Dr. Herbert Wyndham may not be the most well-known of Marvel's brilliant scientists, though as the High Evolutionary, he has made a name for himself among the heroes and villains. After all, he is a master geneticist with a warped sense of ideals that have made him one of Marvel's strangest villains.
After the High Evolutionary's first appearance in the pages of The Mighty Thor back in 1966, the character has left his mark on the Marvel Universe in a number of ways that have made him both an incredibly powerful villain as well as an occasional ally in the pursuit of scientific endeavors, though that hasn't made Wyndham any less weird over the years.
10 Accelerated His Own Personal Evolution
After Dr. Herbert Wyndham found inspiration in the genetic work of Dr. Nathaniel Essex/Mister Sinister, he was further put on his path after he encountered the Inhuman scientist Phaeder, who gave Wyndham the keys to unlocking his genetic code.
He then used this information to perfect the genetic accelerator invention that he created to further evolve Earth's lifeforms. He accelerated his own personal evolution to increase his intelligence and abilities, giving him the power to evolve or devolve other beings with a touch.
9 Wears Silver Armor As Defense Against Werewolves
Wyndham's extreme experiments led to his exile from the scientific community in his early days, which led to his partnership with Hydra scientist Dr. Jonathan Drew and their creation of the advanced citadel in the Wundagore Mountains.
There they continued their experiments which included the empowerment of Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, though they were attacked by werewolves which ultimately drove Jonathan Drew away after his wife's death. Wyndham permanently encased himself within a new silver armor to protect himself from other lycanthropes.
8 Evolved Animals Into The New Men
Herbert Wyndham's own evolution into the High Evolutionary led to further experimentation with his genetic accelerator, as he began to transform and evolve animals into an advanced race of creatures known as New Men.
The normal Earth animals were evolved into human-like beings and gifted with human-level intelligence to become the High Evolutionary's own unique race of children that he ruled over as a benevolent leader. The New Men were then trained to become his Knights of Wundagore to defend their new home.
7 Helped The Jackal Perfect His Cloning Process
While the High Evolutionary continued to work on his genetic accelerator at his citadel, he encountered Dr. Miles Warren/The Jackal who was in the process of perfecting his own cloning technology that would later turn Spider-Man's world upside down.
Warren even created a highly-advanced Man-Jackal creature, though it went insane and killed Warren's family. The High Evolutionary expelled the Jackal from Wundagore and actively attempted to cover up his involvement in Warren's cloning process, leading to some of the Clone Saga's biggest confusions.
6 Created His Own World Called Counter-Earth
Hoping to start a new life for himself and his New Men without the evils of Earth to deal with, the High Evolutionary terraformed an asteroid at the opposite point of Earth's orbit to establish his own Counter-Earth, though it's creation was corrupted by his enemy Man-Beast.
While High Evolutionary fought against his own creations for control of Counter-Earth, he assisted in the return of the powerful being Him, who was bestowed with the powerful Soul Gem and renamed as Adam Warlock to help protect Counter-Earth before Wyndham eventually returned to Earth.
5 Witnessing The Beyonders Drove Him Insane
After defending Counter-Earth from the World Devourer Galactus, the planet was taken as part of a galactic collection that sent the High Evolutionary on a quest to the powerful cosmic beings known as the Beyonders.
When he saw the perfection of their evolved states, it ultimately drove him mad and led him to seek his own death as he felt his own quest for evolution was meaningless when compared to the power of the Beyonders.
4 Created An Evolution Bomb To Mutate The Planet
After a number of failed (and sometimes successful) attempts at ending his own life, the still disturbed High Evolutionary returned to Earth with a new goal to forcibly evolve humanity with a powerful evolution bomb during "The Evolutionary War."
After attempting to wipe out the "less-evolved" beings of the planet like the Moloids of Subterranea, the High Evolutionary hoped to use his genetic bomb to elevate humanity to the same level as the Beyonders, though the Avengers were able to use Wyndham's own tech to stop him with a highly-advanced Hercules.
3 Turned Into An Evolutionary Addict
After Wyndham's return to Earth, he was forcibly evicted from his Wundagore retreat by Exodus and his mutant Acolytes and forced to set up a new facility in the Savage Land where continued his evolutionary experiments.
The High Evolutionary began to sporadically devolve and was forced to experiment with the transformative Isotope E, which was able to reverse his devolution. Unfortunately, it only worked for a limited time and he became addicted to its effects, though he was eventually able to stop his devolution and restore himself using Isotope G.
2 Stole The Power Cosmic To Become The Worldbuilder
The High Evolutionary's plans to perfect humanity were taken to another level when he drained the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer which he combined with technology from Galactus' Star Sphere to become his cosmic opposite, the Worldbuilder.
The High Evolutionary began to terraform Earth's moon and even transformed Suzi Endo/Cybermancer into his new herald The Seeker as he prepared to spread his new power across the universe, though he was stopped by the return of Galactus.
1 His Strange Relationship With Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch
Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were originally powerful mutant siblings known as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver who discovered they were actually the children of their former leader-turned-enemy Magneto, Master of Magnetism.
However, it was later revealed that Magneto was not their father and they weren't mutants, but instead experiments of the High Evolutionary, who had taken the infants and transformed them before returning them. He later used their genetic material to create the incredibly powerful Luminous who exhibited more controlled versions of the twin's powers.