Wonder recently presented its new seventh Infinity Stonewith Phil Coulson taking possession of the Death Stone – which only makes it all the more surprising that there is now a eighth Infinity Stone in Marvel's reality. However, rather than embodying a fundamental new force in the universe, this Stone is an aberration that merely rewrote the rules of Marvel's most powerful artifacts, removing even their greatest weakness.
In the pages of Derek Landy, Ruairà Coleman, Scott Hannah, Brian Reber, Erick Arciniega and Cory Petit's Infinity Clock #1Phil Couls meets Avery Zavala. Currently, Coulson is trying to form a team with the current wielders of the Infinity Stone, leading them into battle against new villains, the Apeiron. However, the team is quickly overpowered and is only saved from death when Zavala steps in to help.
Avery Zavala reveals that he is a previously unknown Infinity Stone wielder, wielding his own Infinity Stone outside of the natural seven. However, the enormous upheaval of its existence reveals that this stone is not native to the Marvel reality. Zavala's arrival breaks almost every rule we knew about the Infinity Stones and their limits.
Marvel Just Established New Rules for Infinity Stone Lore
The Ninth Infinity Stone arrives from another reality
Recently, Thanos trapped the cosmic entity known as Death inside a new Infinity Stone, creating the new Death Stone. This Stone – like the others – quickly chose a host, resurrecting Phil Coulson and bonding with him on a biological level. Coulson has made it his mission to train the other wielders of the Infinity Stone, hoping to transform a ragtag team of established villains, incompetent heroes, and selfish opportunists into the most powerful set of mortals in Marvel lore. The current members of this new Infinity Watch are:
|
New Infinity Watch List Explained |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
|
Infinity Stone |
Current Carrier |
Current Powers |
Affiliation |
First appearance |
|
Reality Stone |
Star (Ripley Ryan) |
Short-range reality manipulation |
Former member of the Thunderbolts and enemy of Captain Marvel |
Captain Marvel #1 by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero |
|
Space Stone |
Quantum |
Teleportation and short-range portals |
Former henchman of the Assessor and enemy of Miles Morales |
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #7 by Saladino Ahmed and Javier Garrón |
|
Mind Stone |
Asa Colleen |
Telepathy, hypnosis and creation of illusions |
Former member of Heroes for Hire and founding member of the Daughters of the Dragon |
Marvel Debut #19 by Doug Moench and Larry Hama |
|
Soul Stone |
Crowd (also known as Ward) |
Can summon realistic energy constructs |
Individual operator |
Avengers Annual #1 by Jed MacKay and Travel Foreman |
|
Time Stone |
Overtime (aka Hector Bautista) |
Low power time manipulation including event pausing and very short range time travel |
Individual operator |
Infinity Wars: Infinity #1 by Gerry Duggan and Mark Bagley |
|
Power Stone |
Apex (aka Other) |
Enhanced physique and ability to enhance the powers of others |
Galactic mercenary and ally of the Guardians of the Galaxy |
Guardians of the Galaxy #3 by Al Ewing and Juan Cabal |
|
Death Stone |
Phil Coulson |
Resurrection, ability to cause immense pain (living death) |
Former SHIELD agent |
Battle Scars #6 by Chris Yost, Matt Fraction, Cullen Bunn and Scot Eaton |
However, the Apeirons are exactly the worst villains Coulson's team could have faced so soon. Zavala explains that the Apeiron are cosmic predators that travel between realities, consuming the Infinity Stones from each world and leaving it completely destroyed. Zavala is the last survivor of the ancient hunting camp of Apeiron and apparently commands that world's answer to the Soul Stone..
Zavala reveals that he saved his people by absorbing all the souls in their reality, protecting them from destruction within his own body. While it's a power that will likely belong to a new Soul Stone, fans already know that Infinity Stones have different names and functions in other realities (for example, the Ultimate Universe naturally has eight), so Zavala could also wield a type of Stone never seen before. Whatever the name of your Stone, Zavala Reveals Several Major Changes to Infinity Stone Loretransforming the meaning of being a Stone Bearer.
The Infinity Stones Just Lost Their Biggest Weakness
But now they have cosmic predators wanting to eat them
One of Zavala's biggest revelations is that Bearers of the Infinity Stone retain their powers in whatever reality they are in. By themselves, the Infinity Stones can only be used in their native reality, as they embody and command the fundamental forces of each reality. Trying to use them in another reality is useless and, in the worst case, can even destroy the Stones. However, bonding with a living being apparently eliminates this weakness. Zavala also reveals that Stone Bearers are a rare occurrence in the multiverse, mainly because they are hunted and consumed by the Apeiron.
It turns out that Apeiron can only be killed by one Special type of steel forged by all the Stones working in unisonwith Zavala's sword being the only current example of this metal in mainstream Marvel reality. It's something he can teach the Infinity Guard to do, but only if they follow his plan – use their combined powers to create a new world that he can populate with the souls he saved. And if the Infinity Stone doesn't agree to this plan, Zavala plans to kill them and take the Stones for himself.
The Death Stone is still a mystery, but Coulson is learning fast
Marvel's Seventh Infinity Stone is Apeiron's new target
Zavala has just brought an eighth Infinity Stone to the Marvel universe, but he admits that – because he overloaded it by absorbing so many souls – he can't access its power without the help of the Infinity Watch. Because of this, this new eighth Stone is unlikely to overshadow the newly introduced Death Stone. Infinity Clock reveals that due to the stone, Phil Coulson has now taken on the role of Marvel's Grim Reaperpersonally attending to deaths around the world.
So far, fans have barely seen the Death Stone in action, and it's one of the biggest promises of Infinity Clock that fans will see what powers Coulson now possesses and how he chooses to wield them. With a new threat in Apeiron and an alternate universe Infinity Stone to count, Phil CoulsonMichael's role as leader of the Infinity Guard has become much more complicated, even with the powers of a god.
The Infinite Clock #1 is available from Marvel Comics on December 11th.