History Main / TheIlluminati

* The ''VisualNovel/ScienceAdventureSeries'' has the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_300 Committee of 300]], as the OverarchingVillain controlling various enemy factions that the protagonists fight.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', Satan's surveillance invokes it: [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4042 the drone is the eye in the pyramid.]] With wings.
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3257 And Lil' Evil goes to join.]]
[[/folder]]

* Around 2013 in UsefulNotes/SouthKorea there began a ConspiracyTheory regarding a [[{{Matriarchy}} feminist shadow government]] made up of the eight richest women in the country, colloquially referred to as the "Eight Goddesses", with the president merely being a PuppetKing. ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Korean_political_scandal This ended up being partially true]]'', as it was revealed by whistleblowers and a confession from President Park herself in 2016 that she was being manipulated by a cult leader named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Soon-sil Choi Soon-sil]] behind the scenes. The entire country fell into panic, Park was arrested and sentenced to over 30 years in prison before being pardoned by her successor President Moon in 2021, and Choi was arrested and sentenced to 23 years. Despite the nation recovering and electing the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol (the former Chief Prosecutor who played a key role in President Park's conviction), rumors persist [[NothingIsScarier that the other seven goddesses are still at large]].

** And during the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' StoryArc, [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] forms an evil version of the Illuminati called the Cabal, composed of himself, Characters/DoctorDoom, [[Characters/EmmaFrostWhiteQueen Emma Frost]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsOrganizedCrime The Hood]], and the ComicBook/SubMariner -- who, as mentioned above, is also a member of the good Illuminati. ''At the same time''. [[TrueNeutral He doesn't see the difference]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' features a group called the Illumi''nut''i, which guards the secret history of peanut butter.

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheQuestion''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E9QuestionAuthority Question Authority]]"

* In Creator/DCComics, the Illuminati hails from as far back as the days of Atlantis, has a covert hand in government affairs worldwide, and has been led by ComicBook/VandalSavage from its birth to the modern day.
* Mentioned in ''Comicbook/FromHell'', along with a number of other secret societies, though the Masons take center stage.

** There's Illuminati symbolism in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' too (Ozymandias anyone?); either Alan Moore is a conspiracy theorist himself or he... KNOWS SOMETHING!

* As quoted above, in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', one of the facts ComicBook/TheQuestion reveals while [[UnreliableNarrator under torture]] concerns the Illuminati.

* Dr. Venture is invited to join the Illuminati in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "The Unicorn In Captivity." He spends the whole episode hemming and hawing about whether to join their ranks and play by their rules. [[spoiler:Turns out the Illuminati are fake and the whole time Venture has been hooked up to a VR simulator.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', The Light seems to have a lot of Illuminati-characteristics, down to the name ("The Light" being very similar to "the enlightened ones"). In addition, the first member of The Light is ComicBook/VandalSavage, who formed the Illuminati in the comics.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In the episode "The Ricklantis Mix-up", we find out that the Council of Ricks that Rick C-137 (the show's "main Rick") [[spoiler:killed off in "The Rickshank Redemption"]] were actually [[TheManBehindTheMan controlled from behind the scenes]] by the Shadow Council of Ricks, who plan to control the newly-elected [[spoiler:President Morty in the same way. Unfortunately for them, this is subverted when President Morty turns out to actually be Evil Morty, and he promptly subjects the Shadow Council to the BoardToDeath trope by having all but two of them killed, with the remaining two forced to be subservient to him]].

* The Series/{{Millennium}} Group became something of an {{expy}} for this in the last season, which was some distance from the original concept.

* The Sway is presented as the Website/{{Neopets}} version.

* In Creator/MarvelComics, this was the name of a [[ComicBook/TheIlluminati secret alliance]] between influential superheroes - ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/XMen Professor X]], Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, ComicBook/DoctorStrange, and [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]]. They're actually a subversion, however, as their goals were to protect the world, not rule it, and their secretiveness eventually came back to bite them repeatedly (see ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', and even ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', all in which [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering the ideological differences between the members end up highlighted by measures taken on by at least the more prominent players]]). Notably, ComicBook/BlackPanther was invited to join but declined, because he ''knew'' that the group's extremely secretive nature left them doomed to fail if they ever disagreed on anything.
** And during the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' StoryArc, ComicBook/NormanOsborn forms an evil version of the Illuminati called the Cabal, composed of himself, Doctor Doom, [[ComicBook/XMen Emma Frost]], Loki, ComicBook/TheHood, and the Sub-Mariner - who, as mentioned above, is also a member of the good Illuminati. ''At the same time''. [[TrueNeutral He doesn't see the difference]].

** In ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'' storyline, [[GodzillaThreshold Black Panther of all people reconvenes the group]] in order to deal with [[ApocalypseHow an omniversal destruction]] situation. It wraps up the same way it always does with this group: [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 utter failure]], and the rest of the superhero community [[WhatTheHellHero calling them out on how their secrecy made things worse]].

* They were the main antagonists in ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear AXZ''

* [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar]] in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' function identically to the nominal description of the Illuminati: operating from the shadows as the AncientConspiracy, rewriting history, trying to TakeOverTheWorld in an effort to end TheEvilsOfFreeWill, and include a cadre of famous historical figures to claim membership amongst their ranks.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar The Templars]] in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' function identically to the nominal description of the Illuminati: operating from the shadows as the AncientConspiracy, rewriting history, trying to TakeOverTheWorld in an effort to end TheEvilsOfFreeWill, and include a cadre of famous historical figures to claim membership amongst their ranks.

* As noted above, there is some historical basis for the Illuminati. During 1776, a group of Bavarian Germans formed a secret society and used "Illuminati" as their name. The self-imposed mission of the Illuminati was to fight against abuses of state power, superstition, religion, and prejudice. (That's right, folks: the actual Illuminati were ''secular liberals''.) The organization did get pretty popular, having members from many other parts of Germany, and earning the hatred of the Catholic Church. However, it was banned by the Bavarian government and disbanded in 1785. According to the conspiracy theories, this was just the beginning: The Illuminati actually left Bavaria for Scotland, infiltrated the Masons, founded America, and now control the entire world from a smoke-filled room. This includes TV Tropes.
* If you're wondering how the historical Illuminati achieved such a prominent place in conspiracy lore, it's largely because the Illuminati's disbandment was followed shortly by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. The TropeCodifier is the book ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_Illustrating_the_History_of_Jacobinism Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism]]'' by right-wing Catholic priest Abbé Augustin Barruel. Barruel blamed UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment as a malign and foreign influence on France, stating that the French people were content being subjects of their King and that evil secret socities under their Illuminati, Freemason and Jacobin front introduced foreign ideas like democracy and liberty. This book was supremely popular and was even picked up by English statesman Edmund Burke who also attributed the Revolution to the malign influence of "[[ValuesDissonance jew brokers]]" which sowed the seeds for the far more deadly anti-semitic conspiracy theory. Make no mistake, the Illuminati conspiracy theory was started by religious and constitutional monarchists who thought secular democracy was the most evil thing ever.

* Nazi Germany's ambassador to the UK, Joachim von Ribbentrop, was convinced that Britain was ruled by a secret society of hereditary nobles, and spent much of his time wooing members of the House of Lords and the alleged Nazi sympathiser King Edward VIII, hoping to be inducted into the cabal. Of course, it wasn't, and he more or less ignored the Cabinet and Commons, who held the vast majority of political power even by the 1930's.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' has [[GreaterScopeVillain Providence]], a secret society founded by three old money families in the wake of World War 2 that controls the world from the shadows, and are the main antagonists of the franchise's ''World of Assassination'' trilogy. They're the ones behind the Sapienza virus, the Moroccan coup, and [[spoiler:the super-soldier experiment that led to the creation of 47 and the Shadow Client.]] Their name also originates from the Eye of Providence, the symbol typically associated with the Illuminati.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' featured a group by this name. Xanatos himself is merely a junior member. While not explored much in the actual show (it is a ''secret'' conspiracy, after all), the comic book sequel and WordOfGod go into more detail: it was founded by [[Myth/ArthurianLegend knights of Camelot]] after the kingdom fell, some of those knights are immortal and still running the organization, and they seem to be preparing for the return of Myth/KingArthur. There are also only [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] members at any one time, though that may only be a side-effect of their ranking system (one guy at the top, two second-in-commands, all the way down to 36 members at the lowest, thirty-sixth rank).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' featured a group by this name. Xanatos himself is merely a junior member.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', Satan's surveillance invokes it: [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4042 the drone is the eye in the pyramid.]] With wings.
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3257 And Lil' Evil goes to join.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/BackwardsSongsWithLuke'', musicians are not only being controlled or threatened by The Illuminati, but they had also kidnapped Luke on at least two occasions due to his research.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' has [[GreaterScopeVillain Providence]], an [[AncientConspiracy ancient secret society]] that controls the world from the shadows, and are the main antagonists of the franchise's ''World of Assasin'' trilogy. They're the ones behind the Sapienza virus, the Moroccan coup, and [[spoiler:the super-soldier experiment that led to the creation of 47 and the Shadow Client.]] Their name also originates from the Eye of Providence, the symbol typically associated with the Illuminati.

* ''Franchise/Hitman''franchise [[GreaterScopeVillain Providence]], an [[AncientConspiracy ancient secret society]] that controls the world from the shadows, and are the main antagonists of the franchise's ''World of Assasin'' trilogy. They're the ones behind the Sapienza virus, the Moroccan coup, and [[spoiler:the super-soldier experiment that led to the creation of 47 and the Shadow Client.]] Their name also originates from the Eye of Providence, the symbol typically associated with the Illuminati.

* In ''WebVideo/BackwardSongsWithLuke'', musicians are not only being controlled or threatened by The Illuminati, but they had also kidnapped Luke on at least two occasions due to his research.

* ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' has [[GreaterScopeVillain Providence]], a AncientConspiracy that secretly controls the world. They're the ones behind the Sapienza virus, the Moroccan coup, and [[spoiler:the super-soldier experiment that led to the creation of 47 and the Shadow Client.]] Their name also originates from the Eye of Providence, the symbol typically associated with the Illuminati.

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheQuestion''', WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited, "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E9QuestionAuthority Question Authority]]"

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheQuestion''', [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague in all of his glory]]

Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? [[EarWorm We do, we do!]]]]