Warning! Spoilers ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Marvel Studios has made the MCU's Illuminati so much worse than the Avengers. Thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' multiversal story, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) finds himself traveling through various realities. That includes Earth-838, where a functioning Illuminati team exists, assembled by a version of Doctor Strange that audiences have assumed to be Supreme Strange.

In Marvel comics, the Illuminati is a secret team of superheroes that have tasked themselves with making difficult decisions that affect the world. Marvel Studios debuts its version of the Illuminati through Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, albeit with a slightly different roster including Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and Maria Rambeau's Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch) with Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Mister Fantastic (John Krasinski), and Professor X (Patrick Stewart). The Illuminati are meant to represent the best of the best of the Marvel universe, but in their MCU depiction, they appear to be much worse than the Avengers in terms of team camaraderie and dysfunction.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness barely offers any context about Earth-838's Illuminati, only that the team was assembled by that Earth's version of Doctor Strange. When the Doctor Strange variant used the forbidden Darkhold to find a way to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin), it caused an incursion event that destroyed an entire universe. The other Illuminati made the difficult decision that he was now too dangerous to go unchecked and killed him. Despite their dysfunction at times, and serious internal conflicts at others, Earth's Mightiest Heroes never tried killing their own, although there was a time they were willing to let a teammate die. In The Avengers, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) hauled the nuclear bomb toward the Chitauri mothership. Captain America (Chris Evans) mandated that the portal be closed, essentially sealing the fate of the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist. Luckily, Iron Man came plummeting out of the portal just in time and survived the ordeal.

Black Widow, Thor, Captain America. Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Hulk in Avengers 2012

Granted that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness didn't reveal more about the history between Earth-838's Doctor Strange and the Illuminati, they do appear to care about each other, evidenced by the clear pain on the faces of Professor X in the Doctor Strange 2 scene, as well as that of Mister Fantastic, as Black Bolt kills the sorcerer. Despite their regret, the Illuminati murdering one of their own seemed a rather excessive punishment. Supreme Strange was very remorseful for his choices, and ultimately, his actions were motivated by the desperate need to find a way to defeat Thanos. Some form of significant consequence was needed to teach him a lesson, but murdering him was extreme. The Illuminati might have given him a chance to make amends, as the Avengers have with their teammates in Earth-616. Iron Man also made a colossal mistake in Avengers: Age of Ultron, for example, and yet, the Avengers never turned their backs on him because they knew that his heart had been in the right place.

Earth-838's Illuminati is basically non-existent after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness unless Mordo rebuilds the team. Marvel Studios could also eventually debut Earth-616's version of the Illuminati, especially with several of the original members of the squad from the comics set to be introduced to the MCU. Hopefully, however, Earth-616's Illuminati has better team camaraderie than Earth-838's collective and even the Avengers themselves.

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