That beehive is very similar to Dr. Neurocide's Bride of Frankenstein hair and they both have a skinny build with a white lab coat. Dr. Neurocide was also explicitly a science oriented henchman. It also makes sense given that Red Ivan was promoted from henchman to Genius that perhaps another Genius would be promoted the same way. The major argument against this is that we don't actually know the new Genius' color scheme yet (the only art is depicting her entirely in green silhouette) plus this would mean that of the four playable Geniuses in the new game, three would be characters from the first. Since Rebellion is playing coy with us about the identity of the two female Geniuses, it might be awhile until this question is answered.
- Jossed. https://www.gamereactor.eu/evil-genius-2-world-domination-a-chat-with-the-masterminds-behind-the-true-sequel/
The Scientist Evil Genius is a new character named Zalika.
- Jossed. https://www.gamereactor.eu/evil-genius-2-world-domination-a-chat-with-the-masterminds-behind-the-true-sequel/
Word of God stated that someone did take over the world in the first game but is now mysteriously absent, leaving a massive power vacuum in the criminal underworld and an opportunity for a new Evil Genius to rise up. What if the previous EG went into hiding, only to come back to reclaim their empire once you get far enough into the game? Also, the previous EG will be different depending on the choices you made throughout the campaign: it could be Shen Yu, Alexis, or even Maximillian himself if you didn't play as him. Or it could be a new original character altogether. In the final act, you'll have to contend with both the Forces of Justice and the rival Evil Genius as well in a global Mêlée à Trois to see who will ultimately control the world once and for all.
- It's already been stated that it wasn't Maximillian, so that leaves only Alexis or Shen Yu. If you want my take? Alexis; nothing's harder to beat than a Villain with Good Publicity.
- Jossed. The previous Evil Genius never makes an appearance at any point in the released game, endgame or otherwise.
The game's official website has advertised the Season Pass for the game, which includes, among other things, a new Campaign with, presumably, a new Genius. Building off the previous WMG and general fan theory, it's likely the previous Genius who took over the world was Alexis, since Max has been confirmed by Word of God to not have, and Shen Yu's Yellow Peril vibes would be unacceptable in a modern game. This is likely building to a triumphant comeback tour for Alexis, having lost her throne through unknown circumstances, eager to take it back.
- I'd be lying if I said I would be shocked if Alexis was not the canonical EG that took over. Wouldn't that be something? If it was someone who wasn't selectable or was even a henchman like Lord Kane? That would make for one hell of a twist!
- Not the case, at least for now. The season pass' new Genius is Polar, who has a freeze ray as her superweapon. It's not impossible they might bring back Alexis later though.
No particular reason for this, only it would be quite a Continuity Nod. Perkins even comments it's a good thing his instructor isn't an evil genius, with all he knows about being one.
This would not be hard, you could easily alter the gameplay to be more good aligned with a few minor tweaks, especially if we play as an anti-hero. You would recruit Super Agents instead of Henchmen, and instead fight those Henchmen. You would be attempting to destroy the existing doomsday device and bring the previous genius to justice. Depending on who this genius is it could explain a few things, for instance we could see how H.A.M.M.E.R came to control Europe and Japan. Also it would be an interesting change of pace.
- Somewhat Jossed - while Polar is a good genius, she's more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
This masked Genius will be attempting to "liberate" the world from the Forces of Justice. Throughout the campaign, there will be more and more hints at this villains identity, until the very end, where it's revealed that he's a scarred officer of the law, out for revenge against the Forces of Justice, believing them to be no better than the villain who took over the world.]]
- that or scrambling to extremes to undo the damage of Emma's Hate Plague and the F.O.J. being de facto Police States.]]
This villain has a dream; to ensure humanity reaches its full potential in the stars. They have turned to villainy because the world has become complacent living on the same over-polluted, war-torn, Evil-Genius-ruled planet their monkey ancestors squatted in ages ago. Unfortunately, space colonization is a deadly business, and with current technology they will need more personnel than the entire population of Earth to complete a single camp off the coast of Copernicus. But as an evil genius, they are not fettered by certain cultural values as they seek higher reproduction... methods. Said methods are still technically PG-13, such as using ray guns to make minions (male and female) pregnant, flash-cloning babies and forcefully aging them into full-grown minions, and even adopting children from war-torn lands - and then genetically experimenting on them to give them superpowers. Okay the whole genetic experimenting may seem cruel, but hey, if one gets superpowers, one must go through hell.Alternatively, they want to undo the damage an Evil Genius (especially Emma) has done after depopulating most of the planet.This villain, unlike the others, gives a crap about their minions because they are the Evil Genius' children, and will even undergo a Villainous BSoD if any of their favored children are killed, ensuring they all have higher stats and a near-unbreakable loyalty. However, the sheer evil of their plans (or maybe just the Squick) causes the entire world and even other Evil Geniuses to attack them all at once.
, and to Iron Man 3 's decision to make "The Mandarin" an in-universe actor impersonating him, to cheekily address the Yellow Peril implications of the original character(s).