The Illusive Man

"Listen to your friend Ebrown...Cerberus isn't what people made it out to be, dont label us as terrorists, that's not what we are, we have changed..."

- The Illusive Man on the Collector Proposition

Not much is known about The Illusive Man besides that he owns the labeled terrorist group Cerberus, a group responsible for torture of more than 50,000 people in the galaxy, also for creating local viruses for colonies.

The Illusive Man has been a target by the Alliance for years upon years after exploding a science facility in Grettchen, resulting in widespread airborn disease.

The Illusive Man has a strong interest for the Collectors, offering a peice of information leading to Alexander Tillery, in exchange for Cerberus scientists to board The Ulyssey and extract Collector data.

Betrayal

After coming back from Titan, Tillery and ally Raiden dead with Mordin wounded, the crew of The Ulyssey found the ship to be empty, a few dead bodies scattered around as the rest were gone without a trace, hardly any blood was spilled in this mysterious incident.

The crew later found out that The Illusive Man played a huge role in the crews dissaperance, according to Tara that the collectors had a lead and found the Ulyssey through it, not Cerberus, but the Collectors that showed up instead. The Illusive Man is discovered as a terrorist organization leader by the entire crew and Solaris and looked down upon for trusting him.

A secret alliance

Later on after the crew of the Ulyssey is found and rescued, it's discovered that The Illusive Man played around and made an alliance with The Collectors, giving them information about The Ulyssey in return to spare him and give him access to data from their faction. The Illusive Man purposly sent data about The Ulyssey to the collectors and had them retrieve the crew for him, having full control of Young before he was rescued by the two commanders.

The I.M continues to appear through holograms to annoy the commanders, telling them their demise and that they can always turn and trust him if they fell its right, as always they ignore his offer and destroy the hologram.

After the crew enters the Collector base, they find old cerberus labs where they were experimenting with genetic-altered humans, the lab was stationed in the lower parts of the base and were empty upon discovery. After the commanders reach the core of the base and hack into it, The I.M is seen in the system, only showing up as he always does, in a hologram. He tries to tell the commanders to not destroy the ship and to keep it for technology reasons and that the galaxy will thrive over its discovery and learn how to defeat the new threat, Reapers. He begs the commanders, especially Solaris, to keep the base and destroy Harbinger to get him out of the picture, and that Cerberus and the Ulyssey can work together. Solaris makes it clear that it is the last time he ever wants to be offered a deal by The I.M and says no personally, cutting off the system and planting a bomb in the core. Harbinger's altered species begin to come from deep within the core and attack the commanders. It is seen that The Illusive Man and Harbingers friendship was destroyed after his conversation with Solaris and Ebrown.

 The Arrival - A threat of an organization 

"You would think that when the fate of extinction is upon people that they wouldn't try and terrorize others, but work together" - Ebrown on Cerberus

The Illusive Man unleashes his true threat upon the galaxy, his organization Cerberus that had been held back during the Collectors terrorism also proves a challenge in the fate of the galaxy. Cerberus consists of newer enemies such as the red and black suited man and Stella Bullet. They prove to be a powerful military force that invades every known source of the Reapers and Bahamut crew, nearly killing everyone in the process. Although The Illusive Man will most likely not make an apperance until later, Cerberus is concluded an extremely hostile faction by the galaxy, especially the bahamut crew.