Only recently, I have begun to suspect that the Illuminati will be coming into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Everything pre-'Avengers' has been about gathering the Avengers together-so what if everything post-'Avengers' is about the formation of the Illuminati before 'Avengers 2'? There are three main contributing factors to my assumption:
The Infinity Gauntlet-
This powerful cosmic force played a key part in the Illuminati. Each member was given one of the six Infinity Gems to keep and look after,becoming its
'guardian'. Now,if I remember correctly, an all-metal replica of the Infinity Gauntlet was shown off at Comic-Con this year as were several other props/items from movies being made.
The Skrulls-
Numerous reports have stated that the Skrulls will indeed be behind-the-scenes players in 'The Avengers', and will control the Hulk like Loki did in the comics. Other reports have also stated that the Kree (particularly Mar-Vell and Noh-Varr) will also show up in 'The Avengers', leading me to believe that the Kree-Skrull war will be brought to our screens. In the comics, the Illuminati were formed after the Kree-Skrull war, and took action against the latter. Also, the Skrulls are rumoured to also be the main villains in 'The Avengers 2'; me thinks that the MCU is trying to go 'Sercret Invasion', so the 'Avengers'-'Avengers 2' period could be about the placing of sleeper agents on Earth.
The Members-
For those who don't know, The Illuminati consisted of Iron Man, Namor, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X and initially Black Panther. Iron Man (who I'll discuss later) is solid with several films, Mr. Fantastic will be in the 'Fantastic Four:Reborn', Patrick Stewart and his 'X-Men' franchise could be brought into the MCU as canon,and Dr. Strange is heavily rumoured to be one of the post-'Avengers' films. Now, what about Namor and Black Bolt, you ask? Namor is heavily rumoured to appear as part of the Invaders in TFA (albeit without wings), and is indirectly responsible for the discovery of Cap in the comics (which will be left till 'Avengers' if done right).Black Bolt and his Inhumans are harder to bring in. The way I see it, the brains behind the MCU havetwo options: they acn take the easy way out and replace him with Black Panther ( who is rumoured to be a post-'Avengers' film anyway), or have the Kree 'reveal' Attilan to the world in 'Avengers', seeing as they have been rumoured for the film.
Earlier, I talked about Iron Man. Iron man founded the Illuminati after the Kree-Skrull war in the comics, and seems to be showing the same kind of initiative already. After the Avengers team together for the first time to fight the Skrulls (allegedly), I'm sure they'll go their separate ways until the sequel. But the ever-vigilant Iron Man will form the secretive Illuminati, a multicultural brains-trust of superheroes that will monitor the Skrull threat...
Enjoy, and feel free to tell me your criticisms. By the way, I am in no way implying a solo 'Illuminati' film, but rather suggesting they have a big role in 'Avengers 2'