BIOGRAPHY - Page 7
In time, the High Evolutionary’s mind recovered from the strain of witnessing a Celestial’s birth. He intended to return New Wundagore to Earth and renew his efforts to produce a perfect species grown from human stock. However, Count Tagar had become more rebellious due to his mutation, and the New Immortals sought new worlds to test themselves against. The High Evolutionary’s creations turned against him, usurping control of New Wundagore. Though some New Men were caught in the middle, Wyndham abandoned them all, unable to win the struggle in his weakened condition. Instead, he prompted his containment armor to carry him through space on the flight back to Earth.
His return to Earth came with great force as the High Evolutionary struck a mountainside road, driving a prison van off a cliff. Some of the prisoners were still barely alive, and so the High Evolutionary chose to preserve them in his secret chambers underneath Manhattan as potential test subjects down the line. Wyndham had new theories to improve upon his animal evolution experiments and created a new generation of New Men from stolen animals taken from Central Park Zoo. However, he also received a coded message from the Analyzer, indicating the New Immortals were making plans towards the conquest of Earth. The High Evolutionary realized he needed gods more than New Men to fight the New Immortals and altered the direction of his research.
While the New Immortals had been grown or extrapolated solely from genetic samples, the High Evolutionary now intended to forge a new generation of Godlings by imposing godhood on existing humans. He used the bus crash victims as subjects, placing them within the Bio-Pools to evolve them to the point of godhood. His first Godlings were Blitziana, Loga and Luminor, Gods of Lightning, Fire and Light, respectively. To ensure they took to their new identities, the High Evolutionary erased their memories of their previous lives. As he began to show favoritism to his latest project, though, the New Men became envious of the attention their “father” showed the Godlings. Squabbling broke out and the High Evolutionary decided to encourage rather than discourage the action. He instructed the New Men and Godlings to test their strength against each other.
The combat started in their underground lair, but inevitably spilled over onto the streets of New York. Thor happened upon the conflict between the two sides and intervened, prompting the High Evolutionary to defend his creations from the God of Thunder. Wyndham’s arrogance led him to trade blows with Thor, but they all eventually absconded to the underground chambers, where the High Evolutionary explained his actions. With the renamed Godpack as clear winners in the skirmishing, the Evolutionary invited Thor to join his group and mentor the young gods in the ways of combat and camaraderie. In self-exile from Asgard at this time, Thor agreed to join the Godpack. Unfortunately for the High Evolutionary, his myopic focus led him to neglect the New Men, leaving them to their own devices. In their bitterness, they fell under the sway of the Man-Beast, now called Karnivor. [Thor (1st series) #472-474]
Though the Citadel of Science was long gone, presumably part of New Wundagore, caverns and structures remained hidden away on Mount Wundagore. The High Evolutionary moved Thor and the Godpack back to Transia, where he finished the production of his final Godlings: Bellam, Anak, Zefra and Riger. No sooner had the Godpack assembled that Karnivor brought the New Men (renamed the “Animutants”) to seek 
revenge for their abandonment. He had also kidnapped Jane Foster and her son Jimmy to keep Thor at bay. All this was done to clear a path so that Karnivor could attack his creator directly, slashing through even the Evolutionary’s armor to strike the man within. Still, Thor and the Godpack managed to win the day, driving off Karnivor and saving the High Evolutionary’s life. Wyndham saw his mistake in abandoning the Animutants and offered apologies to his creations. Jane Foster was willing to take up her old role as instructor to the New Men, helping with the Animutants’ rehabilitation. [Thor (1st series) #475]
While the High Evolutionary and the Godpack settled in at Wundagore, Thor became distracted by the mystery of his former civilian identity, Donald Blake, returning as a separate being. Blake was discovered in stasis, an immobile living statue at first hidden away in a cave beneath Wundagore. Wyndham tried to command Thor and control his comings and goings, but the God of Thunder had just rejected the All-Father Odin’s heavy hand and refused to accept the High Evolutionary’s dominion over him, straining their alliance. [Thor (1st series) #476-477] This continued after Thor learned Odin had manipulated Wyndham’s mind through his dreams, compelling him to avoid the cave containing Blake’s body years ago. When confronted about it, the Evolutionary recalled the dreams Odin described, and realized he had attributed those ominous feelings to Chthon’s presence before forgetting about them, as Odin intended. [Thor (1st series) #479-480]
The High Evolutionary’s attention was drawn back to New York when Ant-Man of the Fantastic Four accidentally uncovered one of his hidden chambers while chasing a robber through the subway system. Ant-Man was exposed to a bio-genetron that imbued him with genuine ant-like characteristics and a form of madness. The Fantastic Four sought out the Evolutionary at Wundagore and made the acquaintance of Thor and the Godpack. Taking responsibility, the Evolutionary lent the assistance of his Godlings to the Four in order to dismantle the bio-genetron and turn Ant-Man back to normal. In secret, though, he mostly wanted the Godpack to be further seasoned for the trials which lay ahead for his children. [Fantastic Four Unlimited #9]
Eventually, the High Evolutionary was forthcoming with Thor and the Godpack over his concerns that the New Immortals intended to threaten Earth. This threat was punctuated by an attack on Wundagore by the Stone Men of Saturn known as the Kronans. Once they were defeated and revealed as allies of the New Immortals, the Evolutionary explained the rest. The Analyzer had mentally warned him weeks ago that the New Immortals intended to build a devastating super-weapon, only to be cut off and not heard from since. With the stakes plain, Thor and the Godpack joined the High Evolutionary in pursuing Tagar and the New Wundagore starship out in space.
In time, the Godpack reached New Wundagore and discovered the Analyzer had been reprogrammed by Tagar and the New Immortals, turning him into Deus Ex Machina. Having been 
forcibly transfigured into the very weapon he warned the Evolutionary about, the Analyzer was now prepared to send out a power pulse to devastate the Earth, allowing the New Immortals to build atop the ruins. The Evolutionary’s inability to manage his creations was laid bare when Luminor of the Godpack betrayed them, choosing to serve with the New Immortals instead. Thor succeeded in beating Nobilus and destroying the Analyzer with the Godpack, but the High Evolutionary was forced into fighting his old friend Count Tagar in single combat. The day was won, but at a heavy cost as Tagar was severely wounded. [Thor (1st series) #481-482]
After their defeat, the High Evolutionary placed Tagar, Luminor and the New Immortals into stasis until a better option presented itself. In considering the future of his Godpack, the Evolutionary decided to bring them back to New York. Leaving behind the isolation of Transia, he hoped the experience of living again amidst others would be good for both the Godpack and the Animutants. 
They had only just arrived, however, when Malekith the Accursed manipulated his former pawn Kurse into leading a revolt from Hel to torment Thor. The High Evolutionary and the Godpack took up arms against the likes of the Midgard Serpent and the Ice Giants, later on fighting alongside Beta Ray Bill and the Warriors Three as more allies came to Thor’s aid. The conflict culminated in Thor being rescued from Hel after Hela emerged to reclaim her wayward souls. After this tumultuous series of encounters, Thor chose to take leave from the Godpack and the High Evolutionary was left to oversee their training alone. [Thor (1st series) #483-489]
[Note: Or… not. No one would mention the Godpack or the New Immortals ever again after these issues.]
In the High Evolutionary’s absence, Wundagore had become something of a shrine for the Acolytes. Zealous mutant followers of Magneto, they would make pilgrimages to the mountain where his children were born and the last place his wife Magda was seen alive. Wyndham’s return was unwelcome, for he invited no trespassers on his mountain, and his efforts at controlling 
evolution were seen as blasphemous to Magneto’s chosen heir, Exodus. After the Acolytes blasted a hole in the roof of the restored Citadel to demand his departure, the High Evolutionary and his Animutants were not in the mood for visitors. They had a particularly chilly reception for the Avenger known as Quicksilver, prodigal son of Magneto. Still, Wyndham’s tune quickly changed when he learned Pietro was searching for him on behalf of his cherished creation, Bova Ayrshire.
First among his New Men, Bova had always lived simply in a cottage down the slopes from the Citadel of Science rather than as a Knight training in combat. When he heard Bova had grown ill, Wyndham marshaled a force of Ani-Mutants to accompany Quicksilver and his wife Crystal to meet with her. When he examined Bova, the High Evolutionary determined his creation was not suffering from a natural illness but was slowly being poisoned. Exodus telepathically revealed himself to be responsible, luring two of his enemies to one spot by using Bova as bait. Her friend 
Fydor was possessed by a mutant parasitical metamorph named Rakkus, powerful enough to threaten the High Evolutionary and the Avengers once he shrugged off his disguise. Still, his host Fydor cared for Bova, and fought against the intruder’s control. The High Evolutionary blocked Rakkus’ self-mutation abilities, leaving him vulnerable long enough to kill him and his helpless host. Bova would recover but the threat to High Evolutionary and Mount Wundagore posed by the Acolytes remained. [Avengers (1st series) #380-382]
Miles Warren returned to life as the Jackal, calling a great deal of attention to his work with cloning and genetic viruses. After Warren’s second death in battle with Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider, the High Evolutionary sent a team of New Men to Brooklyn to recover copies of the Jackal’s computer files and erase his work. The Scarlet Spider encountered these New Men and ended up teleporting back to Wundagore with them. He met with Anubia and the Cult of the Jackal, learning the story of genetic constructs and recombinant viruses which the Evolutionary had sold to his wayward children. The Spider worried that Peter Parker’s clone might actually be a separate person with their own life stolen away, so he and Anubia confronted the Evolutionary. Wyndham was unwilling to carry his ruse any further, and he came clean with the Scarlet Spider that the Jackal’s clones were what Warren claimed they were, and not innocent people being controlled by a virus. [Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1]
Wyndham could not escape Warren’s work entirely. The Carrion virus infected a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist named William B. Allen, creating a third Carrion with Miles Warren’s memories. He engineered a virus based on Warren’s work that induced a zombie-like state on victims around Manhattan. Spider-Man sought out the High Evolutionary on Wundagore for his familiarity with Warren’s original research. Wyndham was reluctant to get involved, but Spider-Man insisted the Jackal’s knowledge of genetics all came from Wyndham’s original teachings, and he needed to take responsibility. The High Evolutionary dismissed Spider-Man at first, but he later infiltrated the CDC dealing with the virus and provided his expertise towards developing a cure for those infected. [Spider-Man: Dead Man’s Hand #1]