Infinity Stone

The Infinity Stones are powerful alien artifacts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Six are known to exist. All contain or channel vast quantities of energy.

Origins

According to the Collector, the Infinity Stones are instruments used by an ancient alien race. At least one of their uses was to cleanse planets of all life. These aliens appear to be the Celestials from the comics.

Known Infinity Stones

• The Tesseract is a glowing blue cube that was hidden on Earth by the Asgardians sometime in Earths' past. It was discovered by Hydra leader Johann Schmidt and used to power an assortment of high-tech weapons during World War II. It was eventually dropped into the Atlantic Ocean and later recovered by SHIELD. Loki attempted to recover it for an alien benefactor in return for being made ruler of Earth, but his plan failed, and the Tesseract was taken back to Asgard.
• The Aether is a reddish blob of fluid that Dark Elf leader Malekith sought to use to destroy the Nine Realms and return the universe to a state of complete darkness. He was defeated by Thor, and the Aether was taken to the Collector for safe-keeping.
• Ronan the Accuser, a Kree renegade, attempted to use an Infinity Stone (a glowing purple ellipsoid with no specific name given, called the "Orb" after its container) to destroy the planet Xandar.

Gallery

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  The Aether

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  The Tesseract

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  The "Orb" (embedded in Ronan's hammer)

Trivia

• According to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, the "Orb" is the "Power Gem" from Marvel comics, and the Tesseract is the "Space Gem". The "Infinity Gem" that corresponds to the Aether has not yet been identified.