BIOGRAPHY - Page 6
Even in his absence and apparent death, the High Evolutionary’s schemes continued. Count Tagar brought the original Citadel of Science back to earth atop Mount Wundagore with a cadre of Knights to command. They associated with the similar being called Mongoose to acquire genetic samples from the mighty Thor. The Evolutionary had dreams of improving upon the gods themselves and create a new race of immortals, so Thor’s base material would allow him to map his own work for the future. Mongoose was far too vicious for Tagar’s liking, willing to hurt or even kill Thor to get the samples, which Tagar considered a necessary evil only for his master’s great work. When Wundagore’s cosmi-track found trace of the High Evolutionary in the Black Galaxy, Tagar quickly used the opportunity to sue for peace with Thor. [Thor (1st series) #403-406]
With both Hercules and the High Evolutionary believed lost in the Black Galaxy, Count Tagar easily convinced Thor to join the Knights of Wundagore in a quest to retrieve them. The Black Galaxy was a truly unpredictable environment, however. It existed as a living Bio-Verse where the entire sector of space was composed of organic matter. Thor and the Knights were joined in their search by Eric Masterson and the Rigellian Recorder, whose creators also detected disturbances in the Black Galaxy. As they entered the Black Galaxy, the party saw a vast image of Wyndham and Hercules, still grappling with one another, expanded so that they stretched across the entirety of the Bio-Verse. In time, Hercules and the High Evolutionary were found ensnared inside mysterious metallic structures set before a member of the Celestials. Through a brief conflict, they were freed from these structures and appeared fully restored to their corporeal forms. [Thor (1st series) #407]
The adventurers returned to Wundagore, and the High Evolutionary was gratefully reunited with his Citadel, his laboratory...and, of course, his creations too. The Evolutionary claimed to owe Thor a debt and the Thunder God sternly remarked upon the Evolutionary’s last quest to meddle in the destiny of humankind. The High Evolutionary assured Thor he had moved past those plans and intended to return to the Black Galaxy instead for further study. Satisfied by the Evolutionary’s vow, Thor and Hercules moved on as Wyndham once again took the Citadel of Science out into the vacuum of space. [Thor (1st series) #408] However, Thor remained unaware that Count Tagar had passed on his genetic samples to the High Evolutionary. Wyndham intended to proceed on his dream of moving beyond animals and men to create a new race of Gods. He planned to concoct a race of New Immortals, combining Thor’s genetic material and the cosmic soup of the Bio-Verse with possibly fantastic results. [Thor (1st series) #417]
The High Evolutionary’s efforts were monitored by the Rigellian Recorder and he disabled the robot rather than allow it to report its findings. The Recorder was rebuilt as the Analyzer, able to perform more powerful computations, yet also subtly reprogrammed to support Wyndham’s goals. Despite Tagar’s quiet words of caution, the High Evolutionary’s work proceeded as he created the Bio-Pool using elements from the Black Galaxy to evolve his race of New Immortals. His first 
success was Nobilus, genetically extrapolated from Thor’s DNA. Unfortunately, Thor had been cursed with the essence of Loki when the samples were taken, leaving Nobilus an unstable berserker constantly fighting against himself. Undeterred by this setback, the Evolutionary continued on and produced two more New Immortals, Zon of fire and Juvan the swift. As the Evolutionary’s work completed, Thor and Hercules arrived at New Wundagore, the world-ship which served as Wyndham’s laboratory in the Black Galaxy. They had been summoned by a Celestial Replicoid to return to the Bio-Verse for unknown reasons. The Evolutionary arrogantly showed off his New Immortals to those they were meant to replace.
Complications arose as the unstable Nobilus was released by Stellaris, the Celestial Slayer, and Tagar ambitiously exposed himself to the Bio-Pool, evolving into a stronger state. Nobilus and Stellaris escaped and journeyed towards the Red Celestial, who oversaw Wyndham and 
Hercules’ imprisonment earlier in the Black Galaxy. As Thor and his comrades moved towards the Red Celestial as well, though, the evolved Count Tagar informed the High Evolutionary that his improved senses had detected the true nature of the Bio-Verse. The patterns of organic matter matriculating through the Black Galaxy indicated the entire sector was one enormous gestating brain. Hercules and the High Evolutionary had actually been subliminally compelled to return to the Black Galaxy after their initial escape to take part in the birth of a new Celestial, and the entire Celestial Host was on its way to witness this.
At the site of the Red Celestial, a new Celestial’s armor was being assembled around a white sphere of unknown force, and Hercules was re-assimilated into the structure from which he had been freed weeks earlier. Seeing the events taking place from his own perspective, the High 
Evolutionary believed the Celestials intended to evolve and enhance their race by adding new elements to the Celestial “genetic code,” such as himself and Hercules. Prepared to do his part for science, Wyndham arranged for the Analyzer to record every nuance of his own ascension into the Celestial mix alongside Hercules. Instead, in a complete blow to his ego, the Red Celestial passed over the High Evolutionary and chose Thor’s companion Eric Masterson as a better source of humanity for their mixture. Herbert Wyndham sat in mute horror as the Analyzer determined the truth: Wyndham’s own evolution plateaued before reaching the heights of the Beyonders, but humanity itself still had greater potential within it. It was Herbert Wyndham as an individual who would reach an evolutionary dead end, not the race itself.
Reeling in the face of his own cosmic inadequacy, the High Evolutionary was unprepared for the birthing moments of the new Celestial. Stellaris was manipulated into providing the catalytic spark for the new Celestial to be born as she struck the inanimate armor. Upon the force of her impact, the white sphere expanded to envelop the organic matter of the entire Black Galaxy (save those witnesses of the event). It then collapsed back on itself to leave behind an empty void of space where the Bio-Verse had been, all compressed to become the essence of a newborn Blue Celestial. As the Celestial departed, it returned Hercules and Eric Masterson to their friends, their contribution to the birth no longer necessary. For his part, the High Evolutionary remained linked to the Analyzer the entire time, overwhelmed by the analytical experience fed into his senses. [Thor (1st series) #419-425]
The High Evolutionary did not recover quickly from witnessing the birth of the Celestial. Months passed as he babbled incoherently to himself or conducted simple experiments which appeared to be the work of madness. The recently reborn Adam Warlock fruitlessly sought out the Evolutionary, seeking his counsel after seizing omnipotence from Thanos in the form of the Infinity 
Gauntlet, only to give it up. Thanos’ dalliance with godhood had led to the destruction of Counter-Earth in the Beyonders’ museum, but the Man-Beast rescued several denizens of that world and corrupted them towards blaming the High Evolutionary for their woes. Adam Warlock and Nobilus defended Wyndham from these cyborgs known as “They,” and Warlock had to call upon his past as the savior who died on the cross for the sins of Counter-Earth before they relented. Herbert Wyndham faced a great reckoning that day, though truly he didn’t even notice. [Warlock and the Infinity Watch #3-4]
The High Evolutionary later escaped the watch of Count Tagar and the New Immortals to seek out the Blue Celestial created in the Black Galaxy. That Bio-Verse’s other major lifeform was Ego the Living Planet, and the High Evolutionary saw grand possibilities when those two entities made contact. He abducted the Analyzer and forcibly programmed the mechanoid to interface with the 
Celestial, allowing him to absorb all the possible data from the encounter. The situation became dire as a star-sized cancerous growth the Evolutionary dubbed “Super Ego” arrived and attempted to assimilate Ego, as an entire flight of Celestials appeared to do battle with it. The High Evolutionary was obsessed with observing the events, heedless to the danger despite the insistence of the New Immortals and their allies, Sif and Balder of Asgard. An impatient Sif finally struck the Evolutionary unconscious so they could extract him and the Analyzer safely before a conflict of galactic proportions consumed all of near-space. [Thor (1st series) #448-450]