Mind, Heart and Soul

The Infinity Stones About + A Little History + Capabilities

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Infinity Stones

The Infinity Stones were six immensely powerful gem-like objects tied to different aspects of the universe, created by the Cosmic Entities. Each of the stones possesses unique capabilities that have been enhanced and altered by various alien civilizations for millennia.

Only beings of immense power can directly wield the Stones, such as Celestials, and the Mad Titan Thanos. Lesser beings would face dire consequences: Johann Schmidt was cursed to Vormir to guard the Soul Stone after touching an active Tesseract, Jane Foster became ill after being exposed to the Aether, Carina exploded when she touched the Power Stone; however, these effects can be reduced if a group is sharing the power among themselves.It is also possible to place an Infinity Stone (or multiple) inside a container to allow the user to wield the Stone's power without suffering the normal repercussions. Examples include the Space Stone inside the Tesseract, the Mind Stone inside the Scepter and later in Vision's forehead, the Power Stone inside the Orb and later the Cosmi-Rod, the Time Stone inside the Eye of Agamotto, the Reality Stone as the Aether, and all of the Infinity Stones housed in the Infinity Gauntlet.

When Thanos successfully collected all of them, he used their phenomenal powers to annihilate half of all living creatures in the universe. He later uses the stones' power to reduce them to atoms, as to prevent his work from being undone and to keep himself or anyone else from abusing their power.

Five years later, the Avengers traveled back in time to retrieve the stones from alternate timelines in order to undo Thanos' act of mass genocide. After the Battle of Earth, Captain America returned the stones to their proper place in time to prevent any alternate branch timelines from forming.

History

Before the Universe began, six singularities existed. Sometime after the universe exploded into existence, these were formed into the six Infinity Stones by the Cosmic Entities. Each stone represented a different aspect of the universe (Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Time, and Soul).

In the distant past, the Power Stone was used by the Celestials as a means of placing judgment upon worlds and their populaces, wiping out entire civilizations by touching its power on the planet's surface. However, the stone was just as dangerous to its handler as it was to the societies against which it was used, as its insufficiently powerful handlers were destroyed by its power.

Capabilities

As the Infinity Stones are the representation of all the necessary aspects of existence, they have absolute control over the fabric of reality they represent and from it, they derive extremely powerful capabilities to be wielded and are the most powerful artifacts in the known universe. Thor describes the Infinity Stones as the greatest power in the universe, and "unparalleled" in their destructive capabilities. The power of the Time Stone was able to render even a tremendously powerful cosmic being of Dormammu's caliber powerless to do anything to break it. The Reality Stone's power can affect the whole universe, with Malekith intending to use its capabilities to cover the whole universe in darkness. The Space Stone was thought to be capable of channeling energy sufficient to destroy a planet with the Power Stone being able to destroy worlds simply via its energy making contact with their surface. Even Asgard deems it unwise to house two stones in one place, despite the fact that their vault is extremely well guarded.

Augmented by the Power Stone, the Dark Aster was able to easily breach the considerable defenses that surrounded Xandar with Irani Rael declaring a state of emergency once she learned that Ronan wielded it. One of the greatest feats of power ever to be seen from the use of the Infinity Stones was their power to turn living beings into dust. Such power alone was the true motivation for Thanos to seek out the Infinity Stones in the first place. When all six Stones are brought together and properly channeled, they make their wielder virtually omnipotent, being able to affect the universe in almost any way they choose, which Thanos demonstrated when he killed half of all life in the universe via a simple finger snap. However, the same Infinity Stones were even used to resurrect all those who were decimated by Thanos. The combined power of all the Infinity Stones could not resurrect Natasha Romanoff, however, who had sacrificed herself so that the Avengers could have the Soul Stone.