Ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' release, rumours swirled about which Variants we could look forward to seeing in the sequel. Professor X's name came up very early on, with the teaser trailer later confirming that Sir Patrick Stewart had been enlisted to play a take on the mutant inspired by X-Men: The Animated Series.
Captain Carter and Captain Marvel (with Maria Rambeau in place of Carol Danvers) were later confirmed, but The Illuminati's biggest surprises - Mister Fantastic and Black Bolt - were saved for the movie itself.
Now, some concept art shared by Soren Bendt has confirmed the identities of two alternate members of the team. As you can see below, we have Balder the Brave and Iron Monger, two characters we believe were swapped out relatively late in the day when the decision to make The Illuminati a little more star-studded was made.
Daniel Craig was eyed to play Balder, but was unable to make it to set due to COVID restrictions. It's been said that Bruce Campbell later took over, though we're not 100% on that. The Asgardian showing up was always a strange decision, especially as regular moviegoers were unlikely to know who Thor's brother from the comic books actually is.
As for Iron Monger, his presence better explains the Iron Legion working for The Illuminati. As for who was in the suit, we can't help but wonder whether this might have been Tom Cruise's rumoured cameo as an evil Tony Stark Variant.
It's always fun to see what might have been, but it's hard to fault the presence of Mister Fantastic and Black Bolt. Recently, John Krasinski suggested he won't return for the Fantastic Four reboot, leaving fans disappointed that his cameo was likely a one-and-done appearance in the MCU.
What do you guys make of this alternate Illuminati?
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