10 Marvel Characters Who Used The Infinity Gauntlet
For this list, we're spotlighting characters from Marvel comics who have worn the fabled Infinity Gauntlet, which grants the wearer nigh-omnipotence within the Marvel Universe. We're specifically looking at Marvel Comics characters, so nobody from the films or different companies. Sorry Darkseid, denied again.
#10: Magus
The evil counterpart to the heroic Adam Warlock, this arch-villain is one of the very last people you’d want to see get a hold of near-limitless cosmic power. Thankfully the Gauntlet had been depowered by the time he obtained it, as the supreme entity known as the Living Tribunal had decreed that no one being could control every Infinity Gem simultaneously. This limitation was eventually removed, seemingly placing the galaxy in mortal peril. Thankfully for everyone, it was revealed that the Reality Gem had been covertly replaced with a powerless duplicate, ensuring that the Gauntlet’s full power remained out of his reach. Phew! Dodged a bullet there.
#9: Nebula
The Nebula of the comics is somehow more unhinged than her MCU counterpart if you can believe it. Once believed to be the granddaughter of Thanos, this ruthless space pirate terrorized the known galaxy in his name. She was later killed by Thanos, who used the Gauntlet to bring her back to life just to torture her, reducing her to a catatonic state. She only snapped out of this when she managed to pick up the Gauntlet during a battle, putting its massive power under the control of a mind that, well, couldn’t really be described as ‘sane’. This presented such a threat that Thanos teamed up with the Marvel heroes to stop her.
#8: Reed Richards
The leader of the Fantastic Four and one of the biggest smartypants in the Marvel Universe, you’d think that he’d be able to use the Gauntlet to do anything. But when he slipped his elastic hand into the powerful artifact, his only goal was to use it to destroy itself. He wasn’t able to pull it off, and instead, the Gems were split up and hidden by other prominent Marvel heroes. This act led to the formation of The Illuminati, a secret cabal of Marvel heroes who began pulling the strings of the Marvel U at large from the shadows. As you can imagine, this didn’t make them many friends when the secret got out.
#7: Spider-Man
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The Wallcrawler briefly handed the Infinity Gauntlet at the culmination of “The Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet”, a miniseries that retold the story of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline but for younger readers. The broad strokes of the story remained the same, except that the day was saved by everyone’s favorite webhead. While Thanos was preoccupied, Spidey nabbed the Gauntlet and used it to basically turn black the clock on the entire story, undoing the damage Thanos had done. This left Spidey as the only one with any memories of the event, which honestly must kinda suck. Imagine saving the entire universe and not even getting a thank you. But hey, when does he ever get any gratitude?
#6: Black Panther
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The 2015 Secret War storyline is a long and rather confusing one. The fact that it’s got nearly the exact same title as the 1984 storyline that introduced Spider-Man’s black costume just makes the confusion even worse. But long story short, the tale centered on a world created by Doctor Doom after the seeming collapse of the Marvel Multiverse. In his new world, Doom was the god-king of all he surveyed until a group of survivors from the mainline Marvel U arrived and deposed him. This culminated in a knock-down drag-out battle between Doom and T’Challa, who used the Gauntlet to combat the cosmically-empowered Doom, and it was about as epic as it sounds.
#5: Captain America
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The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan only briefly held the power of the Gauntlet, but it sure was memorable. Except maybe not to him. When the Marvel Universe was on the brink of colliding with a parallel universe, something that would have been bad for everyone, Cap was chosen to use the Gauntlet to avert disaster. He managed to save the day, but the strain that pushing against an entire universe placed on the Gems caused them to shatter. This was especially bad given that more universes were on a collision course with the MU, and without the Gauntlet, they’d have to be destroyed. Steve naturally objected, so his memories of the event were erased by the Illuminati.
#4: Iron Man
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Tony Stark’s brief time with the Gauntlet came about when the gems nearly fell into the wrong hands yet again. This time the one attempting to gather the Gems was The Hood, a scheming supervillain with dreams of power that were almost always proved to be outside his grasp. The Hood managed to get a hold of the Gems while they were being kept safe by the Illuminati, and nearly assembled the full Gauntlet before Tony beat him to the punch. Using the Gauntlet’s power, the Armored Avenger sent the Hood back to prison and seemingly willed the Gems out of existence. In reality, they were just returned to the care of the Illuminati.
#3: Doctor Doom
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What’s scarier than one of the Marvel Universe’s biggest villains wielding an Infinity Gauntlet? One of the Marvel Universe’s biggest villains wielding TWO Infinity Gauntlets! This came about after a conflict between the Celestials of a parallel Earth and an interdimensional council made up of alternate versions of Reed Richards. And before you ask, this predates “Rick and Morty”. Most of the members of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds had their own Infinity Gauntlet, and Doom acquired two of them following a disastrous battle that left many Reeds dead. What did Doom do with his newfound power? Assembled the Parliament of Doom, naturally.
#2: Adam Warlock
A character with almost as long a history with the Infinity Gems as Thanos, this cosmic hero wore the Gauntlet at the culmination of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. After the Gauntlet was taken up by Nebula, it was eventually taken back by Warlock, who used its power to end the conflict for good. When the dust settled, the all-powerful Living Tribunal decreed that the power of the Gauntlet should not be held by any one being, despite Warlock’s promise to use it for good. Thus his time with the artifact ended, and the Gems were split up between him and his companions, who formed Infinity Watch to keep them safe.
#1: Thanos
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Well….duh. Without a doubt the character most associated with the Infinity Gauntlet, the Mad Titan has sought its incredible power on a few occasions, most notably in the aforementioned Infinity Gauntlet story. While his MCU counterpart wanted to use the Gauntlet to solve overpopulation, the comics version of the character is less altruistic. On the page, the arch-villain is in love with the personification of Death and initially wanted the Gauntlet to win her affection. Even after he acquired it and snapped away half the universe, however, she still rebuked him. This left Thanos to “settle” for near limitless cosmic power, which is a pretty good consolation prize if you ask us.
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