Marvel Changed How The Infinity Stones Work

Included with the announcement of yet another relaunch (the eighth in six years, for those keeping score), Marvel Comics also unveiled the rebooted Infinity Stones and how their powers work.

Ahead of their upcoming Fresh Start, the Infinity Stones are at the center of Marvel’s latest event Infinity Countdown, and it looks like their abilities and functions have been changed in the comic book universe.

A handy diagram posted by Marvel editor Jordan White breaks down the new abilities of the individual Stones, and also reveals that they are part of a specific circuit that empowers the next Stone in the line. They make a continuous loop which allows the wielder of all six INFINITE power (do you get it now?); take a look below.

No Stone holds more power than the other, it seems, though they all grant whoever wields them different abilities. And being a master over one powers the next Stone in the circuit.

So, for example, the mastery over the Soul Stone allows immortality, and powers the Mind Stone. Controlling the Mind Stone allows telepathy, and powers the Power Stone. The cycle goes on and on, until it goes back to the Soul Stone, which is powered by mastery over the Reality Stone.

Did you get all that? If so, can you please explain it to us?

The Infinity Gauntlet and the former Gems were MacGuffin objects in previous Marvel Comics, a source go unlimited power that allowed whoever wielded them near omnipotency. In the original Infinity Gauntlet comic book, Thanos’ gets the abilities and kills almost every superhero in the Marvel Universe. He is only defeated when he willingly separates his body and mind, allowing Nebula the chance to steal the Gauntlet.

Each Infinity Gem granted domain over its namesake, allowing whoever wielded all of them mastery over all aspects of life. But now there are rules in place, which means they have inherent weaknesses that can be exploited.

With the reveal of the changes to the Infinity Stones and the new rules that govern them, this is all likely to be touched on in the story that’s coming to a crescendo in the Infinity Countdown comics.

Infinity Countdown Prime #1 kickstarts the story, and is available for purchase tomorrow.