Avengers: Endgame is right around the corner, and as fans saw in Avengers: Infinity War the Infinity Gauntlet will once again be a very important component to the film and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Thanos is the only person in the MCU to wield the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, he is far from the only one to do so in the comics, and we’ve got a full rundown of everyone on that elite list.
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Trust us, some of them will surprise you, and there’s a good chance we could see a few of them possibly hold the Gauntlet in Endgame when all is said and done. For now though let’s start with the person who is most connected to the Gauntlet, the Mad Titan Thanos.
In the original “Infinity Gauntlet” storyline, Thanos wanted to impress the love of his life. His love is of course Death herself, and to prove his love he uses his newly assembled Infinity Gems (named such at the time) and the Gauntlet to kill half of the people in the universe with the now-iconic finger snap.
He eventually loses the Gauntlet, but that moment and the entire storyline has become synonymous with Thanos, and while aspects of the story were changed for the movie (like the whole “Death love” angle), the major beats remained, giving us a fantastic recreation of a classic storyline.
All right, time to see who else has held the Gauntlet, and you can find out on the next slide!
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Nebula
While Thanos will always be the villain most closely associated with the Infinity Gauntlet, Nebula is probably the second most associated with it, as she took it from under Thanos’ nose.
After Thanos tortured her during the original Infinity Gauntlet series, she was able to get hold of the powerful Gauntlet due to her sheer determination and his cockiness, thus creating a new foe for the heroes and Thanos to take down. They actually had to team up to defeat her, and some are thinking we might see this particular plot touched on again in Avengers: Endgame.
Adam Warlock
Right next to Nebula in that list of most-noted Infinity Gauntlet wielders is Adam Warlock, who in the original story was able to retrieve the Gauntlet before it fell back into Thanos’ hands after they pried it from Nebula. Warlock became the guardian of the Gauntlet, and to make sure it couldn’t be combined once more, he created the Infinity Watch and gave each member of the group the responsibility to look after one Infinity Stone (again, Gem at the time) each.
He didn’t really get to have any fun with it, but hey, someone’s got to be the adult right?
Magus
Speaking of Adam Warlock, his evil self, Magus, got his hands briefly on the Gauntlet, and he just about pulled his world-dominating plan off. Unfortunately, he overlooked one little thing in route to controlling the universe… OK, not a little thing actually, but a big thing. See, it turns out that Adam Warlock and Thanos knew they were being watched by Magus, and so they managed to replace the real Reality Stone with a copy, and Magus never noticed.
So once he started trying to take on Eternity, Infinity, and Warlock, they just had too much power for him, and he was sent into the Soul Stone.
Silver Surfer
The Surfer has always been an important part of Marvel’s cosmic universe, but in a “What If?” tale he actually had the chance to wield the Infinity Gauntlet and take his shot at fixing the universe. He tries his best to do what other wielders could not, and for a while he succeeds. Unfortunately, he eventually succumbs to the heavy burden that comes with wearing the Gauntlet and is almost consumed by it until Shalla-Bal manages to pull him out of it.
He then gives it up, but at least it was a memorable run while it lasted.
Darkseid
This one might come as a surprise, but you can thank the JLA/Avengers crossover for making it happen. During that epic event, each universe’s most powerful artifacts were hidden through both universes, including the all-powerful Gauntlet. Somehow someone just as dangerous as Thanos found it in the ruler of Apokolips himself Darkseid, though there was one big catch.
Thankfully since it wasn’t in our universe, the Gauntlet and the Stones held within it were pretty much pretty coasters, and honestly, that’s not a bad thing. With Thanos, you just cease to exist, while Darkseid would probably just make Earth another fire geyser-filled crap planet. Lose-lose I guess, but still.
The Flash
Darkseid’s not the only DC character that gets a run at the Infinity Gauntlet, though The Flash’s interaction with it is incredibly brief. This also occurred during the JLA/Avengers event and saw Flash racing along with Quicksilver against Darkseid’s destructive Omega Beams, which sought to destroy the Gauntlet.
Flash ended up getting to the prize right in time, though he wouldn’t hold onto the powerful piece for long.
Mister Fantastic
During Jonathan Hickman’s run on Fantastic Four, it was revealed that the multiverse had a trio of Guardians defending it, which turned out to be three Reed Richards from different universes. That would be impressive enough, but each of the tree Reeds also holds their respective Infinity Gauntlet, showing what Reed is capable of if he ever decides to go down a certain path.
Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom has held the Infinity Gauntlet several times, including one memorable time in a “What If?” tale that revealed an alternate version of Secret Wars. In this version, Doctor Doom realized he didn’t absorb all of the Beyonder’s powers, which is what caused him to fall to the heroes the first time. In this version, he fixed that mistake, and absorbed all of Beyonder’s power, and let’s just say Doom got everything he wanted as a result.
The second time was during a meeting with the Council of Reeds, who each held an Infinity Gauntlet. After “dying” in a battle against the Celestials, he meets the Reeds and ends up stealing two Gauntlets. It’s here that he also discovers the Reeds have been keeping other universe’s Dooms under their thumb, and seeks to form a council of his own.
Spider-Man
Even the webhead had a chance to use the Infinity Gauntlet, though his time as an all-powerful hero took place out of continuity. In Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet, Spidey, Ms. Marvel, and Wolverine find themselves in a battle against Thanos, and that’s where Spider-Man is able to snag it.
Thanks to that trusty webbing he is able to grab the Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones within it and prevent the battle from ever happening, wishing that Thanos never got the Gauntlet. He could’ve wished for a few other things before that to get the most out of it, but you know, that whole power and responsibility thing.
Captain America
You would think if anyone is going to wield the Infinity Gauntlet flawlessly it would be Captain America. Thing is, his time with the all-powerful weapon didn’t go so hot, but then again that also depends on what you classify as a victory. At one point the Illuminati needed someone to wield the reassembled Gauntlet to save the world by preventing a planet from colliding with Earth, and Captain Ameria was an easy pick to do the job.
The good news is he succeeded in saving the world. The unfortunate part though is that in the process almost all of the Infinity Stones were destroyed, save for the Time Stone. So, not the smoothest of victories, but hey, he got the job done.
Iron Man
Like Captain America, Iron Man took the Gauntlet because he had to in order to keep it out of the hands of the Hood. Once he has it though, the power does tempt the Avenger, giving him an endless array of possibilities to explore if he so chooses.
Thankfully he gave up the power up before he did anything he would regret, though one has to wonder what sort of world Tony Stark would look to create if he could.
The Green Goblin
Another “What If?” scenario involved the Green Goblin getting hold of the Gauntlet in Spider-Man: Dark Reign. You might be surprised to hear this, but Norman Osborne is a terrible person and did some pretty terrible things with the power that he held ever-so briefly.
That included making Peter relive the death of Gwen Stacy, a death Goblin originally caused. So yeah, no one felt bad when he lost the Gauntlet.
The Hulk
The big green giant himself (though he was more grey here) got hold of the Infinity Stones in the Ultimate Universe, making the strongest hero in Marvel’s arsenal scary powerful. To top it off, he actually wielded two different Gauntlets in this story, as there are eight Infinity Stones in the Ultimate Universe, and they form a gauntlet for each hand.
Now, it’s important to remember that he only held five of the eight Stones at this time, but he was still insanely powerful and dealt with his opponents with ease.
Black Panther
The Gauntlet would play a role in the Secret Wars sequel as well, and this time around it was wielded by none other than the Black Panther. The powerful Gauntlet was the only way to even the odds with God Doom, who had used his immense power to create a patchwork kingdom made up of several worlds.
Panther (with the help of Sub-Mariner) was able to wield the Gauntlet against a God-like Doom, though he gets walloped in the process. It’s all part of the plan though, and things do work out eventually.
Deadpool
You might not know it, but the lovable merc with a mouth held the Infinity Gauntlet for a minute at the behest of Thanos himself. Well, Thanos actually told him to bring the Gauntlet to him, but this is Deadpool after all, and an instruction like that is simply a suggestion in DP’s world.
He decided to see what the Gauntlet could do, and so used the power to have a comedy roast for himself with all the heroes of the Marvel Universe.
Santa Claus
It wasn’t just heroes and villains that would hold the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet though. You can include Christmas icons in that group, such as Santa Claus. Yes, that’s right, Santa wielded the Infinity Stones, though to be fair it was all to keep Christmas alive and get gifts to the kids.
The cause of all this was when Satna realized his reindeer were actually Skrulls, and so he needed the power of the Stones to get the gifts delivered. The Illuminati were right to be concerned for him, however, as he could’ve gone over the edge with all that power if not for a snowball, and we’re all lucky Namor has good aim.
