Infinity Gauntlet (Item)

Infinity Gauntlet
Name	Infinity Gauntlet
Aliases	Infinity Goat-Let, Infinity Mitten, Wishing Cube
Owners
Current Owner(s)	Illuminati
Previous Owner(s)	Thanos, Adam Warlock, Magus, Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, Nebula, Captain America
Physical Characteristics
Model	Unique
Origin
Origin	Magical gauntlet
Reality	Earth-616
Lead Designer	Thanos
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Jim Starlin, Ron Lim
First	Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #44 (October, 1990)
First	Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #44 (October, 1990)

History

Overview

The Infinity Gauntlet is one of the most powerful objects in the Universe. It 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.

"The Snap!"

"The Snap!"

It was gathered by the mad Titan Thanos as he took the gems from the Elders of the Universe that had originally carried them. He hoped to to appease his love the entity known as Death, Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet with all of the Infinity Gems to remove half of the population of the Universe.

Adam Warlock

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.

Sometime later, Mister Fantastic revealed to his fellow teammates of the secret group called the Illuminati that he had been collecting the Infinity Gems, and hoped to collect them all with the help of them. Despite a general apprehension, the group managed to acquire all six gems. Upon doing so, Mister Fantastic attempted to will the gems out of existence, but he was unable to do so. Faced with this failure, and a reprimand from Uatu, the Watcher, he made the controversial decision to give each Illuminati member one gem to hide so that they would never be combined and used again.

After the Siege of Asgard, the Hood tried to get all the Gems, starting by taking the Reality Gem from the Himalayas (which was kept there by Illuminati member Black Bolt), the Power Gem from the Baxter Building (kept by Mister Fantastic), and battled the Red Hulk with it. Red Hulk warned the Avengers about it, and Iron Man talked with the Illuminati about this. The Hood managed to get the Space and Time Gems, while he lost the Power Gem at the hand of Red Hulk, Namor, and Thor. After taking the Mind Gem from the ruins of the X-Mansion, the Hood traveled to the Astral Plane, where he tried to get the Soul Gem, but was finally defeated by the Avengers. Iron Man gathered all the six gems and became the first human to possess and use the Infinity Gauntlet, as he transported the Hood back to Ryker's Island and faked that he made the gauntlet disappear from existence, though he really transported it to the Illuminati's gathering place, where he divided the Gems between his teammates again.

When the Illuminati later faced the threat of the incursions, alternate reality Earths colliding with their own with the result of the extinction of both realities, the Illuminati once again assembled the Infinity Gauntlet. Galactus, the Watcher, and Thanos sensed the assembly of the gauntlet, and Captain America used it to push away the other Earth and prevent the collision. The cost of this however, was the destruction of the gauntlet and the shattering of all gems but the Time Gem.

Alternate Reality Versions

Image	Description	Issue
	In Earth-199999, there are two Infinity Gauntlets. The right-handed gauntlet that contained replicas of the Infinity Stones was seen in Odin's Vault, when the Frost Giants broke in to retrieve the Casket of Ancient Winters, alongside many other treasures guarded by the Destroyer. When Hela broke into the vault with Skurge to resurrect the corpses of Fenris and an army of Asgardians, while surveying the items on display, she dismisses the gauntlet as being just a replica.. When Thanos decided to search for the Infinity Stones himself, he forced the dwarves of Nidavellir to forge a left-handed gauntlet before massacring them all, save for the Dwarf King Eitri.. He then donned the gauntlet while vowing to find the stones himself. As he acquired the Infinity Stones, he inserted them into the gauntlet one by one, though he found resistance in the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, who attempted to remove the gauntlet. Eventually, he found all the stones and proceeded to snap his fingers to destroy half the universe. However, the process severely damaged the gauntlet, though it was still functional. When the Avengers went to retrieve the gauntlet in order to reverse the damage, Thanos revealed he destroyed the Infinity Stones to prevent it. Five years later, with the reappearance of Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm, the Avengers went back in time to recreate the Gauntlet, first using it to restore those killed by Thanos' usage, then to wipe out the Thanos from 2014 and his army. A notable departure from the comic Gauntlets is that using it would cause devastating damage to its user as Thanos and the Hulk had their arms heavily damaged and lead to the death of Tony Stark	Thor (film)
	In Earth-1610, there are eight Infinity Stones instead of six. In addition, the glove was designed to hold four gems at one time, as a result, there were two Infinity Gauntlets.	Ultimate Comics Ultimates #19
File:Infinity Mitten (Gauntlet-item), Thermos (Earth-9047) from What The-- Vol 1 24.jpg	In Earth-9047 (The Humorverse), its equivalent is called Infinity Mitten, it has no finger separations and the number of infinity gems on it is unclear. It gave almost infinite power to its wielder. The villain Thermos used it to kill half of the universe and other activities in an attempt to court Death. He thus attracted the attention of many superheroes who gathered to confront him, but Thermos killed the whole Marble Universe - only to discover that Death's new boyfriend had outclassed him anyway. In a retrospective story, we discover that Thermos had been looking for the Infinity Mitten since his childhood.	What The--?! #24
	In an Unknown Reality, its equivalent is called Infinity Goat-Let. It was wielded by an anamorphic Thanos. It was destroyed by a celestial.	Spider-Man Annual (Vol. 3) #1

Capabilities

Infinity Gems: When the Infinity Gauntlet is complete, each stone grants it the following abilities:

• Time Gem: Total control over all aspects of time including time travel, stopping time, slowing down or speed up the flow of time and to accelerate or slow down ageing.
• Space Gem: Limitless manipulation of space, allowing for teleportation, dimensional manipulation, the creation of wormholes, etc.
• Soul Gem: Limitless manipulation of souls both alive and dead also has shown to be able to evolve or devolve a beings physical self as well as their mental capacities.
• Reality Gem: Locally or universally alters the natural laws of the universe to the wielders will.
• Power Gem: Controls all of the power in the universe. It can be used to augment or inhibit any force.
• Mind Gem: Taps the user into the universal consciousness, allowing for unlimited manipulation of psionic powers including telepathy and telekinesis.

Nigh Omnipotence: The Infinity Gauntlet granted virtual/nigh-omnipotence to its wearer. Even the combined powers of beings like Eternity, Watcher, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Mistress Love, Sire Hate, Kronos, the Celestials, Death, and Galactus made up only a small fraction of the Gauntlet's power. The only known beings with power exceeding that of the Gauntlet are the Living Tribunal, God Emperor Doom with the power of the Beyonders and the One-Above-All. When Thanos possessed the gauntlet his anger turned into a wave of energy that at 2% of its full strength caused the west coast of the United States of America and Japan to sink underwater, tidal waves on the east coast of the United States, and caused the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard to shatter, trapping Odin, Zeus, and the other skyfather gods there.

One thing the Infinity Gauntlet cannot do is be used to destroy itself.

Trivia

• Tony Stark, Iron Man, was the first human to use the complete Infinity Gauntlet. Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic, wore it previously, but without using it.

See Also

• 174 appearance(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)
• 66 minor appearance(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)
• 31 mention(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)
• 7 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)
• 278 image(s) of Infinity Gauntlet (Item)