HIGH EVOLUTIONARY: Page 3 of 12

Publication Date: 4th May 2023
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Douglas Mangum.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

In time, the High Evolutionary decided his latest batch of New Men needed further education, and so he sent out Tagar and Porga to find such a teacher. In a chance encounter, they met Jane Foster, who had been psychically compelled to flee the States by the Rigellian Colonizer, Tana Nile. Her disposition and knowledge of medicine and biology made Tagar and Porga believe they had found the perfect candidate for the Evolutionary’s new instructor. [Thor (1st series) #132-133]

The High Evolutionary met with Jane Foster long enough to welcome her to Wundagore and introduce her to her new pupils. Much was on his mind, however. Wyndham prepared the first of his genetic experiments with the newly formulated Isotope C. The New Men produced using Isotope C were expected to be stronger and more powerful than those he ascended in the past, leaders among the New Men. The High Evolutionary began the process of using his genetic accelerator on a wolf, but became distracted. Thor, God of Thunder, was searching for his lost love Jane ever since Tana Nile dismissed her, and he accosted the Knights of Wundagore. Wyndham was forced to leave his accelerator at a critical juncture to make peace between Thor and the Knights, informing the Thunder God that Jane Foster was free to come and go as she pleased and giving him leave to seek her out in the Citadel.

Without the High Evolutionary’s attendance – or perhaps even with it – the wolf exposed to Isotope C evolved beyond his expectations. Awakened with great power, the self-dubbed Man-Beast was also born with madness and hatred in his core. The Man-Beast immediately lashed out, using his great strength and psychic powers to attack Thor and Jane Foster. Realizing his grand experiment was a catastrophe, the High Evolutionary armed himself and his New Men to confront the Man-Beast. The creature fled before Wyndham’s assault but locked himself in the genetics laboratory. With his powerful mind and cunning intellect, the Man-Beast mastered his creator’s equipment and rapidly evolved his own cadre of evil New Men, corrupted by his evil and dominated by his superior mind.

Count Tagar rallied the Knights of Wundagore to fight alongside Thor against Man-Beast and the evil New Men. Eventually, even the singular spawn of Isotope C fell before the might of the God of Thunder. Regaining control of his equipment and his citadel, the High Evolutionary instructed for the Man-Beast and his New Men to be imprisoned in the Star Chamber. Powered by Grabshied’s designs, the Star Chamber jettisoned from the Citadel of Science, bound for the distant galaxy of Dromisana where the New Men could found their own society without threatening Wundagore or the greater Earth. Taking this as a cue that his time on Earth had ended, the High Evolutionary prepared his Knights to journey to the stars as well. With Thor and Jane Foster departing, the Citadel of Science finally activated the hyper-drive engines Horace Grabshied installed decades ago, carrying the Evolutionary and his Knights of Wundagore to distant galaxies. [Thor (1st series) #134-135]

[Note: The Man-Beast was not the High Evolutionary’s first failed experiment, although he’s certainly the most infamous. Incredible Hulk (2nd series) #149 introduced the Inheritor, a cockroach New Man who saw himself as superior to humanity and refused to learn the Knights’ code. He was banished into space before returning to Earth to be defeated by the Hulk. Marvel Premiere #42 introduced Tabur, a coward and outcast among the New Men who was abandoned when the Citadel took off and then tried to take over the mystical Cat People.]

As the Citadel of Science left Earth behind, the High Evolutionary thrilled at the idea of new adventures and explorations for him and his Knights. They found a world similar enough to Earth in climate and gravity, with the ruins of a lost civilization. Claimed as Wundagore II, the High Evolutionary and his Knights prepared to build their own society. The Evolutionary brought forth more “New Men” with his accelerator, mating pairs for his Knights so that they could populate Wundagore II by more traditional means. With that, the Lord High Evolutionary left the establishment of Wundagore II to his faithful and capable Knights, abandoning the public eye to continue his experiments in peaceful retirement.

Peace was not to be, however. Without their liege lord’s supervision, without a quest or goal to guide the Knights, the New Men failed to retain their nobility. The savage beasts beneath the surface returned, and the civilization of Wundagore II began to break down in chaos and strife. In self-imposed exile at his private laboratory, the High Evolutionary was blissfully unaware that his utopic civilization was crumbling down around his children. He was not shaken from his ignorance until the sudden arrival of his cherished early creation, Sir Porga, who died at his master’s feet in order to bring his attention back to the world. [West Coast Avengers Annual #3]

Realizing how far his New Men had fallen, the High Evolutionary sent the still loyal Sir Raam back to Earth to restock his menagerie. The High Evolutionary hoped, perhaps in vain, that the introduction of new New Men, untouched by savagery, could stabilize the situation on Wundagore II. The High Evolutionary and Sir Raam employed hunters to help capture the various creatures he desired, and these hunters came across the incredible Hulk. Seizing on the fateful opportunity presented to him, the Evolutionary instructed the hunters from a distance how to capture the Hulk using gas pellets. The Hulk was immediately loaded onto Sir Raam’s transport to carry him back to the stars, as the behemoth’s strength could hopefully be used to turn the tide in the riots of Wundagore II. On their way, however, Sir Raam died in a cosmic storm and the Hulk reverted back into Bruce Banner, leaving the High Evolutionary with a dead retainer and no reinforcements once the ship arrived. As always, the High Evolutionary’s thoughts returned to his genetic accelerator when in times of strife. He had developed Isotope D with the hypothesis of accelerating the evolution of a normal human millions of years ahead of their current development. Without the Hulk as a hammer, the Evolutionary hoped to turn Banner into a scalpel. He knocked out Banner and strapped him to the table before his genetic accelerator to test his theory.

As he did so, though, the bestial New Men breached his laboratory and a skirmish began. Banner was stressed enough to turn back into the Hulk and engage the animal men, but the High Evolutionary had already been mortally wounded by his rampaging creations. Seeing no other choice, Wyndham decided to use himself as the test subject, activating Isotope D within his genetic accelerator and quickly ascending beyond the veil of humanity. A creature of almost pure thought at this point, the High Evolutionary was ascending beyond petty mortal desires and conflicts. With the last vestiges of connection to his old life, the ascendant Evolutionary used his vast psychic power to transport the Hulk back to Earth and undo his own work with artificial evolution, changing the New Men of Wundagore II back into the beasts from which they came. With that, the High Evolutionary departed for the stars, the ultimate scientist in pursuit of infinite knowledge which he would draw from assimilation into the fabric of the cosmos itself. [Tales to Astonish #94-96]

[Note: In Iron Man (1st series) #111-112, the New Men of Wundagore II were restored upon exposure to radiation and fought with the Colonizers of Rigel for control of their world. Wundagore II was never heard from again after this. Tagar’s involvement in the riots is unknown, but he and the New Men returned the Citadel of Science to Wundagore sometime prior to Thor (1st series) #403, apparently abandoning Wundagore II at the request of their master.]

Herbert Edgar Wyndham spent many months as a being of pure thought, contemplating the universe entire. His efforts to understand the building blocks of everything in existence failed, for the vastness of space could not be wholly understood in the time remaining before the heat death of the universe brought an end to all things. What remained of Wyndham’s human mind suffered frustration and madness at the futility of his task, and this failure led him to ultimately reverse the evolutionary quantum jump he experienced from Isotope D, using his own power to devolve himself back into a physical body. The High Evolutionary was not simply the man he once was, however – controlled devolution enabled him to remain evolved beyond the current state of humanity. He chose to retain some of his psionic powers, increased longevity and vitality, superhuman durability and intelligence among other affectations. [Spectacular Spider-Man (2nd series)  Annual #8] In addition, his armor now contained a miniaturized version of his genetic accelerator, able to evolve him on cybernetic command to assume new powers, or even his ultimate form if necessary. The armor’s accelerator was programmed to preserve his life at all cost, autonomously evolving him to avoid mortal harm and restore his body, even in the absence of a mental command. [Incredible Hulk (2nd series) #266, Avengers Annual #17]