Infinity Gems
The Infinity Gems are objects that feature in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Infinity Gems
Originally, the gems once composed a single omnipotent being that existed all across infinity but found its lonely existence too unbearable and futile. To alleviate its solitude, it attempted to create life with this resulting in the creation of Demons as they had no concept of good or evil. The demonic horde turned to evil with their eventual actions displeasing their creator who destroyed them. Eventually, the loneliness by the cosmic being led to them committing a form of cosmic suicide that birthed existence along with re-creating the demonic hordes. (Silver Surfer v3 #45) It was shown that a race of Celestials resided within the primordial universe where they mined for the Infinity Stones. (Infinity Wars v1 #5) They were responsible for distributing the gems across the Multiverse as part of some unknown purpose. (Infinity Wars v1 #6)
They were extremely powerful gems containing the ability to control Time (orange), Space (purple), Reality (yellow), Mind (blue), Power (red), and the Soul (green). They were apparently once part of a being of infinite power, known as Nemesis, that lived before existence- but lived alone. It supposedly destroyed itself from loneliness, leaving the Gems- and all realities- as its remains. Its sentience remained as the Ego Gem- which was separated from the others for a time. The other Gems were originally scattered across the universe.
Infinity Gauntlet
The mad Titanian Thanos gathered the Infinity Gems together once into a weapon, with which he planned to destroy the universe- he was stopped by Adam Warlock, at the cost of Warlock's- and Thanos'- lives.
The Gems were given to five of the Elders of the Universe- the Time Gem to the Gardener, the Space Gem to the Runner, the Reality Gem to the Collector, and the Mind Gem to the Grandmaster. The Soul Gem was an exception, granted to the In-Betweener. Thanos, resurrected from the dead by Mistress Death, confronted these guardians and gathered the Infinity Gems once more, forming them into the Infinity Gauntlet.
With absolute power over all existence, Thanos slew half of the universe's population to please his mistress. A force of superheroes attacked Thanos, but he defeated them all- this was followed by a force of cosmic beings, including Eternity himself. Thanos barely defeated them, becoming one with the universe- but leaving his physical body vulnerable, allowing Nebula to take the Gauntlet for herself. Less experienced in its power, Nebula was attacked by the remaining heroes and cosmic beings, while the resurrected Adam Warlock used his connection to the Soul Gem to disrupt the Gauntlet from within, taking it for himself.
Eventually, Eternity petitioned the Living Tribunal to prevent the Gems from being used in unison again, and Warlock eventually agreed to this decision. He formed the Infinity Watch, giving the Gems to Gamora (Time), Pip the Troll (Space), Moondragon (Mind), and Drax the Destroyer (Power). He kept the Soul Gem for himself, and entrusted the Reality Gem (secretly) to none other than Thanos. The Gems were reunited briefly by the Magus, when the Tribunal's edict was temporarily lifted, but the Reality Gem was not part of the equation and the Magus was defeated through that deficiency. The Infinity Gems were given back to their owners again.
Sometime later, the entity known as Rune, who hailed from another reality, took the Gems from the Watch and attempted to use them together himself. The Living Tribunal detected this, and sent the Silver Surfer to battle Rune. The creature, unused to the infinite, was defeated, but the Gems were scattered across Rune's home universe. Warlock disbanded the Infinity Watch and went into Rune's reality to retrieve the Infinity Gems.
The Gems temporarily merged with the Ego Gem to reform Nemesis, which temporarily created the Sketch World (a pocket dimension combining elements of Rune's "Ultraverse" with Earth-616). Nemesis was destroyed by the combined forces of Ultraforce and the Avengers, shattering the link between the gems. They split into individual beings, and the Reality and Time Gems worked together to stabilize- if not undo- the warping effects Nemesis' power had on the Ultraverse.
Illuminati
The Champion came to possess the Power Stone where he used it to give him an advantage against challengers in an arena match. This was until She-Hulk fought him where she claimed that the stone was a weapon and thus was in breach of the rules. As a result, he agreed to not use it and came to ultimately lose the match against her. (She-Hulk v1 #9) In anger, he decided to get revenge against She-Hulk where he provided the stone to Titania where he intended to work together to defeat Jennifer Walters. However, Titania came to betray him and decided to use the Power Stone for herself to defeat She-Hulk. (She-Hulk v1 #10) Titania managed to deal a lot of damage to the legal offices of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg and Holliway at Timely Plaza but the supervillain was ultimately defeated with the Power Stone being confiscated from her by She-Hulk. (She-Hulk v1 #12) Mr. Fantastic was secretly gathering the Infinity Gems in an effort to prevent their use by hostile forces. She-Hulk later gave the Power Stone to Reed Richards who presented it to his secret cabal of fellow superheroes known as the Illuminati. During their meeting, he proposed they gather all the gems and use their power against dangerous threats that sought them out. Though disagreeing on this approach, the Illuminati ultimately decided to find the remaining three gems where they discovered the Mind Gem being the collective unconscious of the entire universe whilst the Reality Gem was wedged at the edge of reality itself. Though facing difficulties, they acquired the two stones which summoned the remaining Time Gem with Uatu the Watcher observing the event where he expressed his disappointment in Reed Richards. Despite that, had all the stones added to the Infinity Gauntlet and actually attempted to destroy them but the gems could not be destroyed in this manner. The Illuminati then came to the conclusion that no one being should have the collective power of the gems and split each of the stones amongst themselves for safekeeping. (New Avengers: Illuminati v2 #2)
Whilst at the Raft, the Hood came to learn of the existence of the Infinity Gems from an Inhuman prisoner. He managed to secure his escape from the prison and went on a quest to claim their power. (Avengers v4 #9) This saw him travelling first to the Himalayas to the former site of Attilan where he took the Reality Gem from the underground catacombs. (Avengers v4 #1) With its power, he managed to enter into a pocket dimension Reed Richards maintained to hold the Power Gem which he tested against the Red Hulk. (Avengers v4 #2) The claiming of the gems attracted the attention of the Illuminati and the Avengers who moved to try to secure the remaining gems. (Avengers v4 #9) This saw a battle between the heroes against the Hood in trying to claim the last of the gems. Ultimately, Iron Man managed to gain the majority of the gems which called on their compatriots with the Hood and formed the Infinity Gauntlet. With its power, he sent the Hood back to his prison cell and seemingly willed the destruction of the stones. However, in reality, he had sent them away secretly where he distributed the gems for safekeeping to the members of the Illuminati with Steve Rogers joining their ranks to hold onto one of the gems. This was done so because he feared that the gems destruction would cause some unknown effect and the best approach was to make the world believe they were destroyed with this act being hidden in an effort to better protect the stones. (Avengers v4 #12)
During the Incursion crisis, the Illuminati gathered in secret by Black Panther where they operated to stop the Multiversal destruction of Earths. They came to recruit the Beast who came to inherit the care of the Mind Gem after the death of Xavier. He then accompanied the Illuminati as they went to the Incursion site in Pakistan where they used the stones to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet and use its power to push the other Earth away. Captain America was chosen to wield the Gauntlet but a feedback caused all the stones to shatter except for the Time Gem. Afterwards, Captain America was removed from the Illuminati with his memories of his membership in their group being erased from his mind. (New Avengers v3 #3)
Infinity Wars
After the destruction and recreation of the Multiverse, the destroyed Infinity Gems were recreated where they came to be scattered across the universe. Loki as part of his own machinations began a search for the gems where he approached the Gardener over his stone. However, he did not know the location of the gems and the encounter left him spiralling into madness where he deemed animal life was a threat to plants where he intended to purge the universe of flesh races. Around this time, the Infinity Stones came to disappear with this act worrying some of the Elders of the Universe who charged the Guardians of the Galaxy to find and recover them before their power could be abused by anyone. (All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1 #10)
Strange then called a meeting of the Infinity Watch in order to protect them as he feared that Thanos would come to claim them once again. A fight erupted at the meeting on Earth which was when Requiem who was revealed to be Gamora that was gathering the stones for herself. (Infinity Wars v1 #1)
Loki then betrayed his comrades in order to steal the Infinity Stones as he wanted to journey into the depths of the Quarry of Creation to find a source of great power. Once there, the stones lost power and he found countless such gems being gathered by Celestial beings who were operating as puppet masters in the cosmos. (Infinity Wars v1 #5) He learnt that the Celestials were casting the stones out into the universe for an unknown purpose. (Infinity Wars v1 #6)
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
Individually, each gem possessed an awesome power but together they could achieve all the desires of their wielder. (Avengers Annual v1 #7) The Infinity Stones were described as being a kind of computer code for universe with them being the source code that allowed the user to rewrite reality around them or even transverse different realities. (All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1 #10) Within them, the stones possessed strange small worlds that had curious terrains. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #2)
There were multiple stones that included the:
- Soul Gem : Among the stones, it was said to be unique in that not only did it serve as a source code for the universe but also acted as a kind of hard drive with it being possibly limitless storage device for information. (All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1 #10)
- Power Gem : It possessed its own pocket world within it that was known as the Arena that was a realm of eternal contests and champions with only those of great power being able to endure there. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #2)
- Time Gem : It possessed its own pocket world within it that was known as the Ellipsis that caused individuals to go through existence from various points in their timeline from their birth to old age. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #3)
- Reality Gem : It possessed its own pocket world within it that was known as the World Pool that looked at various realities within the Multiverse and was home to female cosmic being Archivus who served as a chronicler. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #3)
- Space Gem : It possessed its own pocket world within it that was known as the Vast that was an endless emptiness of space. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #3)
- Mind Gem : . The gem was said to actually be the collective unconscious of the entire universe. (New Avengers: Illuminati v2 #2)
The stones were said to operate as a kind of infinity circuit and had to be navigated in order if one wanted to travel to a specific realm within a gem. (Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker v1 #3) No matter how far apart, the gems seemed to actually speak to one another and may in fact be alive. (New Avengers: Illuminati v2 #2)
Users
- Champion :
- Gardener :
- Thanos :
- Adam Warlock :
- Overtime : Hector Bautista was a male human from Texas who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to execution where in that moment he was bonded to the Time Stone. (Infinity Wars: Infinity v1 #1)
- Star : Ryan Ripley was a blonde haired human female who had been a reporter for Ms. magazine until she was bonded with the Reality Stone. (Captain Marvel v10 #11)
- Prince of Power : Prince Otherone of Noblor came to find and swallow the Power Stone causing him to become a living wellspring of power. (Guardians of the Galaxy v6 #12)
Notes
- The Infinity Gems was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane where they made their first appearance in Marvel Premiere v1 #1 (April, 1972).
Alternate Versions
- In Infinity Gauntlet v2 #5 (2016), Infinity Stones appeared in the alternate world of Earth-15513 that was the Battlerealm of Battleworld. In one of the respective realms, the stones were being sought out by two different versions of Thanos. After killing his counterpart, the remaining Mad Titan required the Reality Gem that was in the possession of the Nova Anwen Bakian. Unable to stop Thanos, she used her stone to create a new gem called the Death Stone that the Mad Titan mistakenly believed to be the reality gem. Upon equipping it on his gauntlet, it began to corrupt him and left Thanos being killed as his body turned to dust.
In other media
Television
- In Avengers Assemble, the Infinity Stones appeared in the setting of the animated television series where they featured in the second season. Within the continuity of the show, there were only five stones with the Soul Stone not present in this setting.
Films
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Infinity Stones made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Avengers: Infinity War, the Infinity Stones featured heavily in the setting of the live-action film as Thanos began to claim their power with him constructing the Infinity Gauntlet to wield them all.
- In Avengers: Endgame, the Infinity Stones returned in the live-action film where Thanos after purging half the universe of life then used the stones to destroy themselves. This was to ensure no one could undo his wish though the act left him badly wounded and crippled with the vengeful Avengers killing him. Afterwards, the Avengers sought to use the Quantum Realm to travel into the past to claim the stones in order to restore everyone to life.
Video games
- In Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, the Infinity Stones appeared in the setting of the video game sequel. A fake seventh stone known as the Rhythm Gem was created by Loki as part of his scheme.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, the Infinity Stones appeared in the setting of the mobile video game. They were gathered by Thanos only for them to be shattered from his gauntlet causing them to be scattered across the Battlerealm. New stones were created in the setting of the game with these being the black gem Death Stone which was a copy of reality but dead and soulless, the Chaos Stone, the Evolution Stone, the Genesis Stone and the War Stone.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, the Infinity Stones feature in the story of the fighting video game and featured as a gameplay mechanic where they could be equipped to enhance a characters particular abilities. During the story mode, it was revealed that Death and Jedah Dohma created a pact between themselves to balance the scales between life and death in their respective universes with them requiring the Infinity Stones. The stones were given to select individuals to achieve this goal. However, Ultron and Sigma decided to turn on their allies and formed their own pact where they merged to become Ultron Sigma who unleashed the Sigma Virus to eliminate all organic life as the two universes began to merge with one another.
- In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, the Infinity Stones featured in the setting of the Wii video game. It was said that they were created in an area known as the Heart of Infinity where the six stones could rewrite reality itself. The users could also use them to summon the Infinity Armor though wearing it was a curse on the user with Thanos only ever manifesting a part of it which was the Infinity Gauntlet. The Stones were recovered by the Kree who alongside Nebula intended to hide them from Thanos. The Guardians of the Galaxy unwittingly discovered them and in an attempt to protect them they transported themselves along with the gems to Earth. Once there, they were scattered on the planet with the Guardians working alongside the Avengers and other heroes to recover the stones before Thanos claimed them.
Appearances
- Marvel Premiere v1: (1972)
- Silver Surfer v3:
- New Avengers: Illuminati v2:
- New Avengers v1:
- Avengers v4:
- All-New Guardians of the Galaxy v1:
- Guardians of the Galaxy:
- Infinity Countdown v1:
- Infinity Wars v1:
- Infinity Wars: Infinity v1:
- Star v1:
- Guardians of the Galaxy v6: (2021)
