The High Evolutionary loves change.

That’s an important factoid to know as you head into ULTIMATES 2 #9, out July 19, because when the Evolutionary teams up with The Maker, another guy who loves change, well, nothing will ever be the same again.

Now, you might be saying, “Who’s this High Evolutionary? Why’s he so big on changing everything? What’s he gonna change?” Those would be good questions, because he’s one of the universe’s most enigmatic figures, neither truly a good guy of a bad guy—although the Ultimates may disagree on the latter. They’ve got to figure out just what High Evolutionary’s up to as he puts his latest scheme to advance evolution into play.

Luckily, the team—and you!—have writer Al Ewing on their—your!—side to help everybody figure it out by offering up a few more factoids, and maybe even a few hits about the upcoming Eternity War in ULTIMATES 2.

Dude’s Name is Herbert

“Taking a look at the High Evolutionary, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he was some kind of human-sized Celestial, or at the very least an alien being,” Ewing notes. “But underneath all that weird pink/purple armor is a real live actual human named Herbert Wyndham who studied genetics under Nathaniel Essex—the man who became the X-Baddie Mister Sinister—and worked extensively with Spider-Woman’s father, Jonathan Drew. In fact, his armor is purely practical—to protect against werewolf attacks.”

Army of Half-Animal Servants? Check

“Herbert knows all about werewolves, as well as other human/animal hybrids, because he makes them in his various secret laboratories and rules over them like a god,” says the writer. “The High Evolutionary’s semi-animal subjects are known as the New Men, and they’re actually super-evolved animals who once helped him battle the demonic entity Cthon, and in the process released the arcane energies that merged with psychic soldier Emmett Proudhawk to become the Psi-Force.”

Ultimates 2 #9 cover by Christian Ward

Send his Christmas Cards to Counter-Earth, a Duplicate Earth He Built Himself

“Stuff like that meant that eventually Herbert was persona non grata on ordinary Earth—so he created Counter-Earth, a second duplicate Earth orbiting on the other side of the sun, forever hidden from the ‘true’ Earth,” explains Ewing. “How did he do it? By ‘evolving’ a small chunk of terrestrial material. The High Evolutionary has some interesting ideas about what ‘evolution’ involves.”

He Has Some Very Interesting Ideas about What Evolution Involves

“As we’ve seen, he’s evolved animals into humanoid forms—usually still with the heads of the original animals,” insists the writer. “He’s evolved a bit of rock into a full-scale replica Earth. He’s even experimented on himself. Scientifically minded readers might have noticed that his idea of ‘evolution’ owes a lot to Intelligent Design—his intelligence in particular—and he doesn’t limit himself to things that are capable of evolving. So what would happen if he was convinced to ‘evolve’ an entire multiverse? And would we survive?”

Suffers from Popular Super Villain Malady

“What makes Herbert spectacularly dangerous is that he believes he’s firmly in the right,” Ewing concludes. “No matter what mad scientific scheme he’s up to his pink/purple neck in, he convinces himself it’s for the good of all. That’s bad enough when you’re playing with human or animal life—when you’re playing with the destiny of an entire cosmos, things have the potential to get very bad, very fast…”

Find out how bad how fast in ULTIMATES 2 #9, available July 19 courtesy of Al Ewing and Travel Foreman!