‘GotG 3’: What Did the High Evolutionary Do to Rocket?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 introduced one of the best MCU villains in recent times, High Evolutionary, but it also gave us a greater insight into Rocket Raccoon’s origin story and how he came to be what he is today. There is a shocking and tragic backstory behind this intelligent raccoon, which stems from Evolutionary’s chase for perfection. We know that there is a huge difference between your average trash panda and MCU’s Rocket Racoon, and due to that, we decided to explore in more detail what did High Evolutionary do to Rocket Raccoon?

High Evolutionary heavily experimented on Rocket Raccoon, subjecting him to numerous genetic rewrites and bionic implants, which resulted in Rocket Raccoon looking different than normal raccoons and gaining the ability to speak as well as extremely enhanced intelligence. He also built a special type of kill switch into Rocket just in case somebody tries to tamper with “his” inventions. High Evolutionary never figured out why Rocket turned out smart the way he did, and this is why he wanted access to his brain in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

There’s more to Rocket’s past than can be summed up in a few short sentences, but it was quite an interesting and heartbreaking journey. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

Rocket Raccoon was selected at random to be a test subject for High Evolutionary

At some point in his past, High Evolutionary visited Earth and was fascinated with its culture and art but a little less fascinated with the behavior of humans in general. Afterward, he set one of his goals to create a perfect society and created a special planet called “Counter-Earth.”

Counter-Earth was supposed to be inhabited by Humanimals, which were a species that was supposed to mix the best qualities of all species. During his visit to North America, he acquired several raccoon specimens, which is where Rocket Raccoon comes into play.

He was brought to High Evolutionary’s ship and selected at random. Rocket Raccoon was initially named only Subject 89P13 and was part of the so-called “Batch 89” of Humanimals. There was nothing special about Rocket Raccoon when he was selected for experiments. He was just one more raccoon.

Rocket Racoon was heavily experimented on

High Evolutionary rewrote Rocket’s genome several times and implanted bionic implants into him, visible by the myriad metal plates sticking from his fur. Rocket was operated on, his skull opened, and his brain was subjected to various experiments, which eventually resulted in Rocket gaining the ability to speak.

In-between experiments, Rocket was held in the cages that housed the other members of Batch 89, a walrus named Teefs, an otter named Lyla, and a rabbit named Floor. All animals were intelligent to some extent and capable of compassion. Lylla was the one who soothed his pain when he appeared in the cage for the first time.

Rocket was highly intelligent, unlike the rest of Batch 89. He showed that he is capable of independent thought, which was not pure memorization of already known facts, but High Evolutionary was yet to find that out.

Rocket Raccoon managed to solve the problem that High Evolutionary was struggling with

High Evolutionary, at one point, started working on Batch 90, a special batch of Humanimals that rapidly evolved using a special device. In the genetic mutation chamber, High Evolutionary would place an animal inside the device, and it would be evolved millions of years in advance in a matter of seconds. But the device’s design had one deadly flaw: all rapidly evolved animals were incredibly aggressive and violent.

Just by looking at the device and the procedure, Rocket Raccoon figured out the problem, and he managed to solve it. The solution worked, and High Evolutionary was extremely mad and upset that one of his creations outsmarted him. High Evolutionary didn’t see Rocket’s intelligence as an accomplishment but rather an insult, a grave injury to his own ego.

The fact that he never managed to figure out why Rocket was capable of independent thoughts added insult to injury.

In a fit of anger, High Evolutionary brought Rocket Raccoon to the chamber and showed him that his solution worked. He also told Rocket that he would never visit Counter-Earth and that the rest of the “imperfect” Batch 89 would be “disposed of” in the morning, while Rocket Raccoon would be killed and his brain extracted for further research.

Rocket managed to escape, but at a terrible price

As soon as he was returned to his cage, Rocket Raccoon revealed to the rest of Batch 89 what High Evolutionary’s plans were. He created a makeshift security card with scarps he was stockpiling and managed to free other animals. Just when he was about to escape, High Evolutionary showed up and shot Lylla dead.

The security guards killed the rest of the animals, which was the most defining moment of Rocket’s life. Rocket was angry and heartbroken. He attacked High Evolutionary and tore his face to shreds with his claws, which is why High Evolutionary wore a mask for most of the movie. Rocket managed to escape by piloting one of the smaller ships. And the rest is history.

Rocket was afraid of his past for a reason

Rocket lived in peace for numerous years before High Evolutionary resurfaced again. He never gave up his search for Rocket or his brain, to be more precise, and when Guardians had dealings with the Sovereign, who were created by High Evolutionary himself, the opportunity presented itself.

High Priestess Ayesha and High Evolutionary created Adam Warlock, and his first mission was the bring Rocket Raccoon to High Evolutionary. He failed, but Rocket was gravely injured, High Evolutionary’s kill switch interrupting any chances to heal him. Ultimately all these events led to the demise of High Evolutionary and Rocket’s ultimate freedom.

And this is it; more or less, Rocket Raccoon was afraid of his past for a good reason, as he always knew deep inside that he would have to face Evolutionary again. High Evolutionary did terrible things to him and his friends and fundamentally changed his nature, but as rocket himself said, he never wanted to make things perfect; he just hated how things were in the first place.