With the Disney/Fox merger set to close in just one week’s time, Marvel Studios will soon have access to almost the full reach of the Marvel Comics universe. Not only can they now make movies with the likes of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, but those elements of the source material that involve the different corners of the MU coming together are now up for grabs. Case in point: we have reason to believe that the studio is working on an Illuminati movie.
Comics fans will know that the Illuminati’s a secret cabal made up of some of Marvel’s leading superheroes who work to save the world from the shadows, sometimes in morally-dubious ways. According to a source close to We Got This Covered, a film based around the team is in development at the House of Ideas and is said to star Doctor Strange, Namor and “some of the Fantastic Four and X-Men.”
If our source is correct – and they usually are – this sounds like a pretty faithful version of the Illuminati. The Sorcerer Supreme is indeed a key figure on the page, as is Namor the Sub-Mariner. The FF and X-Men members referred to, meanwhile, presumably means we can expect to see Mister Fantastic and Professor X, who are members in the comics.
Curiously, however, there’s no mention of Iron Man, who first suggests the creation of the group in the source material. Perhaps this is a hint that Stark isn’t sticking around after Avengers: Endgame? That said, Black Panther isn’t mentioned either and he’s definitely not going anywhere.
What we should also point out is that if this intel is accurate, then it sounds like Namor could be finally making his MCU debut. The character, whose history dates back to the 1940s, has always been the source of a complicated rights issue but last October, Kevin Feige did tease that this may have been sorted out and the anti-hero was now cleared for use. Sure enough, our source also tells us that Namor could first appear in either Doctor Strange 2 or Black Panther 2.
What do you make of this news, though? Would you like to see Marvel do an Illuminati movie? As always, sound off in the usual place down below.