With Avengers: Infinity War around the corner, fans are racing to learn everything they need to know about the six Infinity Stones that will no doubt feature heavily in the plot of the movie.
Marvel has been great about teasing these stones out over the course of several movies, introducing nearly all of them at this point, giving only a vague history of what they are and how dangerous they could be if housed together.
However, there’s still so much that fans don’t know about them, especially if they've only seen the movies.
At this point, the Mind Stone has factored most heavily into the features, being the first stone to be referred to by name, even being used to create The Vision.
It’s the stone that people may be watching most closely heading into Infinity War, as it has the highest stakes attached to it: for Thanos to receive the Mind Stone and add it to his gauntlet, he will need to forcibly remove it from Vision’s head, either crippling or destroying the Avenger.
Even though the Mind Stone has had this specific focus in the movies, there are so many things about it that fans might not know and that are sure to surprise casual viewers of the MCU movies.
We’ll be looking at everything in the history of the Mind Stone for the purposes of this list, from every interpretation in the comics to movies and anything else in which the stone has made an appearance.
From applications of its power to surprising people who have had their hands on it, here are the 15 Things Only True Fans Know About The Mind Stone.
15. It is the Manifestation of Universal Subconscious
The Mind Stone is the most psychically powerful thing in all of creation. It doesn’t just have the power to manipulate minds, it is also made from the collective energy of every mind across every planet in the universe.
It’s not just a power that affects the subconscious, it is the embodiment of the idea of sub-consciousness itself.
The Mind Stone is the distilled essence of the raw, pure power of the mind at its absolute full capacity.
This is what allows it to be used to connect with every mind in existence. It is drawn from that energy, every mind is connected to the Mind Stone simply by virtue of existing.
Its power cannot be suppressed or denied, as its potential for mind control and manipulation is astronomical. Because of this, it’s a devastating Gem on its own and could be devastating for the universe as a whole should it fall into the wrong hands.
14. Moondragon Was the Original Guardian of the Mind Gem
Fans of the MCU are used to thinking of Vision as the guardian of the Mind Stone. It was used to create him, he draws his power from it and uses it for good and noble purposes.
Very few characters could ever be trusted with that kind of power, but the Vision is one of them because he understands the cost of that power and the damage it could wreak in the wrong hands.
Originally, though, the guardian of the Stone was none other than Drax’s daughter, Moondragon.
A staple of cosmic Marvel and occasional Guardian of the Galaxy, Moondragon was a powerful psychic who benefitted from the raw power of the Mind Stone, but never used it for evil, understanding its immensely destructive nature.
13. It Enhances Psychic Abilities
One of the most powerful and dangerous abilities of the Mind Stone is its power to enhance the user’s psychic abilities. Telepathy, telekinesis, if one already has these powers then the Mind Stone improves them astronomically.
It’s similar to the way Jean Grey’s psychic abilities were dramatically increased after bonding with the Phoenix force, to the point that she could hold back Cyclops’ optic blasts, connect their minds, and even reshape the molecules in her own clothing.
The Mind Stone allows anyone who wields it to harness this raw psionic potential.
With this power, any single person could form the world itself or the minds of others to their will, meaning that it could have drastic and destructive potential in the wrong hands.
It’s also only one of the Infinity Stones, so it’s clear why the Avengers would want to keep it out of the hands of someone like Thanos.
12. Man Beast Used It To Create a Monster Called the Infinity Thrall
Although the Mind Gem was not used to create Vision in the comics as it did in the movies, it did have a part in creating a humanoid at one point— that part is at least technically accurate.
Adam Warlock’s nemesis, Man Beast, abducted several members of the Infinity Watch at one point and used the power of the Mind Stone, along with the Space and Time Stones, to create a monstrous being he called the Infinity Thrall.
This being was made out of the pure, raw energy of the combined stones.
Even without combining all six, it proved to have serious destructive potential.
Eventually, though, Adam Warlock managed to put a stop to both Man Beast and the Infinity Thrall, with the Living Tribunal coming forward to say that the Gems would no longer be able to act in unison.
11. It Was Briefly Stolen by The Hood
As a much newer Marvel character, The Hood was created in his own self-titled miniseries under the MAX imprint by Brian K. Vaughn alongside artists Kyle Holtz and Eric Powell.
The character used stolen demonic artifacts to begin amassing power, using a bit of supernatural and alien tech so as to have a base knowledge of every kind of power in the Marvel Universe. He became a repetitive thorn in the side of the New Avengers and even at one point set his sights on the Infinity Stones.
With the Infinity Stones in his possession, The Hood became a much more serious threat to the Marvel Universe as a whole.
He held each Gem for at least a brief period of time and used the Mind Stone in particular to go toe-to-toe in mental combat with Professor X— a fight that he actually ended up winning, as the power of the Mind Stone proved too great for even the world’s most powerful psychic.
10. It Can Be Used to Enter Dreams
In addition to entering minds, controlling them, and launching psychic warfare, the Mind Stone can also be used to enter peoples’ dreams.
From the dream world, a user of the Mind Stone can enter any suggestion into a person’s subconscious or manipulate their dreamscape in any way the user sees fit.
They can also project a dreamscape around the individual to lull them into a kind of accepted reality. This is similar to the mental manipulation achieved by many Marvel villains, but on a much larger scale.
In the Ultimate Universe, Modi used the Mind Gem on Captain America after stealing it from a Project Pegasus facility.
He took control of HYDRA troops and used the Gem to project Captain America into an idealized dream world, but the hero managed to break free of his control.
9. It Only Works Inside the Marvel Universe
Many DC heroes were introduced to the Mind Gem in the JLA/Avengers crossover miniseries, which remains one of the very few times that the two companies have seen any kind of crossover.
Many of DC’s most villainous characters saw the destructive potential of the Infinity Gems and sought to use them for their own nefarious purposes.
The Avengers and Justice League were helpless to stop the Stones from moving into the DC Universe, where it turned out that they actually held no power at all.
It was revealed that the Gems only retained their power when kept inside of the Marvel Universe. Outside of it, they are simply stones.
This was no doubt a safeguard to protect the entire multiverse as a whole from being destroyed should the Infinity Stones wind up falling into the wrong hands.
8. In the Ultimate Universe, It Contains the Condensed Power of the Nine Realms
While the Infinity Stones in the main Marvel continuity essentially predate the universe itself, their Ultimate Marvel counterparts have a more specifically Asgardian origin.
In this reality, the Mind Gem in particular was created when Odin defeated the Frost Giant Hidelbard.
The intense power of the giant’s mind caused the fabric of the Nine Realms to begin collapsing in on itself. Odin sought to contain that power and concentrated the energy of Hidelbard’s mind into a single Gem.
The Gem remained under Odin’s protection for many, many years until it eventually wound up in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. sometime in the present day.
It was stored by Project Pegasus, a division that specialized in housing and researching dangerous artifacts of unknown origin. It remained there until Modi attacked the facility and stole it for himself.
7. It Can Be Used to Access All Minds In Existence At Once
Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the Mind Gem is that it has the power to allow a user to access every mind across the entire universe at once.
With the addition of mind control, this could technically allow whoever wields the stone to take control of every single living being in all of existence, in one fell swoop.
As Thanos has struck to balance the universe with destruction time and again— and as he will clearly aim to do in Infinity War— the Mind Stone could prove to be the most dangerous of all, should the Mad Titan fully understand and harness its potential.
If Thanos seeks to wipe out half the universe, the ability to reach out and control every mind could mean that every being in the universe could potentially be complicit in their own destruction.
Thanos succeeded (however briefly) in destroying half the cosmos in the original Infinity Gauntlet story.
Time will only tell if he proves to be as successful in the film.
6. It Was Initially Gathered Alongside the Other Gems to Defeat Galactus
When the Infinity Stones were introduced as Soul Gems in the pages of Silver Surfer, they were gathered together by the Elders of the Universe in an attempt to defeat Galactus.
Their intention was to drain Galactus of his powerful life energy and his power cosmic so that they could then recreate the universe themselves, so that they would be the oldest beings in it.
While no friend to Galactus at the time, the Silver Surfer could not stand by the destruction of the entire universe so that it could be remade from scratch.
He fought the Elders and defeated them in their quest, but only to lose the Gems inside of a black hole.
With the help of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, the Silver Surfer journeyed into the black hole to retrieve them.
5. It Spent a Long Time In the Custody of the Grandmaster
After the Elders were defeated in their attempts to use the Gems to destroy Galactus, a deal was struck between the In-Betweener and the Elders.
The Infinity Stones were split apart and the Mind Stone— although it had not yet been referred to by name— was given to the Grandmaster.
Some time after it was placed in his possession, Thanos became aware of the Gems’ true nature and power.
He began to seek them out for himself, with the Mind Stone being the last that he needed.
Aware of Thanos’ interest in the Gem, Grandmaster prepared specific, intricate safeguards to stop Thanos from obtaining the Stone.
The Grandmaster challenged Thanos to a duel in which he planned to cheat so that he could steal all of the Gems for himself. Thanos cheated as well, stealing the Mind Gem without Grandmaster realizing it, obtaining the last Stone he needed and kicking off the Infinity Gauntlet storyline.
4. It Was Briefly Acquired by Darkseid During JLA/Avengers
In 2003, DC and Marvel teamed on a JLA/Avengers miniseries, which saw the two teams travel to the others’ Earth and observe how each team is perceived by its own people.
The Justice League was almost disgusted by the Avengers’ failure to improve the Earth around them, while the Avengers marveled at the futuristic architecture of the DC Universe and mistook it for a fascist utopia in which the Justice League force civilians to worship them.
While he is not the main villain of the story, Darkseid had an important part to play as he obtained the Mind Stone, alongside the other five Infinity Stones, for himself.
However, he discarded them as quickly as he found them once he realized that they actually served no function in his reality.
3. It Was Stolen by Magus
The Infinity Watch was put in place after the devastation of Infinity Gauntlet as a way to ensure that the Gems would never be bound together for destructive purposes ever again.
The Mind Gem was placed in the care of Moondragon. The sometimes Guardian of the Galaxy protected it well, only for the Gem to be stolen by the dark half of Adam Warlock— who had entrusted her with the Gem in the first place— known as The Magus.
Magus used the Mind Stone for his own means and caused no small amount of destruction.
After his defeat, the Infinity Watch was disbanded, having proven itself to be ineffective. The six Infinity Stones were split once more, this time taken to the far corners of the universe so that they would in theory be much, much harder to find should anyone seek to abuse their power.
2. It Was Entrusted to Professor X
After the Infinity Stones were once again split, Professor X was entrusted with the power of the Mind Stone.
It was only fitting, of course. Professor X was widely known as the most powerful telepath in the world. He was someone who could already unleash devastating power on the world, but chose not to and always elected to take a peaceful path instead.
He was a perfect candidate for the possession of the Mind Stone and proved to be a fitting guardian of its power.
This happened when the Illuminati decided to split the power of the Infinity Stones among themselves.
It was kept in Xavier’s possession up until he passed away in the Avengers vs. X-Men event. The Professor guarded the Mind Stone with such secrecy that it was thought to be lost forever after he passed away.
1. The Stones Were All Originally Called Soul Gems
When the Mind Stone first appeared, it wasn’t referred to by name. In fact, all of the Gems were referred to under a collective, completely different name.
They first made their appearance in the pages of The Power of Warlock, where they were not referred to by name.
They are first named in The Silver Surfer, in which the Surfer himself referred to them as the Soul Gems. This continued to be their name until they were officially relabeled as Infinity Gems in The Thanos Quest miniseries.
It’s interesting to think about each Gem as having initially been referred to as a Soul Gem.
While this is no doubt a simple continuity error in Marvel history, it could hint at the fact that even some of the most powerful cosmic beings did not know many details about the Gems until much later.
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