Will The MCU Replace Avengers With The Illuminati?
How The MCU Has Already Provided The Conditions For The Illuminati
But, without the Kree-Skrull War, how could this be pulled off? Well, the MCU has just had a similarly traumatic event happen in the form of "The Snap". When you remember that this universe's heroes have been collectively traumatised by the effects of Infinity War, they'd no doubt be willing to do just about anything to prevent anything similar from happening again. Which could easily be enough to convince them to build such a sketchy organisation.
And with Doctor Strange having had to make choices that decided who lived and who died throughout the entire Infinity War saga, it'd be very easy for him to form this cult-like group out of a desire to prevent anything similar ever happening again. This is arguably an even better justification than the comics had, as when literally half the universe died for a while, you'd be more inclined to do questionable things like form an actual Illuminati.
Now, true, an MCU Illuminati wouldn't be the exact same as the comics, given Tony Stark is dead, and the X-Men don't properly exist yet in the universe, meaning Professor X can't just rock up right now. But there's nothing wrong with the Illuminati having different members to their comic counterparts - or to wait a phase or two until Namor, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men all finally appear. The MCU has long played fast and loose with the comic lore it does use, and giving this group different members could arguably make for a better surprise when the big reveal comes.
In fact, there'd also be nothing wrong with having this fit into the current trend of having films take place in the "gaps" in the current timeline - so it'd be perfectly possible for them to have this event retroactively happen. Although the status quo with things like character relationships would have to be restored for it to fit in the timeline, which might take some of the punch out of it unless done cleverly.
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