#Marvel’s Illuminati in Early Development Under MCU Boss Kevin Feige?

Kevin Feige and crew are reportedly developing Marvel’s Illuminati. It’s not clear if this will be for a Disney series or for an upcoming big screen project for Phase 5 or beyond. However, this is pretty interesting news for Marvel Comics fans. Details are scarce at the moment, but Feige is the producer, according to a cast listing for a tentative project titled Marvel’s Illuminati. The Illuminati was first introduced in the pages of comic books back in 2005, when it quickly became a fan-favorite.

Marvel’s Illuminati consists of MCU characters who are able to represent some of the Marvel Universe’s most significant powers. The original team included Iron Man for the Avengers, Mister Fantastic for the Fantastic Four, Namor for Atlantis, Black Bolt for the Inhumans, Professor X for the X-Men, and Doctor Strange for Earth’s mystics. Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven created the series, which saw a place in time where a secret society had been working without any oversight. The group’s origins go back to the Kree-Skrull War.

Each member of Marvel’s Illuminati was tasked with guarding one of the six Infinity Stones. There was even a time when they all invited T’Challa to come on board as a way to represent Wakanda, but he declined. T’Challa could sense that a major disagreement from within the group could be catastrophic for the world, so he decided not to join the secret society. The stories are rather complicated and complex, which is what drew comic book readers to them back in 2005. As it turns out, T’Challa wasn’t exactly wrong with his feelings, as the group tended to do more bad than good.

As for how Marvel’s Illuminati could fit into the larger narrative within the MCU, it could provide some major connective tissue to new and returning characters, while giving a new platform for a bunch of storylines that could go in many different directions. The original publication stopped in 2007, though it was revisited in 2013 with New Avengers. A new Illuminati series is set to be launched by writer Josh Williamson. The book will feature the Hood leading a new, villainous incarnation of the group, including Titania, Enchantress, Mad Thinker, Thunderball, and Black Ant.

Marvel Studios is currently taking a bit of a breather as they wait for movie theaters to reopen. Black Widow was supposed to have opened in theaters back in May and would probably be close to coming out on Blu-ray by now had it opened on its original release date. Also in the waiting is the Eternals movie, which has now been pushed back to early next year. For now, it remains unclear if and when theaters will open up. In the meantime, Kevin Feige and crew are working hard on several projects that will hopefully be announced soon. The Marvel’s Illuminati news was first reported by The Illuminerdi.

Topics: Iron Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange