Doctor Strange 2: Who played Black Bolt, Reed Richards, and Professor X?

With all magical possibility at its doorstep, it’s no surprise that Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessThere are many other tricks it has up its sleeves. But the biggest and baddest of them all has got to be the appearance of the Illuminati, one of Marvel Comics’ most intimidating super-teams. Moreover, almost every member of Multiverse of Madness’ Illuminati is an Easter egg for longtime fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or comics.

Who are the Illuminati? Multiverse of Madness? What were their names in Marvel Comics’? What is the Incursion and why are they so terrifying? Here’s all the Marvel Comics history — and Marvel Cinematic Universe history — that went into the Illuminati in Doctor Strange, the Multiverse of Madness and Doctor Strange.

[Ed. note: This post contains significant spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.]

Image: Marvel Studios

If you’ve seen Multiverse of MadnessThen you’ll know. Doctor Strange is exploring an alternate universe to find the Book of the Vishanti. He meets the Earth-838 heroes, an intimidating cabal that includes Karl Mordo and Captain Carter as well as Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Black Bolt, Professor X and Mister Fantastic. Considering that two of those characters have never appeared in Marvel Cinematic Multiverse movies before, it’s a pretty fun reveal.

These heroes, Mordo informs Strange together, are called the Illuminati.

Marvel Comics: Who are the Illuminati?

Image by Brian Michael Bendis/Marvel Comics

The word Illuminati immediately conjures the specter of conspiracy theories and Assassin’s Creed games, but Marvel’s Illuminati aren’t just a secret cabal of world leaders. They’re a secret cabal of world leaders who are You can also see it here superheroes.

Originally created by writer Brian Bendis and artist Alex Maleev, the Illuminati initially formed as a sort of United Nations of superhero factions, a collaborative body between the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, Wakanda, Atlantis, and Earth’s magical community.

However, the notion of open cooperation was almost instantaneously abandoned. The group evolved into a collection of powerful men who occasionally convened to try and preempt what they considered grave threats to Earth’s safety, using methods they didn’t want anyone to know about — methods that weren’t overly heroic. Among the Illuminati’s greatest hits are the time they accidentally provoked a secret Skrull invasion of Earth, the time they put the Hulk on a rocket into space until he got so mad he came back with an entire space army, and the Incursion era.

But before we talk about Incursions, let’s talk about who was in the Illuminati, because Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessIt is very accurate to the comic book roster. It was made up of super-intelligent heroes like Iron Man and Mister Fantastic as well national leaders like Black Bolt, Professor X and Namor. In Black Panther’s case, he was both. Sometimes, the group has been joined by heroes of cosmic power (Doctor Strange), and revered leadership talents (Steve Rogers/Captain America).

These characters are not yet introduced in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Others have. But their actors are now free to do so. So, it is for the Illuminati. Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of MadnessThis is a truly remarkable job at combining deep cuts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with references to comic-only details, fan campaigns online, and cartoons from the 1990s. Let’s unpack everything that’s going on here.

Are the Illuminati the Illuminati of Doctor Strange?

Baron Mordo is the Sorcerer Supreme

Image: Marvel Studios

Is that possible? After Stephen Strange’s death, Earth-838 saw Karl Mordo, a fellow student of the Ancient One, assume responsibility for protecting magic. In “our” universe, he’s a bad guy, but in Earth-838, he seems to be as responsible as that world’s Strange was irresponsible.

Do you know who it is?Chiwetel Ejiofor

Where he’s from: This one’s easy: He also played the character in 2016’s Doctor Strange, where he was destined to become Stephen Strange’s nemesis.

Captain Carter

Image: Marvel Studios

Is that possible? Peggy Carter may have received the supersoldier serum on Earth-838. This is what created Captain America in Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the Captain Carter timelines we’ve previously seen, she used her new abilities on behalf of the United Kingdom, then reemerged in the modern day, just like Steve Rogers in the original timeline we know.

Played By:Hayley Atwell played Peggy Carter. Captain America: The First Avenger, SHIELD Agents, Agent Carter, The Winter Soldier with Captain America, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-ManAnd Avengers: Endgame.

Where she’s from:Atwell voices Captain Carter. What If …?This documentary featured her origin story as well her efforts to save all of the universe.

Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel

Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Is that possible? Instead of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), being trapped in an accident giving her superpowers; her best friend Maria Rambeau was blast with Tesseract energy, and is now protecting the cosmos under Captain Marvel.

Played By: Lashana Lynch, who played Maria Rambeau, Carol’s best friend and fellow test pilot, in Captain Marvel.

Where she’s from: Maria’s turn as Captain Marvel was inspired by Marvel Comics canon, in which Monica Rambeau (Maria’s daughter in the MCU, played by Teyonah Parris in WandaVisionBefore Carol assumed the role of Captain Marvel, he was already Captain Marvel.

Black Bolt: King of the Inhumans

Image: ABC

Is that possible? In Earth-838, it appears that Blackagar Boltagon reigns supreme, much like in the main MCU. He is an alien-alien secretive society consisting of human-adjacent superpowered people who have long lives. These are a few of the many that Marvel Comics offers. The strength of his voice, which can even be whispered to shatter battleships is what makes him unique.

And yes, that’s his actual full name.

Played By: Anson Mount, from Marvel’s Humans.

Where he’s from:These events are often forgotten by most people. However, Marvel Studios partnered with ABC TV to launch an Inhumans series in 2017. Although it was a failure as a series, Anson Mount’s choice to portray Black Bolt proved inspirational. It’s nice to see him get a chance to really flex his vocal cords.

Professor Xavier from the X-Men

Image by 20th Century Fox

Is that possible? There are X-Men in Earth-838. Professor X appears to be at their heads. Are they still in the MCU’s X-Men? Well, it’s a long story, but basically, back when the company wasn’t doing so hot, Marvel Entertainment sold the exclusive film rights to the X-Men and all associated characters to 20th Century Fox, who still held the rights when Marvel Studios was getting the MCU off the ground. For legal reasons, X-Men characters were barred from appearing in the MCU until Disney purchased much of 20th Century Fox’s holdings in 2019. It is the first appearance of a core X-Men character in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Played By: Patrick Stewart, from 20th Century Fox’s (first) X-Men franchise. Does this mean he’ll play Professor X when and if the character appears in the main universe of the MCU? Well, it’s the multiverse, so anything could happen. However, Marvel Studios hasn’t announced any official plans to make an X-Men-focused film as of yet.

Where he’s from: Earth-838’s Professor X seems to be pulling from several sources. The character is originally from Marvel’s X-Men comics, and Patrick Stewart took on the role in 2000’s X-Menand two of its sequels as well as Logan X-Men: Days of Future Past. But the yellow hoverchair and the telltale theme that plays when he first appears both point to a third source entirely: 1992’s X-Men cartoon series, which introduced an entire generation of kids to Marvel’s merry mutants.

Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four

Image by Steve Epting/Marvel Comics

Is that possible? Reed Richards, the experienced superhero Mister Fantastic appears to be on Earth-838. Judging by the movie’s dialogue, on Earth-838, Reed’s wife and children are also around. Following comics lore, this would imply that Sue Storm (the Invisible Woman, Reed’s wife), Valeria Richards (their super-intelligent daughter), and Franklin Richards (their reality-warping son) are denizens of Earth-838.

This song was played by:John Krasinski has been long a favorite of fans to assume the role as Mr. Fantastic has expressed enthusiasm about this possibility. Marvel Studios, which has made four attempts unsuccessfully to create a Fantastic Four franchise film, is now developing the first Fantastic Four movie in house. The production lost its director recently. It’s unclear whether Krasinski is truly Marvel Studios’ pick for Reed Richards in their new Fantastic Four movie, or if his appearance in Multiverse of Madness Fans will enjoy this treat.

Where he’s from: Reed Richards is the leader of Marvel’s so-called First Family, the superhero team that kicked off the transformation of Timely Comics into the Marvel Comics we know today. He was accidentally exposed to cosmic radiation and developed the ability of stretching and changing his body.

He’s famously among the most super-intelligent people in Marvel canon, and in the comics, he was a central member of the Illuminati during the Incursion Era.

What exactly is an incursion?

Image by Steve Epting/Marvel Comics

The Illuminati faced only the greatest threat. The final great tale of Marvel’s problematic power brokers was a multi-year epic penned by Jonathan Hickman (House of X/Powers of X) and drawn by all manner of great artists.

Black Panther, who had found that boundaries between parallel Earths were failing at the exact point where Earth was, led the Illuminati to converge. “Incursion events” would occur at random intervals. The sky would show a parallel Earth, and the inhabitants of each Earth will have only hours to prepare for their respective planets colliding. One of the Earths involved in an Incursion must be destroyed.

This left a group of the smartest thinkers and biggest political movers in Marvel’s superheroic community with a terrible challenge: Was there a way to keep their world safe without killing another? If not, could they find someone who would be able to murder two worlds in order to save them? In the end, Marvel’s greatest heroes compromised their morality to save the universe — and failed anyway. Incursion ended with the most significant Marvel Comics crossover of the new millennium, Secret Wars. Avengers: EndgameIt was what we all wished it would be.

It seems like the Incursion Era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Earth-838 began and ended with its Doctor Strange, who caused the multiversal barriers to weaken and accepted his execution by Black Bolt as punishment. But here’s hoping the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps the Illuminati and the Incursion Era safe in a back pocket for use in its main setting someday — they’re ideas that deserve even more than the alt-universe feature they got in Doctor Strange, in the Multiverse of Madness.