Every Infinity Stone in the MCU, Ranked by How Much More Powerful They Made Thanos

Thanos is the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Infinity Saga. Losing his home world, Titan, drives the Mad Titan to come up with a solution to the galaxy’s problems. By going from planet to planet and wiping out half the population, he believes he’s sparing everyone from a dark future. The mission becomes too much for Thanos to handle alone, so he assembles a massive army capable of searching the cosmos for his ultimate prize: the Infinity Stones.

With the power of the gems at his disposal, he believes he will be capable of anything, and he’s not wrong. But the Stones came with something of an in-built limitation: Thanos was using them solely to enact his plan to wipe out half of existence, so he was never particularly interested in how powerful each one made him individually. He never revealed in those power upgrades the way Ultron did. That, perhaps, is why Josh Brolin’s villain gets such praise for being more complex than a typical megalomaniac.

When Thanos finally fills his Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War, he wipes out half of life in the galaxy with a snap of his fingers. However, he doesn’t go all out before taking his new toys for a spin and making life difficult for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But what if he had? Here’s every Infinity Stone in the MCU, ranked by their impact on Thanos’ powers.

6) Mind Stone

Helping create characters like Scarlet Witch, Ultron, and Vision gives the Mind Stone a leg up on some of its competition in purely theoretical terms. And on paper, the Stone’s powers are incredible, with the ability to control the minds of others, create intelligence, enhance latent and psionic powers, and even increase the user’s own intelligence. It’s just a shame that we get to see very little of any of that in action.

It feels like the MCU misuses the Mind Stone for the most part: once it becomes part of the Avengers, it seems to be good for nothing more than firing energy beams, both by Vision and Loki. But the God of Mischief reveals its true power: it can control even the purest of hearts, forcing them to do whatever the user wants. The only downside is that the gem is weaker than some of its own creations, given it’s destroyed (temporarily) by Scarlet Witch.

For Thanos, the Mind Stone is the least tangibly used Stone: he definitely uses it for his Snap and to destroy the Stones, but beyond that, it’s just seen as a component. There’s a good chance the Stone increased his intelligence before his death, but we didn’t see evidence of it. And really, he didn’t use any of its actual powers to his advantage at all.

5) Space Stone

The Tesseract, which holds the Space Stone, spends a lot of time on Earth, and entities like S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to use it to make weapons. However, Nick Fury and Co. have it all wrong because the real appeal of the gem is that it can open portals to other points in the universe. Thanos uses it to move quickly around the galaxy as he searches for the other Stones, which makes it practical but not all that formidable an upgrade on his base power level. More of a convenience upgrade for the most part, though he does use the Space Stone to teleport fragments of Titan’s moon into its atmosphere to throw at his enemies on the surface, which is no mean feat.

4) Power Stone

The Guardians of the Galaxy learn just how dangerous the Infinity Stones are when they come into contact with the Power Stone. Ronan the Accuser uses it to do serious damage to Xandar, wiping out an entire fleet of ships with ease. However, there are artifacts in the MCU that provide as much of a power boost as the Power Stone, making it one of the least unique gems.

In terms of what it does for Thanos, Xandar is an interesting starting point, because the Mad Titan is able to take the Power Stone from the Nova Corps without using any stone, suggesting he’s already formidable before he acquires it. It’s arguably the Infinity Stone that upgrades his existing power base most – much as it does to the other Stones, in fact – since he’s all about brute force. It allows him to tear a moon apart, and he uses it repeatedly to defeat incredibly powerful Avengers and Guardians, as well as to enhance his own torture methods.

3) Soul Stone

There isn’t a more mysterious Infinity Stone than the Soul Stone. Due to the secrecy of its resting place, Thanos spends years trying to find it, and he gets more than he bargained for when he does. He has to kill his beloved Gamora to acquire the gem, but he doesn’t use it to its fullest potential. In the What If..? animated series, the Soul Stone provides sentience to the Infinity Crusher, a weapon with one purpose: destroying all of the gems. Having control over life and death is a serious responsibility, which is probably why it’s such a chore to acquire the orange rock.

It is, of course, the Soul Stone that allows Thanos to commit the Snap itself, snatching the living souls of his victims away from them instantaneously. Beyond that, he doesn’t explore its powers, but the sheer achievement of killing so many at once pushes this up the ranking.

2) Reality Stone

Loki and Frigga have the ability to create elaborate illusions, but their powers aren’t something any sorcerer can learn. The Reality Stone is the only way to get on their level, allowing its users to create almost anything out of thin air in a way that is far more tangible than a cheap illusion. The gem’s power is never more evident than when Thanos creates an illusion of himself in Knowhere to trick the Guardians into giving up their positions so he can capture Gamora, who is having a breakdown because she really thought she killed her adoptive dad. Its magic powers also granted Thanos the ability to transmute both inorganic and living matter – a step beyond merely casting illusions.

1) Time Stone

Messing with time is a major taboo in the magical world. Karl Mordo turns on his former allies because Doctor Strange uses the Time Stone without understanding its dangers. In this case, though, the upside outweighs the downside because getting a second chance is invaluable. Thanos proves as much when Scarlet Witch kills Vision, and he turns back time to acquire the Mind Stone from the android’s body. In the hands of a better person, there’s no telling how many wrongs the Time Stone could right, but as long as he possessed the Time Stone, it effectively made Thanos completely unbeatable. That’s why it has to win here.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are streaming on Disney+.

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