– Tobi Olusakin, ABH Press
Endgame season is here, the time we’ve all been waiting for. The Russo brothers have come up with a fun filled, action packed 3-hour culmination of the Marvel cinematic universe that’s worth being watched by every fan (Emphasis on the word “fan”. If you aren’t one, I suggest that you stay away from cinemas).
However, you need to have a sound understanding of the origins and features of each of the infinity stones before watching this movie in order to appreciate it.
There are six Infinity Stones: The Space Stone (blue), the Reality Stone (red), the Power Stone (purple), the Mind Stone (yellow), the Time Stone (green) and the Soul Stone (orange).
The Space stone (The Tesseract)
This stone allows the user to exist in any location i.e it gives the holder power over space. Anyone holding it can create a portal from one part of the universe to the other.
The stone was first shown to the audience in Captain America: the first avenger – the evil organisation, HYDRA used it to power their weapons in the World War II but it eventually fell out of a plane being piloted by Captain America at the end of the movie, it was later recovered by S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the first Avengers movie, Loki steals the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. and uses it to open a portal to space. An alien army streams through the portal to invade Earth. At the end of the movie, Thor takes the Tesseract to his home planet of Asgard for safe keeping.
In Thor Ragnarok, Thor realizes that he must destroy Asgard to defeat his evil half sister – Hela. In the midst of the showdown, Loki sneaks down to the treasure room where the Tesseract is being kept. He is not seen grabbing the stone, but we all know that’s exactly what he did.
In Infinity War, Thanos kills Loki and takes the Space Stone.
The stone was also shown in Captain Marvel but I won’t drop any spoilers (you’re welcome).
The Mind stone (Loki’s sceptre)
The Mind Stone allows the user to assess and control the thoughts of others.
It is first seen in Loki’s scepter in The Avengers. Whenever Loki touches someone with the scepter, he controls what they do (like he did to Hawkeye).
The Avengers recover Loki’s scepter at the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner use the Mind Stone to create Ultron (the evil robot apocalypse dude) but things fall apart (Sci-fi movies 101: DO NOT CREATE ROBOTS) so Vision gets created (Jarvis). Vision is then gifted a range of powers by the stone – super-strength, the ability to fly and the power to phase through walls.
When Thanos’ army overtakes Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Infinity Wars, Scarlet Witch destroys the stone, killing Vision in the process. Thanos simply reverses time, kills Vision and takes the stone for himself.
The Reality Stone (Aether)
The Reality Stone grants the user power to manipulate matter.
The stone is first seen in Thor: The Dark World, where the villain Malekith uses it. At the end of the movie, two Asgardians give the Reality Stone to The Collector and as soon as they leave the Collector says, “One down, five to go” in a sinister manner.
In The Infinity Wars , when the Guardians of the Galaxy arrive to take the Reality Stone from the Collector, Thanos reveals that he has collected it. He then takes Gamora hostage (After tricking Star Lord into shooting bubbles out his gun, funny dude).
The Power Stone
The Power Stone gives its holder a lot of energy—energy massive enough to destroy planets.
Star Lord accidentally discovers the stone in Guardians of the Galaxy. Ronan the Accuser steals it from him and threatens to wipe out an entire race. After recovering it, the Guardians give it to Nova Corps, the space police, for safekeeping.
It is then explained in Infinity Wars that Thanos decimated the planet of Xandar and took the stone for himself.
The Time stone (The eye of Agomotto)
The Time Stone grants its owner the power to control time (fast forward and rewind).
Stephen Strange discovers it in the Eye of Agomoto pendant in the library of Kamar-Taj, where he trains in the mystic arts in Doctor Strange. He uses the stone at the end of the film to trap the villain Dormammu in a time loop so that Dormammu can’t destroy the Earth.
In Infinity War, Dr. Strange is seen wearing the pendant. Later, he uses the power of the Time Stone to look into the many possible futures at the end of the Infinity War. He realises that he will have to give up the stone to Thanos in order for the Avengers to eventually succeed. He does so and turns to dust when Thanos snaps his fingers.
The Soul Stone
This stone allows the wielder to trap and control others’ souls. In order to collect it from where it is kept, a sacrifice must be made.
In Infinity War, Thanos and Gamora travel to the planet Vormir, where the Soul Stone is kept. There they encounter Red Skull (the hideous villain from the first Captain America movie) who has been doomed to guard but not use the Soul Stone. Red Skull tells Thanos that he needs to sacrifice something he loves to attain the gem, and Thanos kills Gamora.
If you were given the opportunity to possess one of the gems (without dying in the process), which one would you choose? That soul stone would really look good on me.
The Endgame is now showing in cinemas, I advice that you go with a pillow for comfort and a urethral catheter in situ, every second is worth watching.