Marvel producer Richie Palmer has addressed speculation that The Illuminati will make an appearance in the forthcoming Doctor Strange sequel.
When the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released in February, fans were shocked to see the introduction of the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
In the clip, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is seen coming face to face with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, leading fans to theorise that The Illuminati were going to be introduced.
In the Marvel comics, The Illuminati are a secret group made up of Charles, Mr Fantastic, Namor, Black Bolt, Strange and Iron Man.
In a new interview with Empire, Doctor Strange 2 producer Palmer discussed the speculation for the first time.
“I’ll quote the first X-Men movie and say, ‘Are you sure you saw what you saw?’” he said.
“There are infinite versions of these characters, and just because you may have heard something familiar doesn’t mean it’s someone you have seen before.”
He went on to reference the much-rumoured moment in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Tom Holland’s superhero joined up with previous versions of himself (played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire).
“As you saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home, some rumours ended up being true, some did not,” he said. “I would love to see Tony again, but some rumours are just rumours.”
He added: “I will say that I love the Illuminati. But if we ever introduce the Illuminati in the future, it might be more MCU-driven and have some more ties to our characters in the MCU, versus just replicating what’s in the comics.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is released on 5 May.
