BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
When Darwin got word that Xavier might be alive, he set off to find him and encountered the former X-Man Longshot on his journey. Longshot claimed he could help find Xavier with his luck powers and the two soon found themselves in Detroit. Darwin became frustrated with the lack of clear direction they were going in and Longshot’s actions soon started to annoy Darwin, as he constantly picked fights with people, which would often lead to Darwin getting attacked. When the two of them realized they were being followed by a woman, Longshot freaked out and ran off with the woman in hot pursuit. Darwin gave chase and caught up with the woman, who was about to execute his friend. She claimed Longshot was a Skrull but, when she went to shoot him, Darwin stepped in the way and the blast ricocheted off him. The arrival of Monet from X-Factor 
Investigations confused matters, when she mind-scanned Longshot and confirmed he wasn’t a Skrull. However, Darwin theorized that if Longshot were a Skrull with malicious intentions, then he would have evolved a mechanism to reveal the Skrull’s true nature. As if on cue, Darwin touched his friend’s arm and “Longshot’s” disguise dropped, revealing him to be a Skrull.
The Skrull, Nogor the Talisman, was on Earth because the alien race was trying to take over it. Nogor’s role was as a representation of the Skrull gods, and his presence on Earth acted as a blessing for the invasion to take place. Nogor had become fascinated by Darwin and his evolutionary powers, believing him to be a missing link between Skrulls and Humans. Nogor tried to bargain with Darwin to join forces and help conquer Earth, but the mutant was having none of it. The arrival of X-Factor Investigations, as well as She-Hulk, helped turn the tide of the battle and Darwin managed to beat Nogor. [X-Factor (3rd series) #33-34, She-Hulk (2nd series) #31]
The reason X-Factor had become involved with the Skrull incident was that they were also looking for Darwin on behalf of his father. Hector Munoz had apparently had a change of heart and wanted to get to know his son again after years of not being in his life. Darwin was happy to be reunited with his father, but that feeling quickly wore off when Hector betrayed his son. Just after they left X-Factor’s headquarters, Darwin was bundled into a van and taken to a base operated by the Karma Project. A representative for the Karma Project shot Hector, instead of handing over the half a million dollars he was expecting for the sale of his son.
Darwin woke up in a liquid-filled chamber, surrounded by scientists and a man dressed in a sharp suit and wielding a cane. The man, Mr. Maru, explained that Darwin’s unique mutation was of interest to his organization and they hoped to harness the secrets of it, regardless of whether Darwin lived or died. Mr. Maru used Darwin’s DNA and attempted to splice it into “volunteers” from nearby prisons, but the initial test subjects did not survive.
Mr. Maru taunted Darwin about the hopelessness of his situation, and the fact that his own father betrayed him. Darwin refused to believe the man and furiously beat on the glass of his chamber until he developed super strength. He burst through the glass and confronted Mr. Maru, but was quickly subdued again by a chemical designed to constantly work against his evolution powers. Mr. Maru’s experimentation paid off and he soon had an army of soldiers, all sporting Darwin’s enhanced evolution powers.
X-Factor was hot on the Karma Project’s trail, though, having been alerted to Hector’s shooting and Darwin’s kidnapping. The team fought the constantly evolving soldiers, finally coming out on top due to the soldiers breaking down on the cellular level. With his experiments a failure, Mr. 
Maru fled, leaving X-Factor to rescue Darwin. Armando was especially pleased to see Monet St. Croix rescue him, as he was a long-time fan of hers, and he begged for her to mind-probe him to make sure everyone knew he was the real deal. Later on, he visited his comatose father in hospital and forgave the man for betraying him but stated that he intended to forget all about him from then on. [X-Factor (3rd series) #35-39]
Darwin found himself working alongside the real Longshot, who had joined X-Factor after hearing about his Skrull doppelganger. He got to work helping out the investigation company, often trying his best to avoid the various members’ inter-personal dramas. On a seemingly normal case, Darwin went to help Longshot protect a woman, Lenore, who thought she was being stalked. Darwin ended up held at gunpoint by the Lenore’s mother, who had seemingly been brainwashed into killing him. Afterwards, Monet mind-scanned Lenore’s mother to find out what had happened, only for something to go wrong, with Monet suddenly attacking her own team whilst uttering the name “Cortex.” After she snapped out of her trance, Monet offered to guard Lenore, to which Darwin eagerly volunteered to help with, knowing he would get to spend quality time with his crush. Monet quickly became very affectionate and flirty with Darwin, which was not her usual demeanor up to this point. Darwin was too lovestruck to see anything amiss and was delighted she was even talking to him.
Later that night, as the two of them guarded Lenore, Monet suggested they all have a few drinks. After a few bottles of wine, Lenore was asleep but Darwin was not suffering any effects of the alcohol due to his powers. With just the two of them awake, Monet went from flirty to provocative, as she stripped naked in front of Armando and propositioned him. This time Darwin didn’t fall for her advances, as he knew something was drastically wrong with Monet given her abrupt personality change. As they argued, Monet’s skin turned into purple circuitry and she revealed she was now under Cortex’s control.
Monet attacked him but Darwin simply evolved to have a gelatinous body to avoid her super strength. He did his best to defend Lenore, but Monet grabbed hold of him and threw him across the city, out of her way. Darwin eventually reunited with the rest of his team and discovered this simple mission was a lot more complicated as it involved an evil duplicate of Mutliple Man’s, time travel and lots of brainwashing. Thanks to the combined effort of team members working from the present and the future, Cortex’s schemes were thwarted and everything went back to normal, Monet included. In the aftermath, Darwin and the rest of the team decided to relocate the team from Detroit to New York City. [X-Factor (3rd series) #41-50]
Darwin continued to help with missions for the team, such as when the Invisible Woman went missing and they all had to travel to Latveria to find her. Not long after, the team was targeted by the mutant-killing robot Bastion, who was looking to wipe out the whole mutant race. Using the super-villains Absorbing Man and Titania, he set up a trap for X-Factor, trying to lure them away so he could kill them. Multiple Man had a suspicion something was amiss and sent Darwin on the 
mission instead. Darwin drove up to the remote location for the mission but was ambushed by soldiers, who immediately opened fire on his car. Naturally, his evolutionary powers kicked in and he survived the gunshots, but when he was confronted by a giant machine with a buzzsaw on it he instinctively teleported back to base. There he found the others also under fire from Bastion’s forces, but fortunately the team banded together to bring an end to the onslaught. [X-Factor (1st series) #200-206]
Darwin was reunited with Xavier when X-Factor was invited to the X-Men’s island of Utopia. Darwin talked to his former mentor and apologized for giving up the hunt to find him, but Xavier was happier to see Darwin settling in with a new team. [Nation X: X-Factor]
X-Factor’s next mission involved them rescuing Pip the Troll from the clutches of Hela, the Asgardian Goddess of death. Travelling to Las Vegas, Darwin and the team entered her domain and were besieged by her undead army of warriors. Outnumbered and underpowered, the team 
were in dire straits, but Multiple Man came up with a plan at the last minute. As Hela herself went in for the kill, Darwin confronted her and touched her hand. Her power over death reacted with his power of evolving to survive, and Darwin ended up absorbing a portion of her godly powers. Overcome by the immense power over death, Darwin was transformed and he turned his wrath to Hela, who was now weakened by the power transfer. After causing her body to begin to rot away, Darwin used his newfound powers to set Hela’s own army on her. The rest of the team managed to rescue Pip, and they all escaped Hela’s realm before she had time to recover. [X-Factor (1st series) #207-212]
Whilst Darwin’s physical form soon returned to normal, his absorption of Hela’s deathly abilities continued to linger. He could now look into someone’s soul and see all the hurt and deaths they had caused in their lifetime. This new ability compelled him to track down the worst humanity had to offer and he used this knowledge to convince them to admit their crimes to the authorities or face his fury. Multiple Man confronted Darwin about recent events and his new outlook but, rather than accept help, he quit X-Factor to go on his own path. [X-Factor (1st series) #213]