Latino Review recently announced that (SPOILER WARNING) the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the Illuminati will be sending Hulk into space leading into a Planet Hulk solo movie and a World War Hulk styled Avengers 3. For those who don’t know the Illuminati is a superhero think tank representing the different types of heroes that exist within the Marvel Universe.
Many have already dismissed this theory, stating that the MCU simply doesn't have the depth of characters to pull off the Illuminati. Those fans may have a point, up until now the only Illuminati characters that have been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are Iron Man and Captain America.
If we are to believe that the Illuminati will be created in the MCU then a few new characters will have to be introduced in order to fill in the rest of the roster. Marvel doesn't own the rights to original group members Mr. Fantastic and Professor X. That leaves us with Namor, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, and Black Panther as possible Illuminati members, but none of them have been confirmed for the MCU.
Even if you did add all these new characters. The Marvel Cinematic Universe still wouldn't have a deep enough roster of heroes to make the Illuminati work in their current comic book form. Each Illuminati member is meant to be a representative for a broader group of heroes. Iron Man represents the Avengers, Professor X represents the Mutants, Mr. Fantastic represents the Scientists, and so on. The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't have the hundreds of characters that the comic book universe has so the Illuminati won’t work as a representative group. The only character that would be left out are Thor, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, War Machine and possibly Captain America. All of which have one thing in common (except Thor) they have ties to the government and SHIELD.
Phase 2 Speculation:
Captain America could become distrustful of SHIELD after the events of Captain America: the Winter Soldier (perhaps SHIELD had something to do with Bucky becoming the Winter Soldier).
The Avengers 2 will feature a massive battle, towards the end of that battle either Loki or Thanos cause the Hulk go berserk and take away his ability to transform back into Bruce Banner. Unbeknownst to the other Avengers, Iron Man has developed technology to stop the Hulk this leads Captain America to distrust Iron Man.
After these events Captain America will bring together Ant-Man (as a substitute for Mr. Fantastic), Thor (as a representative for the Cosmic universe), and Dr. Strange (rumored to appear in Thor 2 and Phase 3) to form the Illuminati. The Illuminati sends the Hulk into space without the advice of Iron Man, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Falcon, War Machine, and the rest of SHIELD.
This event could shake up New York so badly that Nick Fury will have no choice but to force the remaining heroes to register with SHIELD and become full-fledged agents.
Captain America’s decision to send Hulk into Space without Iron Man’s involvement along with Iron Man’s support for SHIELD’s registration efforts sets up enough tension to pull off a Civil War movie for Phase 3.
Phase 3 Speculation:
Avengers 3 will be borrow elements from both World War Hulk and Civil War. In the end the opposing heroes will come together in the films climax in order to stop a vengeful Hulk. In the end Iron Man will become the new director of SHIELD and Thor will become King of Asgard. Captain America will be killed (either by the Hulk or Crossbones) and Bucky will become the new Captain America.
The first Avengers movie began with Captain America being brought to life after being frozen for almost 70 years. Captain America's death would be the perfect way to bookend the first trilogy in the Avengers series.
This is all speculation of course and trying to adapt both PH/WWH and Civil War might be a little too ambitious for Marvel but it's fun to speculate. Share your thoughts below.