The all-new, straight-up superhero-ified X-Men will be facing off against a classic Marvel villain this September: The High Evolutionary. In September 22's X-Men #3, writer Gerry Duggan and artist Pepe Larraz will be pitting the Krakoans against Wundagore's ruler - with possibly wide-ranging effects.
"The X-Men are no strangers to being targeted for their genes…but when the High Evolutionary returns with his brand of unnatural selection, the survival of the whole planet is at stake!" reads Marvel's description of X-Men #3.
The High Evolutionary has a deep and complicated past with the X-Men. Originally a follow of Mister Sinister in the '30s, he actually sided with the X-Men when his former mentor took over one of his devices and used it to negate the X-Gene - the source of mutantkind's powers.
Another more tenuous connection may be at play here, as a few years back it was revealed that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver weren't mutants - and weren't the children of Magneto - but instead received their powers as a result of experimentation on them by the High Evolutionary.
Years later, this week in fact, Magneto and Scarlet Witch recently reconnected in SWORD #6.
That might seem like a threadbare connection, but remember - Gerry Duggan co-wrote that 2015 Uncanny Avengers arc where this reveal happened. In the arc, the High Evolutionary explained that Wanda and Pietro were actually Ana and Mateo, children of Django and Marya Maximoff. He said he experimented on them as children (similar to how they were experimented on as teens in the MCU), but discarded them when he was unhappy with the results.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's parentage has been a complicated situation in Marvel Comics, with multiple conflicting lineages being introduced and later retconned by subsequent writers. But given Wanda's imminent starring role in the Darkhold event and more expected from her in the lead-up to the film Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, now would be the time where the building blocks to that sort of thing would start falling into place.
But what does this have to do with the X-Men line-up, since neither Magneto nor Wanda or even Scarlet Witch is involved? Besides the obvious contrast between mutants and a scientist who likes to mutate people against their will, remember fans voted in Polaris as the last member of this X-Men team. And she's the main, 'true' biological child of Magneto.
X-Men #3 goes on sale on September 22.
Where could this be going? The Scarlet Witch seems poised to be Marvel's next Sorcerer Supreme.
