INFINITY GEMS

 

INFINITY GEMS

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere (Vol. 1) #1, April 1972 (Soul Gem); Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) #55, March 1977 (Time/Power Gems); Avengers Annual (Vol. 1) #7, August 1977 (remaining gems)

Description: The Infinity Gems (previously known as the “Soul Gems") are some of the most powerful artifacts in the Universe. Each one allows its owner complete omnipotence over one aspect of the universe: Time, space, reality, the mind, power, and the soul. When all six are directly wielded together, nothing is impossible for their bearer.

When wielded separately, the power of the Gems varies from user to user, depending on what they are capable of tapping into. The Infinity Gems are linked to each other mentally. Supposedly, this is because the Gems were the remnant of the previous supreme being of the universe (Galactus's origin universe), although how that ties into the recent revelations (from Ultimates 2) is unclear. Anyone who has wielded the Gems in the past remains linked to them in some way, possessing a form of cosmic awareness derived from having been tied into a greater infinity. For instance, Thanos was once able to send a telepathic call to Nebula, which was intercepted by Gamora, all because of their previous wielding of the Gems.

The Soul Gem was introduced first, in the possession of the High Evolutionary when he passed it on to Adam Warlock. It had a unique interaction with Adam's own cosmic powers. Adam was extra-powerful on his own, and his abilities were burning his body out. To compensate, he limited his powers to their minimal levels, but focused them through the Soul Gem, which was fed by spiritual energy: His own confidence, convictions, and the faith that others had in him. The Soul Gem had an unexplained vampiric nature, though, causing it and Adam to hunger for the souls of others. It also coaxed most of Adam's soul into itself, leaving him unable to remove it. The scenario was reversed, and Adam began spending most of his energies on containing the Soul Gem's appetites, rather than using it to enhance his powers. In later years, Adam learned to use the Soul Gem to fire karmic blasts, disrupting the soul rather than taking it. Others have wielded the Soul Gem like the In-Betweener and Rune, the later of whom's natural vampiric abilities were drastically exaggerated by the Gem.

The Power Gem has infinite raw power that can be directed for devastating effect, or harnessed to augment any given system. Wielders such as Champion, Thor, Drax, and Titania have used it to achieve literally immeasurable strength, with their physical power levels constrained only by their imaginations.

The Time Gem can be manipulated for time travel, viewing the past and future, altering the flow of time on specific people or objects, etc. Gamora harnessed the Time Gem only minimally, gaining a form of precognitive sight to anticipate and counter her opponents in battle, or unbidden visions of the future that alerted her to potential dangers. The Gardener wielded the Gem in his garden, accelerating plant growth and maintaining his flowers at the apex of their bloom.

The Mind Gem grants mental powers or boosts existing ones. This was the Gem Moondragon used, amplifying her moderate telepathic and telekinetic abilities to Phoenix levels, allowing her to rearrange molecular structures, even creating a working starship by assembling molecules from the soil around her. In the Ultraverse, the Mind Gem turned the bestial creature known as Primevil into a coherent, educated, and intelligent being.

The Reality Gem is the most difficult gem to wield individually. Like the power of Proteus or the Disassembled era Scarlet Witch, it can alter reality itself, manifesting whims, reconstructing universal laws, dimensional structure, and so on. The sensory input provided from Space, Time, Soul, and Mind is often necessary to understand and control the power of the Reality Gem, causing minds to lose themselves if they attempt to wield it alone. Loki and Night Man had an encounter over the Reality Gem where Night Man's every move or decision caused him to split off a doppelganger, causing him to manifest every possible outcome of a situation in a single timeline. Recently, Carol Danvers recovered the Reality Gem in another reality, indicating the rules of the Infinity Gems may have changed, since typically the Gems can only operate in their own native reality.

The Space Gem reduces the idea of distance to a mere concept, allowing the wielder to be anywhere they choose to be. Often this appears in the form of teleportation. Pip the Troll was given permanent teleportation powers from his time with the Space Gem. The Elder known as the Runner subliminally tapped into the gem's power, believing it was making him faster as he ran. In fact, it was bending space between him and his destinations.