As we prepare for the arrival of Avengers: Infinity War on April 27, one question remains — where is Thanos going to find all of the infinity stones?
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s not exactly a mystery what the plot of Avengers: Infinity War revolves around considering all the hints and teases throughout the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
‘The Mad Titan’ Thanos wants to gain the ultimate power in the universe and that requires him to gather the six infinity stones that will allow him to control every aspect of life, death, time and space with the snap of his fingers.
As it was teased in the latest trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos has only ever wanted one thing — to wipe out half the universe and if he gains all of the infinity stones, he’ll be able to do it in the blink of an eye.
Now many of the infinity stones have appeared throughout the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — most prominently with the Tesseract, which played a major part in the first Avengers movie where Thanos was later revealed as the puppeteer pulling Loki’s strings in his attack on Earth.
But as we all prepare for the epic crossover that is Avengers: Infinity War, here’s a reminder of all the infinity stones that we’ve seen in the movies thus far and where they were last located so we know where Thanos is going to get them.
SPACE STONE (also known as the Tesseract)
This infinity stone allows the user to travel anywhere in the universe in a blink of an eye as we witnessed with Loki using the stone during the first Avengers movie. Like all of the infinity stones, the space stone possesses immense power, which allowed people like the Red Skull to harness its energy and use the stone to create weapons of mass destruction.
Current Location: Loki took back the space stone while he was inside the vault in Asgard during Thor: Ragnarok. This was the same stone that Loki was tasked with stealing during The Avengers as he was told to retrieve it by Thanos. Now he’s got it back and as we saw during the post credits scene in Thor: Ragnarok, Thanos has caught up to him.
If you watch the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, you’ll see Loki hand over the Tesseract to Thanos and he crushes the box that’s been containing the stone before placing it into his infinity gauntlet.
MIND STONE
As you can guess, the mind stone allows its user to control the minds of anybody it comes into contact with as well as several other powers including increased intelligence, telepathic and even telekinetic powers as well. This was the stone that Thanos already possessed before handing it over to Loki for his invasion of Earth. Obviously, Loki then lost the mind stone to The Avengers.
Current Location: Vision’s head
During Avengers: Age of Ultron, the mind stone was broken free from the scepter that once housed the weapon when the Avengers took it from Loki. The mind stone was then later used in the creation of the android Vision and that’s where it remains to this day. In other words, Thanos will have to rip the mind stone directly from Vision’s head if he wants it.
REALITY STONE
The reality stone allows a user to bend reality to their will — and even create alternate realities — while also giving the person wielding the stone immense strength, durability and other enhanced abilities.
Current Location: The Collector was given the stone for safekeeping by the Asgardians after Thor took it away from Malekith in their battle on Earth. The Collector (played by Benicio Del Toro) is definitely in Avengers: Infinity War so it’s safe to assume Thanos will be paying him a visit.
POWER STONE
The power stone gives the user incredibly enhanced abilities including super human strength while also being able to manipulate energy as well. The power stone is so powerful that it can actually be unleashed to destroy an entire planet.
Current Location: The Nova Corps were given the power stone after Thanos sent Ronan the Accuser to retrieve it for him during the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Once again, this stone being in outer space makes it seem like Thanos will collect these before heading to Earth.
TIME STONE
As expected, the time stone allows the user to manipulate time and space to their will whether that means traveling back in time, traveling into the future or just bending time to your own will (like slow motion or fast forward).
Current Location: Doctor Stephen Strange possesses the time stone as a necklace that he wears as it’s known as ‘The Eye of Agamatto’. Strange used the time stone in his efforts to defeat Dormammu. He’s still wearing the stone when Avengers: Infinity War begins.
SOUL STONE
The soul gem (at least in the comic books) allows the user to manipulate life and death — either bringing someone back from the dead or potentially wiping out all life — much like Thanos wants to do. The soul stone is considered one of the most dangerous of all the infinity stones because of the incredibly deadly power it yields.
Current Location: Unknown. We’ve yet to encounter the soul stone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — that being said judging by the trailers, the Avengers attempt to hide Vision and Doctor Strange in Wakanda to keep them safe from Thanos’ grasp. What’s completely possible is that the soul stone is actually hidden somewhere in Wakanda and that’s why Thanos really goes there in the first place.
So there you have it — the location for all of the known infinity stones that have been shown throughout the 10 year history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
By all accounts, Thanos will be collecting the stones from outer space before finally making his way to Earth to gather the last two (or possibly three) stones he doesn’t have.
Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on April 27.
