Referred to as the Mad Titan by the galactic community, Thanos is a powerful merciless
warlord who rules over a distant region of space.
He was born a member of the Titans, a powerful race of god-like beings that evolved on a
now devastated planet.
In his quest for domination, Thanos seeks to collect and wield the incredible power
of six stones that when used together will give the user ultimate power over the universe
– The Infinity Stones.
The Infinity Stones are six stones or gems that were created by the Cosmic Entities:
Death, Entropy, Infinity and Eternity.
It was in Guardians of the Galaxy that The Collector explained the nature of the stones:
“Before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded
into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots...
Infinity Stones.”
They are the greatest power in the universe:
“These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. These
carriers can use the stone to mow down entire civilisations like wheat in a field.
Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they
were quickly destroyed by it.”
There are six stones in total, each representing a different aspect of the universe: Space,
Mind, Reality, Power, Time and Soul.
Only beings of immense power can wield the stones, but it is possible to house them in
containers to avoid direct contact.
The Infinity Gauntlet allows the wearer to channel the combined power of the Infinity
Stones. A right-handed set was revealed to be in Odin’s Vault in Asgard but that was
shown to be… [FAKE!]. Unfortunately, the real gauntlet just happens to be in the possession
of… Thanos himself.
Although there are six Infinity Stones, we have only seen five stones in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe:
The Space Stone was contained in the Tesseract, an artefact we first saw stolen from a church
in Tonsberg, Norway, during World War II by Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, Johann Schmidt
(aka The Red Skull).
He used it to power an advanced super bomber designed to drop atomic bombs on US cities.
Captain America foiled his plans and, upon touching the Tesseract, the Red Skull disappeared
through a portal across space.
The Tesseract fell into the sea and was later recovered by Howard Stark of Stark Industries
who had it locked away and studied at a top-secret Allied war agency, the Strategic Scientific
Reserve (SSR).
Seventy years later, Loki agreed to retrieve the Tesseract for Thanos, in exchange for
the use of Thanos’ army – the Chitauri.
The Tesseract was used to create a portal above New York City, allowing Loki’s army
to attack Earth. Fortunately, the Avengers managed to close the portal and foil the attack.
The Tesseract was then taken to Asgard where it is kept safe in Odin’s vault… that
is until Loki found it again, and most probably, took it with him before the destruction of
Asgard in Thor: Ragnorak.
As well as allowing Loki to use his army in the failed attempt to capture Earth, Thanos
also gave Loki a sceptre containing the Mind Stone.
This sceptre allowed Loki to control any person who came into contact with it.
Following the Battle of New York, the sceptre was stolen from SHIELD by a sleeper HYDRA
agent and used for human experimentation in a secret research base in Sokovia, which resulted
in the creation of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.
The sceptre was recovered by the Avengers, and Tony Stark, with the help of Bruce Banner,
used it to bring to life Ultron – an artificial intelligence designed to protect the Earth.
Only, Ultron turned against humanity, and with the help of Loki’s sceptre, created
Vision – a powerful, synthetic being with a Vibranium-laced body – into which he planned
to upload his mind.
However, the Avengers managed to stop Ultron. Instead, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner uploaded
the JARVIS AI into the body. With help from Thor’s hammer, Vision was born with the
Mind Stone embedded at the centre of his forehead.
Vision used the Mind Stone to destroy Ultron with an energy beam at the Battle of Sokovia,
before formally joining the Avengers.
During the Convergence – a cosmic event occurring approximately every five thousand
years that brings together all of the Nine Realms in alignment – the astrophysicist,
Dr Jane Foster, became infected with the Aether – a dark, red, viscous liquid that contains
the Reality Stone.
Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves – an ancient race of beings who had previously
tried and failed to use the Aether in a battle against the Asgardians – was alerted to
the presence of the Aether and reclaimed it.
He then took the Aether to Earth in an attempt to infect the Nine Realms with eternal darkness.
Fortunately, Malekith was destroyed by Thor and his team before he could complete his
plans and the Aether was retaken by Asgard.
As it was too dangerous to keep two Infinity Stones so close together, the Aether was handed
over to The Collector for safe-keeping.
On the planet Morag, hidden in an ancient Temple Vault accessible only every 300 years,
was the Orb – an artefact containing the Power Stone. It was found by [Star Lord]…
aka Peter Quill, who immediately found himself being hunted by a number of foes including
Gamora and Ronan the Accuser – who were sent by Thanos himself.
Captured by the Nova Corps, Star-Lord and Gamora joined forces and, along with Rocket
Raccoon, Groot and Drax the Destroyer, escaped their prison and recaptured the Orb, which
they planned to sell to The Collector.
Unfortunately, The Collector’s slave assistant tried to grab the Orb and ended up destroying
the Collector’s Museum. The Orb was then captured by Ronan the Accuser who decided
to keep it for himself and destroy the planet Xandar in revenge.
However, during the Battle of Xandar, Ronan was destroyed and Star-Lord handed over the
Orb to the Nova Corps for safe-keeping.
The Eye of Agamotto, within which resides the Time Stone, is stored in Kamar-Taj, Nepal,
where Doctor Strange began investigating its powers to manipulate time.
He eventually used the Stone to defeat Dormammu – a powerful malevolent primordial entity
who ruled another universe known as the Dark Dimension – and, surprise, surprise, wanted
to take over this universe.
Having used the Stone’s power, Strange left the Eye in Kamar-Taj.
The Soul Stone has yet to be seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and speculation is rife
about where it may be hidden.
Perhaps Thanos already has it, but there is a popular theory about where we may expect
to see it…
With Wakanda featuring heavily in the trailers for Infinity War, it has been suggested that
the souls stone lies at the core of the vibranium meteor underneath Wakanda.
This would explain why the Heart-shaped herb allows the Black Panther to commune with the
souls of the dead. What we do know though is that, wherever it
may be, we won’t have to wait long to find out!
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