Warning spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 ahead. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of scumbags. It has to be because otherwise, the various superheroes and vigilantes who call Earth-616 their home would quickly find themselves unemployed.
So if you were writing a list of the worst of the worst Marvel villains, then you’d have a lot of names to choose from. You’d probably put the genocidal titan with a ball sack for a chin on the list. We can’t forget the literal fascist, can we? Oh, and MODOK, not because he’s particularly evil, but because he showed us his weird little bum.
Still, the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 release date is upon us, and I think its villain, the High Evolutionary (Played by the wonderful Chukwudi Iwuji), is the most hateable bad guy we’ve ever had in any Marvel movie. His crime? Experimenting on cute little animals. Need I say more? OK, it’s a little more complicated than that.
The reason why the High Evolutionary got my blood boiling is that unlike other villains we’ve seen in the myriad of MCU movies, he was just so unbelievably cruel and petty. Let’s take the destruction of Counter-Earth as an example of how the High Evolutionary’s evil differs from the other genocidal lunatics like Thanos and Ultron.
Regardless of what you think of Thanos’s plan, it’s unarguable that the Mad Titan, in his own warped way, thought he was doing something good by wiping out half of all life in the universe.
Similarly, Ultron, whose goal of eradicating humanity seems rather pedestrian by the standards of Thanos, genuinely believed that the only way to preserve peace was to cleanse the Earth in nuclear flames. (Plus, Ultron explored the internet. No wonder he hated humanity)
Both were misguided, but their actions were driven by their principles and a twisted belief that what they were doing was in some way just. The High Evolutionary, on the other hand, has no such excuses. Oh sure, he may say that he’s trying to build the perfect society, but that doesn’t explain why he wipes out the people of Counter-Earth.
It may be that their society wasn’t the utopia he envisioned (no one wants squids dealing meth to cockroaches), but they posed no threat to his plans of building another civilisation on a new world. So why blow up their planet? Well, the film doesn’t stop and tell us directly, but it makes clear that The High Evolutionary is driven almost entirely by ego.
Everything he does is about him and what it means for himself. We can only presume it was because his pride wouldn’t allow a civilisation that was anything less than perfect to survive, as that would imply that he was in some way less than perfect.
It’s why he’s so consumed by the desire to find Rocket. He says it’s because he wants to use Rocket’s unique brain to perfect his new species, but that’s bollocks. All he wants is revenge on Rocket for ruining his face all those years ago, and all his talk of being a god is just egocentric bullshit from a mortal man struggling to live with the fact that he was beaten by someone he perceives as lesser.
The High Evolutionary’s behaviour is reminiscent of a high school bully. Picking on the weak to make himself feel strong but running when the teacher (or, in the case of the High Evolutionary, The Guardians) comes along.
So yes, when you boil it down, I suppose I hated the Guardian’s latest foe because he hurts cute animals, but it’s more that: he’s the kind of vindictive person you could run into outside of a superhero movie, and unfortunately, The Guardians can’t save us in real life.
If you want to know more about the MCU’s most musically inclined heroes, we’ve got a guide breaking down the Guardians of the Galaxy cast and used the Time Stone to bring you everything you need to know about a potential Guardians of the Galaxy 4 release date.
If you’re a bit lost, though, and looking for something with a bit more class, check out our lists of the best movies and all the new movies coming in 2023.