Even from the early entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it became apparent that something big was in the works. Fan speculation swirled about how all the pieces came together, and the Infinity Stones have been at the center of all of those theories.
Originally called Infinity Gems in the comics, these powerful objects were largely associated with Thanos, who could defeat most cartoon characters with them. So when he showed up in the final moments of The Avengers, he justified a lot of theories that stones were on the horizon. The first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie confirmed this when the Power Stone was shown as a MacGuffin. Then, Marvel sneakily revealed that other stones were hidden in plain sight in the form of Loki’s scepter and the Cosmic Cube. Stones perform completely different tasks, which makes them uniquely suited to specific situations. Below is a ranking where all stones are matched according to their strength levels.
6 Soul stone
Even after Thanos collected all of the Infinity Stones, the Soul Stone remained the most mysterious of them all. Since no one has used the stone independently, its true power remains unknown. Besides being the most elusive stone, it is also the hardest to obtain. It requires a sacrifice, in the sense that someone has to die in order for the stone to be released. It’s unclear if the sacrifice had to be love, but either way, that’s exactly what happened. Thanos killed Gamora, his daughter, whom he claimed to love. This was unlike Black Widow and Hawkeye, who clearly care about each other and fight for the right to sacrifice themselves.
The movies haven’t actually shown what the Soul Stone does. A fan theory is that after Thanos used the gauntlet, the Soul Stone forced him to confront his actions by seeing a young Gamora. And in a deleted scene for Endgame, Tony Stark had a similar encounter with his young daughter after he used the stones. However, these scenes are not confirmed to be the Soul Stone in action. In the comics, the stone has a direct connection to Adam Warlock, who is set to appear in the third Guardians Of The Galaxy movie. It will be interesting to see if this connection continues in some way, even if the Stone is technically destroyed in the current timeline.
5 space stone
It’s crazy to put the Space Stone second to last out of all the infinity stones, but that just goes to show how powerful the other stones are. Where it specializes as an Infinity Stone, the Space Stone is capable of opening portals that allow its user to teleport anywhere. Its limitations are largely unknown, but Thanos was able to use it to move around just about anywhere. He traveled to Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone, then to Titan, his former home, where he fought the Avengers before he teleported to Earth and completed the challenge.
However, at some point the Space Stone was contained within the Tesseract, also known as the Cosmic Cube. In this containment device, the power of the Space Stone could be used on a larger scale. The Space Stone technically derives its power from space itself, allowing the Tesseract to be used as an energy source of unfathomable energy. It has been studied extensively by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Loki even used it to power the portal that allowed the alien army to invade New York City.
4 Mind Stone
The Mind Stone’s abilities fall within its namesake. She is largely capable of controlling and altering the minds of humans across the galaxy. He appears heavily in the first two Avengers films. The first contained the Mind Stone contained within Loki’s sceptre, which he used to control Hook and the others to further his plans. Loki also used the stone to communicate with those who were pulling his strings over the vast expanses of space.
The Stone returns in Age of Ultron, where it attaches to an artificial body to create Vision. This movie showed a lot about the nature of the stone, which is a very complex network not unlike advanced artificial intelligence. This explains how the stone is almost alive, in a way. It is this strange nature that allowed Hydra to enhance Wanda Maximoff’s abilities. It even formed a bond with the stone in a way that continued when it was used to revive Vision as the two formed a unique bond.
3 Power Stone
Pound for pound, the Power Stone is the most powerful of all the Infinity Stones. It is said to contain the full destructive power of the universe and was used by the Celestials when they wanted to wipe out entire planets with ease. Since it contained so much raw energy contained in such a small body, it was almost impossible for human beings to comprehend it on their own. This was seen when Star Lord was barely able to contain it with his Heavenly Blood. Only with the help of the other Guardians of the Galaxy was he able to channel its power to destroy Ronan, making them great Snap characters.
When used by Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet, the Power Stone is more contained and focused for practical purposes. With the gauntlet, Thanos is able to stifle his power, such as when he used it to torture Thor so Loki would give up the Tesseract. However, he also wasn’t shy about unleashing the stones’ full power, as he did when he grabbed an entire moon and hurled it at Iron Man in Infinity War.
2 Time Stone
Similar to the Mind Stone, the Time Stone’s abilities are quite in the name. It is the magical artifact that gives the Supreme Witch’s Eye of Agamotto its power. It features heavily in the first Doctor Strange movie, where Doctor Strange manages to use it with almost uncanny efficiency. In his first experiment with the stone, Doctor Strange was able to precisely move something as small as an apple backwards in time and forwards, until the apple died.
Most impressively, Doctor Strange was able to use the Stone to save Earth by rewinding the destruction of the Hong Kong Sanctuary. The stone’s power led to a dramatic action and fight scene as Doctor Strange’s allies fought Dormammu’s henchmen while the entire city’s destruction was moving in reverse around them. Also, just as impressive, Thanos was able to use the stone to bring Vision back to life so he could take the Mind Stone for himself. This kind of ability to turn back time really makes him one of the most powerful things in the galaxy.
1 reality stone
Despite first appearing in one of the most memorable MCU movies, Thor: The Dark World, The Reality Stone is definitely the most powerful and most terrifying of them all. In the second Thor movie, Malekith sought to use the stone’s power to turn all of reality into primordial darkness. This is a terrifying idea that shows the vast scale a stone can change the universe forever. Unfortunately, the low-ranking movie used the stone in a way that it was almost incomprehensible for fans to see its potential.
A more grounded approach to the power of the Stone was shown in Infinity War. Using the stone, Thanos managed to completely transform Knowhere in order to fool the Guardians Of The Galaxy into thinking they had won. It was a cruel trick for Thanos to use to play Gamora, making him one of the MCU’s best characters. Then, using the stone in actual combat, Thanos easily transformed the bodies of Drax and Mantis, completely neutralizing them in an instant. Then, once again displaying the power of the Stone, Thanos created an illusion to restore his home on Titan to its glory to show Doctor Strange where he came from. The way the stone can smoothly and easily transform the world around people makes it the most powerful of all.
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