Is High Evolutionary a Human? (MCU & Comics)

High Evolutionary is one of the most fascinating villains in Marvel Comics. His popularity has risen over the last few months due to his inclusion in the MCU and the brilliant performance delivered by Chukwudi Iwuji. A lot of the fans noticed that even though High Evolutionary is humanoid in appearance, he doesn’t identify as being human at all and seeks to improve both himself and the already existing species in the Universe. This is why we decided to explore his origin, both in the comics and in the MCU. Let’s see whether High Evolutionary is human, and if he isn’t, what species does he belong to?

High Evolutionary was originally a human in the comics. He, however, decided to evolve himself multiple times, becoming a human mutate and eventually reaching the “digital form.” Currently, High Evolutionary is something resembling Artificial Intelligence. In the MCU, High Evolutionary belongs to an unnamed humanoid alien species, but due to all the modifications he added to himself, he is classified as a cyborg.

As you can see, it’s difficult to answer what High Evolutionary exactly is, and we’re going to have to explore his comic history to figure it out. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!

High Evolutionary was originally born as human

Before he became High Evolutionary, the villain in the suit of armor was a regular human male born under the name of Herbert Wyndham in Manchester, England. We don’t know when exactly he was born, but we can assume it was the late 19th century / early 20th century because, in 1920, he was already a student at Oxford University.

Wyndham was obsessed with genetics and evolution and was always working on cracking the secrets of nature and progress. He had an impressive career ahead of him but was expelled from Oxford because of his unethical experimentation, made possible with the secrets for unlocking the genetic code he acquired from Phaeder, a disguised Inhuman.

He retreated deep within Wundagore Mountain along with his fellow colleague Jonathan Drew. They experimented on several species and created several new species, completely unbothered by ethics and whether they should be doing this in the first place. Wyndham is responsible for the creation of Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew when he attempted to cure her illness that appeared as a side-effect of their proximity to the natural Uranium reserves within Wundagore.

So originally, High Evolutionary, aka Herbert Wyndham was a human, but he won’t remain one for long.

High Evolutionary ascended to high form, he even merged with technology

So the first time High Evolutionary got the taste of powers was when he constructed his advanced armor that at the same time functioned as a life-support system. This was after the incident with a werewolf that left Jonathan Drew widowed and forced him to abandon Wundagore.

Following this incident, Evolutionary realized that his form was inferior. Over the course of his existence, High Evolutionary changed many forms, and he evolved himself numerous times, both accidentally and on purpose.

In ‘Tales to Astonish,’ High Evolutionary decided to leave his physical form behind and evolve himself into a being of pure energy. High Evolutionary was mortally injured and decided to test his evolutionary ray on him. The ray was supposed to transform him into the “end goal” of human evolution, and he was supposed to look like a human specimen from millions of years ago into the future.

The result was basically energy form, and even though High Evolutionary was powerful while in that form, he still returned to his corporeal form eventually.

High Evolutionary didn’t shy away from improving himself biologically, even though he often bragged how he was simply “speeding up” natural evolution; in truth, he picked his own evolutionary paths, which is why it went wrong more often than not.

He is also highly regarded as immortal both due to his suit that regularly gets upgraded and from the fact that he often evolves himself “out of the physical body.” This makes him highly immune to damage and immune to aging.

High Evolutionary once attempted to commit suicide but failed. This is what prompted him to “devolve” himself out of existence, and he transformed into protoplasmic goo.

High Evolutionary also never shied away from merging himself with technology and complementing his abilities with it. During ‘Champions Vol. 2’ #15, High Evolutionary evolved himself into digital data.

As you can see, it’s really difficult to put the finger on what High Evolutionary exactly is. The truth is somewhere in the middle, as High Evolutionary is both a human mutate, energy, artificial intelligence, and a cyborg. But what about MCU?

What species is High Evolutionary in the MCU?

In the MCU, High Evolutionary was never a human being. Instead, he is a member of unnamed alien species that is only humanoid in appearance. This is evident when High Evolutionary states that he visited Earth for the first time in the 1980s and was both enthralled by its art and culture and, at the same time, appalled by the brutality and bigotry of human beings, meaning that he was unfamiliar with humans and Earth in general prior to his visit despite being a couple of centuries old by that point.

In a more technical sense, High Evolutionary is a cyborg due to the many improvements and enhancements he made to himself over his long life. We do know that High Evolutionary has some superhuman qualities and wears a prosthetic face mask because Rocket Raccoon tore his face to shreds.

We also don’t know whether Evolutionary’s longevity is due to the natural life span that his species have or is it due to his attempts to improve himself and grant eternal life. It’s also possible that the form we’ve seen in High Evolutionary is not his natural one.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!