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Quote1 The High Evolutionary intends to build a god fit for the twenty-first century. And you will be his raw materials. Quote2
High Evolutionary[src]

Dr. Herbert Edgar Wyndham was a brilliant Oxford educated scientist and a cosmic philosopher with an obsession for understanding the complexities of evolution. His journey began with a desire to explore the mysteries of human DNA, which led him to create a serum that transformed him into the High Evolutionary.[4]

As the High Evolutionary, he possessed incredible powers and intellect, and he continued to study and explore the universe in search of the secrets of genetics. He established his base of operations in the Citadel of Science on Mount Wundagore,[5] where he created his own race known as the New Men, uplifted animals given human level intelligence.[6] The High Evolutionary played a key role in unlocking the powers of the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver,[7] and Spider-Woman.[8]

In addition to his work on Earth, the High Evolutionary traveled to Counter-Earth, a parallel world he created, in an attempt to create a paradise for his New Men.[9]

Quick Answers

What are the powers of the High Evolutionary in Marvel comics? toggle section
The High Evolutionary, also known as Herbert Wyndham, possesses a vast array of powers in the Marvel comics. He has evolved his brain to its full potential, granting him virtually unlimited knowledge and intellectual ability. His powers include psionics, animal telepathy, clairvoyance, telepathic communication, cyberpathy, and mental invisibility. He can also generate and project various forms of energy waves, emit large voltages of electricity, and emit radiation beams. Additionally, he has superhuman strength, superhuman durability, and a healing factor that makes him virtually unkillable. He can separate his spirit from his physical form, levitate, manipulate his own size and mass, and emit concussive force blasts. The High Evolutionary can also forcibly evolve or devolve life-forms at an accelerated rate and has allegedly achieved immortality. He is a super-genius, skilled in science, especially genetics and engineering, and is a brilliant theoretician and master geneticist.
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What is the significance of the High Evolutionary in the Marvel universe? toggle section
The High Evolutionary, also known as Herbert Wyndham, is a significant character in the Marvel universe due to his unique powers and influence. He is known for his god-like abilities, which include superhuman strength, intelligence, and durability, as well as a healing factor that makes him virtually unkillable. The High Evolutionary has evolved his own brain to its full potential, giving him virtually unlimited knowledge and intellectual ability. He is also a master of genetic and cybernetic engineering, with the ability to create new life forms. One of his most notable creations is the Higher Evolutionary, a superior being created using his own genetic material. The High Evolutionary's actions and creations have had a profound impact on the Marvel universe, making him a character of great significance.
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What is the High Evolutionary's obsession in the Marvel comics? toggle section
In the Marvel comics, the High Evolutionary, also known as Herbert Wyndham, is obsessed with evolution and the potential it holds. He has dedicated his life to studying and manipulating genetic material to create superior beings and has even evolved his own brain to its full potential. This obsession has led him to create lifeforms like the Higher Evolutionary and to constantly shift between various levels of evolution, sometimes even reaching god-like powers. His ultimate goal is to understand and control the process of evolution itself.
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Where did the High Evolutionary establish his base in the Marvel universe? toggle section
In the Marvel universe, the High Evolutionary, also known as Herbert Wyndham, established his base of operations in the Citadel of Science on Mount Wundagore. This is where he conducted his groundbreaking genetic research and created his own race known as the New Men.
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What is the High Evolutionary's real name in the Marvel comics? toggle section
In the Marvel comics, the High Evolutionary's real name is Herbert Wyndham.
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History

Herbert Wyndham (Earth-616) from X-Factor Annual Vol 1 3 0001

Early Life

Early Life[]

Herbert Wyndham was born in Manchester, England but soon moved to the Welsh countryside with his parents.[citation needed]

As a student in the 1920s, Herbert Wyndham was inspired by the work of Nathaniel Essex to perform his own genetic experiments, evolving rats in his parents' basement. Later, when he attended a conference in Geneva, Wyndham was approached by a disguised Inhuman, who gave Wyndham the secrets for unlocking genetic codes. As a result, he created a serum that allowed for genetic alteration, but his controversial work got him expelled from Oxford University.[4]

However, Wyndham joined with another fellow scientist, Jonathan Drew to continue his work, and they set up base in Transia on Wundagore Mountain in a futuristic citadel that his Inhuman contact gave him a workforce of Moloids to build.[5]

Spider-Woman[]

Drew's daughter Jessica became ill thanks 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 becoming the superheroine known as Spider-Woman.[10] Drew's wife was killed by a werewolf, Gregor Russoff, while Wyndham survived the attack. Jonathan left Wundagore, and Wyndham constructed a suit of advanced armor to protect himself.[11][12]

Herbert Wyndham (Earth-616) from Marvel Two-In-One Vol 1 63 001

New Men[]

Soon after this, aided by a new assistant named Miles Warren, Wyndham created the New Men by evolving animals into humanoid forms.[13] 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.[14] One of the New Men was the Inheritor, an evolved cockroach who developed megalomania and, unlike his peers, refused to follow Wyndham's orders and chivalry code. Wyndham reacted by banishing him to outer space.[15]

Chthon[]

Russoff used the mystical book the Darkhold to try and cure his lycanthropy, freeing Chthon in the process. Wyndham, now known as the High Evolutionary, and the New Men, now known as the Knights of Wundagore, fought the demon and banished him again.

Maximoff Twins[]

However, at that moment, a pregnant woman Magda gave birth to twins Wanda and Pietro on the mountain, in the citadel, and Chthon's power touched them, giving him a conduit into the world. The twins would grow up to become the mutant superheroes the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The High Evolutionary's New Man Bova first tried to pass the twins on to Robert Frank, whose wife had died in childbirth,[7] before giving them to a Romani couple who had lost their own children.[16]

Gaining Powers[]

After clashes with the heroes Thor[17] and the Hulk,[18] the High Evolutionary decided to launch his citadel into space. There, Wyndham temporarily evolved himself into a disembodied intelligence.[19] He was called back to Wundagore by a colony of New Men that had been left behind, it had fallen under the partial sway of the Man-Beast with the complicating factor of Wolverine and Kitty Pryde being there for a reconnaissance mission.[20] Both god and beast were left with things to contemplate.

He later devolved himself back into his normal form, but now had internalized his powers, including the ability to evolve or devolve other creatures at will.

Counter-Earth[]

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 (which he had obtained by unrevealed circumstances), and enlisted him to protect Counter-Earth from Man-Beast and his evil New Men.[9]

Herbert Wyndham (Earth-616) and Galan (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 175 001

Confronting Galactus

When Galactus discovered the existence of Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary created another army of New Men and sent Gorr to acquire the help of the Fantastic Four against the world eater and its herald, the Destroyer.[21]

Counter-Earth was soon after stolen by the Prime Movers of Tarkus at the behest of the Beyonders to be put in a cosmic museum.[22] 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.[23]

Evolutionary War[]

The High Evolutionary later turned up alive and rededicated to his goal of advancing human evolution to a level to rival the Beyonders. Rather than limit his methods to his own subjects, he took his quest global and aimed to remove obstacles to his design by attacking genetic groups he deemed evolutionary dead ends and aggressively procuring resources towards his master project. To assist in these tasks, he recruited armored agents to carry out simultaneous raids around the world: Gatherers to identify and locate target groups and resources, Purifiers to suppress and neutralize targets, and heavily armed Eliminators for outright destruction of opposing institutions. Despite his increasingly violent methods, the High Evolutionary still considered himself a benevolent god, and believed by sterilizing beings or removing their powers while avoiding killing them, he was being sufficiently merciful.[4][12]

Among the steps the High Evolutionary took in his crusade was discrediting the work of his former associate, cloning specialist Miles Warren. Wyndham still believed cloning was a dead end in genetic research and did everything he could to discredit the idea. After studying the Gwen Stacy clone created by Warren, he lied to Spider-Man and the woman, claiming she was not a clone at all.[24] Wyndham even went so far as to plant false journals of Warren's around Empire state University, claiming he had created a DNA recombinant virus that would re-engineer one person into the physical and genetic duplicate of another, rather than actual clones.[25]

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.[26]

Black Galaxy Saga[]

The evolved essences of High Evolutionary and Hercules were harvested by the Celestials and imprisoned and manipulated for unknown purposes in the Black Galaxy. Eventually both were returned to human form.[27]

After his liberation, the High Evolutionary decided that rather than advancing humanity, he would create new gods and immortals using the unique matter that composed the Black Galaxy, which included the New Immortals and the Analyzer. He and his creations were on-hand to witness the birth of a new Celestial, but viewing this event with all his hyper-evolved senses seemed to drive the High Evolutionary back to madness.[28]

He and his adopted son Adam Warlock reunited in conflict with the Man-Beast.[29]

Savage Land[]

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.[30]

Fleeing to the Savage Land, Wyndham's experiments with the unstable Isotope E left him an evolutionary unstable addict, shifting from Neanderthal to Hyper-Evolved Human states uncontrollably without regular exposure.[31]

His mental instability progressed to the point that the High Evolutionary became infatuated with Shanna, wife of Ka-Zar. Infused with the power of the Savage Land's terraformer (commissioned by the Beyonders), she had become much like the High Evolutionary himself. The two became obsessed with each other, and nearly departed Earth to create a new world of their own, but Ka-Zar convinced Shanna otherwise. The High Evolutionary repented, agreeing to return Shanna to her normal state once he realized that the relationship should not be pursued. He then restored the engines that kept the volcanoes active, saving the Savage Land.[citation needed]

Depowering Mutants[]

The High Evolutionary devised the means to negate the x-factor in every mutant on the planet using satellite technology. He was manipulated into this by Mister Sinister, but the depowered X-Men ultimately ended his scheme.[32][33]

Endangered Species[]

The High Evolutionary was one of the scientists Beast consulted with after M-Day.[34] In a separate experiment, he devised the means to restore Magneto's mutant powers after being decimated, using power harvested from the Dreaming Celestial.[35][36]

Annihilation: Conquest[]

While working on restructuring the Kree genome in a fortress inside a star, Adam Warlock brought Quasar and Moondragon to him after being overwhelmed by Phalanx warriors, who quickly invaded the High Evolutionary's vessel. Once Ultron was revealed to be the leader of the Phalanx militia, the High Evolutionary detonated the star, vaporizing his ship, Ultron, and the invading Phalanx warriors. He was then captured by the Phalanx and forced to transfer the essence of Ultron into the body of Adam Warlock, apparently killing him. However, the High Evolutionary was aware that Warlock's consciousness had survived and implied that Warlock would "lead the way" for the new Guardians of the Galaxy.[37]

War of the Four Cities[]

The Forever City of the High Evolutionary was one of the sites in the War of the Four Cities. Wyndham worked with the Future Foundation during the early days of the conflict.[38]

Herbert Wyndham (Earth-616) from Avengers Vol 5 12 0001

Zebra Children[]

When the High Evolutionary learned of the Origin Bombs launched at Earth by the Gardeners, he arrived in the Savage Land to study the Zebra Children.[39]

New Warriors[]

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.[40] He attempted to use a gene bomb that would've killed anything that wasn't human on the surface of the Earth, but was stopped by the New Warriors.[41]

He later tried once again to build the bomb, even though the New Warriors pinned him down.[42] This time, the Eternals arrived to help the High Evolutionary and defeated the Warriors.[43] 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.[44]

Counter-Evolutionary[]

Herbert Wyndham (Earth-616) from Uncanny Avengers Vol 2 5 001

Wyndham unmasked

The High Evolutionary later returned to a somehow-restored Counter-Earth, and used it as a test tube to create the perfect New Men, periodically performing a cleansing each time he noticed a "flaw," and starting again. The High Evolutionary was assisted by the Master Scientist and his creation Luminous who he created using the genetic templates of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. He didn't know it yet, but some of these New Men "flaws" were given refuge in Lowtown by the Low Evolutionary.[45] The High Evolutionary confronted the Avengers Unity Division when they interfered with his plan to destroy Lowtown, a refuge for a resistance formed by the High Evolutionary's rejects led by the Low Evolutionary.[46] The High Evolutionary was defeated after Doctor Voodoo unleashed upon him the thousands of souls of those he had exterminated. His mask was removed during the conflict revealing his deformed face. The High Evolutionary was forced to flee through a portal with Luminous after being beaten up by Quicksilver.[47]

Eternity War[]

Upon returning to Counter-Earth at some point, the High Evolutionary was approached by The Maker, a Reed Richards from an alternate reality who wanted his help with a mission that given to him by the Molecule Man: to evolve the entire Multiverse.[48] The Ultimates later encountered High Evolutionary and Maker watching the Infinity Watch fight the Aspirants created by the First Firmament. The two of them then harvested the energies of the Aspirants and were able to destroy the Superflow that separated the different universes, thus succeeding in bringing every universe together into a single reality.[49] The damage was subsequently reversed by the combined efforts of the Ultimates and their namesake team from the Maker's universe.[50]

Worlds Collide[]

After continuing his work on Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary targeted the regular Earth. First, Wyndham used his technology to accelerate the Counter-Earth's orbit, causing it to lap the Earth every few minutes. Because the planets differed in vibrational frequency, they simply phased through each other. The High Evolutionary subsequently sent a meteor towards the Earth containing a device that altered the planet's vibrational frequency, slowly syncing the vibrations of the two planets until they would eventually merge.[51][52]

The Avengers and Champions fought to prevent this. Falcon of the Avengers and Viv of the Champions were unexpectedly transported to Counter-Earth where they were captured by the High Evolutionary's Ani-Men and brought before him. The Evolutionary decided to evolve the two heroes. In Viv's case, he transformed her into a human.[3]

The Champions eventually learned from one of the New Men that the Evolutionary intended to crash Counter-Earth into Earth, destroying both worlds in the process, in an insane attempt to further evolution by starting things over from scratch. The Avengers and Champions traveled to Counter-Earth to stop the Evolutionary's plan and rescued Falcon and Viv. As the Evolutionary planned to escape using a teleporter, the Avengers and Champions confronted him. As he fled, the heroes struck him with energy attacks, causing him to fall into his teleporter as it malfunctioned, seemingly causing him to perish.[53]

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.[54]

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.[55]

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.[56]

Hunted[]

Kraven the Hunter went to Wundagore Mountain and hunted the New Men down in order to draw the High Evolutionary out. He made a deal with the High Evolutionary to create 87 clones of him.[57]

Attributes

Power Grid[61]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Multiple Types:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Super-Genius

Powers

The High Evolutionary was exposed to his Evolutionary Accelerator machine, giving him superhuman abilities by accelerating his personal evolution. The Evolutionary has shifted between various levels of evolution over the years, sometimes deliberately sometimes not, with different power levels as well. Often he maintains some level of superhuman power while incorporating the Evolutionary Accelerator machine into his armor, letting him evolve himself further at will. The unstable Isotope E caused the High Evolutionary to uncontrollably fluctuate between god-like powers and Neanderthal-level ability and intelligence.[58]

Among the abilities the High Evolutionary has demonstrated thanks to the Evolutionizer are:

  • Superhuman Strength
  • Superhuman Intelligence: The High Evolutionary has evolved his own brain to its full potential; he has virtually unlimited knowledge and intellectual ability.
  • Superhuman Durability
  • Healing Factor: Augmented by his armor's automatic Evolutionizer equipment, the High Evolutionary is virtually unkillable. Even after being ripped to pieces and pulverized into organic jelly by the Hulk,[23] the High Evolutionary evolved out of his injuries and was fully restored.[26]
  • Telepathic Communication
  • Astral Projection: The High Evolutionary can separate his spirit from his physical form and can survive in this state for an indefinite period of time.
  • Self-Levitation
  • Mental Invisibility: Preventing detection by other powerful telepaths. Which he can extend to an entire world.
  • Force Fields
  • Mass Manipulation: increase and decrease his own size/mass, can grow to a maximum height of 300 feet.[59]
  • Psychokinesis
  • Concussive Force Blasts
  • Plasmatic Rays
  • Total Recall Memory
  • Artificial Evolution: Capable of forcibly evolving or devolving life-forms at an accelerated rate.
  • Immortality: Allegedly, at one point Wyndham managed to alter his own genetic code to finally achieve eternal life.[3]

Abilities

  • Super-Genius Intelligence: Skilled in science, especially relating to genetics and engineering. Brilliant theoretician.
  • Master Geneticist: The High Evolutionary can evolve various biological life forms to a Lamarckian level through their knowledge of genetics and bioengineering. It is even capable of increasing the intelligence of a non-sentient living being, evolving it to sentient, as is the case of the New Men.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Evolutionary Exoskeleton: Most of the High Evolutionary's powers are derived from his protective suit which also provides its wearer with amazing protection against all physical attacks and protection from energy, psionic, or magical attacks.

  • Automatic Defense: The suit is designed to protect its wearer at all costs and, as such, works automatically to prevent disasters from affecting the High Evolutionary.
  • Reconstitution Protocol: Body armor, including micro-circuitry containing his complete genetic information and thus capable of restoring him to life in the event of his death. Thus the suit can, in time, regenerate his body or even create a whole new body for Wyndham.
  • Life-Support System: The suit provides complete life support for Wyndham, automatic recycling his air and providing him with water and food.
Genetic Manipulation Technology: He frequently uses machinery to control evolutionary effects.

Trivia

  • He owns a space-worthy Citadel of Science on Transia's Mount Wundagore, a research fortress in the Savage Land, an upstate New York castle, research facilities beneath several major cities, and space facilities ranging from asteroid bases to orbital ships to the worldship New Wundagore.
  • He dislikes cloning as he regards it as stagnating evolution, whereas he seeks to speed it up.[24][13]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Avengers #673
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 X-Factor Annual #3
  5. 5.0 5.1 Punisher Annual #1
  6. Thor #133
  7. 7.0 7.1 Giant-Size Avengers #1
  8. Spider-Woman (Vol. 7) #5
  9. 9.0 9.1 Marvel Premiere #1
  10. Marvel Spotlight #32
  11. Silver Surfer Annual #1
  12. 12.0 12.1 New Mutants Annual #4
  13. 13.0 13.1 Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1
  14. X-Men Annual #12
  15. Incredible Hulk #149
  16. Avengers #186
  17. Thor #134
  18. Tales to Astonish #94
  19. Tales to Astonish #96
  20. Wolverine: First Class #34
  21. Fantastic Four #172175
  22. Marvel Two-In-One #6263
  23. 23.0 23.1 Incredible Hulk #266
  24. 24.0 24.1 Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8
  25. Spectacular Spider-Man #149
  26. 26.0 26.1 Avengers Annual #17
  27. Thor #406408
  28. Mighty Thor #419424
  29. Warlock and the Infinity Watch #34
  30. Quicksilver #1
  31. Quicksilver #9
  32. Uncanny X-Men #379380
  33. X-Men (Vol. 2) #99
  34. X-Men (Vol. 2) #200
  35. Uncanny X-Men #500
  36. Uncanny X-Men #511
  37. Annihilation: Conquest #16
  38. FF #3
  39. Avengers (Vol. 5) #12
  40. New Warriors (Vol. 5) #1
  41. New Warriors (Vol. 5) #4
  42. New Warriors (Vol. 5) #10
  43. New Warriors (Vol. 5) #11
  44. New Warriors (Vol. 5) #12
  45. Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2) #2
  46. Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2) #4
  47. Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2) #5
  48. Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #8
  49. Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #9
  50. Ultimates 2 #100
  51. Avengers #672673
  52. Champions (Vol. 2) #13
  53. Champions (Vol. 2) #14
  54. Avengers #674
  55. Champions (Vol. 2) #15
  56. Spider-Woman (Vol. 7) #6
  57. Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #16
  58. Quicksilver #812
  59. Marvel Encyclopedia New Edition #1
  60. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5
  61. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5
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