Soul Gem
The Soul Gem is an object that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Soul Gem was one of the Infinity Gems, green in color, able to tap into the spiritual energies of the universe. It is also capable of stealing the souls of living beings, though Adam Warlock, its most famous wielder, used this ability sparingly. Those souls it absorbed were taken into the Soul World, a pastoral pocket universe contained within the Gem.
The Soul Gem was intelligent, generally controlling the being that wore it, and it went through hundreds of hosts. Eventually, however, it was taken into the possession of the High Evolutionary, who was too clever to allow the Gem to dominate him. The Evolutionary kept it in storage for years, but eventually gave the Gem to Warlock, who was too strong of mind to control. Warlock used the Gem to defeat the evil Man-Beast's attempt to conquer Counter-Earth, and many other feats, before he died battling Thanos. During that time, Warlock took the souls of his dying friends Pip the Troll and Gamora into the Soul World, and entered there himself as he died.
The Gem was next passed to the In-Betweener, who made little use of it, until Thanos returned from the dead and took it from him. Now part of the Infinity Gauntlet, Adam Warlock, Gamora, and Pip were able to leave the Soul Gem and inhabit the bodies of three newly-dead humans, which soon transformed into replicas of their original forms. Using his rapport with the Soul Gem, Warlock was able to take control of the entire Gauntlet, claiming it for himself.
After Eternity was able to convince the Living Tribunal to prevent the Infinity Gems from being used together, Adam Warlock took the Soul Gem for himself. He gave the rest of the Gems to his Infinity Watch. Following the pilfering of the Infinity Gems by Rune, the Soul Gem was lost with the others somewhere in that entity's native universe, prompting Adam Warlock to search for it. He has been at this task ever since.
With Devondra defeated, the heroes sought to restore the universe yet keep Warp World and its inhabitants still alive. Thus, they copied Warp World and its inhabitants who were placed inside a facet of the Soul Stone. They then departed as Devondra’s world collapsed and was destroyed as the universe was restored. Adam Warlock later imbued the stone with a souls alongside the other gems in an effort to stop conflict from spiralling over ownership of the cosmic relics. Each of the stones departed as they made their own choices on their respective destinies with Warlock intending to keep the Soul Stone as he had a special relationship with it. However, the gem like its compatriots decided to also depart into deep space. (Infinity Wars v1 #6)
Overview
It was said that the dark jewel drew its strength from the sinister chaotic ends of infinity and that such power was to be feared. (Strange Tales v1 #178)
Among the various Infinity Stones, the Soul Stone was said to be unique as it operated as a kind of hard drive with it being vast and possibly limitless device for information. (All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1 #10)
A bearer could use the gem to scan the mind of another being and pass their language to them. Alternatively, it could be responsible for stealing the soul of another being and placing it within the stone. (Strange Tales v1 #179) The gem's bearer could also coax a soul back into their body for a brief moment allowing them to question the recently deceased. (Strange Tales v1 #178)
In one case, the stone's keeper was able to summon forth copies of souls within it as constructs for use against enemies. A horde of such soul constructs could be created that were individually weak as the stone's power was distributed across them. However, using only a limited number of constructs allowed the full strength of the gem to be housed in them. (Avengers Annual v5 #1)
Users
- Adam Warlock :
- Multitude : a male Synthezoid named Ward later came to be operational where he went learning about the world when he came to be bonded to the sentient Soul Stone where he took the name Multitude as the two minds shared a single body. (Avengers Annual v5 #1)
Notes
- The Soul Gem was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane where it made its first appearance in Marvel Premiere v1 #1 (April, 1972).
- Originally, all the gems were referred to as 'Soul Gems' before each was identified by Thanos.
In other media
Television
- In Guardians of the Galaxy, the Soul Gem appeared in the setting of the animated television series.
Films
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Soul Stone appeared in the shared continuity setting:
- In Avengers: Infinity War, the Soul Stone appeared in the setting of the live-action film. It was shown that Thanos had once tasked Gamora with the mission of finding the gem as little record of its location was known when compared to the other Infinity Stones. Gamora came to a find a map leading to a shrine on the planet Vormir but chose to destroy this information rather than telling Thanos. However, she did confide in Nebula but swore her adoptive sister to secrecy. Later on, Thanos captured and tortured Nebula to force Gamora to reveal the stone's location where she took him to Vormir. Whilst there, they encountered the spectral Stonekeeper (Red Skull) who had been cursed to serve as its guardian for his use of the Space Stone within the Tesseract. They later came to learn that the stone only revealed themselves if the bearer sacrificed something precious to them with the Mad Titan sacrificing Gamora. Thus, the stone manifested upon the death of a loved one allowing Thanos to complete the Infinity Gauntlet.
Video games
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, the Soul Gem appeared in the setting of the crossover video game. It appeared as one of the gems used by Thanos as part of his attacks.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, the Soul Stone alongside the other Infinity Stones appeared as part of a mechanic present in the crossover fighting video game. It's Infinity Surge allowed the bearer to use a far-reaching energy attack that absorbed some of the enemy's health upon a hit whilst its Infinity Storm allowed both of the player's characters to fight at the same time where if anyone was defeated then it was resurrected at 10% health. The Soul Stone alongside the other gems came as part of the merged reality between the Marvel and Capcom universes that was brought about by the Convergence of realities. In this merged reality, the Soul Stone came into the possession of Jedah Dohma where he used it to feed a giant Symbiote with souls in order to breed a creature powerful enough to challenge Ultron Sigma.
- In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, the Soul Stone appeared in the setting of the action adventure video game. During the expansion, Doctor Doom attacked Wakanda and claimed the Soul Stone from Black Panther where he took it back to Latveria where he placed all his citizens souls within it. He then used it to awaken a fallen Celestial where he later claimed that he intended to use the Infinity Stone's power to protect the planet from dangerous cosmic forces that were attracted to Earth after the world's superheroes fight with Thanos.
Appearances
- Marvel Premiere v1: (1972)
- All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1:
- Infinity Countdown v1:
- Infinity Wars v1:
- Avengers Annual v5: (2021)
External Links
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