Infinity Gems
The Infinity Gems are six gems appearing in Marvel Comics. The six gems are the Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time Gems. The Gems have been used by various characters in the Marvel Universe.
The gems played a prominent role in the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where they are referred to as the Infinity Stones.
Publication history
The first appearance of an Infinity Gem occurred in 1972 in Marvel Premiere #1. It was originally called a "Soul Gem". In 1976, a second "Soul Gem" appeared in a Captain Marvel story which established that there were six Soul Gems, each with different powers. One year later, two more "Soul Gems" were introduced in a Warlock crossover involving Spider-Man. The full set of six Gems appeared when the death-obsessed villain Thanos attempted to use them to extinguish every star in the universe. In a 1988 storyline in Silver Surfer vol. 3, the Elders of the Universe tried to use the "Soul Gems" to steal the energy of the world-eating entity Galactus.In the 1990 limited series The Thanos Quest, Thanos refers to the entire set as "Infinity Gems" for the first time. In this storyline, he steals the Gems for the second time and reveals the Gems to be the last remains of an omnipotent being. Thanos then places all six gems within his left gauntlet. In the miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos uses the Gems to become nearly omnipotent and kills half the universe's population as a gift to his love, the cosmic embodiment of Death. Although he easily repels an attack by Earth's heroes and other cosmic entities including Eternity, the Gauntlet is eventually stolen from him by Nebula, who undoes the last 24 hours, including his mass killings. Adam Warlock then recovers the Gauntlet and, by order of the Living Tribunal, divides the Gems among a group he calls "the Infinity Watch", consisting of himself, the superheroes Gamora, Pip the Troll, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon, and his former adversary Thanos. The group's adventures in defending the Gems appear in the series Warlock and the Infinity Watch.
The Gems are next gathered by Warlock's evil alter ego, the Magus, in the 1992 limited series The Infinity War, where he is defeated by Warlock and Earth's heroes, including Thanos. In the 1993 limited series The Infinity Crusade, the embodiment of Warlock's goodness, the Goddess, attempts to destroy evil in the universe by destroying free will. The Gems are then once again retrieved by the Infinity Watch.
In a story arc of the Thanos series, Galactus gathers the six Gems but accidentally allows an interdimensional entity named Hunger access to the Marvel universe. Thanos and Galactus banish the entity and the Gems are scattered again with the exception of the Soul Gem, which Thanos retains for its customary custodian Adam Warlock. In , a 2007–2008 limited series, a cabal of Earth's heroes gather the Gems and attempt to wish them out of existence but discover that they must exist as part of the cosmic balance. Instead, the Illuminati divide and hide the Gems.
In a 2010 Avengers storyline, the human criminal known as the Hood steals several Gems but is defeated by use of the remaining Gems; the Illuminati attempt to hide them again. The Illuminati later wield the Gems to stop another universe from collapsing into their own but the Gems are shattered by the effort. Afterwards, the previously vanished Time Gem appears to Captain America and some of the Avengers and transports them into future realities, shattering time in the process.
As a result of the Incursions, the entire Multiverse is destroyed. However, Doctor Doom combines fragments of several alternate realities into Battleworld. Doctor Strange gathers Infinity Gems from various realities into a new Infinity Gauntlet, which he leaves hidden until the surviving heroes of Earth-616 return. The Gauntlet is subsequently claimed by T'Challa, who uses it to keep the Beyonder-enhanced Doom occupied until Mister Fantastic can disrupt his power source.
Following the recreation of the Multiverse, the Infinity Gems are recreated and scattered across the universe, with their colors switched and some taking on uncut ingot forms. In Marvel Legacy #1, the Space Stone appears on Earth where a Frost Giant working for Loki steals it from a S.H.I.E.L.D. storage facility, however he is intercepted and defeated by a resurrected Wolverine. Star-Lord discovers an extra-large Power Stone being protected by the Nova Corps, and an alternate universe Peter Quill named Starkill has the Reality Stone. A future version of Ghost Rider is revealed to possess a shard of the Time Stone, while in the present the complete stone restores the ruined planet of Sakaar and is claimed by the Super-Skrull. The Mind Stone is found on Earth in the hands of petty crook Turk Barrett, and the Soul Stone is mentioned to Adam Warlock to be in the hands of his dark aspect, the Magus; however, Ultron is able to claim it after ambushing and killing him. The Stones are shown to have a pocket universe existing within each of them. Adam Warlock uses the Soul Stone to grant sentience to each of the Stones, which then travel the universe, finding a suitable host and bonding with them.
Description
Each Gem is shaped like a small oval and is named after, and represents, a different characteristic of existence. Possessing any single Gem grants the user the ability to command whatever aspect of existence the Gem represents. The Gems are not immutable. For instance, on two occasions, one or more of the Gems have appeared as deep pink spheres several feet in diameter, while on other occasions, the Gems have appeared in their small oval shape but with different coloring.. In the Ultraverse, after merging into their original form of Nemesis, the Gems were again separated after a battle with Ultraforce and the Avengers. As part of the Marvel Legacy initiative, the Infinity Gems, had their colors altered to match the colors of the Infinity Stones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.The six Infinity Gems include:
Name | Original color | Marvel Legacy color | Powers and capabilities | Known users | Pocket universe |
Soul | Green | Orange | Allows the user to steal, control, manipulate, and alter living and dead souls; as well as animate the motionless. The Soul Gem also acts as a gateway to an idyllic pocket universe. At full potential, when backed by the Power Gem, the Soul Gem grants the user control over all life in the universe. | High Evolutionary; Adam Warlock; Gardener; In-Betweener; Thanos; Nebula; Magus; Doctor Strange; Ultron/Hank Pym; Requiem; Loki | Soul World: the final resting place for all lost spirits. Overseen by the Soul-Eater Devondra. |
Time | Orange | Green | Allows the user to see into the past and the future; stop, slow down, speed up or reverse the flow of time; travel through time; change the past and the future; age and de-age beings, and trap people or entire universes in unending loops of time. At full potential, when backed by the Power Gem, the Time Gem grants the user omniscience and total control over the past, present, and future. | Gardener; Thanos; Nebula; Adam Warlock; Gamora; Doctor Strange; Maxam; Magus; Rune; Hardcase; Galactus; Namor; Thor; Mister Fantastic; Iron Man; Lockheed; Black Widow; Kl'rt; Requiem; Ant-Man; Loki; Hector Bautista | Ellipsis: manipulates the flow of time for anyone within it. Its ruler is unknown. |
Space | Purple | Blue | Allows the user to exist in any location; move any object anywhere throughout reality; warp or rearrange space; teleport themselves and others; increase their speed, and alter the distance between objects contrary to the laws of physics. At full potential, when backed by the Power Gem, the Space Gem grants the user omnipresence. | Runner; Thanos; Nebula; Adam Warlock; Pip the Troll; Iron Man; Hood; Wolverine; Black Widow; Requiem; Black Bolt; Loki | The Vast: an endless expanse of empty existence stretching on into forever. Its ruler is unknown. |
Mind | Blue | Yellow | Allows the user to enhance their mental and psionic abilities and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings. At full potential, when backed by the Power Gem, the Mind Gem can access all minds in existence simultaneously. The Mind Gem is also the manifestation of the universal subconscious. | Grandmaster; Thanos; Nebula; Adam Warlock; Moondragon; Magus; Rune; Primevil; Galactus; Professor X; Hood; Ms. Marvel; Beast; Turk Barrett; Requiem; Kamala Khan; Loki, Vision | The Mindscape: allows the user to bring anything they imagine or dream of to life. Overseen by the Sleepwalkers. |
Reality | Yellow | Red | Allows the user to fulfill their wishes, even if the wish is in direct contradiction with scientific laws, and do things that would normally be impossible. At full potential, when backed by the other five Gems, the Reality Gem allows the user to alter reality on a universal scale and also create any type of alternate reality the user wishes. | Stranger; Collector; Thanos; Nebula; Adam Warlock; Rune; Night Man; Galactus; Black Bolt; Hood; Iron Man; Black Widow; Vision; Carol Danvers; Requiem; Kang the Conqueror; Loki; Ripley Ryan | World Pool: used to access alternate realities, which are portrayed as an endless comic book collection. Overseen by Archivus, the chronicler of the Multiverse. |
Power | Red | Purple | Allows the user to access and manipulate all forms of energy and/or powers; i.e. enhancing their physical strength and durability; augment any superhuman ability; and boost the effects of the other five Gems. At full potential, the Power Gem grants the user omnipotence. | Champion of the Universe; Thanos; Nebula; Adam Warlock; Drax the Destroyer; Thor; Magus; Rune; Lord Pumpkin; Galactus; She-Hulk; Titania; Mister Fantastic; The Hood; Red Hulk; Xiambor; Namor; The Juggernaut; Nova Corps; Star-Lord; Requiem; Emma Frost; Loki | The Arena: resembles a Colosseum where heroes fight each other in a contest of might. Ruled by Dynamus, the living embodiment of the Power Cosmic. |
Additional Gems have appeared in crossover media and alternate universes outside the Marvel Universe, often comedic in nature.
Name | Color | Powers and capabilities | Known owners |
Ego | White | The Ego Gem contains the consciousness of the cosmic entity Nemesis and recreates her when united with the other six Gems. The Ego Gem is found in the Ultraverse when the Asgardian god Loki attempts to steal the other six Gems. | Sersi; Nemesis |
Rhythm | Pink | A seventh, fake "Rhythm Gem" is created by Loki as part of a scheme in the ' video game. | Loki; Enchantress; Thanos |
Build | Red | In the ' animated film, a seventh Build Stone exists. Thanos seeks to possess the Build Stone in order to build a weapon. | |
Death | Yellow | In The Infinity Gauntlet 2015 limited series, released as part of the Secret Wars crossover event, Anwen Bakian uses the Reality Stone to create the Death Stone. Anwen gives it to Thanos, and it corrupts him with black matter and turns him to dust. | Anwen Bakian; Thanos |
Continuity | Black | In an issue of the Deadpool'' comic series, Deadpool gets his hands on the Continuity Stone, which gives the characters the power to talk to the comic book writers themselves. | Deadpool |
Other versions
Council of Reeds
The Reed Richards of Earth-616, in an attempt to "solve everything", meets with a council of alternate universe Reeds. Three of them wear Infinity Gauntlets, which only work in their respective universes.''New Avengers''
During the "Incursion" storyline, the Avengers travel to a parallel Earth where a pastiche of the Justice League have replaced this Earth's Avengers who all died in a previous cataclysm. Here the Gems are all square planes which are assembled into the "Wishing Cube", a composite of the concepts of the Infinity Gems and the Cosmic Cube.''Secret Wars''
After various alternate universes are combined into Battleworld, Doctor Strange gathers Infinity Gems from other universes into a new Infinity Gauntlet that works in the area where Doom has built his palace. Strange leaves the Gauntlet hidden until he has access to someone he can trust it with. After his death, the Gauntlet is claimed by T'Challa, who uses it against Doom in the final battle.A separate section of Battleworld known as New Xandar also has a Gauntlet fought over by multiple factions until the majority of the Stones, except the Reality Stone, were taken by Thanos. Thanos eventually tracks the missing Stone to Nova Corps member Anwen Bakian. When Thanos confronts her to get the Stone, Anwen gives him a duplicate of the Reality Stone she created called the 'Death Stone'. When used along with the other five Stones, the Death Stone corrupts Thanos with black matter and turns him to dust.
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, an Infinity Gauntlet is seen in Project Pegasus. The Mind Gem is used by Modi to control both Director Flumm and Cassie Lang, but are stopped by the Ultimates. The Power Gem is later revealed to be in the possession of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sayuri Kyota, while a second Infinity Gauntlet is recovered from an A.I.M. base by Thor and Susan Storm. Kang the Conqueror later allies himself with the Hulk, Reed Richards and Quicksilver as part of a plan to steal the two Gauntlets, which results in the destruction of the Triskelion. Quicksilver recovers two additional Gems allowing the villains to teleport away. Richards is later able to recover another of the Gems, which is found lodged in Tony Stark's brain. He informs Stark that the Infinity Gems are needed to save the world from a coming cataclysm that will destroy the entire universe. After brainwashing Johnny Storm and forcing him to travel to the Earth's core, the Dark Ultimates are able to recover the final gem, but are defeated by the Ultimates. The gems then shatter, rendering the Gauntlets useless.''What If?''
In a reality where Doctor Doom retained the power of the Beyonder, Doom acquired the Infinity Gems from the Elders of the Universe and used them to defeat the Celestials in a 407-year-long war before finally forsaking his power.In an alternate reality where the original Fantastic Four died, a new Fantastic Four – consisting of Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider – was formed. With Iron Man replacing Ghost Rider, they were the only heroes available to fight Thanos when he initially assembled the Infinity Gauntlet. Despite Iron Man's use of Negative Zone-enhanced Celestial armor, Thanos still easily defeated the team until Wolverine tricked Thanos into erasing Mephisto from existence before cutting off Thanos's left arm, and therefore the Infinity Gauntlet. With Thanos powerless, Spider-Man used the gauntlet to undo the events of Thanos's godhood.
''Contest of Champions''
In the Contest of Champions miniseries, an alternate version of Tony Stark uses the Reality Gem to win the superhero civil war and affect the outcome of a presidential election. When he tries to use the Gem on Battleworld, he is killed by the Maestro, who says the Gems do not work in any universe other than their own.In other media
Television
- The Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems appear in The Super Hero Squad Show television show.
- The Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Gems appear in Avengers Assemble; the Infinity Gauntlet only has five Infinity Stones, lacking the Soul Stone.
- *The Soul Stone is a part of Adam Warlock and both appear in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Films
In order of introduction, they are:
- Mind Stone :
- Reality Stone :
The Infinity Gauntlet also appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A right-handed gauntlet appears in Thor, where it's stored in Odin's vault; though this one was later revealed to be a fake by Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. The mid-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron revealed Thanos had acquired a left-handed gauntlet. Avengers: Infinity War elaborates on this, revealing Thanos had forced Eitri to create the gauntlet by threatening to kill his people, though he did so once it was completed anyway as well as crippled Eitri's hands to prevent him from making anything else. In Avengers: Endgame'', after Thanos wipes out half of all life in the universe with the Infinity Stones – in the event that is now known as "The Blip" – and destroys them to prevent his work from being undone, the Avengers use nanotechnology to create a third, right-handed gauntlet in order to use the Infinity Stones they had acquired from the past. Bruce Banner in his "Professor Hulk" form, due to being the most immune to the gamma radiation the Infinity Stones' combined powers emit, uses the gauntlet to reverse the Blip. Immediately afterwards, the Avengers are besieged by a past version of Thanos and his army, with the Mad Titan now intending to use the Past Infinity Stones to destroy the universe and build it anew once he erases all memory of the original out of revenge for them attempting to undo his work. In the ensuing battle, Tony Stark sacrifices himself by using the Past Infinity Stones—having incorporated them into his armor—to disintegrate Past Thanos and his forces; removing them from the timeline altogether. After Stark's funeral, Steve Rogers returns the Past Infinity Stones and a past version of Mjolnir that Thor took from 2013 to the times and places they'd come from to prevent alternate timelines from forming.
Video games
- The Infinity Gems are featured in some games developed by Capcom:
- * The gems are featured in Marvel Super Heroes In War of the Gems and Marvel Super Heroes.
- * The Infinity Gems are seen in ' when Thanos uses Power, Soul, Reality, and Space for his Supers.
- * The Infinity Stones play a major role in '. During gameplay, using an Infinity Stone will grant player characters a specific enhancement based on the Infinity Stone being used. In the game's story, Ultron and Sigma use the Space Stone and Reality Stone to be Ultron Sigma and merge the worlds into one under their control, and the heroes must retrieve the other four stones to stop the fused supervillain, with a reluctant help from Thanos, whom Ultron Sigma betrayed prior to convergence. Although the Reality Stone is unknowingly being broken by Thanos during his second fight against Ultron Sigma, the heroes of two worlds begin to rebuild a new society after X destroyed Ultron and Sigma. The Infinity Stones in the game use the Infinity Stones' naming and color scheme from the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than the Infinity Gems' naming and color scheme from previous Marvel video games. The Collector's Edition of the game comes with a replica of the Infinity Stones housed in a small box with an LED display.
- The Infinity Gems, including the Infinity Sword, appear as a driving part of the ' video game.
- From January to August 2012, Wizkids presented the Infinity Gauntlet program at stores that host HeroClix tournaments. An Infinity Gauntlet prop was released, followed by a different Gem each month. Each Gem can be added to the Gauntlet, increasing its power in game. The Gems can be displayed on a stand that comes with the Gauntlet or on each Elder that Thanos encountered in the story Thanos Quest.
- Replica Infinity Gauntlets were given out as trophies at Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 8, a 2012 Road to Evo tournament.
- In a tie-in with the film Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel and Epic Games announced the "Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup" mode for Fortnite Battle Royale, where players can find the Gauntlet hidden on the game map and become Thanos with added abilities.
- The Infinity Stones appear in '. A key part of the game's story, Thanos and the Black Order attempt to collect the Infinity Stones in order to achieve galactic conquest and are opposed by the Avengers, the X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Defenders, the Heroes for Hire, the Web Warriors, the Inhumans, the Midnight Sons, the Spider-Verse, the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Knights, including some villains like the Brotherhood of Mutants, Venom, Loki and Doctor Doom. It is revealed when the full gears of Infinity Armor combines with the Stones, it proves too dangerous for the users who wears them, making them unstable and progressively killing themselves along with every life in universe, as demonstrated by Thane and being the main reason why Thanos only take the stone equitable gauntlet of the armor. The clash between Thanos and his now fallen son Thane results the birth of the greatest threat that will invade the universe.
- The Infinity Stones and Infinity Gauntlet make a cameo appearance twice in Lego Marvel's Avengers as well as mentioned several times. While playing as "Thanos" after idling for about a minute, Thanos will pull out a replica, shine it, then put it on his hand. It is again featured in the level based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie .