Currently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is setting up Thanos for later films, a mad Titan who is supremely powerful thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet, a device worn on the hand that is powered by 6 Infinity Stones or Infinity Gems.
In the comics, these are listed as;
- the Power Gem, which increases the user's physical power,
- the Mind Gem, which increases the user's psychic and mental abilities,
- the Soul Gem, which allows the user to control the free will of others,
- the Space Gem, which allows the user to travel through space,
- the Time Gem, which gives the user control over time, and
- the Reality Gem, which gives the user total control of reality.
So far, we have seen 4 of these stones in the MCU, in varying forms.
Very mild spoilers for The Avengers/Avengers Assemble, Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy below.
However, both the Purple Infinity Gem seen in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Aether in Thor: The Dark World appear to fulfill the role of the Power Gem.
- In The Avengers/Avengers Assemble we see the Tesseract is the Space Gem and that Loki's Staff contains the Soul Gem.
- In Thor: The Dark World we see that the Aether is one of the Infinity Stones
- In Guardians of the Galaxy we see that the mysterious orb contains one of the Infinity Stones.
So my question is - which of these items in the films match the Gem in question, and what is the function of the other?