We knew that they were bound to show up, but a new teaser for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gives us confirmation: The Illuminati will see us now. A group based on the secret society that many believe exists in our real world, the Illuminati of the Marvel comics are meant to help in times of crisis, and now they’re officially making their way to the big screen.
So, you might be wondering why they’re showing up now or how they’re going to connect to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, right? Our Princess Weekes broke down who the Illuminati are when they were shown in the first Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer, but I want to talk a bit about some theories I have on why they’re here in the first place.
First banded together after the Kree–Skrull War in the comics, the leaders include Professor Charles Xavier, Namor, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Stephen Strange, and Black Bolt. And those are the three that I want to focus on.
Namor
Namor is a character who I knew from reading Iron Man comics, but he’s a pretty big character in the world of the Marvel comics. So, the fact that we’ve yet to meet him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is telling, and this could be a look into his introduction as a whole. Namor is, in a lot of ways, the Aquaman figure of the Marvel world, but despite Namor debuting first in the comics, he’s not had a live-action appearance yet. So, having him on the Illuminati prior to audiences even meeting him? It’d be an interesting way to bring him into the MCU at large.
Black Bolt
Now Black Bolt we have met. In the short-lived show Inhumans, we saw Anson Mount (who is currently Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) take on the role of leader of the Inhumans. And if this meant that they’d bring Anson Mount into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, then I’d be all for it. He has an ability to bring a character to life and make them feel new and fresh despite whatever the source material may be, and I think it’d be great to connect back to the Inhumans show with a cameo from him in Multiverse of Madness.
Reed Richards
So we know the Fantastic Four are coming, but we haven’t met them yet. We’ve all thought we were going to meet Reed Richards time and time again throughout the Disney+ MCU shows, but it would be ICONIC if we met him for the first time with the Illuminati and that’s how we found out who was playing Reed in the eventual Fantastic Four movie.
Tony Stark
Okay so he’s dead, right? But we know that there are other universes where other Tony Starks must exist (thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home). In theory, we could have a different Iron Man as a leader of the Illuminati, and with rumors that Tom Cruise could play him, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. I don’t want Tom Cruise touching Tony Stark, but I would like to see Tony with the Illuminati if Robert Downey Jr. would do it, given the caveat that he’s only there when the Illuminati are.
Stephen Strange
So Strange himself is also one of the leaders, and I do think that this movie is going to be the introduction of him to the Illuminati so he can take his place among them—mainly because we’re meeting them because of Strange, and it’d be the easiest way to bring him (and the audience) into that world.
And, of course, Charles
Here is where things can get interesting. Charles Xavier is one of the leaders of the Illuminati, and that’s, to me, how we’re getting the X-Men into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Due to the Fox/Disney deal, we couldn’t have them in the MCU prior to 2019, and we got a taste of it with WandaVision when Evan Peters showed up as Ralph Boner (a.k.a. a different Pietro Maximoff).
So having him here, to me, is confirmation that they’re coming either within Multiverse of Madness or incredibly soon.
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The Illuminati are coming, and now it is just a matter of how they’re going to form this group. And hopefully, they’ll also talk to some women to balance the amount of men here.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
