Art by Neil Edwards, Jay Leisten, and Matt Milla
- Name: Armando Muñoz
- Code Names: Darwin
- First Appearance: X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2 (Feb ’06)
- Powers: Reactive evolution
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, X-Factor Investigations
About
“Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.” With the opening line of the 2000 film X-Men, Professor Charles Xavier detailed the key to the X-Men’s fantastic powers, evolution. Mutants evolved wild and divergently but one mutant was gifted with the ability to harness the raw power of evolution itself. The mutant Darwin may be a D-lister, his biggest claim to fame is dying quickly in X-Men: First Class, but he holds A-list potential and one of the most creative powers the X-Men have ever seen.
Portrayed by Edi Gathegi in X-Men: First Class
Darwin was created by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine in the controversial story Deadly Genesis. The Muñoz family, if you wanted to call it a family, was disappointed with the young Armando. He looked different from the other kids, his arms were too long, his eyes were funny, and he had no hair, anywhere. His father had no desire to be involved with a freak and left when Armando was four. After excelling at an IQ test, the young Armando received a large scholarship to the Biltmore Academy for Advanced Education and his mother was happy to be rid of him. Armando didn’t fit in at Biltmore and was often bullied by his classmates. During a swirly from one of his bullies, Armando was surprised to find that he grew gills and could breathe underwater. On one of the rare visit home, the Muñoz house caught fire. Armando rescued his mother from the blaze and rescue workers were shocked when he emerged unharmed. His skin had turned wet and smooth.
Scientists at Biltmore ran tests on Armando to try and better understand what was going on with the boy. His body generated anything he needed and the observers nicknamed him Darwin, the Evolving Boy publishing a paper declaring him a mutant. His mother was appalled at giving birth to a mutant and disowned her child. Darwin was broken by the revelation and driven to dark places. At his lowest, Armando threw himself from the roof of his dormitory but his mutant powers wouldn’t even let him kill himself. This event finally put Darwin in contact with a scientist who had been trying to contact him since the paper was published and Armando Muñoz went to work with Moira MacTaggert.
Moira was running a lab in the northeastern United States to study mutants and help them develop their unique abilities. With the help of her colleague, Charles Xavier, she was able to design tests for each of her students. Darwin was finally in a place where he felt like he belonged and became good friends with his fellow students, especially Kid Vulcan.
Art by Trevor Hairsine, Scott Hanna, and Val Staples
Charles came to the lab one day, distraught and panicked. His X-Men had gone missing on a mission to the island Krakoa and he needed mutants to rescue them. He told Darwin, Vulcan, and the others that they would be heroes, X-Men, and they bought into it. No amount of concern from Moira could dissuade them from becoming superheroes. Charles sent them to Krakoa, and the mission was going well, they were even able to rescue Cyclops from his captivity. Krakoa reacted violently and Petra, Sway, Vulcan, and Darwin were killed as Cyclops made it to safety and into the events of Giant Sized X-Men #1. Or so it seemed. Vulcan was merely trapped inside the island and absorbed Darwin’s essence. When the all-new, all-different X-Men sent the island into space Vulcan survived off of Darwin’s adaptive mutation, comatose and in isolation.
Art by Trevor Hairsine, Scott Hanna, and Val Staples
After the horrors of M-Day, Beast was very concerned about what happened to all the mutant energy from those who had been depowered. Part of it went to Vulcan, giving him a huge boost of power and a thirst for revenge. He set a plan in motion to punish Professor Xavier for his negligence but was eventually deterred by the X-Men. When they faced the mad Vulcan, Rachel Grey realized that there was another entity alive inside of him. She separated the other mind and was shocked to find that it was Darwin, his body had evolved to pure energy to survive. Beast closely monitored the boy and was most impressed by the boy’s uncanny ability to regrow from nothing, to adapt to any situation.
Art by Trevor Hairsine, Scott Hanna, and Val Staples
When Professor Xavier was organizing a team of X-Men to confront Vulcan in space he insisted Darwin be a part of it. Cyclops objected but relented when Xavier promised to keep watch over the boy and Cyclops saw Darwin’s desire to still be an X-Man. Darwin was frustrated that Xavier still treated him with kids gloves but showed fierce loyalty when Xavier was captured by Shi’ar officers. Darwin didn’t hesitate to attach himself to the hull of their space craft and follow Xavier to the Shi’ar outpost. He tried to rescue Xavier but was eventually captured by Vulcan and was forced to be the best man in Vulcan’s wedding to Deathbird. He proved his bravery when Xavier was thrown into the M’Krann Crystal, a universal nexus, and Darwin dove in after him, saving his life.
Art by Billy Tan, Danny Miki, and Frank D’Armata
After Xavier was shot and disappeared after Messiah Complex, Darwin made it his mission to find him and teamed up with Longshot to search for the professor. They got caught up between She-Hulk (who had been tracking Longshot) and X-Factor (who had been hired by Darwin’s father to find him) and were thoroughly confused. It was revealed that this Longshot was actually a Skrull and, after helping subdue him, Darwin was finally reunited with his long-lost father.
Mr. Muñoz had not had the change of heart that was expected and sold his son out to the villainous Karma Project who attempted to duplicate Darwin’s abilities with other people. X-Factor caught wind of this and went to rescue the boy. Darwin would eventually join the team and developed a crush on his teammate Monet, though it was unreciprocated. On a mission to rescue Pip the Troll from Hela in Las Vegas, Darwin faced down the Norse goddess and evolved to withstand her death touch. He had evolved into a death god himself. He became violent and angry, lashing out at criminals and no longer willing to follow Maddrox. This drove him away from the team and he began to wander aimlessly in the desert.
Art by Emanuela Lupancchino, Pat Davidson, and Matt Milla
While in the Nevada desert, Darwin drank the water of a cactus, laid down to rest, and saw something strange. A woman, dressed like she was in a Western film was running towards him, chased by a dragon. Darwin slew the beast and carried the injured woman to the nearest town, a town that looked like the set of a John Wayne flick. The woman claimed that Darwin was to be their champion and kill the corrupt sheriff. The sheriff claimed to be the Beast, the bringer of the apocalypse. He handed Darwin a six shooter and they took twenty paces. Before they drew the Beast said something that shook the Evolving Boy to his very core, Darwin knew his mother, Rhane Sinclair, his pregnant X-Factor teammate. Suddenly the air was alive with gunfire and Darwin’s chest was filled with bullets that could make God himself bleed. He awoke in the desert with the empty husk of a cactus and a loaded revolver next to him and only one thought on his mind.
Art by Emanuela Lupancchino, Guillermo Ortego, and Matt Milla
Darwin spent his next few months becoming a hunter. He only had one quarry, Rhane’s lupine son, Tier. He hunted the boy down and was able to incapacitate Tier’s guardian Jack Russel, the Werewolf by Night. Rhane and Rictor were also tracking Tier and able to stop Darwin for killing him, but Armando would never quit hunting. He eventually cornered Tier outside X-Factor headquarters and put a gun to his head, the rest of the team unable to stop him, but Darwin couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He may have been a god of death but he couldn’t bring himself to kill an innocent boy. Darwin joined the rest of X-Factor in protecting Tier during the Hell on Earth War and was horrified when Strong Guy killed Tier and banished X-Factor to the four corners of the globe.
Art by Leonard Kirk, Jay Leisten, and Matt Milla
Darwin wandered to Las Vegas to try and get his death curse removed from Hela. He was tired of feeling so disconnected from anyone he ever knew, he was tired of being death, he was just tired of being tired. Armando crossed paths with Monet, who had recently been resurrected at the end of the Hell on Earth War, and the two went out for drinks. Darwin talked about how he felt so distraught over hunting Tier. Monet talked about wanting to feel, something, anything. The two hooked up that evening. Darwin knew it was just sex but he was alright with finally connecting with someone again. The next morning Hela appeared saying Darwin was looking for him, giving him an opportunity to be whole again. And he, well, see for yourself.
Art by Neil Edwards, Jay Leisten, and Matt Milla
Must Read
Darwin has really only been involved in three runs. He was introduced in Deadly Genesis but that story is more about Vulcan and Professor X. He was a significant player in X-Factor but honestly, he was involved in the worst parts of that run. That leaves Uncanny X-Men #475-486 The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire, and luckily it’s a good one. This sci-fi adventure from Ed Brubaker and Billy Tan takes all the best parts of classic X-Men space adventure like The Brood Saga and mashes them into a big stew of intergalactic politics. It takes Darwin from a one note character with cool abilities and turns him into a fully fleshed out hero. Tan’s solid line work reminds you of a Jim Lee in all the best ways and Brubacker’s’s script just delivers a rip-roaring fun time. The only real problem with this series is that after twelve issues you expect a big climax when all you get is the end of act one as this story dove tailed into the DnA cosmic saga. This series can be found on Marvel Unlimited or in a complete volume in paperback or oversized hardcover.
Art by Billy Tan
Ranking
Darwin was a character that started in a problematic story, showed potential in a good one, and then really lost his way. Absolutely no one knows what to do what the character, Burbacker didn’t even utilize him when he returned his Uncanny team to Earth. Everything with him becoming a death god and hunting Tier fell really flat in X-Factor and kind of signaled David’s decline on the title. He is definitively in the bottom half of the list, I would say oddly comparable to Avalanche. They both have been pretty directionless and both aren’t bad character. Lucky for Darwin his portrayal in X-Men: First Class really endeared me to the character, that’s why he is the new number 13 in the Xavier Files.
Darwin was requested by /u/sikadelic and /u/DrTee from reddit. Thanks for the request guys. If YOU have a character you want me to do, send me a message on my Ask Box and I’ll get it added to the list.
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Next week we look at the cross section of man and machine as we dig into the Omega Sentinel. See you Tuesday!
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
