The Illuminati!
All over the internet, you have people claiming that they’re the real reason why Half Life
3 hasn’t come out yet because any time that there is a triangle in something or any time
there’s the number three, it’s always “ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!”
We’re not talking about them today.
We’re talking about an actual group in the mainstream Marvel comics called The Illuminati
and it’s some of the most powerful people in the entire Marvel universe.
So let’s dive into that and hopefully you’ll unveil the true secrets of their sinister
organization.
After the Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man had the idea to assemble some of the most prominent
members of the superhero community in Wakanda to discuss forming the Illuminati, a secret
organization to tackle the big problems in the Marvel universe, sometimes before they
even happen.
Those called upon were Iron Man (obviously), Black Bolt, Professor X, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor
Strange, Namor the Submariner, and Black Panther.
However, the king of Wakanda was NOT a fan of this idea and backed out… for now that
is.
This setup was more or less created to retcon that the Illuminati had been working in the
background of Marvel Comics for decades and was followed by a five issue mini-series with
each issue featuring a story of the group handling a major threat.
The Illuminati essentially went and flexed their muscles at the Skrulls, but the plan
backfired and ended up getting the entire team captured.
Thankfully they were able to escape, but the Skrulls never forgave the Earthlings for this
attack.
More on that later.
Almost immediately after returning home, Mr. Fantastic revealed that he had been going
around collecting the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems. Reed managed to convince
the rest of the Illuminati to help him find the other Gems which they swiftly do thanks
to the power...
OF MONTAGE!
Once assembled, Richards tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet’s power to simply will
it away, but that didn’t work out so he gave one gem to each member of the Illuminati.
After that, the team tracked down one of the most powerful beings in the entire Marvel
universe, the Beyonder and convinced him to leave the universe entirely.
Next up, the Illuminati reached out to a member of the powerful Kree race who decided to declare
war on Earth and gave him a stern talking to which made him reconsider being a bad guy.
That’s about it…
Oh yeah, they also helped reign in The Sentry, a super powerful character that was introduced
in the 2000s, but was treated like he was some long lost character from the Golden Age
of comics that everyone forgot BECAUSE comics.
Honestly, it’s really confusing and it’ll take an entire video in and of itself to explain.
Anyway, this brings us to what the Illuminati was really created for, to more or less kick
off the Civil War and Planet Hulk events.
See the comic that first introduced the Illuminati also featured two more of their meetings,
where they decided that The Hulk was a threat to humanity so they attempted to ship him
off into space where The Hulk could roam freely in isolation and another meeting where they
met to discuss the upcoming Superhuman Registration Act.
After the Civil War and after Hulk came back to get revenge on his former friends, the
group was strained, but was reassembled to confront the Skrull’s Secret Invasion.
Remember how I said we’d be back to talk about when the Illuminati attacked the Skrulls?
Well here we all.
That attack prompted those green buggers to kidnap superheroes, replace them thanks to
their shapeshifting powers, and invade the Earth.
Even Black Bolt had been replaced and was spying on the Illuminati from the inside!
That whole crisis was resolved though and Tony Stark later assembled the Illuminati
once more to take on a villain named The Hood who was stealing their Infinity Gems.
Since Black Bolt was seemingly dead at this time, his wife, Medusa, instead filled in.
Unfortunately though, Captain America tracked Tony Stark when he got the band back together
and brought the Avengers with him, forcing the Illuminati to make their presence known
to the rest of the superhuman community.
When The Hood was defeated, Stark pretended to will the Infinity Gems and Gauntlet out
of existence which we all know does not work since the Illuminati literally tried that
before.
What actually ended up happening is that Tony teleported the artifacts to a secret location
where the group reformed… again and once again divided the Gems among themselves, but
this time, there was a new member…
Captain America himself.
In typical Illuminati fashion though, this alliance did not last too long as the Avengers
vs. X-Men event divided everyone and Professor X was killed at the end of it.
This finally brings us though to the longest and most important storyline that the Illuminati
ever took part in, the Incursions.
Universes were being destroyed by smacking into each other so Black Panther assembled
the Illuminati to handle it.
The first solution the group tried was to push universes back with the Infinity Gauntlet
and Beast replaced Professor X due to the fact that he was entrusted with the location
of the Professor’s Mind Gem.
They also implanted themselves with early warning devices so they would know when the
Incursion were coming.
All this preparation proved successful, but the Gems and the Gauntlet were destroyed in
the process, putting the Illuminati way back at square one.
Unfortunately, it was decided that the Illuminati would have to start destroying other universes
to save their own which Captain America was NOT a fan of.
Because of this, Cap was kicked out of the group and was mind wiped by Doctor Strange.
Almost immediately, the Illuminati started building bombs that could destroy other Earths
and they used Mr. Fantastic’s bridge to spy on other universes to research how other
beings handled the Incursions as well as how to stop any opposition that they might encounter.
Shortly thereafter, the Original Sin event took place in the Marvel universe, unlocking
hidden memories and revealing secrets in several characters.
As a part of this, Captain America’s wiped memories of his time in the Illuminati returned
and he revealed their reformation to the rest of the superhuman community.
This forced the team to work in like… even more secret, but Tony Stark brought on Bruce
Banner A.K.A.
The Incredible Hulk, just in time for the squad to fight what is essentially the Justice
League, contrasting just how dark the Marvel heroes had become.
After defeating the Justice League knock off, the Illuminati set their bomb, but this was
the first populated planet that they would have to destroy themselves.
None of the group was able to follow through.
Well, that is all but one, Namor, who stepped in to blow the planet to smithereens.
The rest of the Illuminati, hoped that they could find another solution and was NOT a
fan of that and this prompted Namor to reveal that he sent Thanos’ army to invade Wakanda
in order to save Atlantis.
That bombshell combined with the literal bomb that Namor set off got him kicked out of the
Illuminati which inspired him to create his own evil version of the team called The Cabal.
This is followed by an eight month time jump and everything is different in the Marvel
universe now.
Iron Man is still inverted from the AXIS event and was taken prisoner by The Cabal, Steve
Rogers is old, etc.
Essentially, there’s three major factions all fighting with each other.
There’s the S.H.I.E.L.D. led Avengers with Steve Rogers, Sunspot’s Avengers, and the
Illuminati who are now wanted criminals.
The Invisible Woman was also now a leading part of the S.H.I.E.L.D.
Avengers and the Illuminati even brought in three new members, Amadeus Cho, Hank Pym A.K.A.
Yellowjacket, and Captain Britain.
Captain America sent the Avengers to take out the Illuminati, but were met by opposition
from Sunspots Avengers and the Invisible Woman who revealed herself as an Illuminati mole.
All of this fighting was brought to a screeching halt though as Yellowjacket returned from
his journey to find the source of the Incursions, unveiling to everyone the powerful beyonders
This revelation ended up uniting all the teams and it was decided to stop fighting against
the Incursions, instead focusing on building a life raft that would be used to save the
human species.
This actually ended up succeeding and was a major element in the Secret Wars event which
itself marked the end of the Illuminati as we know it today.
I mean after Secret Wars, there was a new Illuminati group led by The Hood, but it’s
not the same or even half as cool.
If you want, we can do another video on them eventually, but today, this is where our story