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The Infinity Gauntlet is one of the most powerful objects in the Universe. It was designed to hold six of the soul gems, better known as the Infinity Gems.[5] When used in combination their already impressive powers make the wearer able to do anything they want.[6]

History

Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Infinity Gauntlet Vol 1 1 001

"The Snap!"

The Snap[]

It was gathered by the Mad Titan Thanos as he took the gems from the Elders of the Universe that had originally carried them. He hoped to appease his love to the entity known as Death, Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet with all of the Infinity Gems to remove half of the population of the Universe.[6]

Adam Warlock[]

After Adam Warlock was able to gather some of the surviving heroes to oppose Thanos, Nebula briefly stole the Gauntlet from Thanos when he ascended to a level that he abandoned his body, but Warlock, Thanos and the others were able to force the Gauntlet away from Nebula so that Warlock could retrieve it for himself.[7] However, the Living Tribunal declared that the gems were too dangerous to use together, and the Gauntlet was disassembled and the gems scattered among others.[citation needed] When faced with the threat of the Magus, Warlock was forced to apparently reassemble the gauntlet,[citation needed] but, aware that the Magus sought the gauntlet for himself, they tricked the Magus by replacing the Reality Gem on this gauntlet with a powerless replica, creating a gap in the Magus's power that his enemies would exploit.[8] Although the Tribunal restored his old rule that the gems couldn't be used in unison once the crisis was over,[citation needed] Thanos' later machinations eventually led to Living Tribunal rescinding this restriction.[citation needed]

Sometime later, Mister Fantastic revealed to his fellow teammates of the secret group called the Illuminati that he had been collecting the Infinity Gems, and hoped to collect the remaining gems with the aid of the other Illuminati members. Despite a general apprehension, the group managed to acquire all six gems. Upon doing so, Mister Fantastic attempted to will the gems out of existence, but he was unable to do so. Faced with this failure, and a reprimand from Uatu, the Watcher, he made the controversial decision to give each Illuminati member one gem to hide so that they would never be combined and used again.[9]

After the Siege of Asgard, the Hood tried to get all the Gems, starting by taking the Reality Gem from the Himalayas (which was kept there by Illuminati member Black Bolt), the Power Gem from the Baxter Building (kept by Mister Fantastic), and battled the Red Hulk with it.[10] Red Hulk warned the Avengers about it, and Iron Man talked with the Illuminati about this. The Hood managed to get the Space and Time Gems, while he lost the Power Gem at the hand of Red Hulk, Namor, and Thor.[citation needed] After taking the Mind Gem from the ruins of the X-Mansion,[citation needed] the Hood traveled to the Astral Plane, where he tried to get the Soul Gem, but was finally defeated by the Avengers.[citation needed] Iron Man gathered all the six gems and became the first human to possess and use the Infinity Gauntlet, as he transported the Hood back to Ryker's Island and faked that he made the gauntlet disappear from existence,[11] though he really transported it to the Illuminati's gathering place, where he divided the Gems between his teammates again.[citation needed]

When the Illuminati later faced the threat of the incursions, alternate reality Earths colliding with their own with the result of the extinction of both realities, the Illuminati once again assembled the Infinity Gauntlet.[citation needed] Galactus, the Watcher, and Thanos sensed the assembly of the gauntlet, and Captain America used it to push away the other Earth and prevent the collision. The cost of this however, was the destruction of the gauntlet and the shattering of all gems but the Time Gem.[12]

Properties

Infinity Gems: When the Infinity Gauntlet is complete, each stone grants it the following abilities:

  • Time Gem: Total control over all aspects of time including time travel, stopping time, slowing down or speed up the flow of time and to accelerate or slow down ageing.[citation needed]
  • Space Gem: Limitless manipulation of space, allowing for teleportation, dimensional manipulation, the creation of wormholes, etc.[citation needed]
  • Soul Gem: Limitless manipulation of souls both alive and dead also has shown to be able to evolve or devolve a beings physical self as well as their mental capacities.[citation needed]
  • Reality Gem: Locally or universally alters the natural laws of the universe to the wielders will.[citation needed]
  • Power Gem: Controls all of the power in the universe. It can be used to augment or inhibit any force.[citation needed]
  • Mind Gem: Taps the user into the universal consciousness, allowing for unlimited manipulation of psionic powers including telepathy and telekinesis.[citation needed]
Cosmic Beings and Thanos (Earth-616) from Infinity Gauntlet Vol 1 5 001

Thanos surviving and overcoming the cosmic entities' assault

Nigh Omnipotence: The Infinity Gauntlet granted virtual/nigh-omnipotence to its wearer. Even the combined powers of cosmic beings like Eternity, the Watcher, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Mistress Love, Sire Hate, Kronos, the Celestials, Death, Mephisto, Epoch, the Stranger, and Galactus made up only a small fraction of the Gauntlet's power.[13] The only known beings with power exceeding that of the Gauntlet are the Living Tribunal and the One Above All,[14] and God Emperor Doom with the power of the Beyonders.[15] When Thanos possessed the Gauntlet his anger turned into a wave of energy that at 2% of its full strength caused the west coast of the United States of America and Japan to sink underwater, tidal waves on the east coast of the United States, and caused the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard to shatter, trapping Odin, Zeus, and the other members of the Council of Godheads there.[16]

One thing the Infinity Gauntlet cannot do is be used to destroy itself.[citation needed]

Alternate Reality Versions

Image Description Debut

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)[]

Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Ultimate Comics Ultimates Vol 1 20 001 Because there are eight Infinity Gems instead of six, there are two Infinity Gauntlets designed to hold four gems each. Ultimate Comics Ultimates #19

The Humorverse (Earth-9047)[]

Infinity Mitten (Gauntlet-item), Thermos (Earth-9047) from What The--?! Vol 1 24 Its equivalent is called Infinity Mitten, which has no finger separations and the number of Infinity Gems on it is unclear. It gave almost infinite power to its wielder. The villain Thermos used it to kill half of the universe and other activities in an attempt to court Death. He thus attracted the attention of many super heroes who gathered to confront him, but Thermos killed the whole Marble Universe - only to discover that Death's new boyfriend had outclassed him anyway.[3] In a retrospective story, we discover that Thermos had been looking for the Infinity Mitten since his childhood.[17] What The--?! #24

Dystopian Wakanda (Earth-015335)[]

Anathi (Kingdom of Wakanda) (Earth-517) from Marvel Realm of Champions Elegy Season 1 2 001

Killmonger used the Infinity Claw and its six Infinity Stones to control T'Challa and overthrow him to rule Wakanda.

When Thanos collected three of the Battlerealm's native Infinity Stones, the Collector sent a group consisting of the Summoner, Captain America, the Winter Solider, a different Black Panther and Storm to Dystopian Wakanda for the Infinity Claw. Black Panther used Killmonger's pride against him by challenging him to the Wakandan combat ritual without the gauntlet and won, claiming the Infinity Claw for himself. When Thanos arrived the following week, he and Black Panther used their respective gauntlets to engage in a cosmic battle.[18] Black Panther eventually overpowered the Titan, trapping him in a nightmare.[19][20]

Anathi received the Infinity Claw from Black Panther and exhausted its power to free herself from the Chronoserpent. Anathi's arm fused to the Infinity Claw's remains and she felt that it was powerful even without its gems.[21]
Marvel Contest of Champions

Home to the Living Tribunal (Adam Warlock) (Earth-19141)[]

Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Thanos The Infinity Relativity Vol 1 1 001
Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet in order to get Mistress Death's favours, but Adam Warlock stopped him, stole the Gauntlet and formed the Infinity Watch in order to keep the Stones.[22] Thanos: The Infinity Relativity #1

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)[]

Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Thor (film) 001

There are two Infinity Gauntlets: a right-handed replica held in Odin's Vault and a functional left-handed one used by Thanos.

The right-handed gauntlet that contained replicas of the Infinity Stones was seen when the Frost Giants broke in to Odin's Vault to retrieve the Casket of Ancient Winters, alongside many other treasures guarded by the Destroyer.[23] When Hela broke into the vault with Skurge to resurrect the corpses of Fenris and an army of Asgardians, while surveying the items on display, she dismisses the gauntlet as a fake.[24]

When Thanos decided to search for the Infinity Stones himself, he forced the dwarves of Nidavellir to forge a left-handed gauntlet from Uru before massacring them all, save for the Dwarf King Eitri.[25] He then donned the gauntlet while vowing to find the stones himself.[26] As he acquired the Infinity Stones, he inserted them into the gauntlet one by one, though he found resistance in the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, who attempted to remove the gauntlet. Eventually, he collected all the Stones and snapped his gauntlet to wipe of half of all life in the universe. However, the process severely damaged the gauntlet, though it remained functional.[25] When the Avengers went to the Garden, Thor sliced off Thanos' arm with the gauntlet and Thanos revealed to them that he had reduced the Infinity Stones to atoms using their own power.[27]

Five years later, with the reappearance of Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm, the Avengers went back in time to recreate the Gauntlet by retrieving past versions of the Stones. After Tony and Rocket created a new gauntlet out of Iron Man armor-like technology, the Hulk used it to restore those killed by Thanos' usage. When a time-travelling Thanos tried to use it to destroy the whole universe, Tony Stark used his own armor's nanotechnology to create a makeshift gauntlet to accommodate the Stones, which were then used to wipe out the time travelling Thanos and his army.[27]

A notable departure from the Prime Universe's gauntlet is that the use of its full power causes devastating damage to its user, as Thanos and Hulk had their arms heavily damaged and it led to the death of Tony Stark.[27]

Thor (replica)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (actual)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (Earth-TRN765)[]

Thane (Thanos' Son) (Earth-TRN765) from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 The Black Order 004
The Infinity Gauntlet is part of a full suit of armor known as the Infinity Armor. It is described by Thanos as "far too powerful for any mortal being to contain". After Thane acquired the Gauntlet from his father, he used it to summon and equip the Infinity Armor. Soon after, he used its power to fight the heroes and Thanos at the Heart of Infinity. However, Thane eventually lost control of the Armor's omnipotent power, and soon after, Thanos seemingly destroyed the Armor, apparently killing both himself and Thane in the process. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Earth-TRN841[]

Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Spider-Man Deadpool Vol 1 49 001
Gwenpool sent the Infinity Gauntlet to Deadpool in order to suggest him how to defeat the Manipulator. Deadpool refused to use it saying it was only a movie prop. Spider-Man/Deadpool #49

Unknown Realities[]

T'Challa (Earth-616) from Secret Wars Vol 1 6 001
An unknown reality was destroyed by an incursion and its remains, in which Doomstadt was built, were salvaged by God Emperor Doom to form Battleworld. The Infinity Gauntlet with all the gems of this reality was found by Sheriff Strange, who hid it on the Isle of Agamotto. The Gauntlet was eventually claimed by Black Panther, who used it to fight Doom.[15] Secret Wars #6
Infinity Gauntlet (Item) from Spider-Man Annual Vol 3 1 001
In an unknown reality, its equivalent is called Infinity Goat-Let. It was wielded by an anamorphic Thanos. It was destroyed by a celestial. Spider-Man Annual (Vol. 3) #1
Peter Parker (Earth-Unknown) from Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comic Vol 1 8 002
In an unknown reality, the gauntlet was wielded by Spider-Man. He also wore Loki's helmet and cape. These items currupted the Wall-Crawler. Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comic #8

Trivia

  • Tony Stark, Iron Man, was the first human to use the complete Infinity Gauntlet.[11] Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic, wore it previously, but without using it.[9]

See Also

Links and References

References

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