When Infinity War hit the theatres this year, almost everyone was unanimously blown away at the sight of Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet. Over the period of MCU’s run, individual stones have appeared or their power talked but it wasn’t until Infinity War that they were assembled together. And unfortunately for half the population of the universe, Thanos’ finger snap ended them all including some of our beloved characters in the MCU. However, in the comics, there have been times when Thanos lost the gauntlet or let go of it and was possessed by others (even in other comic universes). So, here’s a list of 10 people who’ve wielded the power of the stones through the Infinity Gauntlet.
1. Spider-Man
One of our favourite Avengers once got to use the gauntlet in Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet four-issue series. While fighting one of the doombot, of all things Thanos let the gauntlet slip off his hand and Spidey was able to take it. Interestingly, he was able to undo all the destruction caused by the Mad Titan. What was more heroic was that Spider-Man didn’t yield to the temptations of the gauntlet and was able to relinquish it. However, he inadvertently wiped the memory of everyone involved hence leaving no trace of his heroism.
2. Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom has gotten his hands on the Infinity gauntlet quite a few times. The most notable was when Victor wielded the gauntlet in the story What If Doctor Doom Kept The Beyonder’s Powers by Karl Bollers. In the aforementioned storyline, Doctor Doom also took hold of the Beyonders’ power and then also got hold of the gauntlet. Even at some point, the members of Council of Reeds (collection of Mr. Fantastics) had acquired Infinity Gauntlets from their respective universes and that’s when Doom retrieved two gauntlets from the rubble.
3. Captain America
Prior to the events of the Secret Wars (2015), the Illuminati was faced with a detrimental problem. Earth-616 and an alternate Earth were in the brink of collision and to prevent this, they decided to vote one member to use the gauntlet and save the day. And that member turned out to be the righteous, Captain America. However, he ran into a problem the as the vastness of the power exploded the gauntlet itself.
The Illuminati then decided that the only alternative was that the alternate Earth and its inhabitants must be destroyed. When Cap opposed the idea, his memory was wiped clean. Hence, leading to the events of Secret Wars.
4. Iron Man
The idea of Tony with the Infinity Gauntlet doesn’t sound all good considering Tony’s narcissism and ego. One would think he would go on to build himself a new suit with slots for the stones.
When in Avengers issue 12 Stark got the gauntlet, he ended up only using the powers just for a brief period of time until he relieved himself of them.
When Avengers 4 comes around in 2019, one of the top wishes of the fans is to see Iron Man use the gauntlet since it might just be the end of Robert Downey Jr.’s run as the Iron Man.
5. Nebula
Thanos has done extremely terrible things throughout the history of Marvel. One of the most terrible things he did was reanimating Nebula. And so her existence was nothing but an amalgamation of pain and suffering. When Thanos eventually decided to give up his physical body to be one with the cosmos; Nebula sought the gauntlet and restored her body. She then decided to take vengeance on the cosmos itself until being stopped by Adam Warlock.
6. Black Panther
In Secret Wars issue 6 to 9 (2015), Black Panther came in contact and wore the gauntlet in Doctor Doom’s Battleworld. Dr. Strange left the gauntlet with his co-Illuminati member to defeat Doom which the King of Wakanda eventually did. He then also went back in time to warn Reed Richards of the future.
7. Hulk
The Ultimate universe is famous for a lot of things, one of them being the existence of not just one but two Infinity Gauntlets with eight Infinity Gems each instead of six. And guess who gets his hands on them? Our Incredible Hulk (in Ultimate Comics: Ultimates issue 25).
In this storyline, Hulk had recently escaped imprisonment and wanted to get some revenge on the Ultimates (the Ultimate universe’s Avengers). With all this enormous power, it almost seemed impossible to defeat Hulk but lucky for our Ultimates that the gauntlets weren’t equipped with all eight stones.
8. Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer, wore the mighty Infinity Gauntlet in What If Vol. 2 issue 49, where he tried to turn the world into a paradise and bring his dear lover Shalla Bal back from the dead. Norrin Radd’s goal became rather twisted and that was when Shalla Bal intervened and connived him to give up the gauntlet before it took control of the Surfer’s intentions.
9. Mr. Fantastic
For those who are unaware, there’s a whole Council of Reeds and each Reed has his own Infinity Gauntlet! Yup! However, the main Reed Richards from Earth-616 was the only one who wanted to destroy the gauntlet. However the power of the gauntlet proved to be too much for the Fantastic Four leader and the internal conflict that the gauntlet had caused within him disabled him and hence, he destroyed the gauntlet.
10. Darkseid
During the Avengers/JLA crossover event between Marvel and DC, Darkseid came into the possession of the Infinity Gauntlet while at Apokolips. During the event, artifacts from both the DC and Marvel universes were scattered in both the worlds. And while our heroes were searching for them, Darkseid came into the possession of the gauntlet. Even though he wore it like a boss, he couldn’t use it as the stones wouldn’t work outside the parent universe. Nonetheless, the possibilities still seem endless if Darkseid could find a way around the loophole and weird the power of the stones.
