a young age, tinkering with bikes and cars to improve their efficiency and performance. No matter how good the machine, however, Herbert realized the operator was forever limited by how well they could control it. To improve the system of man and machine working together, both would need to be improved upon. From this basic insight he developed an increased interest in biology, especially the scientific community’s growing understanding of the genetic code and the possibility of changing the building blocks of life. (Uncanny X-Men Annual v1 #12) As a young research student, he came to learn more from the theoretical heresies of Essex than from conventional textbooks. (X-Men v2 #99) While awaiting news of a possible scholarship to Oxford University, Herbert lived in his mother’s home and converted her basement into his personal laboratory. Herbert designed his own genetic accelerator in an effort to deliberately induce mutation and controlled evolution in living creatures. Although he had some moderate success with affecting his test rats at a cellular level, the process was too traumatic for his subjects to survive the outcome. A consummate scientist, Wyndham kept a detailed record of his experiments and their results, in the hopes that he could find the secrets of life. Herbert had earned the respect of a Professor Hanley at Oxford while seeking admission and, through him, Wyndham received an invitation to the International Conference on Genetics in Geneva, Switzerland. Herbert had expended his father’s inheritance on the current model genetic accelerator and felt he could not continue his work without access to greater funds or facilities. By 1928, he was engaged in his genetic experiments when he received an invitation to the international conference on genetics in Geneva. He attended the conference, intent on impressing the scientific community with his ideas, securing a scholarship to Oxford, or perhaps even a private sponsor to support his experiments. At the conference were a number of attendees that included Polish geneticist Wladyslav Shinsky, his Austrian student Arnim Zola, and Jonathan Drew who was a zoologist from Yale that specialised in arthropods. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3)
They attempted to bend the ear of the community’s big names like Wladyslav Shinsky and his student, Arnim Zola, but Shinsky would only preach caution and patience. He believed genetics experiments were unethical until the genetic code was properly mapped, else horrific consequences would arise from 'rummaging around' in cellular material. Angry and disheartened, Herbert and Jonathan got drunk after the conference to complain about the close-minded intellectuals at the top of their field. While relieving himself in an alleyway, Wyndham was approached by a tall, mysteriously cloaked man who offered him parchments containing genetics information to help his work. With only a cursory glance, Herbert realized the papers described the genetic code far beyond the current understanding of science. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3) Herbert eventually managed to secure a scholarship and enroll in Oxford. Herbert’s passion for the subject of genetics made him well-liked among some of his professors, such as Nathaniel Essex. (X-Men v2 #99)
Wyndham was later joined with another fellow scientist named Jonathan Drew where they went about to continue their work leading to them setting up base in Transia on Wundagore Mountain in a futuristic citadel where they made use of a workforce of Moloids. (Punisher Annual v1 #1)
Jonathan's daughter Jessica Drew later became ill due to their proximity to the mountain's reserves of uranium, and she was treated by a combination of spider serum and Wyndham's evolutionary technology and placed in suspended animation. This process would later result in Jessica gaining spider-related superpowers. (Marvel Spotlight v1 #32)
Herbert’s hopes were in vain though as Jonathan grew despondent without his wife and daughter. He could not focus on their efforts and eventually quit their enterprise altogether. Nevertheless, Wyndham continued searching the grounds of the Citadel at night and ran across a genuine werewolf, Miriam’s killer. Shaken by the encounter, Wyndham only survived because the beast fled the coming of sunrise. Not quite ready to believe in supernatural creatures yet, Wyndham still recognized the need to protect himself and designed a suit of armor with silver plating… just in case. Herbert soon had the opportunity to prove his suit worked when the werewolf attacked one of the Moloids. Herbert’s silver-plated armor shielded him from the werewolf and he captured the creature. With the death of one of their own and the work completed, the Moloids vanished into the underground tunnels and were never seen by Herbert again. (Fantastic Four Annual v1 #21) As day broke, Herbert discovered his werewolf captive was the neighboring Baron Gregor Russoff. The man was distraught after learning about the killings for which he was responsible and Wyndham offered to cage him on the nights of the full moon while performing his own research into Russoff’s condition. Meanwhile, with the Citadel of Science completed, Herbert could finally return to his own work. The short half-life of his original isotope led Wyndham to fashion Isotope B as a more stable power source for his genetic accelerator. This proved very effective, and Wyndham carried out successful transformations on a variety of test creatures. These New Men included Tagar the tiger, Porga the pig, and Bova the cow, who underwent electronic tutelage to quickly bring them up to modern standards of language, learning, and behavior. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #22) While Bova was clearly both woman and cow, Tagar and Porga became virtually human in appearance, with only the smallest signs of their animal origins. (Scarlet Spider Unlimited v1 #1) While his theories were finally being put into practice, Wyndham received a surprise when Jonathan Drew returned to Wundagore. Drew claimed to be possessed by the spirit of a medieval mage named Magnus, the former lover and disciple of Morgan le Fay. Magnus reported that he and Morgan’s cult of the Darkhold once used that cursed tome to summon the Elder God known as Chthon. When Chthon proved intractable, they banished him back to his nether-plane, with only Mount Wundagore as his lingering foothold into this dimension. Magnus insisted Wyndham’s presence and mining activity threatened to release Chthon, but Herbert was a man of science and refused to believe in such hocus pocus. He thought only that Drew had suffered a breakdown following the loss of his wife and daughter, and was imagining things. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #22) Later on, Jonathan returned to Wundagore possessed by the sorcerer Magnus, who warned him that the mountain was the banishing place of the demon Chthon, though the scientifically-minded Wyndham scoffed at this - albeit Magnus convinced Wyndham to teach the New Men a chivalry code as ethics. (X-Men Annual v1 #12)
Years later, he was noted to had gained an assistant for his experiments with this being Dr. Miles Warren. It was said that his assistance helped breed more human-like New Men. However, a conflict emerged when Warren looked to play god and create a race of perfect humans with him using the High Evolutionary's technology to achieve his own ends. This led to his eventual banishment from Wundagore though led to some of the New Men revering Miles Warren as they formed the Cult of the Jackal. (Scarlet Spider Unlimited v1 #1) Some years ago, a brilliant scientist named Stillwell contacted her idol Dr. Wyndam about her successes in human/animal fusions. These Huanimals were her prize and work but what drew the High Evolutionary's attention was Madame Monstrosity's claim of a subject able to evolve and devolve between his human and animal forms. Upon arriving though, the High Evolutionary saw no such creature and believed that his journey to had been a waste of time. As a result, he derided the work of Stillwell and warned her against contacting him ever again. (Spider-Boy v2 #5)
High Evolutionary
He was working on an experiment to evolve a wolf into a New Man as he had never used such a specimen before in his works. During the experiment, he was interrupted when his Knights had brought a powerful intruder who was Thor Odinson where the Asgardian had been searching for Jane Foster when she last set forth for Wundagore. Not wanting to be disturbed, the High Evolutionary directed the intruder to another wing in the citadel but the distraction meant that his experiment went out of control. Unable to stop the machine, it proceeded to evolve the wolf further forward in its evolution leading to the creation of the Man-Beast. (Thor v1 #134)
After his return to corporeality, the High Evolutionary took a ship disguised as an asteroid to the point in Earth's orbit on the opposite side of the sun and used his technology and abilities to advance a small chunk of terrestrial material into a nearly identical copy of the Earth. His goal was to create an Earth without the corruption of evil, but while he was resting, Man-Beast snuck onto his ship and tampered with the process to add that corruption himself. At the same time, the High Evolutionary had recovered the cocoon of Him and was taking care of it until its inhabitant would emerge again in a new form. When Him was reborn, High Evolutionary re-christened him as Adam Warlock, gave him the Soul Gem, and enlisted him to protect Counter-Earth from Man-Beast and his evil New Men. (Marvel Premiere v1 #1)
Wyndham pursued those responsible to reclaim his creation, but when he learned of the Beyonders' nature and how unfathomably advanced they were compared to his own conceivable potential, he fell into despair and sought to end his own life. His sealed armor foiled conventional suicide attempts, but by goading the Hulk into a fight, he damaged his armor enough to turn his de-evolution powers on himself, reducing himself to protoplasmic goo. (Incredible Hulk v1 #266)
Evolutionary War
On his station, he received a report from his Purifiers over their activities in Subterranea. He was then confronted by Apocalypse where the two had a conflict over their views of evolution. Apocalypse had opposed the High Evolutionary's sterilisation plans as these were acts of unnatural selection and he believed that the weak should be allowed to die off. Their fight was so great that it destroyed the space station leading to the two continuing their fight in space. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3)
The Avengers stopped him, though the High Evolutionary and Hercules were exposed to the High Evolutionary's Genesis Chamber and became "more than a god", evolving out of existence. (Avengers Annual v1 #17)
He then made his way to the Olympia that was the hidden home city of the Eternals where he recruited them to help him map the Silver Surfer's genetics. (Silver Surfer Annual v1 #1)
Mount Wundagore came under attack by Acolytes and Genoshan Mutates led by Exodus, who saw the Evolutionary's artificial work as an affront to natural evolution. Wyndham was forced to flee Wundagore, and left a garrison of Knights under the command of Pietro Maximoff. (Quicksilver v1 #1)
He was then betrayed by Essex who was revealed to had been Mister Sinister who had taken over the station. (X-Men v2 #99)
Ascension
He was drawn back to Earth following the activation of the Ascension Engine where his World Vessel was visited by the Thing along with evolved Moloids that were hyper-evolved with an increased intellect. The two Future Foundation members had invited the High Evolutionary to a gathering hosted by Doctor Doom. Wyndham accepted where he joined a group consisting of some of the smartest minds on the planet where they were set the task of defeating members of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds that were operating on the planet. (FF v1 #3)
Afterwards, he became aware of the existence of the Children of the Sun that were a newly created race made by the Origin Bombs of Ex Nihilo. The zebra children were unlike any other form o life and the High Evolutionary saw them as being akin to living batteries that could usher in an evolutionary fountainhead. Thus, he had them abducted whilst they were in the Savage Land where he used their energy to resurrect Terminus. The kidnapping of the children drew the attention of the Avengers with Hyperion confronting the High Evolutionary. Ultimately, the High Evolutionary was forced to abandon his experiments and depart the Savage Land once the Terminus was defeated. (Avengers v5 #13) The High Evolutionary was later convinced by Zuras of the Eternals that the Celestials were going to come to the Earth and judge it, for which Wyndham killed all of the New Men and sent numerous Evolutionaries to assault metahumans. (New Warriors v5 #1) He attempted to use a gene bomb that would have killed anything that was not human on the surface of the Earth, but was stopped by the New Warriors. (New Warriors v5 #4) He later tried once again to build the bomb, even though the New Warriors pinned him down. (New Warriors v5 #10) This time, the Eternals arrived to help the High Evolutionary and defeated the Warriors. (New Warriors v5 #11) After gaining a second wind, the Warriors discovered that Zuras had been lying. Zuras blamed the High Evolutionary for his actions and blasted him, leaving him for dead. (New Warriors v5 #12) In the aftermath, he seemingly was reconstituted and returned to Counter-Earth. During this time, he began a process of hyper-evolving people on Counter-Earth to create new species that developed into a civilization. However, each time, he perceived perfections that were shown to him and he annihilated them only to begin the process again. This led to millions being born and dying at the impossible to reach expectations of the High Evolutionary. Among those that opposed his plans was a human figure known as the Low Evolutionary who led the resistance against his 'father'. (Uncanny Avengers v2 #2)
The High Evolutionary at some point grew tired of his Ani-Men that he deemed as failures and mutations. Thus, he sought to craft a new race with this being born from his own genetic material with this creating a daughter who came to be called the Higher Evolutionary. However, she contained one facet of her father that he long abandoned namely his compassion and pled for the lives of the Ani-Men. For her compassion, she was locked away in the depths of Counter-Earth as her father then set his sights on his new plans for bringing about evolution. (Avengers v1 #674) He then embarked on a new plan to bring about evolution on a planetary scale that involved a goal known as the Ascension. This involved colliding both Earth and Counter-Earth into one another to form a super-planet that was to be a blank setting for the High Evolutionary to begin anew. (Champions v2 #14) It was also revealed that the High Evolutionary had a compassionate clone called the Higher Evolutionary whose personality caused the High Evolutionary to hook up to the Orbit-Engine in which his removal would destroy Counter-Earth. (Avengers v1 #674) However, the Evolutionary survived but was transformed completely into sentient digital data and was trapped in an unknown dimension. While evolving the life on the planet he landed on, he unexpected encountered Viv who was also sent to the unknown dimension after deactivating the machine that would have caused Earth and Counter-Earth to collide. The High Evolutionary explained his situation and revealed that he couldn't return to their world because his digital existence required a connection. The High Evolutionary then revealed that he could use Viv as a means to return to their world because Vision was creating a new Viv to replace her and believed that the second Viv could be that connection that could take both of them back to their dimension. Viv refused to take the High Evolutionary back to their dimension and managed to use her connection to the second Viv to transport herself back home alone, stranding the Evolutionary in the unknown dimension. (Champions v2 #15)
Knights of Wundagore developed a machine that allowed them to lock-on Evolutionary's position in the dimension he was trapped in and bring him back. As soon as he came back, Wyndham stated his disappointment in the Counter-Earth experiment and left. (Spider-Woman v7 #6) He later came to be drawn back to Earth when Kraven the Hunter began hunting the New Men in order force a confrontation with the scientist. To prevent any more of his creations deaths, he came to agree to a deal with Kraven whereby the High Evolutionary would create 87 clones for the hunter. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #16)
House of X
At some point, he came to attend Gameworld that was under the management of Cordyceps Jones who was a sentient extraterrestrial fungal-based entity. During this time, Earth experienced a change when Mutants came to form a nation of their own that was called Krakoa. They then came to terraform Mars which they declared the new capital of the Sol system and was now named Arakko. This saw Cordyceps Jones deeming humanity a threat and he offered a wager for anyone to destroy the planet with multiple parties taking part in this venture. The High Evolutionary claimed that he would normally have killed Cordyceps Jones but was amused at the alien and took part in the wager but had no real interest in it. Instead, he looked for Mutants to achieve their evolutionary potential and determined that this could only be achieved by the elimination of mankind. As such, he offered the X-Men a nihility sphere that would release a virus that would kill off mankind with him deeming this a mercy. However, the X-Men opposed him and battled the High Evolutionary but failed to even hurt the genetic scientist who easily overpowered them but took an interest in the abilities of Synch. He offered to end hostilities in exchange for a drop of Synch's blood which he agreed to give him with the High Evolutionary departing though he allowed Jean Grey a brief look into his mind to show that Cordyceps Jones was responsible for the recent attacks on Earth. (X-Men v6 #3)
Overview
Personality and attributes
The High Evolutionary considered himself to be superior to nature and above paltry concerns. (Thor v1 #134) He was said to be the loneliest of the ascended ones. (Fantastic Four Annual v1 #23)
Control was something he had come to admire and it was under this tenet that he controlled the destiny of humanity. He sought to help in the advancement of humanity as that they could evolve just as he had managed to do so. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3)
It was said that he and Apocalypse had a philosophical difference concerning the evolution of mankind. He considered Apocalypse to be someone that represented death whilst he himself embodied life. The High Evolutionary had in fact considered himself to be akin to a parent that made choices for those too immature to choose for themselves. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3)
The High Evolutionary was revealed to have a student called the High Technician who was responsible for creating a team of uplifted dinosaurs called the Saur-Lords during his time in the Savage Land. (Captain America v1 #415)
Powers and abilities
He came to know all he could about human genetics and even Eternal genetics. (Silver Surfer Annual v1 #1)
It was said that he was superbly intelligent and was as immortal as he was powerful. He did not need air allowing him to survive in the void of space. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3)
He was considered an equal to some cosmic beings an stood among the ranks of the ascended ones. (Fantastic Four Annual v1 #23)
The body armor he had created preserved his existence from any danger to his person even if it came from himself. Thus, it acted to prevent him from attempting to commit suicide. It could also act to attack threats to him and even acted against his will. (Incredible Hulk v1 #266)
Among his creations included:
- Nihility Sphere : a spherical construct that was said to hold a virus capable of targeting a set species and bringing about their extinction. (X-Men v6 #3)
- Genetic Accelerator :
- Isotope E :
- Ascension Engine : noted for being the best in evolutionary technology. (FF v1 #3)
He had devised an energy field capable of neutralising an aspect of the Mutant genome that catalysed their extraordinary abilities. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #379) It was said that he could nullify the abilities and gifts he had given his own creations. (X-Men v6 #3)
The High Evolutionary had a number of followers that included the:
- Knights of Wundagore :
- Evolutionary Guard : a group of New Men that served as the personal guard to the High Evolutionary. (X-Men v6 #3)
- Animen : a team of New Men that served as operatives for the High Evolutionary who were sent on secret assignments for their master. (Scarlet Spider Unlimited v1 #1)
Notes
- The High Evolutionary was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance Thor v1 #134 (November, 1966).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In X-Men: The Animated Series, the High Evolutionary made a cameo appearance in the animated television series episode "Savage Land, Savage Heart" Part 2 where he was shown in a flashback and was responsible for imprisoning Garokk in the Savage Land. He would make a full appearance in "Family Ties" where he was voiced by James Blendick. The High Evolutionary was shown as being the Master of Wundagore where he bred his New Men and sought to bring a genetic utopia. In the past, the wounded Magda who was fleeing Magneto passed her children to the care of the New Men Lady Bova who cared for them before returning the to mankind. The twins would grow up as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver that returned to Wundagore Mountain where they were initially confronted High Evolutionary who later accepted them after realizing they were the children that he confirmed through a genetic scan. Lady Bova would tell the two that Magneto was responsible for their mothers death and the High Evolutionary directed them to a nearby cemetery where Magus was situated where he sent some of his finest New Men to accompany them. Once Magneto was defeated, the New Men captured the twins along wit Wolverine who had arrived at the site. Once taken to Wundagore, they became the prisoners of the High Evolutionary who revealed to the twins that Magneto was their father. He intended to harvest some of their Mutant DNA and use it to breed a new superior generation of New Men with Wolverine turned into a werewolf-like creature. Afterwards, Professor X and Hank McCoy would arrive at Wundagore to free Wolveine along with Magneto where the High Evolutionary directed his forces to capture Beast but failed. Upon their defeat, the High Evolutionary escaped in his citadel with his New Men and the departure of the craft turned the once lush valley that was supported by the technology into a more desolate one and Wolverine was returned back to normal.
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, the High Evolutionary was shown as the primary villain of animated television series where he was voiced by actor Richard Newman. It was shown as a human who had advanced psionic abilities such as telekinesis and was a brilliant geneticist. He would grow disgusted with humanity on Earth and instead sought to journey to a world that would be a utopia where he could escape the violence of mankind leading to his journey to Counter-Earth around 50 years ago. However, in time, he found that this planet was similarly plagued by mankind's destructive tendencies leading to him deciding to create a new society based on animals uplifted into intelligence. Thus, he created the Beastials that were human/animal hybrids that were loyal to him and became the dominant society on Counter-Earth with humans becoming second class citizens. A select group of Beastials would be elevated to his elite council known as the Knights of Wundagore consisting of Sir Ram, Lord Tiger, Lady Ursula and Lady Vermin who commanded the Machine Men that enforced the High Evolutionary's laws on Counter-Earth whilst keeping humans in order. The High Evolutionary seemingly had children and a grand child named Karen O'Malley who he conducted experiments on when she was a be newborn but her parents would take the child to safety where she would eventually grow to adulthood to become one of the leaders of the human resistance. His New Men would confiscate John Jameson's Solaris-1 shuttle that landed on Counter-Earth and have Solaris-2 destroyed but not before Spider-Man escaped into the world where he commanded his Knights of Wundagore along with the Machine Men with the capture of the vigilante superhero.
- In Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., the High Evolutionary made an appearance in the animated television series in the episode "Future Shock" where he was voiced by actor Corey Burton. At some point in the future, a gamma meteor crashed into the Earth at a time when the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. were not present. The resultant cataclysm caused humanity to regress into primitivism with the High Evolutionary emerging to offer mankind salvation by transforming them into animal hybrids that were called the Animal Men. Thus, they would become the inheritors of the planet for the next thousand years whilst under the care of the High Evolutionary. In this future, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. crashed on the primitive yet idyllic Earth due to the Leader tricking Skaar into piloting the Hulk's craft into a temporal distortion wormhole. Once on Earth, they were attacked by Lizard Men until the High Evolutionary intervened and revealed the events that happened to Earth. He would later trap Hulk in an energy cage whilst devolving A-Bomb, Red Hulk and She-Hulk with his attempt to regress Skaar being ineffective as he was already evolutionary primitive. Thus, the High Evolutionary would depart and conduct experiments on the Hulk to evolve him into the perfect gamma specimen whilst unaware that Skaar under the advice from the Leader managed to rally the primitive S.M.A.S.H. members to find his citadel. Within his Evolution Chamber, he turned the Hulk into a smarter entity with bat-like wings who attacked Skaar but was convinced to turn against the High Evolutionary by convincing him he was superior than his creator. Despite his intelligence and power, the Evolved Hulk was unable to defeat his maker though the distraction allowed Skaar to restore his teammates to normal. In the resultant fight, the High Evolutionary's devolution ray staff was damaged causing it to feedback and turn him into a child who was taken into care by the Animal men whilst the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. returned to their timeline via the wormhole in space in order to destroy the gamma meteor that brought about this future timeline.
- In Guardians of the Galaxy, the High Evolutionary appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Nolan North.
Films
- In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the High Evolutionary appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Chukwudi Iwuji. This version of a black long-lived alien geneticist who at one point had come to Earth where he became enamoured with the culture for a time. Later on, he became the founder and CEO of the intergalactic bio-engineering company OrgoCorp where he sought to enhance what he considered lower lifeforms into a perfect species, destroying experiments that failed to meet his expectations. In pursuit of this, he created the Humanimals of Counter-Earth, the golden-skinned Sovereigns, and the Half-Worlders. Among his experiments was Batch 89, which included 89P13 who later took on the name Rocket. Rocket demonstrated intelligence and technical proficiency that exceeded his own and that of previous test subjects while solving a problem with his Humanimals that he failed to fix. The High Evolutionary, who was both amazed and furious that Rocket figured it out instead of himself and has the right process to enhance his experiments, intended to harvest Rocket's brain for further study and incinerate the rest of Batch 89. Wanting to save his friends, Rocket tried to mount an escape attempt, though all but Rocket were killed by the High Evolutionary and his Recorders before Rocket escaped, heavily disfiguring and scarring the High Evolutionary in the process. In the present, the High Evolutionary's obsession with capturing Rocket leads to him running afoul of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who eventually defeat him. After Rocket chooses to spare his creator's life while rescuing the normal animals and Drax carries him away from his exploding ship, the Guardians imprisoned him on Knowhere.
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the High Evolutionary appeared in the setting of the Facebook video game.
Appearances
- Thor v1: (1966)
- Fantastic Four v1:
- Fantastic Four Annual v1:
- Avengers v1:
- X-Factor Annual v1:
- Incredible Hulk v1:
- Quicksilver v1:
- Uncanny X-Men v1:
- X-Men v2:
- FF v1:
- Avengers v5:
- Uncanny Avengers v2:
- New Warriors:
- Avengers:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- X-Men v6: (2021)
External Links
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