For the past eleven years, the MCU had set up the Infinity Saga by introducing each of
the infinity stones to audiences across the globe bit by bit, hint by hint.
Now that the saga has finally come to a close, it's likely we won't be hearing much of the
stones in the future of the franchise (but really, who knows!)
Fret not though, friends.
Marvel has a ton of alternate universes throughout the comics and even in Marvel based video
games that incorporate the stones and their awesome power.
So today, we're going to explore some of those alternates with our list of the top 10 alternate
versions of the Infinity Stones!
We'll be talking about other infinity stones that have popped up in the comics over the
years, and sets of the original infinity stones that have appeared in alternate time lines.
So with that in mind, let's get to it!
10 Ultimate Marvel In the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Infinity
gems have a completely different narrative than the 616 universe.
For starters, there's two infinity gauntlets, each equipping three stones.
Rather than Thanos trying to get his big purple mitts on the gems, in this universe, it's
Kang the Conqueror who wants them, and allies himself with the Hulk, Reed Richards (aka
the Maker in this universe) and Quicksilver, concocting a plan to steal the two Infinity
Gauntlets.
They manage to do it too, destroying the Triskelion in the process.
There's also eight gems instead of six, one of which is found to be lodged inside of Tony
Stark's head.
The Maker forcibly operates on him, taking out the sentient tumour in his brain which
turns out to be the stone.
Luckily, this universe's version of the Avengers, the Ultimates, are able to stop them, causing
the gems to shatter and leaving the gauntlets useless.
9 Marvel Vs Capcom The Marvel vs Capcom video games eventually
integrated the stones into the franchise, and provide a unique twist on how they're
portrayed.
While their powers are generally the same, the way in which they're used makes them a
fun mechanic for players.
In Marvel vs Capcom 2 New Age of Heroes, Thanos is the only one to make use of the stones,
using Power, Reality, Soul and Space for his supers.
But then, in Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite, the game incorporates the stones in a much more
significant way - they grant your player character a specific enhancement based on which stone
you're using, all based around the plot of Ultron and Sigma using the space and reality
stones to merge their words into one.
You need to use the remaining stones to defeat them.
8 The Infinity Mitten Of course we had to include a What If alternate
reality on this list.
Or rather, a What The-?!
Which was kind of a spin off of sorts from the what if series, that explored a more comical
approach to alternate realities and hypothetical questions in the Marvel universe.
It was a pretty short lived series, to say the least.
Anywho, in issue 24 of What The, from 1992, is a parody of the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet
comic, the series that the MCU Infinity War was loosely based off of.
Here's a look at the cover - as you can see, the mitt reads 'cosmic cook' and Thanos holds
a pair of tongs holding Wolverine and declares that he is the master of space, time and barbeque
sauce.
He's also called thermo s in it, because all of the Marvel characters are parodies of themselves
and have silly pun filled names.
The story still has the same narrative thread - Thermos uses the mitt to impress Mistress
Death, wiping out half the universe.
7 The Battlerealm Stones For those of you familiar with the mobile
game Marvel's Contest of Champions, you know the whole premise of the game follows Marvel's
heroes engaging in a cosmic fighting tournament.
The game does have a loose narrative as well, which, throughout gameplay, new infinity stones
are introduced to players, which are called Evolution, Genesis, War, Chaos, Nightmare
and Death.
The game doesn't give us a ton of context on them, or what exactly their full scope
of powers entail or where they've been hiding in this alternate reality, but they still
grab the attention of a certain Mad Titan who attempts to collect them and use them.
6 Ego Let's move onto a specific alternate stone
now - the Ego gem.
White in colour, this one was hidden in a realm called the Ultraverse, and contained
the essence of Nemesis - a being who was omnipotent who had shattered herself into the infinity
gems and spread out across two universes because she had grown tired of existence.
The stone took control of Eternal Sersi, and when she came across Loki who was attempting
to steal all of the other 6 stones, the stone recreated Nemesis.
Fun fact - Nemesis is sometimes believed to have been the infinity gems in humanoid sentient
form.
So all in all, ego is a stone that contains the consciousness of Nemesis.
5 Rhythm Rhythm is a bit more fun than our previous
number.
For starters, it's kind of a fake gem.
It appears in the video game Marvel Super Hero Squad The Infinity Gauntlet, and was
created by Loki.
Thor and Falcon attempt to retrieve the stone from the trickster god, only to discover it's
fake, and has been used as a decoy to trick the Avengers in order to keep them away from
the 6 real stones.
Loki uses the stone to hide himself and the Enchantress inside of it.
Prior to this, the Avengers decide they need to acquire all of the gems before thanos does;
a conversation that Loki, along with Doctor Doom, Silver surfer and Nebula listen in on.
4 Build This gem is kind of similar to our last number
- it also appears in a spin off alternate reality, this time, one inhabited by Lego
marvel superheroes.
In 2017, a short was released called LEGO Marvel superheroes - Guardians of the Galaxy:
The Thanos Threat.
The plot revolves around the Guardians needing to deliver an infinity gem called the Build
Stone, which allows it's user to build any weapon.
They need to deliver it to the Avengers, but Yondu and his Ravagers get in the way, followed
by Ronan the Accuser and Nebula.
Essentially, it roughly plays with the plot of the first Guardians MCU film, except turns
the Power Stone into the Build Stone, which is a bit more fitting for its Lego universe.
3 The Forever Glass Deviating a little bit for this number from
talking about individuals stones and returning to a set of stones - or rather, something
called the Forever glass that appears on Earth 429 000 1, otherwise known as the earth that's
home to the great society.
What's that?
They're a group of superhumans that banded together to fight off alien invaders after
the previous hero team of that earth, the Archetypes of Justice, were defeated.
One of the ways they defended their planet was by using something called the Wishing
Cube, the equivalent to the infinity gauntlet - it has 6 planes of forever glass, which
is the equivalent to the 6 stones.
But their universe is ultimately destroyed thanks to Earth 616 - appearing in the third
volume of New Avengers, their reality is on a collision course with that of 616's, and
Namor pulls the trigger on them, activating an anti-matter injector to destroy them before
they destroyed the 616.
And, fun fact, on this alternate earth, many of the characters are actually a pastiche
of DC comics characters.
2 Death Death is a much heftier stone in comparison
to the likes of Build, Ego and Rhythm.
Also known as the mortal stone.
The Death gem appears in the 2015 Infinity Gauntlet limited series, as part of the second
Secret Wars cross over event.
In it, the reality stone is used by Nova aka Anwen Bakian to create a new gem called the
Death Stone, which Thanos manages to get his hands on.
But here's the trick - when Thanos touches it, it corrupts him with black matter, turning
him to dust after he assembled it with the other gems in the infinity gauntlet.
This went down in Infinity Gauntlet vol 2 issue 5.
1 Continuity Last but not least, we have Continuity.
This one is owned by Deadpool, and appears in his self-titled solo series.
The continuity stone gives characters the power to talk to their comic book writers.
According to Deadpool himself, "editors tremble before its limitless power to retcon marvel
comics history with but a whim!"
So yes, it's a bit of a parody stone, and allows for more of Deadpool's wonderful meta
dialogue and breaking of the 4th wall, but still an intriguing addition to the stones
nonetheless.
There we have it friends!
What's your favourite alternate infinity stone?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know!
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