The Illuminati Are Reportedly Returning in ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ But Not Quite as You Remember Them
One of the most electrifying elements of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is apparently making a comeback in ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ but with a significant twist that changes everything about how the concept works.
According to Cosmic Marvel, sourcing from Cosmic Circus insider Alex Perez, a version of the Illuminati will appear in the upcoming MCU event film, though the group reportedly will not go by that name.
Perez confirmed the detail in a Patreon and Discord Q&A session, stating that the film delivers a form of what he called Illuminati 2.0, though describing the group as something that does not self-identify under that title. The distinction matters, because it suggests this is a functionally similar coalition assembled for a similar purpose rather than a direct continuation of the Earth-838 version fans met in 2022.
In Marvel Comics, the Illuminati famously brought together the brightest and most powerful minds across the hero community, including Iron Man, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Professor X, and Namor, to make difficult decisions about existential threats behind closed doors.
Jonathan Hickman later revived the concept in his New Avengers run, where the group reassembled specifically to confront the threat of Incursions, universes colliding with one another with Earth at the focal point of every collision. That storyline is now widely understood to be the primary source material for ‘Doomsday.’
Earlier Q&A sessions from Perez had laid the groundwork for this development, with him previously describing a concept involving some of the most brilliant minds from across the multiverse being united to stop incursions, mirroring the Illuminati lineup from the comics but drawing characters from different universes with experience studying the multiverse. Names floated at that stage had included the main MCU’s Stephen Strange and Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards from ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps.’
The film is reported to span at least six distinct universes, including the main MCU, the Fantastic Four universe, the X-Men universe, Doom’s original universe, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man universe, and a hidden pocket dimension. Assembling a multiversal brain trust from across those worlds to counter the Incursion crisis would map closely to the comics version of the Illuminati’s purpose without requiring Marvel to use the name itself, possibly to avoid direct comparisons to the Earth-838 group that was swiftly wiped out.
‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely, and features an ensemble led by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, with confirmed returners including Chris Evans, the Fantastic Four cast, and X-Men actors from multiple eras of the franchise. The film is scheduled for release on December 18, with its sequel ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ following on December 17 the year after.
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