Infinity Gems

Infinity Gems, originally referred to as Soul Gems, are six immensely powerful fictional gems appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Whoever holds all six gems and uses them in concert, such as in the Infinity Gauntlet, gains virtual omnipotence and omniscience. In later storylines, crossovers and other media, a seventh Infinity Gem is sometimes added to the primary six.

Publication history

The Soul Gem first appears in The Power of Warlock,^[1] with all six appearing during the second Thanos War storyline in an Avengers and Marvel Two-In-One annual, with Thanos harnessing their latent energies to power a giant gem to extinguish every star in the universe.^[2]

In the third volume of the Silver Surfer title, the character refers to the gems as Soul Gems.^[3] They are gathered by the Elders of the Universe, who intend to use their combined power to drain Galactus of his lifeforce and then recreate the universe with themselves as the oldest beings in it (Galactus (Galan) having existed in the Universe that existed prior to the birth of the current Marvel Universe). This plot is thwarted by the Silver Surfer with several Elders and the gems lost in a black hole, while Galactus consumed other members of the Elders. In a follow-up story, because the Elders of the Universe were barred from entering Death's realm due to prior machinations of the Grandmaster, Galactus soon found himself being poisoned from within by the Elders he consumed. Silver Surfer, Mr. Fantastic, and the Invisible Woman journeyed through the black hole to recover the gems, where Invisible Woman became possessed by the sentient Soul Gem and had her evil Malice persona awakened. She was later subdued and the gems were returned to successfully extract the Elders and save Galactus. The gems then fell back into the possession of the Elders before the beginning of their most famous story.

In the limited series Thanos Quest Thanos refers to the entire set as Infinity Gems for the first time. Thanos systematically subdues the Elders one by one to gather all six gems. Once reunited under his control he sets the gems into a gold glove (the left gauntlet of his customary attire) which he refers to as the Infinity Gauntlet. This series also reveals the origin of the Gems, with Thanos explaining to the Runner, one of the Elders of the Universe, that the set are actually the remains of a once nigh omnipotent but lonely being (later revealed to be Nemesis). Unable to endure eternity alone, Nemesis eventually commits suicide, although a fraction of her being remains and becomes the Infinity Gems.^[4]

Thanos becomes nigh omnipotent and challenges the Silver Surfer and Drax in the former's title, handling the heroes with ease. He also reclaims his ship Sanctuary II from its current captain, his ostensible granddaughter, the space pirate Nebula, burning her nearly to death, but then uses the Gems to keep her suspended between life and death in immortal agony as a "work of art" in his words; "a monument to the insanity of Life and Death denied." He is then joined by Mephisto as an adviser as he sets about dominating reality, while the Silver Surfer makes his way to Earth to warn Earth's superheroes of the threat of Thanos and the Gems, thus setting the stage for the tale of the Infinity Gauntlet.

In the Infinity Gauntlet limited series, Thanos uses the Gauntlet to erase half the population of the universe, finally completing the quest that had led him to find the Gems and assemble the Gauntlet in the first place; fulfilling a pledge to his love, Lady Death, who felt it was a great cosmic imbalance that there were currently more sentient beings alive than had ever died in all of history, that this was a danger akin to a universal ecological imbalance which would lead to starvation, pestilence, and misery for the overpopulated living species across the cosmos. Thanos goes on to decimate Earth's heroes in combat when they attack him in retaliation, and then battles the pantheon of cosmic entities when they attack in an attempt to strip him of the Gauntlet, defeating them all and turning them to stone. He eventually (and apparently inevitably) loses the Gauntlet to the aforementioned Nebula when he uses the Gems to supplant Eternity, gaining Eternity's ethereal form and forsaking his physical body, which leaves the Gauntlet vulnerable to being separated from his body and ending his control over the Gems. (According to Adam Warlock this was subconsciously intentional by Thanos, who, deep down, didn't truly believe he was worthy of the power.) Nebula takes the Gauntlet from Thanos' body, but her attempts to wield it fail due to her inexperience and lack of willpower, and to Adam Warlock's great understanding of the Gems' "sentience" and nature; Nebula is left debilitated after undoing the deeds of Thanos (specifically resetting things to the way they were before he had killed half the population of the universe, which unintentionally included restoring all of Earth's heroes, setting free the cosmic pantheon, and once again reducing her to a near-mindless state suspended between life and death.) She is defeated in a battle with Earth's heroes,^[5] and out of the ensuing conflict and confusion Adam Warlock emerges as the new possessor of the Gauntlet. Warlock tries to reassure a few of Earth's heroes that he will not be a threat like Thanos, but they do not trust him and he sends them away before they can attack. He is then called to judgement in a suit brought by Eternity before the Living Tribunal, who finds Warlock unworthy of the power of the Gems due to his emotional instability. The Tribunal manages to reason with Adam and talk him out of using the Gauntlet, and out of fighting to maintain possession of the Gems, a battle that would devastate the universe. Instead of fighting the Living Tribunal and the greater power it represents and potentially destroying the universe, Warlock follows the course he always knew he would (as his possession of the Gauntlet allows him to perceive the flow of Time as a continuous loop, making him aware of all outcomes) and proposes to distribute the Gems to a group of trusted guardians and companions, a proposal which the Tribunal accepts, to the dismay and anger of Eternity.

In the series Warlock and The Infinity Watch the Gems are distributed by Adam Warlock to a group he dubs "the Infinity Watch",^[6] with himself as the leader and once again guardian of his old companion, the Soul Gem. He names the astral samurai Gamora guardian of the Time Gem, the hedonistic rogue Pip the Troll guardian of the Space Gem, the impervious powerhouse Drax the Destroyer guardian of the Power Gem, the Eternal-trained human mystic telepath Moondragon guardian of the Mind Gem, and an unknown member (later revealed to be Thanos himself) guardian of the Reality Gem. During the course of the series several enemies attempt to steal the Gems. An early encounter sees Warlock's old nemesis from Counter-Earth, the creature called the Man Beast, abduct several members of the Watch and use the combined Mind, Power, Space and Time Gems to create a monstrous energy humanoid called the Infinity Thrall, although both are eventually defeated by Adam Warlock. The cosmic entity the Living Tribunal is once again called for judgement, and declares that the Infinity Gems will no longer be able to act in unison.^[7]

This decree is overturned — courtesy of the machinations of Warlock's evil alter ego from an alternate future, the Magus — in the Infinity War limited series. The character, who had gained physical form when Warlock cast out his "Good" and "Evil" sides from himself while holding the Gauntlet in an attempt to make decisions based on pure logic, unites the Gems and plans universal conquest until tricked and defeated, with Warlock revealing that the Reality Gem was a fake. Eternity later announces that the six Gems will never again be used in unison.^[8] The Gems then feature in the Infinity Crusade limited series, where Warlock's cast out feminine "Good" side attempts to rid the universe of Evil by eliminating free will, and, ultimately, rewriting the universe such that it has no sentient life to commit Evil at all.^[9]

Following the cancellation of the Infinity Watch series, in the one-shot title Rune/Silver Surfer the Gems are stolen by the extradimensional vampire Rune and dispersed throughout the alternate universe Ultraverse.^[10][11][12] The Asgardian god Loki enters the Ultraverse and collects the Gems,^[13] also discovering the existence of a seventh Gem - Ego. The character learns the Infinity Gems were originally part of a gestalt being known as Nemesis. The Ego Gem, possessing the Avenger Sersi, merges with the other Gems to reform Nemesis and battles superhero teams the Avengers and Ultraforce, before being dissipitated once again.^[14]

In the mainstream Marvel Universe the cosmic entity Galactus collects all six Infinity Gems in the Thanos ongoing series, intent on ending his need to consume planets. He is seen taking the gems off a vampiric skeleton (presumably Rune) that he retrieves through an interdimensional portal. Galactus' plan fails, and instead allows a deadly inter-dimensional parasite, named Hunger, access into the Earth-616 universe (it was this parasite mentally influencing Galactus' actions all along; as Thanos noted he could have simply used the Gems to finally wish away his hunger). After the threat is averted, the Gems are scattered with the exception of the Soul Gem, which the Titan Thanos retains for its customary holder, Adam Warlock.^[15]

The Gems feature briefly in the JLA/Avengers limited series, when the Infinity Gauntlet is found by DC Comics villain Darkseid as it is placed on Apokolips, who discards it upon discovering that the Gems do not work in his own (DC) universe. The Flash is able to retrieve it.^[16]

Following a story in the She-Hulk ongoing series, in which Titania gets possession of the Power Gem, all six Gems feature in the New Avengers: Illuminati limited series and become the possessions of the superhuman group the Illuminati. Reed Richards of the Illuminati attempts to will the Gems out of existence to prevent further misuse, but the entity the Watcher Uatu reveals that the Gems must exist as part of the cosmic balance. The Gems are then separated and each is placed in the care of an Illuminati member, who vows never to use it or reveal its location.^[17]

The Gems are reunited in the humorous Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers limited series, with the pets of various heroes finding the Gems and being forced to use them to battle Thanos. Lockjaw, pet of the Inhumans, then gives the Gems to Reed Richards.^[18]

The gems were part of the ongoing Avengers series during the Heroic Age. Although the Hood managed to collect the Gems of Power and Reality in time to defeat the formidable Red Hulk,^[19] his subsequent attempts to acquire the others resulted in the Red Hulk stealing the Power Gem from him while Thor beat him to the Space Gem, although he was able to acquire the Mind and Time Gems. He subsequently used the Gems to take him to the Soul Gem in the astral plane.^[20] Fortunately, the Hood was delayed by an illusionary Thanos that Doctor Strange had created long enough for the Avengers to catch up with him. After a climactic battle, the gems ended up with Iron Man who after sending the Hood back to jail, seemingly wished the gems out of existence. However it was revealed that the gems were back with the Illuminati and Captain America (replacing Black Bolt), who all vowed to hide them more securely than before.^[21] In an attempt to stop another universe from collapsing into their own, the Illuminati decided to gather the Infinity Gems and reassemble the Infinity Gauntlet. While Captain America managed to use the Infinity Gauntlet to push the other universe back, however because Eternity declared that the gems cannot be used in unison all gems shattered, except for the time gem, which vanishes.^[22] Afterwards, Captain America does not want the group to destroy more worlds, so Doctor Strange wipes his memory.^[23]

After the murder of Uatu the Watcher, Captain America is exposed to Uatu's eye^[24] which restores his memory.^[25] Afterwards, Captain America and some of the Avengers are transported into future realities with the previously vanished time gem as a result of the time gem being destroyed across all time.^[26]

After the incursions destroyed multiple alternate universes and combined the survivors into a single Battleworld, Doctor Strange gathered various infinity gems from various realities into a new Infinity Gauntlet, which he left hidden until the surviving heroes of Earth-616 managed to return, with the Gauntlet being subsequently claimed by T'Challa.

Description

Each gem is a small, smooth oval, and known by their respective powers. Each of the gems represents a different characteristic of existence and possessing any single gem grants the possessor the ability to potentially command whatever aspect of existence the gem represents. The gems are indestructible^[27] but not immutable. On two occasions one or more of the gems have appeared in the form of deep pink spheres that were several feet in diameter.^[28] On other occasions the gems have appeared in their normal shape but with different coloring (i.e. when the Soul Gem appeared to be red when worn by the Gardener).^[29] In the Ultraverse, the merged gems, Nemesis, were once again separated after a climactic battle with Ultraforce and the Avengers. The space, power, soul, and mind gems morph into humanoid-like beings. The accounts of these beings are not known, as well as how these beings returned to their "gem" forms.

The primary six Infinity Gems include:

Additional gems have appeared in cross-over media and alternate universes outside the Marvel Universe.

Other versions

Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet

In the Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series, Thanos' attempts to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet were opposed by a group of Avengers consisting of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk, Ms. Marvel, U.S. Agent and Doctor Doom, his attack on the universe ending when Spider-Man acquired the Gauntlet and used it to undo Thanos's godhood (Simultaneously erasing the entire event from the memories of all but himself and Thanos, much to his slight annoyance at the idea that none of the other Avengers would know of the role he played in thwarting Thanos's schemes).

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 concert with their respective universes.^[30]

New Avengers

During the Incursion storyline the Avengers travel to a parallel Earth where a pastiche on the Justice League have replaced Earth's Mightiest Heroes who all died in a previous cataclysm. Here the gems are all square planes, assembled into what's known as the "Wishing Cube", compositing the concepts of the Infinity Gems and the Cosmic Cube.^[31]

Secret Wars

Although the Infinity Gems of Earth-616 were all lost, after the various remaining alternate universes were combined into Battleworld, Doctor Strange gathered the Infinity Gems from another universe into an Infinity Gauntlet, although he left it hidden until he had access to someone he could trust to use it; after his death, it was claimed by T'Challa.

A separate section of 'Battleworld' has a gauntlet fought over by multiple factions; the majority of the stones are controlled by the remnants of the Nova Corps.^[32]

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, a version of the Infinity Gauntlet is seen in Project Pegasus.^[33] The Mind Gem (stolen by Hydra) is used by Modi (Thor's son) to control both Director Flumm and Cassie Lang, but are stopped by the Ultimates.^[34] The Gem of Power 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.^[35] 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.^[36] 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.^[37] After brainwashing Johnny Storm and forcing him to travel to the Earth's core, the Dark Ultimates are able to recover the final gem,^[38] but are defeated by the Ultimates. The gems then shatter, rendering the Gauntlets useless.^[39]

What If?

In a reality where Doctor Doom retained the power of the Beyonder, he 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.^[40]

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.^[41]

In other media

Television

• The Infinity Gauntlet appears in The Super Hero Squad Show. The effort to create and use it is the focus of multiple episodes of the first half of the second season. Within the show, the Infinity Gems are sometimes called the Infinity Stones. During the second season, Thanos searches for the Infinity Gems across the universe. After finding all six, he challenges the Super Hero Squad with the Infinity Gauntlet, only to have it swiped by the Dark Surfer, who then combines its power with that of the Infinity Sword. Dark Surfer later used their power to split into six different beings to fight the squad; however, each unique factor of the member his clones fought parried the gems. In the series finale, both items are shattered into Infinity Fractals and spread across the universe.

• The Infinity Gems (once again referred to as the Infinity Stones) appear as a running subplot in the second season of Avengers Assemble. In this show, there are five Infinity Stones instead of six, with the Soul Stone being omitted, and are shown to have an influence on whoever possesses them unless they are placed in the Infinity Gauntlet. During the second season, the Avengers face various threats caused by four of the stones; the Time Stone becomes trapped in Iron Man's arc reactor and causes him to become younger as temporal ripples draw in threats from the past and future, MODOK's use of the Mind Stone causes the Avengers to switch bodies, the Squadron Supreme use the Reality Stone to invert history so that the Avengers are now villains, and Loki's control of the Space Stone nearly causes Asgard to crash into Earth. By "Widow's Run", Thanos claims the five Infinity Stones and places them inside of his Infinity Gauntlet before leaving. In "Thanos Triumphant", the Avengers fight Thanos and defeat him, but the Stones are taken and drained of their power by Ultron, who managed to possess Arsenal.

Film

An Infinity Gauntlet prop displayed at Comic Con 2010.

The Infinity Stones are significant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing important roles in several films to date. Director James Gunn created the backstory for the Stones in the film Guardians of the Galaxy, where the Collector explains how six singularities that existed before the Big Bang were compressed into stones after the universe began.^[42] An Infinity Gauntlet appears very briefly in the film Thor, where it is stored in Odin's vault,^[43][44] while Thanos is seen retrieving another Infinity Gauntlet in the mid-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron.^[44]

The MCU Infinity Stones, in order of introduction, are:

• Space Stone (Blue): Housed in the Tesseract, it first appears briefly in the Thor post-credits scene, then in Captain America: The First Avenger, where it is used to power weaponry developed by Hydra. It is seen again in The Avengers and is shown to be capable of generating wormholes. At the end of the film, it is returned to Asgard for safekeeping. In a November 2013 interview, producer Kevin Feige confirmed that it is the Space Stone.^[45]

• Mind Stone (Yellow): In The Avengers, Thanos gives Loki a scepter that allows him to control people's minds. After the events of the film, the scepter falls into the hands of Hydra leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who is shown in the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier to have been using it to experiment on humans. The only two surviving subjects of those experiments were Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who gained superhuman abilities. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the scepter is revealed to contain the Mind Stone, which Ultron removes to incorporate into the synthetic android, Vision.^[46]

• Reality Stone (Red): Formed by the Dark Elf Malekith into a fluid-like weapon called the Aether, it is entrusted to the Collector at the end of Thor: The Dark World.^[47][48]

• Power Stone (Purple): In Guardians of the Galaxy, the Power Stone is contained within an orb that was sought after by Ronan the Accuser for Thanos.^[49][50] Its destructive power is capable of wiping out entire civilizations and Ronan seeks to use it to destroy Xandar. It is claimed by the Guardians of the Galaxy and entrusted to the Nova Corps for safekeeping.

The last two Stones, Time and Soul, are shown to be green and orange in Guardians of the Galaxy. Feige stated the remaining two Stones would be seen "sometime in Phase Three, for sure. There's a gauntlet that needs to be filled."^[51]

Video games

• The Infinity Gems also feature in the video games Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (based on the Infinity Gauntlet saga) for SNES and Marvel Super Heroes for the arcade, which was later ported over to the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation.

• In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Thanos uses Power, Soul, Reality, and Space for his Supers.

• The Infinity Gems, including the "Ego" Gem in the form of the Infinity Sword, appear as a driving part of the Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet video game.

Miscellaneous

• Replica Infinity Gauntlets were given out as trophies at Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 8, a 2012 Road to Evo tournament.^[52]

• In the Parks and Recreation episode "Article Two" while filibustering the Pawnee city council meeting, Patton Oswalt's character refers to the Reality Gem as a means of bridging the now Disney-owned Marvel and Star Wars universes together as part of a plot for the seventh Star Wars movie (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), directed by J. J. Abrams.

Parodies

• In the one-hour Danny Phantom episode "Reality Trip", the villain Freakshow blackmails Danny and his Friends to find "the Gems of Reality" for his weapon, the Reality Gauntlet (both a parody of the Infinity Gems and Gauntlet). However, this gauntlet differs in extending to the elbow and coming with only four gems as opposed to six.

Merchandise

• Starting in January 2012, and continuing through August, Wizkids presented the Infinity Gauntlet program at stores that host HeroClix tournaments. Every month a new gem (usable in the game) was given away as a prize, starting with the Gauntlet. Each gem that comes out after that can be added the Gauntlet, increasing its power in game. Gems can be displayed on a stand that comes with the Gauntlet or on each Elder that Thanos encountered in the story Thanos Quest, also prizes, and can also be used as 3D objects during games.

• The Gauntlet has been featured in the Impel Marvel Universe trading card set, the Fleer Overpower game, and the Upper Deck Entertainment Heralds of Galactus expansion set for the VS System.

References

External links

• Infinity Gems at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Thanos Weapons