How ‘Endgame’ could set up story that’s just as huge
LOS ANGELES: Following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox last week there’s no shortage of new characters, concepts, and collaborations that could be developed at Marvel Studios.
There’s already been plenty of speculation about how the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and New Avengers could be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and utilized to tell new types of superhero stories. And when it comes down to it, that’s really what the excitement surrounding these potential new properties is all about from a creative perspective: telling new kinds of superhero stories that can deviate from the traditional beats and familiar territories.
But beyond the introduction of new faces, Marvel Studios has the opportunity to marry the MCU we already know (or think we know) with the bold, new world Marvel boss Kevin Feige has discussed as part of his postAvengers: Endgame plans. With access to more characters than ever before, it’s time for the MCU to take some of its most popular characters behind the curtain and explore what they do when no one is watching. Enter the Illuminati.
Marvel’s Illuminati, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven, were first introduced in New Avengers No. 7 (2005). The idea behind the Illuminati was to bring together the most powerful and intelligent heroes on Earth to form a small government of superhumans, like a United Nations, protecting the planet from alien threats before they become Earth’s problem.
The original group consisted of Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Namor, Black Bolt, Professor Xavier, and Doctor Strange. Though readers didn’t meet the Illuminati until 2005, the magic of comic book retcons placed their formation directly after the Kree- Skrull War, published in The Avengers in 1971 through 1972. Iron Man was the first to realise that each of the individuals that would come to make up the Illuminati shared some prior knowledge of the Kree and the Skrulls, knowledge that could have prevented the conflict from reaching Earth’s doorstep in the first place had they been on terms to share that information.
What’s interesting about Bendis’ depiction of the Illuminati and their formation is that it goes against the notion that these Marvel power players are all friends. Instead, like any political power, the Illuminati are a result of necessity, and alliances are formed out of ulterior motives rather than trust. Iron Man’s initial proposal for a government of superheroes was turned down, with each player citing their reasons why a public governing body wasn’t feasible.
As a result, the heroes agree to share information solely with each other in secret meetings, cutting out the rest of the superhero community and letting the respective teamleaders/monarchs provide their teammates and subjects with that information on a need to know basis.
The only invited hero who refuses to join the Illuminati is Black Panther, who expresses his dissatisfaction with a small group deciding the fate of so many and assures them that disaster will lie in their decisions. One such disaster was the aftermath of the Illuminati’s decision to rid the world of its Hulk problem by shooting him into space (resulting in an angry Hulk returning to wage war on the Earth), and another was Mr. Fantastic’s decision to split the Infinity Gems among each member of the Illuminati, despite the Watcher’s warning that such power would cost them their souls. This warning made good upon when the multiverse collapsed in the 2015 event Secret Wars.