Darwin burst onto the Marvel scene in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2, published in February 2006. He was co-created by the acclaimed writer Ed Brubaker and artist Trevor Hairsine. His creation was central to the Deadly Genesis miniseries, a landmark story designed to bridge the gap between the classic Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975) and the then-current events following the House of M storyline. The entire premise of Deadly Genesis was a massive retcon, introducing a previously unknown team of young mutants secretly trained by Moira MacTaggert and Professor X. This team was sent to rescue the original X-Men from the sentient island of krakoa before the famous “All-New, All-Different” team was assembled. Darwin's character, along with his ill-fated teammates (Sway, Petra, and Vulcan), served to add a dark, hidden chapter to Xavier's history. Brubaker's goal was to explore the moral compromises that leaders like Xavier might make and to introduce a powerful new antagonist in the form of Vulcan. Darwin's specific power set—the ability to survive anything—was the perfect narrative tool to explain how anyone could have possibly lived through the disastrous first mission to Krakoa, making him the living, breathing evidence of Xavier's greatest failure.
Armando Muñoz was born in New York City to a Hispanic father and an African-American mother. His mutant abilities manifested at a young age in a traumatic fashion. His father abandoned the family upon seeing his son's strange appearance, and his mother, filled with self-loathing and resentment for what she perceived as a curse, subjected him to horrific abuse. During one incident, she held his head underwater; his body adapted by developing gills. In another, she locked him in a burning room; his skin became fireproof. His mother eventually reported him to scientists who subjected him to relentless and painful experimentation. He was eventually discovered and rescued by Moira MacTaggert. At her Muir Island research facility, Armando was given the codename “Darwin,” a fitting name for a boy whose body constantly evolved to survive. There, he met three other young mutants under Moira's care: Petra, who could manipulate earth; Sway, who could control time's flow; and Gabriel Summers (vulcan_gabriel_summers), who could manipulate energy. When the original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, and Beast) were captured by the living island Krakoa, Professor Xavier, in a desperate and ethically questionable move, fast-tracked Moira's young charges into a rescue team. Darwin and his teammates were sent to the island with minimal training. The mission was a catastrophic failure. Sway was horrifically bifurcated by Krakoa's creatures. Petra was incinerated, but in her final moments, she used her powers to pull her teammates into a cave deep beneath the island's surface. As they were dying, Darwin's survival instinct kicked in. His body converted itself into pure energy and bonded with the dying Vulcan, who had absorbed the energy signatures of his fallen comrades. This combined entity was then launched into space by Polaris along with a chunk of Krakoa, where it remained in stasis for years. Xavier, overwhelmed by guilt and a desire to protect the world from the immensely powerful and unstable Vulcan, mentally erased all memory of this “first” rescue team from everyone involved, including Cyclops. Years later, the massive energy surge from the M-Day event, which depowered most of the world's mutants, awakened the dormant Vulcan-Darwin entity. It returned to Earth, seeking vengeance on Xavier. During a confrontation with the modern X-Men, Rachel Summers used her psychic abilities to probe the entity, inadvertently separating Darwin's energy form from Vulcan. Beast was able to stabilize Darwin's physical body, bringing him back to the world of the living after years of being a passenger in his teammate's mind. His return forced Xavier's darkest secret into the light, shattering the trust of his X-Men and setting the stage for Vulcan's galactic rampage.
Darwin's depiction in the 20th Century Fox film X-Men: First Class (2011), while not part of the mainline MCU, is his sole live-action appearance and serves as the most prominent alternate version of the character. This origin is vastly different and significantly condensed. In this continuity, Armando Muñoz is a confident and charismatic young man, working as a taxi driver in New York City. He is one of the first mutants recruited by Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr to join their burgeoning team at the CIA's “Division X.” He proudly demonstrates his power of “reactive adaptation” by sticking his head in a fishbowl, causing gills to instantly sprout on his cheeks. He quickly befriends his fellow recruits, including Alex Summers (Havok), Sean Cassidy (Banshee), and Hank McCoy (Beast). His role is that of an enthusiastic and capable early member of the team. However, his story takes a tragic and abrupt turn. When the Hellfire Club, led by the powerful energy-absorber Sebastian Shaw, attacks the Division X facility, Darwin and his teammates attempt to fight back. Shaw, seeking to recruit the young mutants, offers them a place in his organization. When Angel Salvadore defects to Shaw's side, Havok unleashes a plasma blast at Shaw. Shaw effortlessly absorbs the energy. In a display of his cruel power, Shaw turns to Darwin and forces the absorbed energy into his mouth. Darwin's body desperately tries to adapt. His skin turns to a dark, rock-like substance to withstand the energy, but it's too much, too fast. The raw power overwhelms his adaptive abilities, causing him to overload and violently disintegrate into ash. This act serves as a pivotal moment in the film. Darwin's shocking and brutal death is the first casualty suffered by the new team, cementing Sebastian Shaw as a truly ruthless villain. It shatters the recruits' innocence and galvanizes them, providing a somber, unifying motivation to stop the Hellfire Club. This adaptation chose to use Darwin not as a long-term survivor, but as a tragic martyr whose death underscored the immense stakes of the conflict.
Darwin's sole mutant power is a complex and potent form of reactive adaptation for the purpose of survival. It is entirely subconscious; he does not consciously control what adaptation he will manifest. His body assesses any given threat and instantaneously alters his biological makeup to overcome it. The potential of this power is theoretically limitless, bound only by the imperative to “survive.”
Darwin's personality is heavily shaped by the trauma of his childhood and his near-death experience on Krakoa. He is often quiet, contemplative, and carries a deep-seated sadness. Being trapped as energy within Vulcan for years left him with psychological scars and a feeling of being disconnected from the world. Despite this, he is fundamentally compassionate and heroic, consistently choosing to use his often-frightening abilities to protect others. He struggles with his identity, as his body is in a constant state of flux, making it difficult for him to feel like a complete person. His time with X-Factor Investigations helped him develop a sardonic sense of humor and build more stable friendships, allowing him to grow into a more confident, yet still cautious, individual.
In X-Men: First Class, Darwin's powers are presented in a more straightforward manner as “reactive adaptation.” The two primary examples shown are:
The key difference in this version is that his powers have a clear and fatal limit. The sheer amount of concentrated energy forced into him by Shaw was too much for his body to process and adapt to in time. The adaptation process was initiated, but it was overwhelmed, leading to his molecular disintegration. This establishes a ceiling on his abilities that doesn't exist to the same degree in the comics, serving the film's narrative need to establish Shaw as an “extinction-level” threat.
This version of Darwin is markedly different from his comic counterpart. He is portrayed as confident, easygoing, and proud of his mutant abilities. He fits in well with the other young recruits and shows no signs of the deep trauma that defines the Earth-616 version. He is brave and loyal, standing up to Shaw without hesitation to protect his friends. His personality makes his sudden and brutal death all the more shocking and tragic for the audience and the characters in the film.
This is Darwin's defining storyline. The narrative reveals that before the “All-New, All-Different” X-Men were sent to Krakoa, Xavier and Moira sent Darwin's team. The mission goes horribly wrong, leading to the apparent deaths of the entire squad. Darwin's arc is central: his power converts him to energy and bonds him with Vulcan, saving them both but trapping them in a state of stasis for years. The reawakening of this entity on Earth is the story's catalyst. Darwin's eventual separation and revival provides the living proof of Xavier's lie. His testimony and existence force the X-Men to confront a terrible truth about their founder and rewrites a foundational piece of their history. This event permanently establishes Darwin as a symbol of survival and a living reminder of the moral compromises made in the name of the greater good.
Darwin's role in this event, while brief, is one of the most-cited examples of his power's unique “logic.” When the Hulk arrives at the Xavier Institute seeking to battle Professor X, Darwin steps up to defend his fellow mutants. He confronts the Hulk, ready for a fight. However, his power assesses the Hulk's rage and near-invincible strength and calculates that no physical adaptation is sufficient to guarantee survival. Instead of turning his skin to adamantium or developing super-strength, his power activates a new ability: teleportation. Darwin is instantly whisked hundreds of miles away, completely removing him from the “un-survivable” situation. This moment perfectly encapsulates the core tenet of his ability: it is not about winning; it is purely about living.
During his tenure with X-Factor Investigations, the team is drawn into a conflict involving the death of a god. This brings them into direct opposition with Hela. When Hela uses her death touch on Wolfsbane's son, Tier, Darwin intervenes. He touches Hela, hoping his body will adapt a countermeasure. It doesn't. Hela's power is absolute, and she kills him instantly, turning him to dust. The team is devastated by the loss of their “unkillable” friend. However, later, Darwin's power brings him back in a new, terrifying form. He has evolved into a being of death himself, a “reaper,” capable of fighting Hela on her own terms. He defeats her and uses his newfound power to restore Tier to life. This storyline pushed the limits of Darwin's abilities further than ever before, showing that even from absolute death, his reactive evolution will find a way to ensure he, ultimately, survives.