History Comicbook / TheInfinityGauntlet

[[caption-width-right:350: Behold, the Original Avengers Endgame!

[[caption-width-right:350:Behold, the Original Avengers Endgame!

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The End Begins Here!]]]]

* WillfullyWeak: When the mortal heroes come to take down Thanos or die trying, Thanos is one second away from just smiting them instantly with his full might before Mephisto convinces him that all girls including Mistress Death are attracted to the sight of an underdog overcoming perilous odds with nothing but raw determination. Thanos agrees and cuts off his access to all gems except for the Power Gem... giving the heroes a .05% chance of winning.

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Thanos and Terraxia, they killed most of the Marvel heroes that attacked them, including but not limited to: Terraxia ripping ComicBook/{{Iron Man}}'s head off as well as beating ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}} to death with a rock, while Thanos blows up Cloak, suffocates ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} to death, used his eye beams to vaporize Comicbook/{{Quasar}} and snapped ComicBook/{{Captain America}}'s neck with a single strike. Though they all came back to life at the end thanks to Nebula hitting the {{Reset Button}}]].

->''"There can be no denying it. [[ComicBook/{{Thanos}} You]] are ''supreme''. Anything you wish to be, you ''are.'' Anything you wish, ''is.'' Nothing in the universe dares challenge that claim. There can only be one word to describe you...\\

Following the events of ''ComicBook/TheThanosQuest'', ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, the mad Titan, has collected the Infinity Gems--six cosmic {{MacGuffin}}s that grant their wielder great power over a different part of the universe (Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Power, and Reality). When Thanos puts them all on his glove, they create the Infinity Gauntlet, which gives him [[PhysicalGod power over basically everything]]. Thanos had long been in love with the incarnation of Death after having been resurrected; ''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is literally about Thanos trying to use his godly power to court Death. When Death refuses to even acknowledge Thanos's newfound power, the Titan steps up his game by erasing ''half the population of the entire universe'' with a mere thought. Entire worlds and civilizations are torn asunder by Thanos's power--including Earth, which faces assumed annihilation as a result of power unleashed by the Infinity Gems.

Before the story begins, ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, the mad Titan, has collected the Infinity Gems--six cosmic {{MacGuffin}}s that grant their wielder great power over a different part of the universe (Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Power, and Reality). When Thanos puts them all on his glove, they create the Infinity Gauntlet, which gives him [[PhysicalGod power over basically everything]]. Thanos had long been in love with the incarnation of Death after having been resurrected; ''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is literally about Thanos trying to use his godly power to court Death. When Death refuses to even acknowledge Thanos's newfound power, the Titan steps up his game by erasing ''half the population of the entire universe'' with a mere thought. Entire worlds and civilizations are torn asunder by Thanos's power--including Earth, which faces assumed annihilation as a result of power unleashed by the Infinity Gems.

''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is a six-issue limited series published by Creator/MarvelComics in 1991; it was written by Creator/JimStarlin and pencilled by George Pérez (#1–4) and Ron Lim (#4–6). Its success, both critical and financial, cemented the reputations of everyone who worked on it.

* {{Retcon}}: While Jim Starlin had already introduced the Infinity Gems in the 1970s during his run on ''[[[[ComicBook/{{Warlock}} Adam Warlock]] Warlock]]'', they were called Soul Gems back then, and they all looked the same and had similar powers, instead of each Gem controlling a different aspect of existence. This was still the case when they were used in Steve Engelhart's ''Silver Surfer'' run, as well as during Starlin's own run on the title that lead to ''The Infinity Gauntlet''. It was only in ''Thanos Quest'' that Starlin established the Gems as having different, unique powers and colors.

* {{Retcon}}: While Jim Starlin had already introduced the Infinity Gems in the 1970s during his run on ''[[ComicBook/AdamWarlock Warlock]]'', they were called Soul Gems back then, and they all looked the same and had similar powers, instead of each Gem controlling a different aspect of existence. This was still the case when they were used in Steve Engelhart's ''Silver Surfer'' run, as well as during Starlin's own run on the title that lead to ''The Infinity Gauntlet''. It was only in ''Thanos Quest'' that Starlin established the Gems as having different, unique powers and colors.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/infinity-gauntlet-cover_2104.jpg]]

''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is a six-issue limited series published by Creator/MarvelComics in 1991; it was written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez (#1–4) and Ron Lim (#4–6). Its success, both critical and financial, cemented the reputations of everyone who worked on it.

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Thanos and Terraxia, they killed most of the Marvel heroes that attacked them, including but not limited to: Terraxia ripping ComicBook/{{Iron Man}}'s head off as well as beating ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}} to death with a rock, while Thanos used his eye beams to vaporize Comicbook/{{Quasar}} and snapped ComicBook/{{Captain America}}'s neck with a single strike. Though they all came back to life at the end thanks to Nebula hitting the {{Reset Button}}]].

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Thanos and Terraxia, they killed most of the Marvel heroes that attacked them, including but not limited to: Terraxia ripping ComicBook/{{Iron Man}}'s head off as well as beating ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}} to death with a rock, while Thanos used his eye beams to vaporize Comicbook/{{Quasar}} and snapped ComicBook/{{Captain America}}'s neck with a single strike. Though they all came back to life at the end thanks to Thanos hitting the {{Reset Button}}]]

It also received an adaptation for Marvel's all-ages line, written by Brian Clevinger.

** Thanos kills Comicbook/SheHulk and [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]] by infecting them with [[FesteringFungus a fast-growing fungus]] that engulfs and consumes their bodies. The same fungus had previously appeared in the ''Thanos Quest'' mini-series, where the Grandmaster tried to use it to double cross Thanos.

* CallBack: In the initial ''Comicbook/SilverSurfer'' arc that set the stage for ''The Infinity Gauntlet'', Thanos showed the Surfer a crowded subway station in Tokyo, using this as an example of how grossly overpopulated the universe had become. In ''Infinity Gauntlet'', we find out Thanos sank the entire country of Japan.

* BadFuture: Part of the Silver Surfer tie-in with ''The Infinity Gauntlet'' sees him viewing the possible results of Thanos winning. In this future, even the few who survived the battle with Thanos such as the Hulk, Doctor Doom, and Drax end up getting killed before Adam Warlock ends up falling in battle while the Surfer is treated as Thanos' personal lapdog.

* LiveActionAdaptation: {{The Stinger}}s to ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' reveals that the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is headed towards at least a [[AdaptationDistillation very loose]] [[PragmaticAdaptation adaptation]], while also revealing that we'd already been introduced to two of the stones. Subsequent films have identified five of the six: [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger the Tesseract]], which holds the Space stone; [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld the Aether]], which holds the Reality stone; [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy the Orb]], which holds the Power stone; [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the]] [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Scepter]] and [[spoiler:ComicBook/TheVision]], which take turns holding the Mind stone, and [[spoiler:[[Film/DoctorStrange2016 the Eye of Agamotto]], which holds the Time Stone]]. [[spoiler:''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' shows the Gauntlet itself for the first time, as well as Thanos getting fed up with so many failed attempts sending others after the stones, vowing to gather them himself. And then ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' seals the adaptation, focusing on Thanos' quest for the stones, and then, right at the end, the fingersnap that erases half the universe.]]

* AGodAmI: Controlling all of the Infinity Gems grants the wielder omnipotence. In fact, the series begins with Mephisto explaining to Thanos just how this trope applies to him.

Before the story begins, ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, the mad Titan, has collected the Infinity Gems--six cosmic {{MacGuffin}}s that grant their wielder great power over a different part of the universe (Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Power, and Reality). When Thanos puts them all on his glove, they create the Infinity Gauntlet, which gives him [[AGodAmI power]] [[PhysicalGod over]] [[OhCrap basically everything]]. Thanos had long been in love with the incarnation of Death after having been resurrected; ''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is literally about Thanos trying to use his godly power to court Death. When Death refuses to even acknowledge Thanos's newfound power, the Titan steps up his game by erasing ''half the population of the entire universe'' with a mere thought. Entire worlds and civilizations are torn asunder by Thanos's power--including Earth, which faces assumed annihilation as a result of power unleashed by the Infinity Gems.

The ''Infinity Gauntlet'' storyline -- along with others similar to it -- serve as the underlying basis for Marvel's 2018 movie ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and its 2019 sequel ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.

''Infinity Gauntlet'' was loosely adapted into two video games by Creator/{{Capcom}}. The first, ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesWarOfTheGems'', is a BeatEmUp[=/=]PlatformGame for the SNES. The second, ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'', is an arcade FightingGame; it followed ''VideoGame/XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' and paved the way for the VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever series.

->''There can be no denying it. [[ComicBook/{{Thanos}} You]] are ''supreme''. Anything you wish to be, you ''are.'' Anything you wish, ''is.'' Nothing in the universe dares challenge that claim. There can only be one word to describe you...\\
GOD.''
-->--'''Mephisto'''

* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: While Thanos on his own is nothing to sneer at, the Infinity Gauntlet makes him, bar none, one of the most powerful being in the entire universe (possibly on par with the Living Tribunal, but still weaker than the One Above All). He handily defeats Earth's defenders using only the Power Gem. When all manner of cosmic beings come up against him, he effortlessly wipes the floor with them using the full power of the Gauntlet.