HIGH EVOLUTIONARY

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

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

On Earth X, Counter-Earth was retconned as a pre-existing planet with a Celestial embryo that destroyed itself. The High Evolutionary then came along and engineered his own civilization atop the ashes of the old. This was done to satisfy the internal logic of that reality for why Galactus came to consume the “artificial world” of Counter-Earth when Earth X’s Galactus specifically only devoured worlds containing Celestial embryos. Additionally, after Reed Richards evolved Galactus into a star, there was an imbalance in the natural order of the universe. The High Evolutionary helped to evolve Franklin Richards into a conceptual being open to suggestion, imposing another identity on him as the new Galactus.


In Fantastic Four: The End, Reed Richards negotiated a quarantine protocol around the Sol System with the Galactic Parliament, in order to give Earth and its people time to advance into galactic culture without further interference on either side. The High Evolutionary contributed to the long-term plans of Sol, building a base on Charon as he worked towards terraforming Pluto on the outskirts of quarantine space. He collaborated with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. as anarchists began sabotaging their works.


On Earth-691, the High Evolutionary was still active one thousand years into the future, in the era of the Guardians of the Galaxy. When Bubonicus threatened all life in the universe with his meta-plagues, the High Evolutionary made an unlikely alliance with the Guardians and Ripjak, the last son of Mars. They tracked Bubonicus to the pilgrimage world of Sanctuary where the Evolutionary managed to prevent another genocide while Vance Astro and Ripjak fought with Bubonicus directly.


In What If? (2nd series) #1, the Evolutionary War ultimately went in Wyndham’s favor. He succeeded in killing Hercules and released his genetic bomb to evolve humanity. Normal humans received an immediate increase in intelligence and psychic potential, while superhumans developed to almost incalculable levels of strength. These Godlike Ones united under the leadership of Wolverine and prepared to leave Earth behind, their destiny irrevocably disentangled from that of evolved humanity. The High Evolutionary witnessed the departure of the Godlike Ones into space – merging with the Inhumans, Eternals and others as a singular force – and stood ready to shepherd evolved humanity into the future should they need him.

Out in space, the Godlike Ones proved potent enough to overcome galactic empires levied against them like the Kree, Shi’ar and Skrulls united. They defeated Galactus and confronted Eternity and Death, only to merge with both in the end to form a being known simply as the Entity. Back on Earth, evolved humanity had developed a hivemind-like psychic power, and witnessed the Final Host of the Celestials. Arishem the Judge deemed humanity a failure in their great experiment, but the united mental force of mankind merely disintegrated the lead Celestial in response, driving them from the planet. Humanity merged with each other and with the planet itself, becoming the Living Earth. The High Evolutionary was satisfied that humanity had evolved beyond even the Beyonders he had measured against in the past, but sorrowfully recognized that he had no place with the Entity or the Living Earth anymore. The Entity left the universe entirely in order to serve as the catalyst for a new universe, while the Living Earth remained behind, in perfect balance, awaiting a new purpose for its empty universe. And the High Evolutionary watched on.


In Excalibur (1st series) #51, a brief glimpse was given of life on Earth-99476. Here dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures had evolved over millennia into a civilized, environmentally ”green” culture eerily similar to our own, complete with versions of Excalibur and the Fantastic Five. In this reality, the High Evolutionary was a saurian who believed human genes were the future of evolution. He created the Savage Land, an artificially engineered modern urban cityscape covered in smog and populated by humans evolved from primitive mammals like the triconodon. He kidnapped some wayward human travelers from Earth-616 until Britanicus Rex and Excalibur forced him to return his test subjects.