Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club is a centuries old organization with roots in Britain during the 18th Century. It's members were infamous rakes who used their connections within the club to further boost their social standing and to indulge their sexual excesses.

Over time the club has evolved to include high-flying business men and women, as well as the profitable descendants of royalty and other Hellfire Club members. Being a member of the Hellfire Club is an illustrious boost among elite society. However, there is an even more esoteric sect of individuals who run the Hellfire Club, known as the Inner Circle.

The Inner Circle
The Club is run by a small group of influential members who form the infamous Inner Circle. Named after chess pieces, members of the Inner Circle will take on the titles of the Black and White (and later also Red) Kings, Queens, Bishops, and Rooks. The final position of Lord Imperial is reserved for the most powerful member of the club. Additionally, prominent members have also had assistants that did not have official titles within the club.

The Inner Circle was not always mutant dominated, but few members in several generations were not mutants. The Inner Circle dominates the club and secretly influences the club's activities in order to achieve even more power and wealth.

Members

 * Elias Bogan
 * Trevor Fitzroy
 * Emma Frost
 * Selene Gallio
 * Harry Leland
 * Donald Pierce
 * Sebastian Shaw
 * Shinobi Shaw
 * Friedrich Von Roehm
 * Madelyne Pryor
 * Sat-Yr-9
 * Benedict Kine

Related Article: List of Hellfire Club Members

Film
In the film X-Men: First Class, the Hellfire Club are the main antagonists, and consists of Sebastian Shaw (the leader), Emma Frost, Riptide, and Azazel. They intended to bring about nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Emma Frost was captured by Charles Xavier and Magneto, and imprisoned by the CIA, but Angel Salvadore joined the Hellfire Club after they attacked the Man in Black's base. Eventually, Shaw's attempts at starting nuclear war were foiled, and Shaw was killed by Magneto. Following this, Riptide, Azazel, and Angel joined Magneto's Brotherhood, along with Mystique, and they broke Emma out of prison. Thus, the Hellfire Club was no more, as its leader was dead and its other members were now part of the Brotherhood.

However, the ex-Hellfire Club members all met their doom before X-Men: Days of Future Past, as they were experimented on and killed by Bolivar Trask (although a viral marketing suggests that Azazel and Angel were shot by Project Wideawake operatives sometime before the deaths of Emma and Riptide, though both were shown in Trask's autopsy files).

X-Men Animated Series
The Hellfire Club renamed the Inner Circle (for censorship reasons) for the series appears consisting of the Black King, White Queen, Harry Leland, Donald Pierce and Jason Wyngarde. The Inner Circle aimed to control Jean Grey and brainwash into believing herself to be the Black Queen of the Inner Circle, though they only managed to unleash the Dark Phoenix. The Hellfire Club appeared in the Dark Phoenix Saga storyline.