'Doctor Strange 2' Trailer Hints at Illuminati Encounter
In the comics, this group of influential superheroes includes X-Men founder Professor Xavier.
Karl Mordo is apparently prepared to introduce Doctor Strange to the Illuminati.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters May 6, but short trailers are still hinting at plot details for the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. A fresh one dropped Tuesday and confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch's sorcerer will encounter a shadowy group.
"Stephen Strange. The Illuminati will see you now," former Strange ally Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) says.
In the comics, the Illuminati is a group of superhero leaders who meet and share information to avert disaster. The original roster included Tony Stark, Namor, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange and Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men.
The MCU Illuminati membership will likely be different, since Namor and Reed Richards have yet to be established in this universe and Black Bolt has only been in that terrible 2017 Inhumans series. The main timeline's Tony Stark is dead, but we might see a variant from an alternate reality.
A previous trailer hinted that we'll encounter Xavier in this movie, through a vocal cameo from Patrick Stewart. The actor played the older version of the character in the X-Men movies, but they weren't set in the MCU and the mutant superteam hasn't appeared in this universe yet.
It's possible this movie will be the X-Men's MCU debut, but WandaVision already teased us with an X-Men cameo that turned out to be a joke. So maybe temper those expectations lest you be disappointed.
The Doctor Strange sequel's parallel-dimension-hopping story follows the reality-warping events of Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, the latter of which saw Strange messing with the fabric of the universe to help Peter Parker. Strange seeks aid from Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), aka the Scarlet Witch, who's been living in isolation since she messed with the minds of a whole town in WandaVision.
