THE INFINITY GEMS Theory
Theory by Kennedy
Published 4/6/14
MINOR SPOILERS FROM THOR: THE DARK WORLD
When the arguably best superhero film of all time (so far), Marvel’s The Avengers, was released in theaters, it left audiences hanging at a cliffhanger. Specifically, this mid-credits scene cliffhanger.
The audience unfamiliar with Marvel Comics would be sitting at home, wondering who the mysterious blue-eyed purple dude was at the end of the film (or they just didn’t really care). But we comic book geeks know exactly who it was. It was Thanos, the Mad Titan.
In the early 1990s, Thanos became one of the most powerful Marvel supervillains ever published. He was born into a beautiful race called the Titans, but was an outcast for his hideous wrinkly, purple complexion, making this his defining moment unto becoming evil. Later in his life, Thanos would fall in love… with Death. However, in the Marvel universe, Death was a physical being, like the mythological Grim Reaper, but Thanos saw her in the form of a beautiful woman.
Notice in the mid-credits scene of The Avengers, when “The Other” tells Thanos that to try and fight the Avengers again would be “to court death”. That’s when Thanos becomes interested. He stands, looks at the Other, and smiles. Make sense now?
So back to the comics, Thanos wanted to do anything he could to woo Death into his arms. He assumed that he needed to become the most powerful being in the entire universe. Therefore, he makes it his goal to gather a collection of six mysterious cosmic elements called Infinity Gems. Each gem is able to control a certain aspect of the universe (Space, Mind, Power, Reality, Time, Soul). When all six of these are together and used by one person, they practically make that person a god. They are able to control, manipulate, and change anything they want in the universe. So Thanos builds a gauntlet, collects all these gems, placing them onto the gauntlet, calling it THE INFINITY GAUNTLET.
And keep in mind, this is all because he is trying to get Death to fall in love with him. Eventually, an enormous collection of Marvel heroes (and even some villain) are gathered to try and stop Thanos and take away the Infinity Gauntlet. You can read this entire 1991 story arc called The Infinity Gauntlet. Here is a look at the most epic battle that has ever taken place in the history of the Marvel universe.
Looks insane, right? I mean that is practically everyone in the whole Marvel universe (Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the list goes on). There’s even some cosmic forces who are unfathomably the most powerful entities in the whole universe present, yet are still defeated by Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.
The rumor is that this event will be the subject of the third Avengers film in Phase Three. Now, we highly doubt that it will be ALL of these guys who take part in the battle, because that would be impossible to film. Even so, the question on our minds is, how the hell are they going to make this movie?!
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to figure out the one thing that will make this event possible. The Infinity Gems. What are they and where are they? We can say for sure for half of the gems. As for the other half, that’s when the theories come in. Let’s get started.
THE INFINITY GEMS
We’ve already seen three of these in Phases One and Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The other three have yet to be accounted for. Let’s organize this in the order Marvel’s films have been and will be released.
SPACE
aka: The Tesseract
Appeared in: Thor (post-credits scene), Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers
The Space gem (Tesseract) is a cosmic element that enables one to open portals in space that may then be passed through (as seen in The Avengers). It made its first appearance in Thor, when Nick Fury asked Dr. Erik Selvig to be the leading scientist to study it. We later found out the Red Skull stole it from a Norse church during WWII and proceeded to harness its power to use as a weapon. After the Red Skull was defeated, the Tesseract was lost and soon found again by Howard Stark, co-founder of SHIELD. This is how the Tesseract came to be in their possession. In future events, Loki would make a deal with Thanos: If Loki retrieved the Tesseract for Thanos, Thanos would allow him to take control of Earth, but Loki ultimately failed. The Tesseract is now stored in Odin’s vault in Asgard.
Pictures of the Space gem/Tesseract appearances in the films
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)
MIND
aka: the gem in Loki’s staff, the Chitauri Scepter
Appeared in: The Avengers
The Mind gem allows one to inhabit and control another’s mind, disabling them from making their own decisions and bowing to the possessor’s every will. So far, we have only seen the Mind gem once on screen, when it was given to Loki by the Other (whom Thanos probably gave it to give to Loki). Thanos allowed Loki to borrow the gem in order to build a small command of mind-controlled minions on Earth. Two of these minions included Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. While Hawkeye acted as Loki’s right-hand man and bodyguard, Selvig, who had been studying the Tesseract prior, was used to unleash the Tesseract’s full potential in order to open a hole in space for Loki/Thanos’s army to pass through and enslave Earth. But as we already know, this plan failed. The Mind gem combined with the Space gem (thanks to Black Widow) is what ultimately destroyed the portal linking Earth and the Chitauri army. We are not sure what happened to the staff or the gem. My guess is that SHIELD has them in their possession to continue studying it, just as Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark were studying it earlier in the film.
WARNING: THOR: THE DARK WORLD SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
POWER
aka: The Aether
Appeared in: Thor: The Dark World
The Power gem is a cosmic element that has the ability to turn matter into dark matter. In case you aren’t sure what dark matter is, it’s pretty much everything that’s nothing in space, if that makes sense. Where a planet or a star would be matter, all of the empty black space surrounding it would be dark matter. In Thor: The Dark World, the dark elf Malekith had a goal to revert the universe back to its original, dark state, before it even was the universe. Before the universe was born, the dark elves were the only thing in existence, and they lived in the dark nothingness. After the birth of the universe, they were unhappy with its visibility, along with all of the new life it had created, so they wanted to change it back. The only thing that could do that was the Aether (the Power gem). After Thor defeated Malekith, the Asgardians took the Aether with them…though they did not keep it with them.
Instead, they took it to a different part of space, fearing that two Infinity Gems (or “Infinity Stones” as Volstagg calls them) in the same location would be too dangerous (the Space gem already being in Asgard).
So they left it in the care of Taneleer Tivan, the Collector.
One of the oldest beings in the universe, he is infamous for having a large collection of items he has gathered from every corner of the universe throughout his very long life. He promises to keep the Aether safe in his Collection, until they leave and he states, “One down…five to go.” The next time we will see the Collector will be in Guardians of the Galaxy, coming out later this year. (Fun fact about the Collector: In the comics, he despises Thanos, so perhaps he is trying to gather the gems before Thanos does. Whether he will use them, we don’t know, but I doubt he has them in mind for a good cause.)
So where are the other three gems? Now that we’ve gotten our facts, let’s get to our theories! Keep in mind, we could be completely wrong about this, but we have a bit of evidence to prove some of our points.
REALITY
aka: ?
Will appear in: Guardians of the Galaxy
Pictured above are Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and Star Lord. Star Lord appears to be holding some mysterious orb. Could this be our next Infinity gem? Take a look at the official synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy.
"From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which first appeared in comic books in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector. James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige producing, and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Alan Fine and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. The story is by Nicole Perlman and James Gunn, with screenplay by James Gunn. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” releases in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2014. In addition to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on April 4, 2014; “Avengers: Age of Ultron” on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on July 31, 2015.”
So it looks like our primary villain is Ronan the Accuser. This is how he looks in the comics.
In the comics, Ronan was part of an alien race called the Kree. Although he considered himself to be a neutral figure, he often had unorthodox methods when it came to getting what he wanted. For instance, he…accused a lot of people and tended be a violent guy. In the film, it looks like he’ll be hunting down Peter Quill (Star Lord) in order to take this orb from him. Maybe he wants it for his own selfish reasons, or maybe he’s trying to keep it safe from the hands of Thanos. We won’t know until August 1st. But putting all that aside, why would we think this is the Reality gem?
To be completely honest, we don’t know how this would tie in to the film’s plot. At least, not until we see it. We do, however, know what the Reality gem does. It basically enables you to change logic. For example, if you had control of it and you wanted to make up down, you could do it. You could make 2+2=5. The possibilities are infinite, hence why it is an Infinity Gem. So, does Ronan want this gem to always get his way when it comes to accusing and judging his adversaries, or does he just want to keep it out of evil’s reach?
TIME
aka: ?
Will appear in:…Ant-Man?
After the first casting announcements of Ant-Man (Michael Douglas as Hank Pym and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang), people have been wondering if the two generations of Ant-Men will actually meet each other…in a different time. There has been a theory circulating the internet that the second Ant-Man will go back in time to the 1960s and team up with the first Ant-Man. If this is true, a very good possibility is that it will be done with the Time gem. The Time gem (obviously) has the ability to control, preview, and manipulate time. Although this theory is an interesting one, I don’t think this is what is going to happen.
The Time gem is an Infinity gem, meaning that it is one of the most powerful cosmic elements in the universe. Personally, I don’t think it would be used in one of the films only to travel back in time to meet a guy. It’s far too powerful to do something so simple. There is a recent comic book storyline that exists that features a great deal of time travel and time manipulation in it. The villain just “happens”to be Ultron, and the title of the arc also just “happens” to be…
Oh, and the next Avengers film just “happens”to be titled…
Now, granted, Marvel did say that they are not using the “Age of Ultron” storyline from the comics. I believe that. After all, for many issues, Wolverine and Invisible Woman are the main protagonists, whose characters’ rights are both owned by Fox (as of right now), but the main element in the story arc is time travel. Marvel, are you trying to tell us that one of the Infinity gems you still need to introduce is the Time gem, but you’re not following ANY of the story of the comic you named your next big movie after, even though it is a perfect opportunity for you to incorporate time travel? C’mon. Although Marvel says they aren’t following the storyline, they will probably borrow the concept of using Ultron and time travel together, and put it to use in their film, with the Time gem as the object of pursuit, adding yet another block to their cinematic universe.
and finally…
SOUL
aka: Adam Warlock’s gem
May appear in: Guardians of the Galaxy, or itssequel
According to the Marvel Wikia page, the Soul gem:
has a desire to collect souls
can attack another’s soul in various ways
can reveal information by peering into another’s soul
can trap souls inside itself in an idyllic world.
The gem’s wielder can access the memories and skills of those imprisoned within [limbo]
can revert beings to their natural state.
protects its wielder from soul-based attacks.
This infinitely powerful element is located in a very special and unique place. A place so epic and amazing. The Soul gem is…
On a guy’s forehead.
Yesterday, there was a rumor that a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy would be one of Marvel’s Phase Three films, along with Ant-Man and a few other unannounced films. This film could be our official introduction to Adam Warlock. Adam Warlock is a biologically engineered attempt to create the perfect human being. He has a green gem on his forehead (seen above) that happens to be the Soul gem. And guess what…In the comics, Adam Warlock was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy at one time. And guess what else…he’s Thanos’s arch nemesis.
To change the origin of the gem would be crazy. That’s why we’re certain that Adam Warlock is bound to make an appearance in the MCU. Still need more evidence? In the comics, if Warlock is on the verge of death, he is able to regenerate inside a cocoon of his own creation.
Ladies and gentleman, Thor: The Dark World presents…Adam Warlock’s cocoon.
There it is. Sitting right in the Collector’s collection. Adam Warlock exists in the MCU and he will be coming…Coming to help defeat Thanos and take the Infinity Gauntlet, possibly developing the Infinity Watch.
BONUS:
THE INFINITY GAUNTLET
Appeared in: Thor
Is this the REAL gauntlet, or just a nod? After all, how could all of the gems be on it if they are scattered throughout the MCU? Perhaps it’s just a decoy.
What do you guys think? Do you have any theories about where and when the remaining three Infinity Gems will appear in the MCU? Send us a message starting with “INF:”!
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