Marvel’s Nightmarish New Avengers Villains Reinvent 5 Iconic Heroes

Can the New Avengers stop the Killuminati?

May 8, 2025, 4:59pm

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

An evil version of Marvel’s Illuminati is coming for the New Avengers. The previously announced New Thunderbolts* comic by writer Sam Humphries (Uncanny X-Force) and artist Ton Lima (West Coast Avengers) got a name change earlier this week to The New Avengers, to reflect the surprise twist in the Thunderbolts* movie. As part of that announcement, it was revealed that the reason the New Avengers assemble is to stop a new threat called the Killuminati, who are mysterious doubles of the Illuminati. Fans got a look at two members of the Killuminati on a variant cover by Josemaria Casanovas, but now the rest of the team is revealed in all of their nightmare-inducing glory.

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Killuminati variant covers for New Avengers will appear on the first five issues of the ongoing series. “The KILLUMINATI are as unstoppable and ambitious as their original counterparts–only with their worst traits magnified and their hubris unchecked,” Marvel’s press release reads, “and if the NEW AVENGERS don’t learn how to work together, these demented doubles will quickly have the world in their grasp!”

Members of the Killuminati include Bolt (Black Bolt), Mr. Ourobouros (Mister Fantastic), Guru Strange (Doctor Strange), Professor X-Tinction (Charles Xavier), Luke Charles (Luke Cage as Black Panther?), and Iron Apex (Iron Man). While all of the characters are disturbing in their own right, the most visually disturbing ones have to be Mr. Ourobouros and Iron Apex. Fans are used to the dark side of Reed Richards after his heel turn in the Ultimate Universe, as he became The Maker. As for Iron Man, we haven’t seen too many villainous sides of Tony Stark, save for a brief run as the Superior Iron Man. In a surprising twist, Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. will portray Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

“My basic concept was — the Illuminati were seven kings and heroes from seven different corners of the Marvel Universe, so what if we did the same with some of the biggest badasses representing mutants, the mystical world, the Spider family, the gamma family, and so on?” Humphries told IGN. “I have immense gratitude for our amazing editor Alanna Smith who supported this idea from the jump, even though she had to liaise with pretty much every Marvel editorial office to make it happen.”

The Illuminati is a secret gathering of influential characters that have worked in the shadows to manipulate certain events across Marvel’s history. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe got to see a version of the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Winter Soldier and Black Widow are the headliners of New Avengers, but instead of Logan we have his clone, Laura Kinney, as Wolverine; Namor, who has been an antihero on the road to redemption in a solo title by Jason Aaron, Paul Davidson, and Alex Lins; Clea, former Sorcerer Supreme and wife to Doctor Strange; Hulk; and the psychotic serial killer Carnage, who is now bonded to Eddie Brock.

The covers for New Avengers #1-4 featuring the Killuminati are below. Let us know your thoughts on New Avengers and the Killuminati in the comments below!