Who can handle all 6 Infinity Stones?

MCU’s Infinity Stones explained- what they are and what each one does

At the heart of the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been the six gems known as Infinity Stones.

Each stone holds a particular power and through the last decade of Marvel movies, various characters have attempted to wield them to enact terrible destruction upon the universe.

As Benicio Del Toro’s character The Collector says: “Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots… Infinity Stones.”

In Avengers: Infinity War big bad Thanos successfully acquired all six stones in order to assemble his Infinity Gauntlet, providing him with the ability to control all reality and finally enact his plan to wipe out half the galaxy. Yep, spoiler alert – he pulled it off.

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Before all that, though, the stones appeared multiple times in varying ways throughout the many movies in the MCU, and it’s easy to lose track of which stone does what and where they came from. So, we thought we’d catch you up with everything you need to know about the Infinity Stones ahead of the Avengers’ final attempt to wrest them back from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.

The Mind Stone

Name: The Mind Stone

AKA: Loki’s Sceptre, Vision’s headstone (ironically)

Colour: Yellow

First seen: Avengers Assemble, though not revealed as an Infinity Stone until Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Now: In Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet

In the MCU: Way back in the original Avengers, Loki came to Earth to try to rule the planet. One of his weapons of choice was a sceptre given to him by Thanos which he used to control the minds of Hawkeye and Erik Selvig. It was later revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron that the sceptre contained the Mind Stone, which was then used to bring android the Vision to life.

In Avengers: Infinity War the team attempted to remove the stone to save Vision’s life, but after they failed Scarlet Witch destroyed it (and Vision) in a heroic moment of sacrifice. Thanos, sadly, wasn’t having it and just rewound time to bring Vision back, then tore the stone (the final one he needed) from the android’s head. With all six stones, he was free to enact his final plan.

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What does it do? So far we’ve seen the Mind Stone used to control minds, create energy blasts and power the Vision. It has also been noted that Scarlet Witch derived her abilities from the Mind Stone back in Age of Ultron, possibly leading to her connection with Vision.

The Space Stone

Name: The Space Stone

AKA: The Tesseract

Colour: Blue

First seen: Captain America: The First Avenger

Now: In Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet

In the MCU: The Space Stone made its first appearance as the Tesseract, a legendary energy cube of great power stolen by Hydra leader Red Skull, before being rediscovered by SHIELD some time later. Chronologically, the next time it turned up was in the 90s-set Captain Marvel, where it was being used to power new flight technology until it was taken into safekeeping by the Skrulls, then returned to SHIELD custody.

The Tesseract was then used to open the portal to deep space to let in Loki’s invading forces in 2012’s Avengers Assemble before being taken to the vaults of Asgard. In Thor: Ragnarok, Loki spotted the Tesseract in the vaults and took it for himself, eventually handing it over to Thanos in the opening scenes of Avengers: Infinity War.

What does it do? The Space Stone has the power to create interstellar bridges from one end of space to the other. It is, in effect, a portal to other parts of the universe making it an incredibly useful asset to the invading Thanos. The Space Stone was used by Odin and Heimdall to build the Bifrost on Asgard, the rainbow coloured bridge that allows Asgardians access to the nine realms. It is also a powerful source of energy, used to run Hydra’s weapons in Captain America: The First Avenger and Kree technology in Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel also derives her energy powers from the Stone.

The Reality Stone

Name: The Reality Stone

AKA: The Aether

Colour: Red

First seen: Thor: The Dark World

Now: In Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet

In the MCU: The Aether was the object of desire for Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves in the Thor sequel. During the film, Natalie Portman’s character was bonded with the Aether making her a target for the evil elf. By the end of the film it had been taken by the Lady Sif to the Collector on Knowhere in order to keep distance between the Aether and the Space Stone, which was in Odin’s treasure room on Asgard.

Unfortunately, this made the Reality Stone a fairly easy target for Thanos, who captured it offscreen in Infinity War before using it to trick and defeat the Guardians of the Galaxy.

What does it do? As the Aether the Stone turned matter into dark matter by binding with a host and absorbing their life force, while in Thanos’ gauntlet it grants the bearer temporary power over reality, allowing Thanos to create impossibly convincing illusions and transform the matter of his foes.

The Power Stone

Name: The Power Stone

AKA: The Orb

Colour: Purple

First seen: Guardians of the Galaxy

Now: Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet

In the MCU: The Orb forms the central focus of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film with pretty much every character seeking it out. It is then revealed that the Orb is home to the Power Stone, a purple ingot of planet-destroying power, and after a struggle for possession it’s left in the custody of the Nova Corps on Xandar.

Unfortunately, shortly before the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos invades and largely destroys Xandar, gaining the Power Stone in the process and beginning his (fairly swift) collection of all six stones.

What does it do? Among its other uses the Power Stone acts as a mini Death Star, allowing its wielder to destroy planets just by touching the stone to the earth. Ronan, the fanatical Kree villain of the first Guardians film, gained enhanced strength from the stone and intended to use it to destroy all living matter on Xandar, the home of the Nova Corp. In Infinity War the Power Stone was the most regularly used of all the Infinity Stones, allowing Thanos to outclass the Hulk for strength and easily swat away the other Avengers in battle.

The Time Stone

Name: The Time Stone

AKA: The Eye of Agamotto

Colour: Green

First seen: Doctor Strange

Now: In Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet

In the MCU: Doctor Strange introduced the idea of ancient relics of great power chosing a sorcerer to wield them, and the famed Eye of Agamotto apparently chose Strange himself as its master. In the film we saw the stone, housed inside a pendant, being protected by the sorcerers in the New York Sanctum, and Strange was able to use its time-bending abilities to imprison the evil Dormammu.

Infinity War, meanwhile, showed us the Stone in action once again. Strange attempts to use it against Thanos’s henchman Ebony Maw but to little success, while Thanos himself (after receiving the Stone from Strange as a trade for Tony Stark’s life) uses its power to reverse the destruction of the Vision and his accompanying Mind Stone (see above).

What does it do? The Time Stone, when properly used, can reverse or accelerate time. In Doctor Strange it is used as a means of reversing the destruction of the Dark Dimension and Dormammu, while in Infinity War it brings Vision (briefly) back to life. It is suggested that Strange is also able to use it to see multiple possible future timelines.

The pendant itself, created by the first Sorcerer Supreme, was a means of housing and controlling the power of the stone for use by its owner, much like Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet.

The Soul Stone

Name: The Soul Stone

AKA: N/A

A history of Marvel comics heroes who’ve dared to wield the Infinity Gauntlet

Avengers: Endgame was the biggest movie of 2019, and a sequel to a movie about a villain collecting the Infinity Stones, which itself was all about the heroes trying to collect the Infinity Stones.

In the end, Tony Stark sacrificed himself by wielding the gauntlet to defeat Thanos. He was only human, and when your weapon of choice leaves Smart Hulk aching, one can only imagine the energy rush it sends through a mortal human. The ultimate act defeated the big purple king, and should shape the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the years to come.

In the wake of the Infinity Saga, it seems like a great time to look at the history of the Infinity Gauntlet in the main universe of Marvel Comics, beginning with the original Infinity Gauntlet miniseries. There’s an elite class of characters who have collected all six Infinity Stones and successfully used their power — and not all of them were major players in Avengers: Endgame.

Thanos

Obviously, Thanos created the Infinity Gauntlet, so he’s the first person to ever wield its power and, arguably, the one who wore it best. But hey — it’s easy to pull off something as decadent as a gold glove if you’re naturally a royal purple.

Thanos collected the Infinity Stones for the first time in Marvel Comics history in Jim Starlin, George Pérez, and Ron Lim’s 1991 miniseries Infinity Gauntlet, and used his newfound omnipotence to do the cosmic equivalent of hanging around Mistress Death’s house with a boombox.

He killed half the universe, as she had ordered him to, and transformed her space fortress into a shrine to her worship. He trapped Nebula in a living hell of pain to the point of death, without allowing her to die. He displayed his helpless brother Eros for Death’s amusement, and he fought the Avengers — turning Wolverine’s bones to rubber, suffocating Cyclops in an airtight cube, transporting Drax back in time into the age of dinosaurs, turning Thor to glass and shattering him — to prove his bravery.

But eventually, Thanos’ ego got the better of him, and a momentary lapse in judgement allowed a second person to snatch the Infinity Gauntlet off his hand and take it for her own.

Nebula

Nebula’s short tenure with the glove was as chaotic as Thanos’. She used it to immediately restore her body to health and banish Thanos to the depths of space. Later, in a heated moment, she reset the universe nearly as it was 24 hours previously, returning its decimated population to life and reviving the many beings Thanos had personally killed, as well.

But ultimately, by the end of Infinity Gauntlet, the eponymous glove wasn’t on the hand of Thanos, or Nebua, or any hero of Earth.

Adam Warlock

At the end of Infinity Gauntlet, Adam Warlock takes possession of the Infinity Stones.

If there’s a big glaring difference between the story of the Infinity Gems in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel Comics Universe, it’s that the character of Adam Warlock has yet to be properly introduced to the MCU. For the purposes of this piece, all you really need to know about Warlock (not to be confused with the X-Man character known as Warlock) is that he’s an artificially created “perfect” human who, following a series of complicated events, became a sort of space messiah.

And, in Marvel Comics, he’s the traditional guardian of the Soul Stone. Warlock didn’t do much with the Infinity Gauntlet, desiring mostly to keep it from being used by someone less scrupulous than him. But the supreme cosmic forces of the Marvel Universe ordered him to give up the Gauntlet and split up the Infinity Stones — which resulted in the creation of the Infinity Stone-guarding team known as Infinity Watch.

But that’s another story.

Mister Fantastic (sort of)

Years later, in 2007’s New Avengers: Illuminati #2, Mister Fantastic sought to collect the Infinity Stones, with the help of a shadowy cabal of Marvel heroes. But all he wanted them for was to try and use their power to wish the Gauntlet and Stones out of existence — it didn’t work.

But, this meant that a group of Earth’s most powerful heroes were now in charge of safeguarding the Infinity Stones, which paved the way for the Gauntlet’s next user:

Iron Man

Tony Stark is the first human being to successfully don the Infinity Gauntlet and use its power, which he did in order to foil the machinations of the supervillain the Hood, who had managed to steal five of the six gems from their guardians. Tony used the gauntlet to return the Hood to prison and make it appear as if he had destroyed the Gauntlet, when he actually returned the Gauntlet and the Stones to his allies.

Captain America

Earth’s heroes used the Gauntlet a final time to defend the Earth from an Incursion — another universe in the Marvel Multiverse that was colliding with the main Marvel one. Captain America used the Gauntlet to push an entire universe away from his own, and when he was done, the Stones shattered.

Which, at least, solved the problem of having to hide all the pieces of the universe’s most dangerous smoking gun on the planet Earth. The Stones remained shattered until the entire Marvel Multiverse was destroyed and remade in 2015’s Secret Wars event.

Following Secret Wars, the stones were significantly different than their previous incarnation — which is to say, they were now much closer in appearance to the movie versions. And, it would seem, the modern Infinity Stones don’t need the Infinity Gauntlet at all.

Gamora

In last summer’s Infinity Wars event, Gamora collected all six Infinity Stones and used them to fold the universe in half, collapsing Marvel heroes in to mashups of themselves like Iron Hammer and Ghost Panther, and she did it all without ever requiring a gauntlet. She embedded the Power Stone in the hilt of a badass sword and the five other stones just orbited around her head.

But another Marvel character managed to trick Gamora into fumbling the Infinity Stones, and assembled a set of his own:

Loki

To be fair, Loki doesn’t do much with the stones. He confronts the mighty Celestials, who show him his future, which he finds disappointing — so he returns the gems to the current Infinity Watch and goes on his merry way.

The Avengers: Endgame guide

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Infographic: Behold the Infinity Stones of Enterprise Integration

As Avengers Infinity War brings out the big guns on both sides, including the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet powered by the 6 Infinity Stones, the world of IT isn’t far behind.

Enterprises realize the need for a more integrated IT structure, and we have just the right Infinity Gauntlet for it – Adeptia Connect. Adeptia Connect uses its 6 Infinity Stones, or core functionalities, to deliver the very best of Enterprise Integration.

Turn on some metal, as we unfold some unbelievable superpowers you can wield with Adeptia Connect, similar to the Infinity Gauntlet gems.

1. Reality Stone (Aether): Allows bearer to alter reality and laws of physics.

Data Transformation: Changes the metaphysics of the IT world to enable complex data transformations without engineering commands.

2. Soul Stone: Provides route to an idyllic pocket universe. Grants full control over all life forms in the universe. Gives control over all living and dead souls in the universe.

IT Governance: Gives greater control to IT in a universe where many cloud and on-premise applications coexist. Allows IT to govern and business users to create data connections.

3. Mind Stone: Enhances bearer’s psionic and mental abilities to access thoughts, ideas, and dreams of others.

Self Service Integration: Delivers telekinetic self-service integration abilities. Business users can integrate enterprises (hubs) & partners (spokes) and automate 90% of onboarding.

4. Space Stone (Tesseract): Allows subjects to teleport and travel to any remote part of space.

Data Transportation: Opens gates to teleport data in a multidimensional IT space between different source and target elements.

5. Power Stone: Boosts physical strength and durability of all energy forms. Grants omnipotence to the users at optimum level. Improves the effect of other five gems.

Comprehensive Integration Backbone: Provides industry schemas and API capabilities to lift heavy workloads. Eliminates shadow IT, lowers operational cost by 80%, and aligns business & IT.

6. Time Stone (Eye of Agamotto): Gives total control over time to user.

Faster Service Delivery & Go-to-Market Capability: Prebuilt connectors reduce deployment time by 70% and onboard partners in minutes, as opposed to months.

Email us at [email protected] to know how Adeptia Connect can enhance your integration architecture. You can also request for a customized demo by clicking here.

All Marvel characters and elements are trademark and copyright of Marvel Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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