Filming for Avengers: Infinity War is well underway. And while much is still unknown about the upcoming Marvel Studios epic, a few recent updates have caught our eye.
A recent tweet from Scott Derickson hinted at a scene in Infinity War taking place in Doctor Strange‘s Sanctum Sanctorum. And a recent on-set photo unites the aforementioned sorcerer (Benedict Cumberbatch) with characters such as Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).
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The latter of the three has also been seen with T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), with Boseman recently hinting that the two share scenes.
While these could just be a set of coincidences, they got us thinking – could we see a version of Marvel’s Illuminati in Infinity War?
For the uninitiated, 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, the threat posed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) could easily replace it.
The only thing possibly standing in the way of the group being brought into live action are its remaining members.
Professor X remains a core part of 20th Century Fox‘s X-Men universe, with James McAvoy set to reprise his role in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic. and the remaining members of the Fantastic Four, are also owned by Fox, with the film franchise set to rebooted yet again.
There is a possibility that Black Bolt, who will be portrayed by Anson Mount in this fall’s Marvel’s Inhumans miniseries, could appear in Infinity War as well. And while Namor’s film rights have been up in the air for a while, many have wondered if he could make his debut in Inhumans, leading to later appearances in the MCU. With Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige hinting that the universe’s film and television characters will eventually cross over, it’s certainly possible.
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 on May 4, 2018.
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As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.
Avengers: Infinity War is described by Marvel Studios as the culmination of everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man in 2008. The movie is filming now under directors Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The expansive confirmed cast includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bethany, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, and Josh Brolin as the villain Thanos.