| "The Evolutionary War" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Cover ofX-Factor Annual 3 (1988), art byWalt Simonson | |||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||
| Publication date | 1988 | ||
| Genre | |||
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| Main character(s) | The Avengers Avengers West Coast Fantastic Four X-Men X-Factor Punisher Silver Surfer New Mutants High Evolutionary Kingpin | ||
"The Evolutionary War" was acomic bookcrossover which ran through most of the1988annuals published byMarvel Comics. Principal writers includedGerry Conway,Steve Englehart,Louise Simonson,Chris Claremont, andSteve Gerber.
The storyline was the first of its kind. While there had been previous extended crossovers over multiple titles before it, "The Evolutionary War" was the first to take place exclusively in annuals. This format of crossover annuals was to be repeated by Marvel for the next four years, most notably with1989's "Atlantis Attacks."
One of the world's premiere geneticists, theHigh Evolutionary had devoted his life to unlocking the mysteries of life and creating new forms of intelligent beings for his research. His crowning achievement was the creation ofCounter-Earth; however, this was viewed as little more than a trivial matter by theBeyonders, who captured the planet for display in a cosmic museum of curiosities.[1] Realizing that his own aspirations to godhood were dwarfed by the Beyonders, the Evolutionary succumbed to madness and depression. He goaded theHulk into damaging the defense mechanisms in his armor, so that he could commit suicide.[2]
The High Evolutionary is revealed to have survived his suicide attempt, and has rededicated himself to guiding and enhancing the evolution of humanity so that his race may one day be supreme to all others, including the Beyonders. To this end he initiates several concurrent efforts to acceleratehumanevolution and eliminate perceived threats to mankind's genetic purity.
He sends his Purifier troops intoSubterranea to sterilize the simple-minded races that dwell there. However, the discovery of amutantMoloid attracts the intervention ofX-Factor andApocalypse. Apocalypse and the High Evolutionary engage in an epic battle in outer space. The Evolutionary is ultimately convinced that the Subterraneans indeed have genetic potential and ceases his operations there.[3]
InBogotá, the Evolutionary's Eliminators are dispatched to exterminate adrug cartel. ThePunisher discovers the battle and dispatches with both sides.[4]
Meanwhile, the High Evolutionary visits theEternals and persuades them aid his cause by mapping the genetic code of theSilver Surfer. The Surfer refuses to cooperate, and convinces the Eternals to let him be.[5]
The Purifiers set about removing the powers of mutants deemed to pose a threat to humanity. When they captureMagma from Nova Roma, the inner circle of theHellfire Club and theNew Mutants storm the Purifier base inWyoming to rescue her. During the struggle,Mirage inadvertently has her powers enhanced, allowing her to physically manifest the illusions she casts.[6]
With the supply of drugs cut off by events in Bogotá, a drug war escalates inNew York City, made worse by the Purifiers murdering drug dealers. Seeking to retaliate against the ones who disrupted his drug trade, theKingpin learns about the High Evolutionary's scheme and allows the information to reachSpider-Man andDaredevil. Along withSpeedball, they defeat the Purifiers before they can enact the High Evolutionary's plan to sterilize all undesirable individuals in the city.[7]
While the royal family of theInhumans is on Earth demanding thatCrystal leave theFantastic Four, The High Evolutionary leads a squad of Gatherers and Eliminators to theBlue Area of the Moon to obtain the Inhumans' Terrigen Mist.Quicksilver leads the Inhumans in defendingAttilan until the royal family and the Fantastic Four arrive to repel the invaders.[8]
The High Evolutionary next travels to the site of theSavage Land, hoping to restore the damage wrought byTerminus. TheX-Men are drawn to the scene as well and aid the Evolutionary in freeingGarokk from Terminus's power armor. Garokk and the Evolutionary succeed in restoring the Savage Land, and the survivors of Terminus's original attack return from the extradimensional realm in which they had taken refuge.[9]
The Exterminators attempt to seal off the Nexus of All Realities in theEverglades to prevent extradimensional entities from polluting humanity's genetic stock. One such entity known as Ylandris takes possession of Cecilia Cardinale, transforming her intoPoison in order to stop the Evolutionary's plan, while Spider-Man and theMan-Thing defeat the Exterminators.[10]
In the broadest part of his plans, the High Evolutionary plots to construct a bomb that will genetically alter all life on Earth. He sends the Gatherers and a superhuman team known as the Sensors toWakanda to obtain vibranium necessary for completion of the bomb. Unbeknownst to the Evolutionary, one of the scientists he has forced into his service isBill Foster, who surreptitiously alerts theBlack Panther to the situation. The Panther and theWest Coast Avengers defend Wakanda but are unable to prevent the theft of the vibranium. Coincidentally, estranged AvengersMoon Knight,Tigra, andMockingbird happen upon the High Evolutionary's citadel in the Savage Land and rescue Foster, who recovers his Giant-Man powers. With the security of his base compromised, he relocates his base to the floor of the Pacific Ocean.[11]
Before completion of the genetic bomb, the High Evolutionary sends Gatherers to capture a rogueclone of Gwen Stacy for further study, while he visits theYoung Gods. Some of the Young Gods decide to interfere with the Evolutionary's master plan, and encounter Spider-Man trying to rescue the clone. The High Evolutionary claims that "Gwen" is not in fact a clone but someone genetically altered to resemble the original Gwen Stacy, and returns her and Spider-Man to Manhattan. Daydreamer of the Young Gods restores the woman's original memories and appearance.[12]
The Evolutionary's researchers reassembleJocasta, who immediately turns on her captors and attempts to contact the East CoastAvengers about the genetic bomb. However, the team has disbanded and abandoned their headquarters, leaving its computers to assemble an ad hoc team of inactive reservists:The Captain, theFalcon,Hercules,Beast, andHulk.Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara) answers the summons (which she received via the communications equipment she stole fromher predecessor) and is allowed to join the team. Using the High Evolutionary's equipment, the Avengers hyper-evolve Hercules until he is able to match the Evolutionary's power in combat. Both Hercules and the High Evolutionary are apparently destroyed in the battle, leaving the Avengers free to stop the genetic bomb and save the world.[13]
Each chapter of the crossover features a short back upstrip titled "The High Evolutionary" which was written byMark Gruenwald withpencil art byParis Cullins andRon Lim. This 11 part story details the origins of the High Evolutionary, his previous storylines, and key events in which he participated (such as the origins ofSpider-Woman,Quicksilver, and theScarlet Witch). The series concludes by revealing how the High Evolutionary survived his apparent suicide and began plotting the Evolutionary War.
In the course of the story, it is revealed that the High Evolutionary received help from a mysterious benefactor, who provided him with the secrets of the human genetic code and access to Moloids to build his base onWundagore Mountain. The story never reveals the identity of the benefactor, although it was long speculated to be eitherPhaeder of the Inhumans or the X-Men villainMister Sinister.[14] It wasn't until nearly 25 years later that Marvel confirmed the identity of the mysterious ally to have been Phaeder.[15]
The backup stories were intended to be read in the same order as the lead stories. However, the backups inAmazing Spider-Man Annual #22 andFantastic Four Annual #21 are transposed, creating some confusion.Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 contains part 5 of the lead story and part 6 of the backups;Fantastic Four Annual #21 contains part 6 of the lead story and part 5 of the backups. This can be confirmed by reading the relevant stories: In the lead story ofFantastic Four Annual #21, the Watcher refers to events in the lead story ofAmazing Spider-Man Annual #22; whereas in the backup ofAmazing Spider-Man Annual #22 the High Evolutionary has subdued the werewolf he fought in the backup ofFantastic Four Annual #21.
At the time of the crossover, Marvel was publishing a comic book based on the TV seriesALF, and soALF Annual #1 served as a tongue-in-cheek unofficial tie-in to the story in which the High Evolutionary meets ALF.[16] Years later, theOfficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe confirmed the canonicity of this story.
InAvengers West Coast Annual #4 theU.S. Agent discovers one of the High Evolutionary's storm troopers on an unpopulatedPacificatoll, who is unaware that the Evolutionary War has ended.
Thor #407 follows up on the events ofAvengers Annual #17 to reveal the fates of Hercules and the High Evolutionary.
A postscript of sorts to the series came withWhat If...? vol. 2 #1 (July, 1989) written byRoy Thomas, which explores the question "What if the Avengers lost the Evolutionary War?". In this version of the story, the reserve Avengers are unable to stop the High Evolutionary from detonating his bomb. As a result, the evolution of all human life on earth is hyper-accelerated. This process causes humanity to evolve beyond conflict with each other, and between humans and mutants. When Celestials eventually arrive to destroy the Earth, the combined powers of humanity's minds destroy one of them, forcing the remainder to retreat. Mutants, already one step ahead of homo sapiens on the evolutionary scale, ascend to the next level and join together to form a combined group which leaves for space, ultimately destroyingGalactus and merging withDeath andEternity to form a being so powerful that it enables the Big Bang of another universe.