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The scepter is used in both the first and second Avengers movies. In the first movie, Loki uses the scepter to do bad things. In the second movie, the scepter starts out with Hydra being used for bad things. Then Ultron gets created into a really evil form when Stark and Banner try to transfer the mind stone from the scepter into their building blocks for Ultron.

So, is the scepter itself evil, or is the evil from who is using the scepter?

In the Age of Ultron, the twins argue that Ultron's evil is the result of Tony Stark being Ultron's creator. The twins' argument is supported by the evil that Loki and Hydra tried to do with the scepter.

Are there examples of the scepter being used for good outcomes?

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  • My first instinct is to say "The Vision", but then his "goodness" was an accident so I'm unsure
    – Jason Baker
    May 21, 2015 at 17:38
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    Is a gun inherently evil?
    – phantom42
    May 21, 2015 at 17:39
  • @phantom42 Was the first gun made to defend or attack?
    – Clyde
    May 21, 2015 at 18:02
  • I think I read about the Infinity Stones that they inherently want to create destruction and chaos, but that may have been only the Power stone so I'm not sure
    – childcat15
    May 21, 2015 at 18:40
  • There is nothing in the film to suggest that Thor imbued Vision with any sort of programming or personality. He put the mind stone in, and jumpstarted the body with a blast of lightning.
    – phantom42
    May 21, 2015 at 19:00

1 Answer 1

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Technology is neither good nor evil. It is what the people who are using the technology that determines what happens with it.

  • The Scepter was a weapon that utilized the yellow Mind Stone housed inside a blue computer module, which also masked the stone's presence. The stone within had already been in the possession of Thanos when he gave it to Loki to aide him in his invasion of Earth.

  • This stone had the power to subjugate the minds of others, bending them to the will of the user, as well as project the user's consciousness to a higher plane of existence. The stone was also said to greatly increase the intelligence of those capable of wielding it, as shown in the cases of Loki and Wolfgang von Strucker.

  • In the hands of Thanos, who gave the Scepter and by proxy the Mind Stone to Loki, it was used to mind-control people and make them his unwilling slaves.

  • Later, after being found/stolen by Hydra, it was used to reverse engineer some form of "near-conscious" artificial intelligence which would have been used to create a killer robot army working for Hydra.

In both instances, the Mind Stone was being used by "BAD" people who wanted to do "BAD" things. The Mind Stone, like all of the Infinity Gems so far, don't appear to have any conscious will at all.

  • They appear to act as very powerful UNIVERSAL FORCES remotes, capable of tapping into the underlying fabric of the Universe in their unique fields.

  • In the right hands, it is possible the Mind Stone could be used for any number of good features such as healing mental traumas or reversing PTSD. It also has (in the canon comic Universe) incredible telekinetic capacities which could certainly be used to move fantastic weights.

  • In the MCU it is also known to increase the intelligence of its wielder and allow them to project their minds over great distances.

Guns don't kill people. People with guns, kill people. It's the same for Infinity Gems.

Comic Apocrypha

In the canon comic universe of Earth-616:

  • The Soul Gem was the only gem to have ever appeared to have a personality and consciousness. The gem fought with Adam Warlock constantly. It wanted to subjugate his will and take over his body, capturing souls to place within it's internal universe.

  • In this singular case, the gem's behavior may be construed as "evil" or at least "very self-centered." This is also the only gem Thanos ever feared, since it appeared he had no technology capable of preventing the Soul Gem from claiming his soul, if it wanted to.

enter image description here

  • The gem, without warning surges to life to steal the soul of Autolycus, a member of the Universal Church, about to defeat (and possibly kill) Adam Warlock in battle. The gem overrides Adam's control and captures Autolycus' soul within the gem, killing him and ending the battle.

enter image description here

  • Adam Warlock, now realizing the Soul Gem is sentient, engages in a psychic battle of wills forcing the gem to submit to his greater will and prevents it from stealing souls without his agreement.
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    We do see technology imbued with some form good/evil preference, though - Thor's Hammer, Mjolnir, can only be used by someone worthy. What's to say that the scepter is not imbued with some bias to support evil actions? As the OP asks - has the scepter ever been used for good?
    – HorusKol
    May 21, 2015 at 23:18
  • @CodeMed - the question isn't "why was Ultron evil" but "is the sceptre inherently evil".
    – HorusKol
    May 22, 2015 at 0:01
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    Ultron didn't emerge from the scepter, Ultron was a program created from fragments of what Hydra was attempting to create from the software in the Mind Gem's internal programming. Ultron was a Hydra product Tony Stark thought he could complete and make into something good. The Mind Gem itself is beyond good or evil.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    May 22, 2015 at 1:00
  • Thor's hammer does not have "a preference" for users. It has a spell/program which has a predetermined worthiness setting based on whatever Odin deems worthiness to be. The hammer is a hunk of inert Uru metal created to be a weapon. Mjolnir does not care who uses it, nor does it discriminate, the spell/enchantment does.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    May 22, 2015 at 1:06
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    Making an assumption as to the nature of the Scepter when we know nothing of it's history, of the Chitauri, or the nature of the programming used in its creation is both lazy and specious. If it makes you happy to assume the Chitauri scepter is inherently evil, fine. But you cannot make that assumption based on who used the device, there is insufficient evidence to explain whether the device could be utilized by good users. Why did Ultron and The Vision disagree in Age of Ultron?
    – Thaddeus Howze
    May 22, 2015 at 2:55

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