The Infinity Gauntlet was designed to hold six of the ‘soul gems’, better known as the Infinity Gems. When used in combination their already impressive powers make the wearer able to do anything they want. It was gathered by the mad Titan Thanos as he took the gems from the Elders of the Universe that had originally carried them. Adam Warlock later held the gauntlet, but the Living Tribunal declared that the gems were too dangerous to use together, and the Gauntlet was disassembled and the gems scattered among others. When faced with the threat of the Magus, Warlock was forced to apparently reassemble the gauntlet, but, aware that the Magus sought the gauntlet for himself, they tricked the Magus by replacing the Reality Gem on this gauntlet with a powerless replica, creating a gap in the Magus’s power that his enemies would exploit. Although the Tribunal restored his old rule that the Gems couldn’t be used in unison once the crisis was over, Thanos’ later machinations eventually led to Living Tribunal rescinding this restriction. Here are 6 superhero’s who have used the Gauntlet…….
6. Adam Warlock
While Nebula battled with the cosmic entities in “Infinity Gauntlet” #6 (1991) by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, Adam Warlock transferred himself into the soul gem. There, his power was magnified and he used it to reach out to the other gems, disrupting Nebula’s hold over them. When she lost the Gauntlet, Warlock appeared and took the gauntlet for himself, now granting him the power of omnipotence. He then undid all of the damage that Nebula and Thanos had done.
6. Iron Man
While in prison, the Hood discovered the location of the Infinity Gem that belonged to Black Bolt of the Inhumans. During this period of time, Black Bolt was dead and none of the other Inhumans were aware of the gem, leaving it essentially unguarded. Once the Hood obtains that Infinity Stone, he attempts to gather the remaining gems. Due to having obtained his powers from the Norn stones that he had access to while working with Loki, he was now desperate for power.
5. Captain America
When the Black Panther discovered an alternate Earth that was about to crash into his Earth, he reported his findings to the Illuminati, which now included Captain America as a member. It was discovered that all of reality was slowly condensing, causing incursions between parallel worlds. If two Earths touched, then both realities would be destroyed. The only way to save both realities was to either destroy one of the Earths, or find a way to push the incursion back.
4. Black Panther
The incursions mentioned in the previous entry continued, eventually causing the complete collapse of the multiverse. Before the collapse occurred, however, Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange discovered that the Beyonders were responsible for the incursions and confronted them. Doom was able to steal their powers, and using pieces of each of the different Earths, created one world called Battleworld that he ruled over as a god. Strange, not fully trusting Doom, secretly placed an Infinity Gauntlet within Battleworld. After the surviving members of the Illuminati arrived on Battleworld, Doom killed Dr Strange in a fit of rage.
3.Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers
Even the Avengers need pets, and of course their pets would be super powered. In “Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers” #4 (2009) by Chris Eliopoulos and Ig Guara, Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ dog, discovers the mind gem buried in the blue area of the moon, near the Inhumans’ home of Attilan. Coming in contact with it increases his intelligence. Reed Richards just happens to be there at the same time, looking for the Infinity Gems. Scanning him telepathically, Lockjaw learns how the gems work and how important they are. Using his new smarts, Lockjaw decides to recruit other super powered animals, including Throg a frog with a sliver of Mjolnir that turns him into a frog Thor, Redwing, Lockheed, Zabu and a cat named Hairball to help him in his quest to gather the other Infinity Stones. They travel through time and space and eventually collect all six gems.
2. Ultimate Hulk
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, there are actually eight Infinity Gems, which means that there are two Infinity Gauntlets. In “Ultimate Comics: Ultimates” #25 (2011) by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Carmine Di Giandomenico, S.H.I.E.L.D. was originally in possession of both gauntlets and five stones, until Kang arrived and released Bruce Banner from his cell underneath their base, the Triskelion. Banner immediately Hulked out and attacked, and the Ultimates found themselves fighting a Hulk armed with two Infinity Gauntlets. Fortunately, there were still a few stones missing, meaning that the gauntlets weren’t fully powered.
1. Spider-Man
As part of Marvel’s all ages line of comics, “Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet” (2010) by Brian Clevinger, Lee Black and Brian Churilla retold the “Infinity Gauntlet” story in a shorter, more humorous and kid friendly way. This time, Thanos only makes half the universe disappear, instead of killing them. A group of Earth’s heroes, comprised of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel and the Hulk head out into space to fight Thanos. Doctor Doom also shows up, but this is ultimately revealed to be a Doom Bot.
