‘Avengers: Infinity War’: Will We See A Marvel Cinematic Universe Illuminati?

The trailer for Avengers: Infinity War debuted this morning, giving fans plenty of unconventional pairings between Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. But could one of Marvel’s biggest groups officially form out of the epic film?

Earlier this year, fans began to pick up on the pairing of Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Wong (Benedict Wong), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in Infinity War set photos. Now that shots featuring the group have appeared in Infinity War’s trailer, we can’t help but wonder if the group is the foundation for the MCU’s version of the Illuminati?

For the uninitiated, we aren’t referring to that Illuminati. Marvel Comics’ version of the group unites several prominent Marvel Comics heroes, who secretly help keep an order to the universe. The core members of the group include Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Professor X, Black Bolt, Namor, and Mister Fantastic.

There are bits of the Illuminati’s comic lore that could easily be applied to Infinity War. The group was first formed, with the help of Black Panther, to provide an easy way to unite the various superhero teams in the fact of an oncoming threat. While that initial union was following the Kree-Skrull War (something that is soon to be canon in the MCU, albeit decades earlier), the threat posed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) could easily replace it.

Granted, there’s still the nature of some of the groups other members, and where their movie rights are distributed. Both Professor X and Mister Fantastic are currently owned by 20th Century Fox, although there is somewhat of a chance that that could change soon.

Black Bolt almost seems less unlikely to join the group, considering the response to his appearance in the Marvel’s Inhumans miniseries. And while Namor’s film rights have been up in the air for a while, there has certainly been a lot of fan campaigning to officially bring him into the MCU.

But that being said, there are certainly enough established MCU characters to create a version of the Illuminati. Some are even already suggesting that Banner could easily stand in for Reed Richards.

Whether or not the group will become officially established onscreen has yet to be seen. We’ll learn more as we get closer to the release date for Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018.