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File:Reality Gem.jpg

One of six Infinity Gems that grant its user control over reality. According to the most commonly accepted origin story the six gems were once part of an all-powerful being who committed suicide out of loneliness. Its power survived and manifested as six gems.

When the Illuminati attempted to use the Infinity Gauntlet to push away another universe that was colliding with Earth-616, the Reality Gem shattered.[2]

Properties

The Reality Gem allows its user to alter reality to what one wants or break the laws of reality and logic such as making 2 + 2 = 5, as well as the laws of physics. Minor uses allow one to resurrect the dead, distort reality around someone so it is incomprehensible, or other things that would normally be impossible. More powerful uses allow one to create any type of alternate reality one wishes. At its peak when backed by the other gems it allows one to alter reality on a universal scale.

Alternate Realities

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)

After being separated from the other Infinity Stones, the Reality Gem took a new form as "the Aether." It is known to be able to convert matter into dark matter, and otherwise maintains an almost lifelike existence that causes it to bond in a parasitic fashion to a living host. Once bonded, the energies of the Aether slowly consume any mortal host, and also have a volatile and deadly effect on any who come into contact with the host in a manner that the Aether perceives as threatening. Bonded with a stronger host that understands its power, the Aether can be employed as a weapon where it lashes out with a concussive force, or reaches out to convert matter. During its brief time bonded to Malekith, the Aether also enhanced his physical form, causing him to grow threefold in height.

File:Aether.png

The Aether

Every five-thousand years a cosmic event known as the Convergence causes the Nine Realms to become aligned, and Malekith planned to use this event and release the Aether to plunge the Nine Realms back into darkness. But the Asgardians intervened and took the Aether from him by force. After Malekith sacrificed his entire race to devastate Asgard's army so he could flee, Bor, knowing that the Aether could not be destroyed, had it hidden away where none could find it, and over the following five millennia its story faded from known history.

After five-thousand years, the next Convergence brought the Nine Realms into alignment again, and in so doing portals began to appear in the walls between realms. Jane Foster was dragged through one such portal to the hidden vault of the Aether where it bonded itself to her. She was taken to Asgard for treatment, but the physicians there could do nothing to remove it.

The Aether quickly became the central focus of a war when Malekith returned after a five-thousand year sleep to reclaim it. He almost succeeded when he pulled the Aether from Foster into himself and became its new host, but was stopped in the act of transforming the Nine Realms by the combined efforts of Foster and Thor.

Having recovered the Aether, the Asgardians decided that it was unwise to store two Infinity Stones in one vault, and turned the Aether over to Taneleer Tivan, the ageless archivist and curator known as the "Collector."[1]

2010s Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-12041)

In this universe, the Red Skull stole the Infinity Stones (as they are called, instead of "Infinity Gems") from his master Thanos and returned to Earth. He had his ship heavily damaged, which caused the Stones to be scattered all over the Earth. The Reality Stone fell into possession of the nefarious Squadron Supreme. Doctor Spectrum became its wielder, and used it to wrap reality so the Squadron became the publicly adored protectors of the Earth, while each member of the Avengers was turned into a villain.

During a fight against the Squadron Supreme, now-supervillain Iron Man had a glimpse of the original status quo. Familiar memories of this other life motivated him to assemble Black Widow, Captain, Falcon, Hawkeye, Hulk and Thor to investigate this event, and ultimately discovered what the Squadron had done.

The Avengers stormed the Squadron Tower, and Captain America managed to remove the Stonefrom Doctor Spectrum's hand, which caused the stone to unleash a rift which was slowly altering reality back to normal. After the device the Squadron planned to use to better seize the Stone's power finished preparation, Spectrum started using the Stone to erase the Avengers from reality. However, Iron Man blasted him off, and allowing the Captain to get hold of the Stone. Using the device and the Stone, reality was restored, and the Avengers were turned back to their true selves.[3]

The Stone was contained with the other three that had been retrieved by the Avengers, under special care by Tony Stark. However, the Black Widow noticed that Tony was slowly being corrupted by the Stones. She snuck into the vault and stole them, with the intention to send them to Asgard for safekeeping. Their plan failed, and they resorted to Doctor Strange so he could bury them between realities. However, Dormammu appeared shortly after to take the gems. Black Widow was forcced to wield the Stones in order to vanish him back to his dimension. After initially falling into the Stones' influence, Natasha was capable of resisting their control and reject them. However, as soon as she stripped of the Stones, Thanos returned, and assembled the Infinity Gauntlet with the Power Stone that was already in his possession.[4]

Using the Gauntlet, Thanos created a citadel near Earth's orbit, and started modifying Earth's climate, causing anomalies around the globe. In order to defeat him, the Avengers got Thanos to fight them with each individual Stone. He used the Reality Stone to make the Avengers see a reality where global peace was achieved. Captain America managed to see through this lie, and freed the Avengers from its influence.

After getting the readings of each individual Stone, Iron Man activated Arsenal, who seized the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos. When the Avengers returned to Earth, it was revealed a backdoor left in the robot's programming allowed Ultron to possess him. Arsenal was re-shaped into Ultron, and the evil A.I. revealed itself. The five Stones were drained of their power by Ultron.[5]

Notes

  • Without the sensory input and balancing influence of at least the Space and Time Gems, the Reality Gem is considered exceptionally dangerous to use on anything but a small scale due to the radical nature of its powers.

See Also

Links and References

References

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