Secret societies in popular culture

Secret societies appear in many works of fiction. They are often involved in elaborate conspiracies.

Real organizations

• Freemasonry, as depicted in such works as National Treasure and From Hell.
• The Illuminati are referred to in many works. See Illuminati in popular culture.
• The Ku Klux Klan is an American society devoted to promoting racist agendas^[1][2] and has been used in many books and films, including The Birth of a Nation, Mississippi Burning, and A Time to Kill.
• The Mafia is a secret criminal society and has been used in numerous books, films, and television series including The Godfather, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos.
• Order of the Dragon, used in Elizabeth Kostova's novel The Historian and in the film Bram Stoker's Dracula.
• Yale society Skull and Bones in the films The Good Shepherd and The Skulls.

Fictional secret societies

• Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), in the Marvel Comics universe
• Aes Sedai Ajahs in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, particularly the Black Ajah
• Alias includes a number of secret societies, among them the Alliance of 12 and its subsidiary groups, including SD-6. Other groups include K-Directorate; FTL; The Covenant; and The Trust.
• The Assassins in the Assassin's Creed video game series, loosely based on the non-fictional Hashshashin
• Akatsuki from Naruto
• Baroque Works from One Piece
• The Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax from Frank Herbert's Dune universe
• The Black Crusaders from the "Cleveland" episode of 30 Rock.
• The Black Glove in Batman R.I.P.
• The Black Organization from Detective Conan
• The Brethren Court in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
• Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• The Brotherhood in Ralph Waldo Ellison's Invisible Man
• The Brotherhood of Evil and the H.I.V.E. from Teen Titans, comics and the animated series.
• Central Anarchist Council in G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday.
• Children of Lieutenant Schmidt Society in The Little Golden Calf.
• Circle of the Black Thorn in the Angel series
• The Company, a fictional covert international organization in the NBC drama Heroes.
• The Company, a fictional covert organization in the series Prison Break.
• The Consortium in the TV series Eureka
• CONTROL and KAOS in the TV series Get Smart
• The Court of Owls in Batman and other DC Comics.
• Dark Angel's second season had a secret society plotline.
• Darkfriends, in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
• The titular group in the film Dead Poets Society.
• DedSec from Watch Dogs.
• The Dharma Initiative, a secretive group of scientists in the TV series Lost.
• The Dollhouse as depicted in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
• The Eye, "guardians of true magic", in the 2013 movie Now You See Me.
• The titular "fight club" of the Chuck Palahniuk novel and film by David Fincher.
• The Fulcrum from the TV series, Chuck.
• The Guild of Calamitous Intent in the series The Venture Bros.
• The Grail from the comic book Preacher.
• The titular House of Flying Daggers in the movie of the same name
• HYDRA, in the Marvel Comics universe
• The Individual Eleven from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig
• The League of Assassins, alternatively called The League of Shadows, in the DC Comics universe
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• The Legion of Doom
• The Light in Young Justice Animated Series
• Meliorare Society, a eugenics organization from Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth universe.
• Millennium Group in the television series Millennium.
• The Mysterious Benedict Society, from the book of the same name
• The Order of Rosenkreuz, or The Rosenkreutz Orden, from the anime series Trinity Blood.
• The Order of Aurelius from the Buffyverse.
• The entire wizarding world, the Order of the Phoenix, the Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Army in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.
• The Order of St. Dumas, in DC Comics' Batman series
• The Order of the Skull and the Clan of the Cave Girls on the TV series Salute Your Shorts
• The Order of The White Lotus in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
• Ordo Hydra in the Warhammer 40k series.
• The Patriots and The Philosophers in the Metal Gear video game series
• The Others are a mysterious and secretive group residing on the Island in the series Lost
• The Pentavirate in Mike Myers' film So I Married an Axe Murderer.
• The Post-War Administration Bureau in the Guilty Gear video game series.
• Second Foundation, in The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
• Secret Empire, in the Marvel Comics universe
• The Secret Society of Super Villains in DC Comics modern and silver age continuities and in Bruce Timm's Justice League
• The Seekers in The Last Rune series by Mark Anthony (writer)
• The organization SEELE from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Sisters of the Light and Sisters of the Dark in The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
• The Sith in the Star Wars film series.
• The Society of the Blind Eye from Disney's animated television series Gravity Falls.
• SPECTRE, in the works of Ian Fleming
• The Spider Society, in the Marvel Comics universe
• The Stonecutters from The Simpsons, a parody of other Secret Societies. Appears in Homer the Great.
• TRES, in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.
• The Talamasca, in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles
• Torchwood, a secret agency that investigates and defends the earth from supernatural occurrences. It is featured in the TV show Doctor Who and has a spin-off series.
• Tribulation Force, founded by a group of post-Rapture believers in Christ in the Left Behind series
• The Trust in the television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
• The Trust, in the Vertigo/DC comics series 100 Bullets.
• The Trust, a secret US Government Agency that appears in The Conduit and Conduit 2.
• United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.) in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
• Unnamed secret society in Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut
• The Van Buren Boys in Seinfeld
• V.F.D. from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• The Vigils in The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• The Water Buffaloes in "The Flintstones".
• W.A.S.T.E. in The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.
• W.E.B. an evil adversary secret intelligence agency from TSR's rpg Top Secret/S.I.
• Warehouse 13 secret organizations include the Warehouse, The Regents, and The Order of the Black Diamond.
• The Syndicate and The Consortium from The X-Files.
• The Telegu Tigers of Isipingo
• The Z-Fighters in Dragon Ball Z
• The Society of Light in Yu-Gi-Oh

See also

• Conspiracy theories (fictional)
• Vril

References

1. Kathleen, Blee, (2016-07-12). "How Violent Right-Wing Extremists Leave Racist Groups in the U.S.".
2. Schmitz, Rachel M. (2016-07-02). "Intersections of hate: Exploring the transecting dimensions of race, religion, gender, and family in Ku Klux Klan Web sites". Sociological Focus. 49 (3): 200–214. doi:10.1080/00380237.2016.1135029. ISSN 0038-0237.