By Josh Bate & George Bate
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters now, and audiences are finally able to watch this beloved space team go on their most personal and daring mission yet. Attempts to save Rocket, played excellently by Bradley Cooper in this film, lead them to the High Evolutionary, a god-like figure that experiments on living beings in order to create and perfect life.
This is the live action debut of the High Evolutionary in the MCU, although the character has a long history in Marvel comics having been created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966. Based on initial reactions to the film, fans appear to be enthralled by this new villain, who is played by Chukwudi Iwujudi.
During the global press conference for the film, which The HoloFiles had the opportunity to attend, Iwujudi discussed his approach to play the character in this trilogy capper.
“Immediately I knew classical music was gonna be a big part of this character. Because I didn’t know where I was gonna go with him. I thought I would just listen to a lot of my favorite arias and classical, and sent them to, and they actually, one or two of them made it onto the film. So, a lot of finding this guy, for me, was saying, there’s something. If he’s listening to opera and he’s in space opera and he’s this mad scientist sort of person, I just thought of someone that doesn’t sleep. That’s someone that’s obsessed with it, listening to this music. He needs the music as he wanders through his castle at night. And I thought very deeply about Henry IV. He has a great speech about, ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown. How many thousands of my poorest subjects that at this moment, are asleep.’ And I sent that to James.”
The High Evolutionary is a unique MCU villain in that his mindset is one seen in the real world, yet he is based in the vastness of space.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is out now in theaters. Check out our review below: