The Illuminati is a fictional secret superhero organization that appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Behind the scenes, the characters banded together and collaborated. The Illuminati originally appeared in July 2005’s New Avengers #7, written by Brian Michael Bendis, and was presented as a real-life organization.
Their history was examined in the New Avengers: Illuminati special, and according to the evidence, the gang was formed immediately after the Kree-Skrull War. Bendis dives into their history in this issue, which built up to the Civil War narrative that summer.
Bendis worked on a five-issue miniseries with co-writer Brian Reed and illustrator Jim Cheu, portraying the organization’s behind-the-scenes activities between its establishment and breakup. The first issue of the New Avengers: Illuminati special was released in December 2006, with the last issue following in November 2007.
The term ‘Illuminati’ has a long history in the actual world as a secretive society of enlightened or ‘illuminated’ people who gathered in quest of hidden truths. In the Marvel Universe, the Illuminati is a superhero organization formed by Iron Man after the Kree-Skrull War, when he realized that the greatest minds of Marvel’s superhuman world each contained knowledge that, if organized and shared, could have prevented the war.
The Illuminati assembled the best brains from across the Marvel Universe, wielded Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, and determined the fate of the multiverse together… but they transformed into something more than heroes along the way.
Due to its relationship with Dr. Strange, the ‘Illuminati’ has become the talk of the town in recent weeks, and we are here to break it all down for you.
Illuminati Most Secret Team Origin
Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange; Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans; Charles Xavier, creator of the X-Men and mutant rights campaigner; Reed Richards, founding member of the Fantastic Four; Namor the Sub-Mariner, King of Atlantis; and Iron Man or the beloved Tony Stark. The founding members were the six men, who collaborated to mould, the status of the superhumans the Avengers. They were the initial six to change the superhuman realm and the world surrounding it. They were the original members and their secrecy gave them a lot of power.
Tony Stark had originally brought these warriors together with the Black Panther shortly after the Kree-Skrull War affected Earth. By combining all of the existing super squads and groups, he suggested they build a mega group that would be prepared to tackle comparable challenges.
The comic issue shows that all the members had met up in Wakanda after the Kree-Skrull war, where Iron Man had suggested that maybe the war was due to their failure and that incidents like this could be avoided if they joined forces and put up a united front. However, according to the comics, not everyone was on board with the idea from the very beginning.
Those present, Namor maintained, couldn’t even manage their current groups, and hence would be completely incapable of leading a larger project. This argument was echoed by Reed Richards and Doctor Strange. Namor also pointed out that they all had far too many secrets and nefarious dealings within their organizations to open up and divulge everything to the public.
Iron Man is correct when he said that however, different they may be but all the people present had useful information on the alien invaders and that it could have been useful if they had met and discussed it. Along these lines, they agreed that they would all convene to discuss major threats and concerns and that they would do so at Namor’s request. It was decided that Xavier would serve as the group’s moderator, using his telepathy to ensure that no one broke the group’s trust.
After a lot of discussion and deliberation, they agreed on a form of cooperation however, in the process, T’challa chose not to join the group once the plan was scaled down to a secret cabal that would share information and covertly select how all of the individual groups would correspond.
The group collaborated to foresee and combat potential dangers to Earth. They were concerned about the Superhero Civil War, the invading Marvel Boy, and the Skrull Empire. When they became too afraid of Hulk, they devised a trap that propelled him into orbit on a rocket, resulting in the Planet Hulk tale, which was the inspiration for Thor: Ragnarok. In fact, the 2006 comic also shows us the workings of the Illuminati in sending the Hulk into space. The group also got together to talk about a number of topics, including the Sentry’s return.
Illuminati Various Story Arcs
The Illuminati as a group has had several comic book appearances and many of them involved central decisions that affected other heroes and shaped various storylines themselves. Their first major appearance is in Skrull Empire. The Illuminati proceeded to the Skrulls’ homeworld, still stinging from their defeat on Earth during the Kree-Skrull War.
The gang put on a show of power in front of the Skrulls, warning them not to meddle in Earth’s affairs again. However, the scheme backfired, and the group was apprehended. The Skrulls studied physiology, genetics, technology, and other characteristics of their captives, as well as their behavior until Iron Man was able to lead an escape.
The Illuminati realized that another attack was unavoidable, and the Skrull Empire began to use the information they had gathered. The Skrulls were able to go undetected by Earth’s superhumans by employing a clone of Reed Richards.
They then appeared in the Infinity Gauntlet, where Mr. Fantastic revealed to the group that he had been collecting the Infinity Gems and wanted to collect them all with the help of the Illuminati in the aftermath of Thanos’ near-destruction of the universe with the use of the Infinity Gauntlet. Despite their fears, the party was able to obtain all six stones.
Mr. Fantastic attempted to use the Infinity Gauntlet to will the Gems out of existence, but he was unable to do so. Faced with failure and a rebuke from The Watcher, he made the divisive decision to give each Illuminati member one gem to hide, ensuring that they would never be combined and used again.
In The Beyonder, the Illuminati encountered the Beyonder after he toyed with several of Earth’s most powerful superhumans, minus Tony Stark, whose role as Iron Man was taken by Jim Rhodes. The Illuminati had incorrectly assumed that the Beyonder was an Inhuman with the X-Gene who had gained godlike powers after being exposed to the Terrigen Mists.
Under the guise of the Beyonder’s “king,” Black Bolt persuaded him to go into exile in another dimension. The Illuminati’s influence, in this case, appears to have been minimal, as it was later revealed that the Beyonder was the child of an all-powerful extradimensional species and not an Inhuman mutant.
In Marvel Boy, the Illuminati approached Noh-Varr, a Kree warrior from another universe who had attempted to conquer Earth and was put in prison. They demonstrated the Kree’s connection to the Inhumans as well as their determination to preserve the planet.
They showed humanity’s primordial character, as well as its capacity to evolve and improve. They eventually sought to persuade Noh-Varr to use his powers to protect the Earth and guide humans to better themselves, using Captain Marvel as an example, a deceased Kree-born superhero who had battled for humanity.
Then, in light of the mass breakout from the Raft, Iron Man informed the Illuminati about the development of a new Avengers squad. With the exception of Namor, everyone wished him luck in his endeavors, and Iron Man moved on to the Sentry problem.
Mr. Fantastic learned that he had data on the Sentry, and Professor Xavier realized that his mind had been messed with, despite the fact that none of the Illuminati remembered him. Mr. Fantastic was able to use the files to contact Robert Reynolds, aka the Sentry, and assist him in undoing the damage. The Avengers, Iron Man said, would take complete responsibility for the Sentry if he ever lost control.
Iron Man was approached by Maria Hill, Director of SHIELD, about the Hulk, who had recently demolished Las Vegas. Iron Man proposed to the Illuminati a solution to the Hulk’s problem: shoot him into space and send him to a desolate planet where he might live out the rest of his days alone. Namor was the only one who objected to the plan.
They had no right to expel his ally from his home, he claimed, and he accused them of failing to do enough to heal Banner. The plan was approved by the other four members, and Namor stormed out, enraged. As he walked away, he stated that the Black Panther was correct and that the Hulk would return to pursue justifiable vengeance. The Illuminati then decided to never meet again.
Iron Man gathered the Illuminati, with the exception of Professor Xavier, who was in exile in Scotland following the Decimation, to present them to the Superhuman Registration Act, despite their decision not to meet again after their last meeting during Civil War. He demonstrated how previous occurrences had heightened public skepticism of all super-powered individuals and organizations, and how one bad move by a hero may spell tragedy.
If the Act was passed, a battle between heroes would erupt, wreaking havoc on the world. Iron Man restated his notion of a representative organization of superheroes in order to avoid calamity and urged the group to come out in favor of registration. Despite the fact that the Illuminati never met or acted as a group during the Civil War that followed, their conduct in the battle mirrored their feelings at the previous conference.
As predicted, Hulk reappeared in World War Hulk to exact vengeance on the Illuminati for what they had done to him. Reed was called by Amadeus Cho during Civil War, who informed him that the Hulk had not landed on the targeted planet. Unbeknownst to the Illuminati, he had landed on the savage world of Sakaar, first enslaving and then releasing the planet’s enslaved peoples and becoming its new ruler, only for his shuttle to detonate, destroying his capital city and murdering his new wife and unborn child.
He returned to Earth with an army to seek vengeance, blaming the Illuminati. He targeted all the Illuminati members one by one and defeated all of them. The Illuminati members were then implanted with obedience discs and forced to battle in Hulk’s homemade gladiatorial ring in Madison Square Garden. The Hulk saved them from killing each other, declaring that he had demonstrated his point to the rest of the world and that he would now raze down New York before departing. However, the conflict did simmer down in the end.
In The Secret Invasion, Iron Man gathered the Illuminati once more to show them the body of a Skrull posing as Elektra. After going to the Skrull home-world years previously, he believed the Skrull represented a hidden invasion of Earth, and for that, the Illuminati were to blame. When Black Bolt showed himself to be a disguised Skrull, his suspicions were confirmed.
The five remaining members were only able to overcome it and its two companions by a hair’s breadth, and they began plotting how to find and defeat the remaining Skrulls. They quickly realized, however, that this was meaningless because they could no longer trust each other. Things did not go well, and the invasion had a significant impact on the Illuminati, with the majority of them becoming adversaries of Norman Osborn and the new regime.
Tony Stark took the brunt of the blame for the invasion, losing S.H.I.E.L.D., a lot of public support and popularity, and a lot of pride and hope, basically becoming a fugitive. Reed dealt with his own simmering disagreement with Osborn by building a contraption that allowed him to see into different realities in the hopes of discovering why things had gone so wrong in his own reality.
The Illuminati essentially ceased operations during Osborn’s “Dark Reign,” as his reign came to be called, with its membership fragmented and scattered. Doctor Strange was no longer Sorcerer Supreme and was living as a fugitive from the authorities, Iron Man was mistrusted by the public and on the run by the authorities, Namor had joined Osborn’s version of the Illuminati, the Cabal, Xavier no longer led the X-Men and had gone on a journey of self-discovery after a failed assassination attempt, and Reed Richards was preoccupied with the Kree Empire.
Parker Robbins, called The Hood, later escaped from prison and set out to find the Infinity Gauntlet. He had received a tip from an imprisoned Inhuman while at the Raft, which led him to the Reality Gem concealed in Attilan.
He was then transported to the Baxter Building, where he used the first Gem’s abilities to go by security and steal the Power Gem. He was accidentally dispatched to the desert by the two Gems, where he encountered Red Hulk and vanquished him. Red Hulk made it to Avengers Tower and informed them of the situation.
Iron Man swiftly summoned the Illuminati after learning that the Gems had been reintroduced into circulation, with Medusa taking the role of her then-deceased husband Black Bolt. They defeated Robbins and separated the Infinity Gems again and moved them to new hiding places, now that Steve Rogers was among their number. The group’s reformation was kept a secret.
When the Phoenix Force returned to Earth, triggering a battle between the Avengers and the X-Men, Captain America re-convened the Illuminati in order to persuade Namor, who was possessed by the Phoenix, to quit his operations, as well as the rest of the Phoenix Five. The meeting was ineffective because most of the attendees were divided on the conflict, and they all departed, assuming Namor wouldn’t show there. Professor X would die in the struggle, but the Phoenix Five were eventually freed from the Phoenix’s captivity.
After seeing an incursion, an event in which two universes crash with each universe’s Earth at the site of impact, Black Panther realized the need for the Illuminati in Colliding Universes. The Illuminati set out to find a remedy after capturing the Black Swan, a mystery super-powered entity responsible for destroying one of the Earths.
After acquiring Professor Xavier’s infinity gem through his last will and testament, Beast joins the squad. The Illuminati realized that the only option to rescue their universe and the one colliding with it was to either destroy the other Earth colliding with theirs or destroy their own world, according to information obtained from the Black Swan. They did, however, resolve to find a peaceful solution to the problem.
The ancient race known as the Builders had launched a cosmic crusade in Infinity, targeting different alien civilizations with the ultimate objective of destroying Earth to prevent the invasions from spreading throughout the universe.
While the majority of the Avengers were dealing with the alien threat, Thanos and his Black Order invaded the Earth and demanded a “tribute” in exchange for the Earth’s inhabitants’ survival, prompting Black Bolt to reveal to the Illuminati that the Mad Titan was actually looking for his son, who was born to an inhuman woman.
The Illuminati used the Terrigen Codex to look for Thanos’ offspring among numerous hidden Inhuman tribes, but their search was cut short when a new incursion in Australia occurred.
The Illuminati were pit against the Great Society of Earth-4290001 in the next Incursion, a group of noble warriors who had managed to save their planet from annihilation without bloodshed. However, unlike the others, the Society no longer had the resources to halt this Incursion.
The Illuminati attempted to persuade the Society to collaborate with them, but the Society questioned whether the Illuminati had any intention of letting their own planet be destroyed, knowing that they possessed the ability to do so. Namor dealt the initial blow, beginning a struggle for the fate of their own worlds, knowing that it would end in bloodshed in the end and unwilling to waste any more time.
Just as the previous intrusion had been avoided, another one occurred in Time Runs Out. The Illuminati decided that rather than destroying another Earth, they would die on their own, each seeking solace on their final day of existence. Namor, on the other hand, refused to let the world die, and he and Maximus freed the Illuminati’s prisoners in the Necropolis in exchange for their assistance in stopping the incursions. The Cabal would be formed as a result of this.
In Secret Wars, the last incursion drew close, pitting the last two existing universes, Earth-616 and Earth-1610, against one other. Despite the fact that the heroes of Earth-616 prevailed in the ensuing conflict thanks to their higher population of superhumans and the Phoenix’s intervention, the two planets clashed.
Mister Fantastic and Black Panther, who were aboard the life raft built to withstand the multiverse’s death, were the only members of the Illuminati to survive the multiverse’s annihilation. Manifold transferred several additional heroes onto the raft, and they joined them. After the Multiverse vanished, the life raft landed on Battleworld, a patchwork planet formed by Doctor Doom from the shattered fragments of other worlds.
How Does Illuminati Relate To Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness?
The MCU Illuminati make their appearance in the new “Big Game” trailer for Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With Patrick Stewart’s presence as Professor X from the X-Men film, it appears like the classic Marvel team of prominent heroes will be reuniting, with their original goal from the comics having been expanded to the entire multiverse if this new video is any indicator.
After manipulating the multiverse itself, it appears that they’ll be apprehending Doctor Strange. What’s intriguing about the hinted Illuminati for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is that they appear to be very concerned about safeguarding the entire multiverse, which explains Strange’s punishment for meddling with it.
While the Illuminati of comic books have had their share of skirmishes and disputes with multiversal dangers, it’s all in the name of defending their own universe, with all of the heroes hailing from the same universe.
In the case of this rumored MCU version, it appears likely that this secretive squad will be made up of characters from other dimensions, such as Professor X from the X-Men universe or Tom Cruise’s rumored Tony Stark variant, who will appear in Doctor Strange 2 as huge multiverse cameos.
The MCU Illuminati, according to this new teaser, will resemble the Watchers, such as What If…Uatu, ?’s or perhaps serve as a more legitimate version of Loki’s TVA, rather than being a hidden group run by He Who Remains, and now Kang.
In any case, the new video for Doctor Strange 2 lends credence to the Illuminati’s appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit one dedicated to safeguarding all universes rather than just one. However, don’t hold your breath for the complete Illuminati roster to emerge in the Doctor Strange sequel. Professor X, Captain Carter, Balder the Brave, Monica Rambeau, and Mordo will make up the MCU version of the Illuminati, according to a report dated August 2021.
All you have to do now is wait for the movie to release on 6th May of this year to see how it all unfolds.