The Illuminati In MCU Explained - What To Expect!

8. Cutthroat Decisions

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Illuminati
Marvel Comics

In their minds, the Illuminati are always making the correct decision for any situation, thinking of the greater good, and serving as the moral compass of any issues that rear their head.

Unfortunately for the Hulk, the Green Goliath was viewed as one such issue.

As part of the lead-in to 2006's Planet Hulk story, the Illuminati boldly decided to exile the Hulk to outer space. After the Jade Giant has caused a heap of destruction in Las Vegas following a gamma bomb explosion, the Illuminati used a Life Model Decoy of Nick Fury to trick Hulk up into the stars to supposedly fix a troublesome satellite.

Once in that satellite, the device turned into a vessel that shot the World-Breaker off to what was intended to be an unpopulated planet. Getting lost on the way to that planet, the ship instead landed on the ravaged war planet of Sakaar - which is where we find the MCU's iteration of Bruce Banner during Thor: Ragnarok.

While it looks like any such exiling of the Hulk is off the table for now in the MCU, this is just one prime example of the sort of cutthroat decisions that the Illuminati have been known to make.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.