The recent trailer for the Marvel Studios film, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, seemingly teased the cinematic debut of Marvel's Illuminati. Consequently, the members of this group are the most talked about characters in Marvel right now. Although the trailer didn't necessarily reveal any potential Illuminati members, Patrick Stewart's Professor X was teased through voice, and a few other potential members of the Illuminati can be seen in the form of dark silhouettes.
With tons of speculation about who exactly these shadowing silhouettes are, fans have never wondered more about the facts surrounding the group.
10 The Original Illuminati Think Tank
Formed initially as a secretive think tank, the Illuminati is a group comprised of some of the most powerful minds in the Marvel Universe. With an original roster of Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Professor X, Namor, Black Bolt, and Dr. Strange, each team member represents a different portion of the superhero community and wields significant influence on those in the same portion. The group initially formed within a week after the Kree-Skrull War when Iron Man realized the collective knowledge of all six members would've been able to stop the war before it even happened.
9 The Illuminati's Alternate Members
Like every other superhero team in Marvel, the Illuminati have grown over time and taken in new members. The first alternate member invited to join the Illuminati was Black Panther in New Avengers Vol 3 #1. Though T'Challa initially refused to join the team, citing that a secret superhero society would turn people against heroes, he did eventually join the team to help the greater good.
Like Black Panther, other Marvel characters like Captain Britain, Beast, Captain America, Hank Pym, Medusa, and Amadeus Cho have joined forces with the Illuminati at some point or another. Like Amadeus Cho and Beast, some of those alternates have even joined the ranks as permanent members.
8 They Are The Cause Of Planet Hulk
One of the most well-known Hulk stories of the last twenty years is Planet Hulk and its follow-up story World War Hulk. The Illuminati played a crucial role in both of these stories, as sending Hulk off-planet and abandoning him in space was the idea of Tony Stark. In New Avengers: Illuminati #1, as the Illuminati votes on sending Bruce Banner into space, the only voice for no comes from the King of Atlantis, Namor. Namor tells his fellow members that it would be unfair of them to punish Banner in such a cruel way. Nevertheless, all remaining members of the Illuminati vote in favor. Realizing a problem, Namor quits the Illuminati, telling them that Black Panther was right; they had all become corrupt.
7 They Could've Stopped Avengers Vs X-Men
In one of the most significant comic book events of the past twenty years, the two largest Marvel superhero teams in Marvel faced off in Avengers vs. X-Men. In one of the critical moments of the conflict, the legendary Phoenix Force was split into five pieces and claimed five new heroes as hosts, leading to the creation of the Phoenix Five. Among the Phoenix Five was the King of Atlantis and original Illuminati member Namor.
In a rare unplanned session, a new Illuminati member, Captain America, called a meeting of the Illuminati to convince Namor to free himself from the Phoenix Force and help end the conflict. Unable to agree on anything, the team breaks up the meeting, prolonging the war rather than working to stop it.
6 The Illuminati Call Sign
Just like the real-life conspiracy theory behind the so-called "Illuminati," Marvel's Illuminati is meant to operate entirely in the shadows, which leads to the usage of things like secret call signs to identify each other in public. As first seen in Secret Wars #3, when Black Panther and Reed Richards greeted Doctor Strange, Illuminati members identify each other using the countersign "Memento Mori" and "Illuminatus." Every member of the Illuminati can recognize each other by facial identity; the callsigns exist to ensure that Illuminati members are indeed speaking with the version of their ally within the organization.
5 The Illuminati Made A Radical Discovery For The Beyonder
After he first appeared in Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars #1, the Beyonder has found himself investigating the concepts of human values. In New Avengers: Illuminati #3, Professor X, through investigating the Beyonders mind, finds evidence the Beyonder was born from the Inhumans.
At the end of Secret Wars when the news is revealed Black Bolt, another Inhuman, the Illuminati confronts the beyond the Beyonder about his mysterious origin. It's then revealed that the Beyonder is a mutant who was exposed to Terrigen Mist, a substance that develops powers in Inhumans.
4 The Illuminati Shut Down In Dark Reign
During the Dark Reign event from 2008 to 2009, the Illuminati shut down operations because all their members had scattered across the Universe for one reason or another. In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Iron Man had lost the trust of the public and was forced to go on the run, and Doctor Strange had lost his title as Sorcerer Supreme and was forced to go on the run from the authorities too. The Dark Illuminati formed in the place of the shut down Illuminati – run by Norman Osbourne who'd taken power using his influence from helping defeat the Skrull invasion. It wasn't until the Dark Illuminati's failed invasion attempt of Asgard that Osbourne lost his power as a leader, eventually leading the reformation of the regular Illuminati.
3 Earth-976's Illuminati Solved World Peace
Like almost everything in Marvel, alternate versions of the Illuminati exist on different versions of Earth. On Earth-976, the Illuminati roster is slightly different, as instead of Professor X and Dr. Strange, this version of the Illuminati has two villains in the form of Dr. Doom and Magneto.
In Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3, Reed Richards convinces Tony Stark that the only way the Illuminati will succeed is if they have members from different sides of the line as them. Shortly after the two joined the team, thanks to the inclusion of two minds like Magneto and Doom, the Illuminati successfully implemented world peace through the Superhuman Registration Act.
2 The Illuminati Made Frank Castle Captain America
As an alternate ending to Marvel's Age of Ultron storyline, What If? Age of Ultron #4 tells a story about Frank Castle becoming Captain America after the death of Steve Rogers at the hands of Ultron. Hoping to lift up the world's hopes in a time of crisis, a new Illuminati forms to create a new Captain America. Creating a new type of super-soldier serum, the Illuminati transforms Frank Castle into Captain America. Frank then goes around the country, destroying Doom bots and effectively raising the spirits of millions of American citizens. In an interesting way, this story displays the many parallels between Captain America and The Punisher.
1 The Prime Eight Is Marvel Apes' Illuminati
In the Marvel Apes universe or Earth-95019, an alternate world where the entire human population are apes, there's an ape-version of the Illuminati called the Prime Eight. The team is made up of Ape versions of Marvel heroes like Iron Mandrill, Silverback Surfer, and Professor Xapier. With the original four-issue run of Marvel Apes came the Prime Eight's own spin-off comic titled Marvel Apes Prime Eight which, like the rest of the series, is full of hilarious and jarring moments. To make the one-shot story even crazier than it already is, the Prime Eight face off against a giant horde of zombies from the Marvel Zombies Universe.