Warning! Contains spoilers for Action Comics #1043!
The Infinity Gauntlet storyline showed how terrifying Thanos and the Infinity Stones can be, but DC Comics' version of the stones are even scarier. DC and Marvel are known for constantly borrowing ideas from each other for character ideas and events. Based on the latest issue of Action Comics, DC may be borrowing the basis for Marvel’s Infinity Gauntlet storyline for their next big event after Dark Crisis.
The Infinity Stones are six gems that each grant their user control over a given aspect of the universe. The Infinity Stones formed from one of the oldest beings in the universe, who split themselves into six pieces out of loneliness. In the most iconic storyline featuring them, the Mad Titan Thanos gathered all of the Infinity Stones together into the Infinity Gauntlet and used the vast power of the Gauntlet to wipe out half of all life in the universe. While he was eventually stopped and this massive loss of life was undone, this event had a massive impact on the Marvel Universe. Now DC seems to be introducing their own analog of these Infinity stones, but when they are combined they may bring even more destruction than Thanos did.
In the latest issue of Superman's massive War World saga, Action Comics #1043, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, and Will Conrad, the Phaelosian storyteller Byla tells Superman the tale of the mad god Olgrun. Olgrun was the eldest of the gods and among both their best and their worst. He created many wondrous worlds, but he also was gripped by a wrath and madness so powerful that he threatened to destroy the Universe. The other gods waged war against him and were eventually able to defeat him, splitting him up into seven parts known as God-Aspects. These God-Aspects each spawned its own world, one of which is War World. If these Aspects are ever combined, then Olgrun will be resurrected, either as a great hero or as an ultimate destroyer destined to return the Universe to the Darkness.
The leader of War World, Mongul, is currently seeking the Aspect at the center of his world to gain its power for himself, but it is not unreasonable to expect that once he acquires one, he will be tempted to collect the others as well. Given Mongul’s resemblance to Thanos and the God-Aspects’ similarity to the Infinity Stones, it seems like the current War World story in Action Comics may lead to DC’s version of the Infinity Gauntlet event. However, instead of only half the universe being wiped out upon the Infinity Stones being assembled, the entire DC Universe may be eradicated once the Aspects are united and Olgrun returns. In addition a horrifying elder god will likely be much more difficult to defeat than a powerful alien warlord like Thanos or Mongul.
DC’s ongoing Dark Crisis event is already pitting DC’s heroes against the Great Primordial Darkness from which the Multiverse emerged. The Darkness is using a variety of powerful villains under its control, but Olgrun is likely mightier than all of them, meaning that his resurrection would be even more threatening than the current Crisis. If DC’s versions of the Infinity Stones are ever reunited and Olgrun comes back to life, then the DC Universe will be in even greater peril than the Marvel Universe was when Thanos controlled the Infinity Gauntlet.
Action Comics #1043 is now available from DC Comics.