Infinity Gems
The Infinity Gems are six fictional gems appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, named after and embodying various aspects of existence. The gems can grant whoever wields them various powers in accordance to the aspect of existence they represent, and have the potential of turning the wielder into a god-like being when the main six are held together. Thus, they are among the most powerful and sought-after items in the Marvel Universe; playing important roles in several storylines, in which they were wielded by characters such as Thanos and Adam Warlock. Some of these stories depict additional Infinity Gems or similar objects. Although the Infinity Gems altogether give their user omnipotence, the Gems only function in the universe they belong to and not in alternate realities.
The Infinity Gems have appeared in several media adaptations outside of comics, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe film franchise, where they are called the Infinity Stones and have their colors altered. These changes were later adapted into the comics. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Cosmic Cube is depicted as the Tesseract, a container for the Space Stone; the two artifacts are unrelated in the comics.
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 main 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 six of 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 main set as "Infinity Gems" for the first time. In this storyline, he steals most of the Gems for the second time and reveals the Gems to be the last remains of an omnipotent being. Thanos then places all six main 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 that fit in the gauntlet 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 six main 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 main Gems are then once again retrieved by the Infinity Watch.
The Infinity Gems appeared in the crossover between the Marvel universe and the Ultraverse, when the vampiric Rune stole the gems from the Infinity Watch. The gems were dispersed in the Ultraverse and Loki looked for them. The reunion of the gems with a seventh gem, the Ego Gem, revealed the existence of the entity Nemesis, that said that she was the conscience of the gems. Nemesis was slain and the gems dispersed again.
In a story arc of the Thanos series, Galactus gathers six of the 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 New Avengers: Illuminati, 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 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 Infinity Gems to stop another universe from collapsing into their own but the cost of this however, was the destruction of the gauntlet and all gems minus the Time Gem which simply disappeared. 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 the six main 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 Black Panther, who uses it to keep the Beyonder-enhanced Doom occupied until Mister Fantastic can disrupt his power source.
After the multiverse is recreated, the Gems become known as the Stones and have altered powers. The Stones are shown to have a pocket universe existing within each of them. Loki would later discover the Stones are originated from the primordial universe where Celestials reside, guarding a deposit of countless Infinity Stones which they infuse with their cosmic energy and deliver to different realities across the Multiverse. Warlock later uses the Soul Stone to grant the other Stones sentience and enable them to choose their own wielders.
Cosmic Cube
The Cosmic Cube is the name of several devices, all of which are depicted as containment devices that can empower whoever wields them. Although the first version, introduced in Tales of Suspense #79 and created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originated on Earth as a weapon built by Advanced Idea Mechanics, most are of alien origins. The incarnations of the Cube are suffused with reality-warping energy originating from the realm of the Beyonders.After a sufficient but undefined period of time, the Cube will become self-aware and gain sentience while retaining its reality-warping powers. The new being's overall personality is influenced by the beliefs, desires, and personalities of those who wielded it as a Cube. For instance, the Shaper of Worlds, wielded by the Skrull emperor, took the form of a Skrull after becoming sentient.
During a battle to stop A.I.M. from using the Cube, Captain America witnesses the Cube evolve into the entity Kubik, which becomes a student of the Shaper of Worlds. Kubik returns to Earth when attracted by an anomaly possessing a fraction of its power, revealed to be the Super-Adaptoid. The Super-Adaptoid uses its abilities to "copy" Kubik's abilities and banishes the entity, intent on creating a race in its own image. The Adaptoid, however, is tricked into shutting down by Captain America. Kubik returns and then removes the sliver of the original Cosmic Cube from the Adaptoid that gave the robot its abilities.
During the Avengers: Standoff! storyline, Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D. use pieces of a Cosmic Cube to create Kobik, a near-omnipotent child. With Kobik's help, S.H.I.E.L.D. brainwashes supervillains into becoming mild-mannered civilians, who are imprisoned in a gated community called Pleasant Hill. When the villains rebel, Kobik decides to rejuvenate Steve Rogers, then reduced to an old man due to the breakdown of his Super-Soldier serum. Due to the Red Skull's influence over the Cube from which Kobik was made, she unknowingly replaces Rogers with a covert Hydra loyalist version of him. This results in the real Rogers' consciousness becoming trapped within the Cube until he finds Kobik and encourages her to set things right.
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 control over the aspect of existence the Gem represents. If a user is able to tap into the full potential of a Gem, the user gains complete control over a Gem's aspect of existence. The Gems are not immutable. For instance, on two occasions, one or more of the Gems have appeared as 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 six Infinity Gems are now known as the Infinity Stones and have had their colors altered to match the Infinity Stones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thanos created an additional gem, the Death Stone, after imprisoning Death within it.The seven Infinity Stones include:
Additional Gems have appeared in crossover media and alternate universes outside the Marvel Universe.
| Name | Color | Powers and capabilities | Known owners |
| ' | 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 Loki attempts to steal the other six Gems. | Sersi; Nemesis |
| ' | Yellow | In The Infinity Gauntlet, Anwen Bakian creates the Death Stone using the Reality Stone and uses it to kill Thanos; it is later recreated by Thanos, before binding itself to Phil Coulson. | Anwen Bakian; Thanos; Phil Coulson |
| Black | The Continuity Stone appears in Deadpool, and enables total control over Marvel's continuity. | Deadpool |