Spoilers for Captain American Annual #1 ahead!
In the Marvel Universe, the Infinity Stones are weapons of great power, and now, thanks to Adam Warlock, they may be more dangerous than ever. In Captain America Annual #1, part two of the “Infinite Destinies” crossover event, Cap and Black Widow team up to track down the Time Gem, and readers see just why the Stones are a bigger threat than before. The issue is on sale now in print and digital.
The six Infinity Stones were the driving force behind the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s existence, and the Stones have played just as integral a role in the comics. Most commonly associated with Thanos and Adam Warlock, they first appeared during Jim Starlin’s Warlock run in the 1970s; the title hero used the Soul Gem in his adventures. The Stones went front and center in the early 1990s, thanks to epic stories such as Thanos Quest and The Infinity Gauntlet, the latter considered to be one of Marvel’s greatest stories. They continue to surface in the Marvel Universe, and in one of their last appearances, Adam Warlock decided to end their threat once and for all—but it is a move that may backfire on Earth’s heroes.
As Captain America Annual #1 from Gerry Duggan, Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, Ruth Redmond, and Joe Caramang opens, Captain America and Black Widow are tracking down Hector Bautista, a formerly incarcerated man who was bound to the Time Stone. Using the Stone, he was able to escape from prison. As the two review the case, Black Widow mentions Adam Warlock using the Soul Stone to bind the remaining Stones to living people; she speculates that Warlock had had enough of the Infinity Stone shenanigans and saw this as a way to curb them. However, Black Widow feels that this was a bad call on his part and feels Warlock may have made it worse.
Infinite Destinies has proven Black Widow right so far; in this issue, Cap and Black Widow try to stop Hector from using the Time Stone to erase the crime he committed. There were relatively few casualties and minimum property damage, but they may not get so lucky next time—a fact Hector notes. One of the biggest questions is: what was Adam Warlock thinking binding the Stones to people? If anyone knows what the Stones are capable of in the wrong hands, it is Adam Warlock; given the chaos they have unleashed in the past, why did he not foresee something like this happening? And just how can anyone control the Infinity Stones?
The Infinity Stones have a long history of causing death and destruction in the Marvel Universe, and now they are deadlier than ever.