The Illuminati Will See You Now

There’s no simple explanation for who the Illuminati are and what they did in Marvel Comics. The group were surrounded in more mystery than Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster combined. But they remain a symbol of Marvel comics. A symbol of what not to do when you form a secret society. Five men gathered together to form this group, in secret, to make decisions for the world as a whole. What gave them the right? Why did they think they could do such a thing with the future of the world at stake? Who even were they?

Then you have the MCU. While they weren’t the first secretive group within the universe (yes, I’m including SHIELD), they are the first ones that we see that we get no real explanation for. Other than they helped to defeat Thanos. But is that really the only thing they did?

Well in the MCU, maybe. But in the comics, oh no. Not at all.

For this piece, I’m going to try my best to explain just who were the members of this top-secret group and just what they did. I hope this article helps clear up a bit of confusion for any fans of the movies that don’t have time to read the thousands of comic backlogs that the comics have.

The Wrong Members.

The movie got them sort of right. But Peggy Carter, Karl Mordo, and Maria Rambeau were not members. Ever. For starters, Peggy Carter in the comics was dead. Karl Mordo is a villain, and Maria Rambeau works for SWORD. None of them have ever been associated with the Illuminati. Why they made the change to include these three, I’m not sure. It might have been the push for Peggy, but the other two… leave me a bit clueless. Captain Carter was one of the best things to come out of the What If…? Short series that came out this past year, and it was nice to see her in live action. But to see the other two? It was confusing and with no explanation given, we were just left with questions.

The Missing Members.

So obviously with three new members, that would mean there are some missing members here. While they make sense to be missing, they also don’t. It made a great introduction to Reed Richards, and reintroductions to Black Bolt and Charles Xavier, so why not have another introduction? We could have introduced Namor. Who was one of the founding members of the group? Seeing as the rumors surrounding his appearance in the next Black Panther movie, it would have been a nice little touch. But instead, they went with three other members. Now one member who was missing, I sort of understand. T’Challa. Sadly, with the passing of Mr. Chadwick Boseman, it wouldn’t have felt right to see the Black Panther among the group, even if it was supposed to be an alternate reality version. So, I am sort of glad they kept him out. But the last member who was missing? There was no reason to keep him out and no reason given that the universe didn’t have him at all. Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr might be done with the role, but I’m sure they could have gotten him to come in for a little cameo if they had tried. But if he wasn’t a member, was he even in that universe? It wouldn’t make since for the Illuminati to exist as a group of the smartest people on the planet if one of the smartest men alive was missing. So, let’s assume he’s… dead. Sadly. That’s the only assumption you can make.

The Mission.

So, the Illuminati’s mission is to solve the world’s problems using their brains instead of the brawn of the super powered community in which they are all a part of. But what problems have they come up against?

Well, the one that brought them all together was the issue following the Kree-Skrull war. The group believed the Skrulls would still be a threat and went to threaten the race against attacking Earth ever again. This went wrong however and the group was captured. Following this failure the group returned to Earth, to prepare for when the Skrulls eventually returned to Earth for another War.

Then there was Thanos. While the rest of the world fought against the Mad Titan as best, they could, Reed Richards searched for the Infinity Gems, wanting to use them to destroy the Gems once and for all. When this plan failed, Reed gave each member of the Illuminati an Infinity Gem to safe guard, so they would never be brought back together ever again.

Their next meeting was because of a being known as the Sentry. Robert Reynolds was a superhero whose powers matched those of a star. But with all that power, his mind started to slowly deteriorate. There was a second half to him known as The Void, in which he could use the powers of a Black Hole. The problem was, not a single member of the Illuminati could ever remember Robert Reynolds, but Reed Richards had files stored away about him. The Illuminati came together to decide what to do about the possible future threat that Mr Reynolds could cause to their world, and Tony Stark agreed that he and the Avengers would be in charge of him.

In my opinion the worst decision they made came right before the Superhuman Registration Act was to be passed. The group had to figure out what to do about Bruce Banner and his alter, The Hulk. The majority of the group believed that the Hulk would side against the act and would thus end up fighting them (who were going to stand as a unified front on supporting the Registration Act). So, they made the decision to shoot the Hulk into space. This act, along with the decision against The Sentry, would have major consequences on their world.

After this decision, they would officially renounce the Illuminati and agree to never meet again.

With the Superhuman registration act being passed, Tony Stark would call the group back together again. Tony believed that they needed to remain as a single unified front supporting the Registration Act. However other members did not see it this way. Black Bolt, an Inhuman, was immune to the Act itself as he was not living on Earth and such had no stake in the Act. Charles Xavier was still in exile, while Doctor Strange and Namor had left the group due to disagreements. Leaving only Reed Richards, and Tony Stark… the two stood tall in a unified front against the act.

After the Registration Act was passed, a Superhuman Civil War broke out. While the Illuminati did not act during this time, several of their decisions became problems for the rest of the world. During the end of the war, The Hulk returned to the planet seeking revenge for the injustice that was caused to him. He would target several members of the Illuminati.

There was no time to rest after the Hulk was done with them, as shortly after another issue arose. The Skrulls had been discovered having been secretly invading the planet since the last Kree-Skrull war, having used information from the Illuminati to do so.

The very last meeting of the group sees them looking over the body of a Skrull who they had not been able to identify as a Skrull thanks to modifications made to the body by the alien race. It seems that when the group had originally been captured, they had been experimented on and used to enhance the Skrulls for this invasion.

Realizing that it was their fault, the group dissolved, opting to handle the situation as the heroes would.

Future in the MCU

Now honestly, I don’t think we’re going to see anyone bring up the Illuminati in the MCU again. I think the little bit that we saw of them was about all we are getting. If that wasn’t enough for Doctor Strange not to want to create it, I don’t know what could. Then again it looks like he’ll have his hands full in the coming movie with Clea and whatever is going on in the Dark Dimension.

I hope this helped anyone figure out what and who the Illuminati are. Most of this was done from memory, so sorry if I got a few of the details a little wonky or twisted. It’s been a long time since I last read those comics, but some of the stories are still fresh in my head.

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