Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s villain High Evolutionary has ties to many characters, and one theory tragically connects him to Drax’s past.
A tragic Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 theory connects the villain High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) to Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is potentially ending with the conclusion of James Gunn’s trilogy capper set for release in May 2023. There has been plenty of speculation about the fates of different characters after they meet a new villain in High Evolutionary. The cosmic threat is confirmed to have strong ties to Rocket’s origin, as he is responsible for experimenting on the raccoon as a baby. However, Guardians of the Galaxy 3‘s villain has the potential to have a great impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
High Evolutionary’s comic connections have been used to spark theories about Marvel Studios using him to help set up everything from the X-Men to Spider-Woman. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director James Gunn is likely to primarily keep his focus on how the villain’s arrival affects the main characters of its story. Beyond the very personal connection that High Evolutionary has to Rocket, a powerful creator like this has the ability to have had a hand in several aspects of the MCU’s past. This could allow some surprising revelations to come, and one Guardians of the Galaxy 3 theory tragically connects the villain to Drax.
GOTG 3’s High Evolutionary Might Be Connected to Drax’s Past
Chukwudi Iwuji teased in an interview with Screen Rant in 2022 that High Evolutionary is connected to each Guardians member in some way. He specifically said that his character has “been around for eons” and is “connected to a lot of people” in the movie. Iwuji reiterated that Rocket is not the only one with a past with High Evolutionary, saying, “He affects a lot of people’s lives in a not-so-nice way.” This tease has been used to suggest Gamora and Nebula’s enhancements could have come from him, but it also could mean that there Drax is one of the people whose life has been affected by the villain.
While speculation has suggested that Drax’s powers could be from High Evolutionary, James Gunn could have a different twist in mind. The writer/director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy has always had a rough idea of how the story was going to play out. This could mean that a connection between Drax and High Evolutionary is something that has been part of his character arc from the beginning. There happens to be one lingering storyline connected to Drax’s past as Guardians of the Galaxy 3 approaches that the High Evolutionary could secretly have had an involvement in.
Theory: High Evolutionary Is Responsible For Killing Drax’s Family
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 could reveal that High Evolutionary is responsible for killing Drax’s family. The MCU has made the death of Drax’s wife Ovette and daughter Kamaria a key part of his character, as he is driven by revenge in the very first movie. His anger is originally turned to Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who was the one personally responsible for killing Drax’s family. However, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s ending shows Drax turn his attention to Thanos (Josh Brolin), as he is truly responsible since Ronan worked for the Mad Titan. The MCU mostly wasted this setup, though, as Drax did not get to really fight Thanos.
Gunn has not been shy about sharing that he did not originally plan to include Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, but that this was something that Marvel Studios asked him to do to help set up Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. This hints that Thanos might have never been Drax’s endgame when it came to killing the person responsible for killing his wife and daughter. Now that High Evolutionary is Guardians of the Galaxy 3‘s villain, the true plan might be coming to fruition. Since the MCU has not revealed many details about how Drax’s family died, there is room for a High Evolutionary-sized twist to happen.
How High Evolutionary Could Have Helped Ronan & Thanos
There are a few different ways that High Evolutionary could be connected to killing Drax’s family and helping Ronan and Thanos. The first is that the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 villain is responsible for creating a weapon or upgrading someone’s power who was involved in the event. The MCU has already established how High Evolutionary changed Rocket through various experiments. It is possible that in addition to the genetic experimentation that he does, the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 villain also helped upgrade Ronan’s abilities or his army to make it easier for him to kill Drax’s wife and daughter, who could be Moondragon.
Another option for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 connecting High Evolutionary to Drax’s past is by making him the one who actually wanted Drax’s planet attacked. Drax is a Kylosian in the MCU, making him part of a primitive race of fierce warriors. The lack of development in their society but natural physical gifts could mean that High Evolutionary views the Kylosians as good test subjects for his experiments. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 could reveal that High Evolutionary actually hired Thanos and Ronan to attack Kylos and bring him some of the survivors.
GOTG3’s Drax Family Retcon Can Help Close Out His MCU Arc
Attaching High Evolutionary to the deaths of Drax’s family would certainly seem like an MCU retcon for Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but it would be for the best. Drax was never able to get the justice and revenge he was originally searching for after Ovette and Kamaria’s deaths. He only had a small role in Ronan’s ultimate defeat, while his quest to kill Thanos was also diminished afterward. They had almost no meaningful interactions in Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers: Endgame, and there was disappointingly no mention of Drax’s wife and daughter in the brief scenes they did have together.
With Dave Bautista confirming that he will not return to the MCU after Guardians of the Galaxy 3 regardless of if Drax lives or dies, the character needs closure for what happened to his family if his arc is going to end the right way. Learning that High Evolutionary played a part in his family’s demise would immediately give Drax a personal reason to be invested in bringing down the villain. Bautista’s character could then get closure knowing that he helped defeat the person truly responsible for their deaths. This could even include sacrificing himself to help kill Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s villain.
source: screenrant.com
