"Mo ergastee förn, mo ergalone förn nort," which translated is, "be not as you are, but as you should be." It's our sacred mission to take the cacophony of sounds around us and turn it into a song. To take an imperfect clump of biological matter such as you, and transform it into something... perfect. 
- —High Evolutionary[src]
History
Early Life[]
Running OrgoCorp
The High Evolutionary is a spacefaring geneticist obsessed with creating the perfect species and society that he could rule over as a god. Through various bizarre and torturous experiments on what he viewed as lower life forms, he genetically engineered several races over hundreds of years, including the abilisks, the Animen, the Hell Spawn, the Xeronians, the Motios, and the Sovereign, but none were the perfect species he wanted.
He founded the bioengineering company OrgoCorp to continue his illegal experiments on various lifeforms throughout the cosmos to attempt to remake the universe in his image, which he conducted from his ship and laboratory, the Arête.[1]
Forging Counter-Earth[]
In the 1980s, the High Evolutionary came across the planet Earth on his travels through the cosmos,[3] where he collected several of its animals to be his test subjects. Inspired by Earth's culture, he began designing a new society he called Counter-Earth through OrgoCorp, a world that he felt best embodied Earth's best attributes, and began cybernetically and genetically enhancing the Earth animals to be his perfect beings, a race of humanoid animals known as the Humanimals. He settled down the Arête on a planet that could properly sustain the life he wanted, and began constructing a civilization for his subjects to live in once they were complete.
Taking an interest in 89P13
While working on Batch 89 of his Humanimal efforts, he found that one of his subjects, a curious and hopeful raccoon designated 89P13, possessed incredible intelligence, able to not only memorize complex ideas, but to also invent his own, a quality his other test subjects lacked. When 89P13 figured out how to stop the Humanimals' natural aggressive tendencies by observing their creation process, the High Evolutionary ordered he be prepped for brain surgery so he could implant the ability to create new ideas into his Humanimals, and incinerate the rest of Batch 89.
After being scarred by 89P13
89P13 attempted to escape with the rest of his batch, but he was stopped by the High Evolutionary, who shot his friend Lylla in front of him. Enraged, 89P13 attacked him and viciously scarred his face, before making his escape alone in a spacecraft he piloted out of the Arête's hangar. The High Evolutionary took to wearing prosthetics to hide his scars, and, in an effort to protect himself from future attacks, gave himself cybernetic enhancements, allowing him gravity manipulation.
He continued to rule over Counter-Earth for decades, populating it with the peaceful Humanimals who worshipped him as a godlike figure, while he continued to develop new creatures, including a humanoid race with energy manipulation powers, the Star Children. All the while, the High Evolutionary searched for 89P13, hoping to finally uncover the secrets of his inventive brain and engineer that quality into the Star Children's brains.[1]
Pursuit of Rocket[]
Around 2026, the high priestess of the Sovereign, Ayesha, revealed to the High Evolutionary that she had fought with 89P13, now calling himself Rocket, and his team of mercenaries, the Guardians of the Galaxy, years ago, and had since been developing an evolved superpowered Sovereign to destroy them. Furious but still seeing the opportunity, the High Evolutionary ordered the evolved Sovereign, Adam, be taken from his birthing pod and sent to retrieve Rocket immediately and bring him back to the Arête on Counter-Earth so they could study his brain.
Adam soon returned, badly wounded from an encounter with the Guardians on the mining colony Knowhere, and revealed that he had failed to capture Rocket, but he had mortally wounded him. Realizing the Guardians would come to Counter-Earth to get the necessary intel on his technology to operate on and save their friend's life, the High Evolutionary prepared a trap for them and awaited their arrival. Sure enough, the Guardians, lead by Star-Lord, did arrive and made their way to the Arête, leaving their ship, and Rocket, guarded only by their ally Gamora.
The High Evolutionary confronts Star-Lord
The High Evolutionary sent his soldier War Pig out to capture Rocket, as he conversed with Star-Lord about Rocket and what he did to him. When Star-Lord revealed he had witnessed the "perfect society" of Humanimals still had violence on the journey to the Arête, the High Evolutionary decided it was time to raze it all and move the Star Children to the new colony. And so as the Arête took off, he detonated explosives he'd set all over Counter-Earth to exterminate the Humanimals, much to the Guardians' shock and horror.
Star-Lord, Gamora, and Groot managed to escape the ship and Counter-Earth's destruction with the passkey to disarm the kill switch on Rocket's heart and operate on him, while their other teammates were captured by the High Evolutionary. He contacted the rest of the team and demanded they bring him Rocket if they ever wanted to see their friends again, but the Guardians refused to give up, and prepared for the fight of their lives. Star-Lord called their teammate Kraglin to pilot their space station, Knowhere, to combat the Arête, and the two ships engaged in heavy fire. When Knowhere fired on the Arête and the ship began exploding, the High Evolutionary refused to retreat and made his way to find Rocket himself when the Guardians boarded the ship to rescue their friends and the Star Children.
Imprisoned on Knowhere
Personality
Attributes
Powers
- Enhanced Condition: The High Evolutionary had been cybernetically augmented and as a result possessed special abilities from his enhancements.
Abilities
- Genius-Level Intelligence
- Genetic Engineering
- Cybernetic Engineering
- Linguistics
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Notes
- Chukwudi Iwuji portrayed the High Evolutionary in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Trivia
- The High Evolutionary's race, homeworld, and true name remain unknown.[1]
See Also
- 1 appearance(s) of High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 2 mention(s) of High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 9 image(s) of High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 3 victim(s) killed by High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by High Evolutionary (Earth-199999)
Links and References
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gunn, James (19 May 2023) James Gunn on Twitter Twitter. Retrieved on 19 May 2023.
- ↑ Gunn, James (8 May 2023) James Gunn on Twitter Twitter. Retrieved on 11 March 2023.