New Doctor Strange Trailer Confirms Illuminati, But Who Are They?

Typically, the closer we get to a release date of a movie, the less new info about said movie is delivered to audiences. However, in a new Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness video, we learn that the Illuminati will appear, and that's a pretty big deal.

Arriving in theaters on May 6, the existence of the Illuminati had been suspected since a trailer arrived in mid-February during the Super Bowl, as Patrick Stewart's voice was heard, and he played Professor X in Fox's X-Men movies. Now, a couple months later, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) literally says in a new video, "The Illuminati will see you now." This also happens right after we hear what sounds like Patrick Stewart say, "Stephen Strange."

But who or what is The Illuminati? After the Kree-Skrull war took place in the pages of Marvel Comics--a war between two alien races that involved Earth--Tony Stark and Black Panther formed The Illuminati, a secret group of superheroes that would make decisions about the world. The team was made up of the previously mentioned Black Panther and Iron Man, along with Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Professor X, Reed Richards, and Namor. Each member was a representative of a specific aspect of super-powered beings from around the world.

Throughout every major storyline in Marvel Comics, The Illuminati played a part, even though the group's first appearance was in a 2005 issue of New Avengers. The first story that introduced the team was "The Sentry." This Superman-like character named The Sentry fought alongside heroes in the early years of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. However, there was an entity bonded to him called The Void, which had murdered more than a million people in New York City. Dr. Strange created a spell that would forget The Sentry's existence, which in turn made The Void disappear. The 2005 New Avengers story covers this and the return of the character--who would later be involved with Hulk waging war on Earth after Tony Stark sent him to an alien planet.

The point of this group is to make choices that will better the world or even save it in some cases. However, there have been numerous times where the group hasn't agreed on the right course of action, and there's been times it has disbanded because of it.

The inclusion of The Illuminati is very interesting. Is this group from the main MCU or are they in another universe, watching over others? And aside from Professor X, who makes up this team? Black Bolt already exists in the MCU--ABC aired an Inhumans TV series that was poorly received--as does Black Panther. However, Reed Richards and Namor don't exist yet--although Atlantis was seemingly teased in Avengers: Endgame by way of an underwater earthquake. And Iron Man is dead, so who would replace him? Considering the one shot we see of the group is two silhouettes, and one of them has really long hair, the MCU Illuminati will probably look different from the comic book version. Regardless, it's exciting to see how they will be implemented.