Is the High Evolutionary dead in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?’

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

We’ve known for quite a while who the big bad in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was going to end up being. For those that have already seen the film, you now know that Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary turned out to be quite the piece of work, possibly even one of the best Marvel villains to grace the big screen in quite some time. 

However, there seems to be a bit of a gray plot thread surrounding the character, and his fate appears to be a little precarious by the time the film rolls its credits. With that in mind, it may be worth clearing the air and filling you in on what we know about the High Evolutionary and where the character stands following the events of Marvel’s latest blockbuster. 

If you’re yet to see the film, consider this your second and final warning before we dive into spoiler territory. Unless you can’t be bothered shelling out for a theater ticket and just want to read ahead, in which case, welcome along. 

Is the High Evolutionary alive at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? 

As we’re aware, after the Guardians beat the living daylights out of the villain in the closing minutes of the film, Rocket decides to truly be the bigger man and spares the High Evolutionary’s life, despite all of the trauma the character inflicted upon him and his adorable and fuzzy buddies.

However, the point of contention is the fact that we never actually see the High Evolutionary get escorted off his burning base. We see hordes of children and animals jump ship to Knowhere, but following Rocket’s decision, we never actually see the villain again for the remainder of the film. 

This may imply that while Rocket was unwilling to do the deed himself, he left the High Evolutionary behind to fend for himself. Shortly afterwards, the ship was blown to smithereens, and as far as we know, the big bad was still aboard. This seems to imply that the villain did indeed perish, but if anime has taught us anything, it’s that unless we’ve seen a body, they’re not truly dead.

Given that the High Evolutionary was such an effective, unhinged villain, and Chukwudi Iwuji crushed his performance, it would be a shame if he was a one-and-done villain, and we’d love to see him come back at some point. Although, his survival would leave Rocket’s character arc unresolved – and considering most of Vol. 3’s runtime was devoted to exactly this, we can also see the other side of the argument – perhaps we’re better off. However, as with any story beat that’s left open-ended with Marvel, expect the unexpected.