A Complete Noob's Guide To The Infinity Stones

 Aaaaah! The Infinity Stones (AKA Soul Gems), how they seem to amuse MCU fans. Ever since the release of Infinity War the Infinity Stones have found themselves as the center of attention around the globe. The 6 Infinity Stones, namely Power Stone, Soul Stone, Mind Stone, Reality Stone, Space Stone and the Time Stone are said to have come into existence when the "Big Bang" blew up. Each of these stones represent the aspects of the Universe, have unique capabilities that have been altered by a millennia of various species (how would I love to blow up school...)  and are made by Cosmic Entities ( LOL talk about Science). They have played an important role in the first three phases of  the Marvel Universe.  Only the beings which have immense power can directly wield the Infinity Stones but they can be placed inside certain objects so that their power can be used, for example the Space Stone in the Tesseract, The Mind Stone in Loki's Scepter, The Time Stone in the Eye of Agamoto, The Reality Stone in Aether, The Soul Stone in Voromir and all the Infinity Stones in the Gauntlet (Ohhhhh crap! Now I gotta go to Nidavellir)   

  Following the passage of the Infinity War, Thanos collects all six Stones, puts them in the Gauntlet and destroys half the life on the Universe, which sadly includes our friendly, neighborhood Spiderman .

(Disclaimer: the following passage contains Endgame spoilers, so beware)

Anyways, after the whole oh-so-sad-half the living beings-died fiasco, the Avengers return back in time (no they don't use the Time Stone)  with the help of Ant Man who apparently learns how to make a time machine and pull off a 'time heist'. The Avengers then use the Infinity Gauntlet to bring back the living beings who vanished (not killed or sacrificed).  These events lead to a war between the Avengers and the revived super-humans and Thanos's army (he is from the past). The whole episode ends with Iron Man snapping his fingers and vanishing Thanos's army, post which he dies and gets a grand funeral and Captain America returns the Stones to their places in the past and happily ends his career as a hero. Tony and Cap (America's ass), you guys will always be remembered.  

How were the Infinity Stones formed?

"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then... boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

―Wong

As said by The Collector and Wong, there were six singularities that existed before the universe came into existence. A short while after the Big Bang blew up, the Cosmic Entities formed these six aspects of the universe into the Six Infinity Stones. 

When were the Infinity Stones seen?

Space Stone- This was the first Infinity Stone to make an appearance in MCU, it was first seen in the post credits of Thor and later seen in Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain Marvel and gave a rather interesting appearance in Thor Ragnarok . In all these movies, it was seen as the Tesseract. The Space Stone was obviously seen in Infinity War and Endgame as well.

Mind Stone- This was first seen in 2012's Avengers where it made an appearance inside of Loki's Chitauri scepter. It was the first time the people saw an Infinity Stone at work and it made quite an impact. This Stone was transferred onto Vision's head during Age of Ultron. Later taken by Thanos in Infinity war.

   

Power Stone- This made its appearances throughout the Guardians of The Galaxy series as the Orb. During the first part of the series, it was  taken by Ronan the Accuser who tried to destroy Xandar using it. His plans were thwarted by the Guardians of the Galaxy. It was later taken by Thanos.

Reality Stone- This stone made its first appearance in MCU as Aether ( you see that weird gluggy thing in the photo?) in Thor Ragnarok where it was to be used by The Dark Elves to destroy the whole of Asgardians and the Nine realms. Well as it is obvious given the fact that we are still alive, they failed to do so and Thor took the Aether. Thor gave this Aether to the Collector. 

Time Stone- This stone was first seen in Doctor Strange where it was encased in The Eye Of Agamotto and was used by Strange to beat Dormamu. Strange handed this Stone over to Thanos during the final battle of Infinity War on Titan as it was the only possibility for them to win.

Soul Stone- This stone only made two appearances and those to in Infinity War and Endgame. This Stone was foud in Voromir where Thanos threw his daughter off the cliff ( he needed parenting magazines) 

What are the powers of The Infinity Stones?

Now of course there is all of that aspect and singularity yip-yap but now lets get into the fun part... The powers!! Any wielder of even a single Infinity Stone has like, super cool, super powers and any being able to wield all six of those pretty, sparkly Stones is pretty much god which is saying something in a universe of superheroes. Lets begin now, shall we-: 

Space Stone: There’s a reason why the Red Skull wanted to get his red fingers on the blue cube (known as the Tesseract) that contains the Space Stone in Captain America: The First Avenger. It houses unlimited renewable energy. Bad news for oil companies, good news for evil, purple space-tyrants. 

Mind Stone: The yellow Mind Stone has taken been seen in quite a few forms in the MCU, most notably Loki’s sceptre in The Avengers, and then as part of Vision himself in Avengers: Age of Ultron. First used as a brainwashing tool by Loki, Baron Strucker a HYDRA scientist  then used it for a series of experiments to create super humans by unlocking their minds to hidden abilities. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch gained their powers from these tests, and Vision eventually came into being as a result of the Mind Stone, with Iron Man’s JARVIS operating system becoming fused into a synthetic body originally crafted for Ultron.

Reality Stone: The ruby-red Reality Stone is a bit harder to describe, with its powers affecting humans by essentially rotting them away. If the Reality Stone latches on to a powerful enough host, it can increase the host’s strength (as it did with Thor: The Dark  World's Malekith)  and can help convert matter into dark matter. In Infinity War, Thanos manages to use it to manipulate matter itself. 

Power Stone: The Power Stone has to be kept in an special container because, this might come as a surprise, it’s really powerful. It carries enough power to wipe out a planet and, in Guardians of the Galaxy, the purple stone increased Ronan the Accuser’s strength and durability tenfold. 

Time Stone: The Time Stone, once held in the green-tinged necklace known as the Eye of Agamotto in Doctor Strange, can manipulate time to the user’s will. Fast, slow,rewind, you name it, the Time Stone can do it. Handy if you wanna watch MCU twice for free.

Soul Stone: We’ll have to look to the Marvel comics for help here because the Soul Stone hasn’t been fully revealed in the MCU yet, despite it finally appearing in Infinity War. The Soul Stone is definitely orange, as shown by the hue when Thanos and young Gamora meet after the snap. As for its power? The Soul Stone could prove to be the most powerful Infinity Stone of them all. Its powers in the comics range from reviving the dead to stealing super powers.

So basically they are super powerful when they are different but when they come together unimaginable things are possible.

Despite the fact that the third phase of Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to an end and the Infinity Stones, on the current timeline have been destroyed, I believe that they will play a crucial role in the future and continue to amaze us. Anyhow, we cant be sure of what the MCU has in store for us.