DC Illuminati

[hammergiant]

Here is a fun exercise for a lazy day which I hope will generate some discussion. If DC had an Illuminati, who would be in it? Marvel's bunch was brought together to stop the impossible and was mostly made up of kings and scientists.

DC brings a different flavor, because I'm taking out the two guys they lean upon so heavily. Superman would never stand for shady shenanigans and Batman would (a) need to be in control of the group and (b) if the possibility of killing came up, he'd be out. I also hesitate to put Luthor in the group because we've seen him in secre organizations before ( Injustice Gang, Secret Six) and we know how that turns out. Luther's need to dominate is greater than Batman's. On the other hand, he fits the criteria of being too smart with a heavy dose of arrogance and hubris.

Anyway:

Aquaman- king of the seas and known to make tough decisions

Black Adam- king and dispenser of old school justice

Constantine- magic and known to be a bastard if the situation called for it.

Atom- Ray Palmer is a big brain

Dr. Light- Kimiyo Hoshi, also a big brain

Maybe Martian Manhunter? Pre-52 J'onn would not fit, but post-reboot, J'onn has more edge to him.

Wonder Woman? She is royalty and will deal out the pain, but is she too close to Superman and Batman?

Steel? I'd like a guy that could build things and make weapons, but I don't know his current status.

Green Lantern? Not Hal or Kyle, they couldn't do it. Maybe John or Guy.

Will Magnus? Smart guy and a little unstable.

Thoughts?

[hammergiant]

I just realized I left out Mr. Terrific. The nu-52 version seems like a good fit. Very smart, but with some fundamental flaws.

[Sirzechs]

None of the Earth GL would I think, well maybe John since he did kill that one GL when he was giving up the codes for OA defenses.

New 52 Martian Manhunter for Sure,

Wonder Woman as well, She pretty much has a pattern now when it comes to her idea of the "greater good"

[Agent Z]

None of the Earth GL would I think, well maybe John since he did kill that one GL when he was giving up the codes for OA defenses.

New 52 Martian Manhunter for Sure,

Wonder Woman as well, She pretty much has a pattern now when it comes to her idea of the "greater good"

Are you thinking of Injustice WW perhaps?

[Sirzechs]

Are you thinking of Injustice WW perhaps?

Yes and Kingdom Come WW as well.

Also she did say in the New52 there's a reason she don't have as many enemies as Batman and Superman

[Thor-Ul]

DC Illuminati? A tough question. But is clever to left out Batman because he would make a secret weapon to stop them. But could be interesting. Let's try:

Jason Blood: Magic expert and demon controler. Also from nobility, Constantine is too much middle class to work in a self appointend greatest minds. And nobody sane would trust Constantine.

Atom: Everybody overlooks the small guy. Big mistake, he is more stable than Pym and more smart than Allen. (Allen received his powers by accident, Ray build them himself).
Nu52 Martian Manhunter: Everybody needs a alien telepath in his team. He deals with aliens and telepath at the same time.

Aquaman: He is a king who wold take radical measurements to protect his world.

Hawkman: If Identity Crisis teach us something is than you can't trust a winged guy, not if he came from a facist alien planet or if is the reincarnation of a old ages pharaoh.

Neither Wonder Woman, (she doesn't like the way gods handle things, she would not follow that path), Green Lantern (Guy was expelled from the Corpse)

Alfred Pennyworth: Just because Batman would feel so pwned than his own butler were part of a secret cabal to watch over superheroes and menaces and he never discovered for years.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

DC had an Illuminati way before Marvel did.
Go check out Greg Rucka's Checkmate series.

And any cabal without Amanda Waller isn't gonna get much in results.

[Dataweaver]

New 52`s counterpart to the Illuminati? Stormwatch. Sure, it’s mostly not composed of traditionally DC heroes; but then, DC heroes generally don’t go for the espionage-like activities an Illuminati-like group would engage in.

[hammergiant]

DC had an Illuminati way before Marvel did.
Go check out Greg Rucka's Checkmate series.

And any cabal without Amanda Waller isn't gonna get much in results.

I feel like Checkmate was more akin to S.H.I.E.L.D than the Illuminati.

[Black Angel]

Where is amanda waller she has to be in it at least for the government to have a say.

[Agent Z]

Yes and Kingdom Come WW as well.

Also she did say in the New52 there's a reason she don't have as many enemies as Batman and Superman

Well, considering the more ruthless nature of her enemies these days...

[Starchild]

Martian Manhunter, Atom, Mr. Terrific, The Chief & Doctor Fate. Perfection!!!

[colonyofcells]

The cartoons had the Light. I think members can be mostly the long lived characters like : Etrigan, Zauriel, phantom stranger, trigon, malefic, zod, black adam, circe, Vandal Savage, immortal man, Ras Al Ghul, sensei, lex luthor, grodd, black hand, etc.

[K. Jones]

I had to look up who constitutes the Marvel illuminati, because I like my theoretical, rhetorical analogues to be kind of proxy-close in size and scale. They seem to be, in broad strokes, Iron Man, Professor X, Namor, Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic, and Black Bolt. I see they also consider Black Panther, Beast, Medusa, and a few other, though they all sort of serve redundant roles - Panther as "leader of foreign micro-country", Beast as "super-scientist", Medusa as "inhuman" when Namor and Xavier kind of serve that purpose being mutants and Reed Richards serves it as a cosmically altered "more-than-human".

So the obvious thing would be to find direct analogues, right? In place of Professor X you get the other 1960s wheelchair bound freaky team leader, The Chief. Instead of Namor you go with Aquaman. Instead of blah blah blah.

It's also weird because DC has powerhouses - like Doctor Strange is a powerhouse, and DC has equivalents, but Phantom Stranger is too precarious and unreliable and too "high" for this sort of thing, and Constantine is also too unreliable and capricious and too "low" for it. Does Doctor Fate then seem too obvious? Another important notion? Kind of taking "one" person from each of DC's more well known super-teams, possibly. And not necessarily only going with "heroes". I also worry about it being wayyyyy too paternalistic.

So ...

Super Scientist (Tech): Mister Terrific
Super Scientist (Metaphysics): Shay Veritas
Super Magician (But Grounded and who cares about Society): Pandora
Future of the Human Race A (Teacher): John Stewart
Future of the Human Race B (Fantastical King): Mera
Future of the Human Race C (Fantastical King): Captain Comet

[colonyofcells]

For a mostly superhero group : Bruce Wayne, Mr Terrific, dr sivana, ultra humanite, Lex Luthor, prof Emmet vale, prof emil Hamilton, dr shay veritas, veronica cale, chang tzu, Niles Caulder, Will Magnus, prof ivo, morrow, Dabney Donovan, etc.