In honor of Cinco de Mayo, this week MakeMyMarvel! is spotlighting the Marvel Universe’s most legendary hispanic character: the High Evolutionary.
Last week’s poll: With 60% you chose Squadron Supreme Hyperion as the version of the character you most want made for Marvel Legends. Coming in a distant second with 10% was Hyperion in his red costume as seen in Supreme Power. No love for either the elderly or blind versions, which says a lot about you as people. Shameful.
Make My Marvel! – High Evolutionary
Inspired by chance encounters with the villain Mr. Sinister and the Inhuman Phaeder, 1930’s genius Herbert Edgar Wyndham became obsessed with evolution. Though brilliant, Wyndham’s controversial experiments and fanaticism earned him condemnation from his peers. Wyndham later found scientists who shared his curiosity about evolution and together they built the Citadel of Science on Wundagore Mountain. When the daughter of his partner, Jonathan Drew, became ill, the two scientists used experimental means to cure her. Though she was cured, Jessica gained powers that would eventually lead her to become Spider-Woman. When the Drews later departed, Wyndham built and wore a protective suit of armor and used what he’d learned to evolve several animals into sentient beings. These creatures later trained as knights, becoming the Knights of Wundagore. With the aid of the Knights, Wyndham, then known as the High Evolutionary, was able to bind an ancient demon sleeping beneath Wundagore Mountain. Following a confrontation with Thor regarding one of his experiments gone awry, High Evolutionary left Earth to claim a new world where he could carry out his experiments uninterrupted.
High Evolutionary later gained the ability to evolve and devolve both himself and others and used the Soul Gems to attempt to create a fully-evolved world without evil. This Counter-Earth was placed in orbit around the Sun, but on the opposite side from the Earth. Unfortunately, the new world became intentionally touched by evil. High Evolutionary had planned to destroy the planet, but Adam Warlock intervened. High Evolutionary came to look upon Warlock as a son and so gave him the Soul Gem and allowed him to live on Counter-Earth. Despite the efforts of High Evolutionary and Warlock to defend the planet, Counter-Earth eventually was taken by the Beyonders and kept as a museum piece. Depressed, Evolutionary returned to Earth and devolved himself into a uni-celled organism. He was later restored and sought to create the perfectly evolved human race to combat the Beyonders. His methods brought him many defeats by Earth’s heroes. Eventually tiring of the conflicts, Evolutionary again left the Earth.
High Evolutionary was briefly driven insane after he witnessed the birth of a Celestial. When his sanity returned, he learned of a weapon being made by some of his creations that would be used against humanity. Evolutionary returned to Earth to defend it. Since then, High Evolutionary has been involved in several more conflicts alongside and against Earth’s heroes and was last seen in Kree space where he hoped to continue his work uninterrupted. Though High Evolutionary has often fought against evil, his single-mindedness regarding pure evolution comes first and often leads him to perform somewhat immoral acts in the name of science.
How to make it: (Usually) Not quite big enough for a modern BAF, High Evolutionary would need to be an entirely new sculp, though there’s easy re-use potential for future characters with similar appearances like Crimson Dynamo.
What flavor of High Evolutionary do you want for Marvel Legends?
Standard release 6-7"
Icons/BAF 16" or greater
None. (I’d rather have Bova)
*Some images courtesy of ComicVine*
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