BIOGRAPHY - Page 11
Unexpectedly, the High Evolutionary was summoned to the Afar Depression in Ethiopia. He appeared alongside the last surviving member of the Evolutionaries, one of a group of early hominids from the Pleistocene Era enhanced by the Eternal Phastos to shepherd the evolution of man. The High Evolutionary and the Evolutionary were addressed by Zuras, the Prime Eternal, who warned them of the coming of the Celestials. Zuras explained that the Celestials believed their experiment on Earth had become too tainted by outside factors to be sustained. The presence of aliens and magic in the gene pool, deviations from subspecies like mutants, Inhumans and Atlanteans, as well as artificially engineered constructs like clones or Wyndham’s 
own New Men all angered the Celestials to the point that they planned to end their experiment and were coming to destroy the Earth. Zuras convinced Wyndham and the Evolutionary that the only way to save humanity was to wipe out all genetic deviation on the planet before the Celestials arrived. The High Evolutionary was so convinced by Zuras’ alarm that he started with his own creations. Even gentle Bova was not spared as the High Evolutionary murdered his children for the greater good.
Genocide(s) continued around the globe as the Evolutionaries carried out their horrible triage. Attacks were made on Atlantean Lemuria, the Morlock Tunnels, the witches of New Salem and 
many more. In addition to mass murder, the Evolutionaries also acquired genetic samples from the various subspecies they encountered and brought them back to Wundagore. The High Evolutionary had a plan to modify the genesis effect he once intended to evolve humanity during his Evolutionary War. Instead, the machine would weed out the genetic variants fed into it, annihilating the mutated strains in humanity around the world and leaving “pure” humans behind. To speed up the process, Wyndham was blessed with acquiring the Nova Corps member, Sam Alexander. The Xandarian Worldmind connected to Sam’s helmet would accelerate the processing power of the High Evolutionary’s computers, allowing him to make the effects of the genetic bomb more precise so the deaths would be more merciful.
However, a diverse group of young superhumans caught wind of his plans and assembled as the latest New Warriors. Ironically, their membership included examples of nearly all the subspecies the High Evolutionary intended to eradicate. They fought the High Evolutionary at Wundagore and recovered Sam’s Nova helmet before it could be used. Wyndham activated his device, causing 
searing pain to all superhumans and subspecies as they began to unravel at a genetic level. Only the Warriors’ human member Sun Girl remained standing, and she used her laser projectors to blast through the High Evolutionary and destroy his device before it finished its work. Wyndham regenerated, but he and the Evolutionary fled to a secondary site in the Savage Land to prepare for the next stage of their Second Evolutionary War. [New Warriors (5th series) #1-4]
In Wyndham’s absence, the Citadel of Science fell under the control of the New Warriors and his two surviving New Men, Caninus and Felinatus, who redubbed themselves Jake Waffles and Mister Whiskers. The mountain could not only phase from point to point on Earth, its technology could also track other sources of the Evolutionary’s tech, allowing the Warriors to eventually track him down. Although they had the element of surprise, the High Evolutionary was still nearly immortal and cosmically powerful. He reduced Mister Whiskers to ash before the New Warriors overcame him. As they prepared to seize control of his gene bomb, however, Zuras and the Eternals arrived to support the Evolutionary’s work.
The Eternals easily turned the tide of the battle, and they overpowered the Warriors in a matter of minutes. Those suitable for the process were added to the High Evolutionary’s gene bomb as living templates for the genetic patterns the bomb was intended to destroy. As Zuras and the High Evolutionary worked, however, it became clear that Zuras had not shared his plans with the other Eternals and expected them to merely act blindly at his command. The Warriors tried to warn the Eternals that Wyndham was planning genocide, and Phastos was astute enough to recognize the bomb’s purpose with a glance. As they wavered, the Warriors’ leader Justice rallied his telekinetic power to destroy the bomb. He confronted Zuras with the fact that the New Warriors confirmed with the Fantastic Four and Nova Corps’ deep space probes that the Celestials were NOT 
advancing on Earth at all. As Makkari, Phastos and the other Eternals started siding with the Warriors, Zuras changed tactics. He claimed he had been misled about the Celestials’ return and blamed the surprised High Evolutionary for lying to him. Zuras called out Wyndham as a madman and seemingly killed the High Evolutionary for “betraying” him. Justice and the New Warriors didn’t believe Zuras’s explanation but were left without the means of contradicting him, as Wyndham’s body disappeared in the clean-up. [New Warriors (5th series) #10-12]
[Note: Zuras suddenly advocating for genocide – implicitly even for insincere instead of legitimate reasons – has never been explained. All-New Invaders #13 indicated the Martian Masters (of H.G. Wells and Killraven stories) were influencing the Eternals and other matters behind-the-scenes, but this plot was never developed further.]
Somehow, the High Evolutionary reclaimed Counter-Earth. The original from the Beyonders’ museum was destroyed in the wave of destruction unleashed by Thanos when he first claimed the Infinity Gems. [Infinity Gauntlet (1st series) #2, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #4] The Goddess once forged her own world, Paradise-Omega, in the same position around the sun, but it too was destroyed. [Infinity Crusade #1-6] The world created by Franklin Richards was also known as Counter-Earth once it entered this dimension and took its place on the opposite side of the sun, but it disappeared at some point as well. [Fantastic Four (3rd series) #25] And yet, here it was. It was possible the High Evolutionary created a new version of Counter-Earth that was merely based on his original design. With Galactus’ Star-Sphere and other elements under his control, it’s certainly possible. However, Spider-Woman would later hunt down Sphinxor to get a lead on Counter-Earth’s current location, implying a connection between the current version and the original. [Spider-Woman (7th series) #6]
As he recovered from his betrayal, Wyndham did not take being manipulated by Zuras well. Instead of purifying the human gene pool, he doubled-down on his past experiments, using 
Counter-Earth as a Petrie dish for any number of refinements or extrapolations. The High Evolutionary created more New Men and genetically-engineered humans. He followed up on his experiments from decades prior on the Maximoff siblings and created Luminous, a woman with refined hyper-speed and quantum manipulation abilities. He also dallied with artificial intelligence and self-evolved intellect, considering new forms of synthezoid life. Signs even indicated he had begun experimenting on himself again, although to what end is unknown.
However, none of it seemed to meet his exacting specifications. Wyndham spoke of a new Evolutionary War on the horizon and may have been pre-warned about the Incursion crisis. Whatever the cause, his mania for perfection made the High Evolutionary uncharacteristically genocidal, even for him. He would evolve a city’s worth of New Men, set them about their business, then ultimately determine they were unsuitable for his standards. In a cleansing wave, he wiped out millions of sentient beings before trying again in another city. This genocide was so routine that the High Evolutionary even prepared a “cleaning staff” of Green Ones, floral entities who accelerated the reclamation of raw materials from the murdered cities, returning their organic matter to the earth for further use. Though many saw him as a god, other creations of Wyndham’s saw his insanity for what it was and fought back. An underground network between the cities tried in vain to save as many as they could during his cleansings, led by a human mockingly dubbed 
the Low Evolutionary by his followers. [Uncanny Avengers (2nd series) #1-2] Wyndham was also opposed by a powerful “son” grown from his own genetic code, who claimed the name the Higher Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary neglected to remove the capacity for compassion in his creation, and so the Higher Evolutionary stood against Wyndham’s depravity. He was cast into the depths of Counter-Earth for daring to defy his “holy” father. [Avengers (1st series) #674]
Into this madness stepped Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. They recently learned Magneto was not their father, and rightly assumed the High Evolutionary knew more about their origins than he had shared in the past. They passed through a portal from Wundagore to Counter-Earth, with other members of the Avengers Unity Division following soon after them. The High Evolutionary found 
Sabretooth in one of his cities just before a cleansing and took him to exploit his tracking abilities. He played the generous host when Vision met his synthezoid Eve, but also dispatched Luminous to find and kill her “siblings,” the Maximoffs. The twins learned of his depravity from the Low Evolutionary, but their younger “sister” was evolved enough to defeat her predecessors with ease and deliver them to “father.”
With Pietro and Wanda helpless in his presence, the High Evolutionary chose to boast openly about their origins, though he dismissed them as failed experiments and still kept some of the truth to himself. A leashed Sabretooth led Luminous and his New Men to the Low Evolutionary’s camp, allowing Wyndham to clean up his wayward mistakes. Still, the twins managed to free themselves as well as Rogue, who suffered torture under the Evolutionary’s master scientist. Rogue had been physically hosting the ionic energy of her teammate Wonder Man until the scientist purged Simon’s consciousness, seemingly killing him. Rogue was in a fighting mood after 
that, but the High Evolutionary only saw her as a viable sample, not a person. He faced his comeuppance, though, when Doctor Voodoo arrived, empowered by the displaced souls of his many millions of victims. The Unity Division rallied and the High Evolutionary was humbled, however temporarily. His cumulative injuries forced him to flee, with Luminous in tow. [Uncanny Avengers (2nd series) #1-5]