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The Infinity Stones have changed hands various times over the history of the MCU, some more than others.
(click all images to embiggen)
These are the current and previous owners:
(source film in brackets, index at bottom of answer)
Space Stone is owned by Asgard/Loki
Excluding all details (Trailers, interviews, theories based on evidence, etc.) from ...
44
The MCU answer
The Infinity Stones formed naturally, from "singularities" that were present at the beginning of the universe. From the Guardians of the Galaxy transcript:
The Collector: Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were
six singularities. [he uses a device to unlock and open the orb] Then
the universe exploded into existence, ...
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He took the gems primarily from the Elders of the Universe.
The Elders of the Universe are intergalactic senior citizens, some billions of years old, of now defunct civilizations who pass their time with an obsession based on their previous cultural predispositions. In most cases, they are the last survivors of their civilizations.
All of them are wielders ...
40
This is explained in the Age of Ultron prelude comic, The Sceptre’d Isle.
SHIELD had recovered the sceptre from Stark Tower, and are studying it a la Tesseract. (Indeed, one of their scientists makes comments about how similar it is to the Tesseract.) One of the technicians working on the sceptre is a disgruntled agent called Mark Smith. He’s just been ...
34
The Elders of the Universe, mostly.
The story Thanos Quest documents Thanos' acquisition of all the gems, and who he got them from.
Soul Gem - The In-Betweener (not an Elder)
Power Gem - Champion of the Universe
Time Gem - The Gardener
Reality Gem - The Collector
Space Gem - The Runner
Mind Gem - The Grandmaster
Elders of the Universe are each the ...
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Because Doctor Strange saw the futures.
The Russo Brothers were asked about this in Iowa City High School Q&A they did this spring.
The original, famous Reddit recap simply related
When asked why strange gave the time stone, he highly alluded to the “this is the only way” and him seeing the future scene so that basically confirmed that strange gave ...
29
From the mid-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World, just before handing The Collector the Aether, one of the Asgardians says:
The Collector: Of course. But if I may ask, why not keep it secure in your own vault?
Volstagg: The Tesseract is already on Asgard. It's not wise to keep two Infinity Stones so close together.
The Collector: That's very wise. [...
27
Space Stone
Last seen in Thor: Ragnarok on Asgard inside the vaults.
However, as pointed out in this answer it is likely that Loki stole it before the destruction of Asgard.
Mind Stone
Last seen as part of Vision, was given to him in Avengers: Age of Ultron and has stayed with him since.
Reality Stone
Last seen with The Collector in Thor: The Dark ...
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I can't imagine this to be true. If they happen to make the remaining gems fit into this strange anagram, it will be a coincidence, nothing more. Worse, if it's true, it is a sign of the laziest Easter Egg ever.
The Infinity Gems had nothing to do with Thanos in their original inception. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe may decide to create an ...
26
That would very much depend on how you define “destroy”. Thanos in Avengers: Endgame reduces the Infinity Stones to atoms by using their power against themselves.
Natasha Romanoff: Where are the Stones?
Thanos: Gone. Reduced to atoms.
Avengers: Endgame
However, right after that, he states he destroyed them this way.
Bruce Banner: You used ...
23
I think what happened was that Thanos landed on Knowhere, destroyed the planet and then used the Reality Stone to make it look empty but not destroyed for when the Guardians of the Galaxy came. So when he left, he just removed the illusion that the planet was not destroyed, because in reality he did destroy it.
Just to be clear and answer your question ...
22
The Aether the Reality Stone.
There have been lots of interviews with Marvel execs confirming it’s an Infinity Stone, and the way it’s shown in Age of Ultron confirms this in-universe.
An interview with Kevin Feige states that, as of Age of Ultron, only the Time and Soul Stones are unaccounted for, and so by a process of elimination, we may deduce that the ...
21
Updated with new information from Age of Ultron; see below.
I’ve left my original answer intact for people who haven’t seen the film yet, and who don’t want to be spoiled.
Signs point to Yes
A Marvel event on 27 Oct 2014 gave some new information about Phase 3, with film plans up to 2019. This included the next three Avengers films (incl. Age of Ultron). ...
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The Sorcerer Supreme says that removing the Stones is what causes the flow of time (and reality) to behave oddly.
SS: The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones, and that flow splits.
But Thanos doesn't remove them from the universe, he just reduces them to individual atoms.
Black Widow: Where are the ...
19
The premise that a normal human could not effectively wield an Infinity Gem is not unique to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While the MCU shows the gems having catastrophic effects on anyone unfamiliar with the gem, it was possible for beings of immense power such as, Ronan the Accuser, to use the power of the purple Infinity Gem without dying.
Could a ...
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It is impossible to determine why the Infinity Stone was found on the abandoned world Star-Lord picks it up from. Finding lost or forgotten Infinity gems has a precedence in the canon Marvel Universe. In the comics, Thanos finds one of the gems forgotten because its possessor could not use it.
Scene from Thanos Quest #2 (1990), Thanos trades the Runner (...
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@afiqtobi9 is right about this.
In the Age of Ultron end credits, it’s a left hand glove:
But it’s a right hand glove in Thor:
It’s even confirmed by Kevin Feige (from cinemablend.com):
"There are two different gloves. That was not Odin’s vault that you
see at the end." - Kevin Feige
Making them a pair of gloves.
Update: But in Thor: Ragnarok, Hela ...
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If Thanos was unable to destroy them when he had the power of all of them available, then there isn't likely any greater power available in the universe to destroy them.
Note that according to the directors Thanos did not manage to destroy the stones:
...according to the Russos, the Infinity Stones aren't actually lost: "Thanos only reduced the stones to ...
16
The Tesseract is the Space Stone, and as such enables instantaneous transportation to anywhere in space, provided one understands how it works. It is also an excellent power source. Red Skull's experiments with the Tesseract revolved around its way of producing energy, and enabled him to develop energy weapons utilising similar power-generation. That is not, ...
15
The short answer is: Thanos.
For whatever reason, Thanos has begun looking for the Infinity Stones. This has caused at least two that had previously been dormant to resurface.
The Mind Stone was given to Loki by Thanos to help him conquer Earth.
The Power Stone was found by Star Lord because someone paid him (well, the Ravagers) to find it. We aren't ...
15
Thanos told his minions to find the two stones that are on Earth just after he kills Loki and before he uses the Power and Space stones to blow up the Asgardian ship and escape (respectively). Thor already knew the location of 4 of them: he knew the Space and Power stones were with Thanos, he knew the Mind stone was on Earth, and he knew the Reality stone ...
15
As stated by the directors on Twitter over the verified “The Avengers” account:
Red Skull is free to leave Vormir, and he is also free to pursue his desire for an Infinity Stone.
This also implies he survived the Snap.
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Red Skull said that you had to make a sacrifice in order to take the Stone (script source), not to use it.
From Endgame, we can infer that
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Because the stone was under water and inaccessible until that moment.
From Marvel Cinematic Universe wiki:
Every 300 years, the sea lowers and the Temple Vault, an ancient structure hidden deep beneath the waves, is made accessible. It is here that the Orb was located.
http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Morag
So basically everyone was ...
14
This is largely a nod to the Taneleer Tivan of the comics, who is similar, and more fleshed out, but with a few important differences.
While the MCU version of Tivan portrays him as just an eccentric collector so far, the comics version has a personal mission of collecting artifacts and subjects and keeping them safe so that the Universe could be ...
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In the MCU, wikia mentioned that the Infinity Stones were created by the Cosmic Entities from the six singularities that @Adamant (above answer) mentioned.
Before the Universe began, six singularities existed. Sometime after the Universe came into existence, these were formed into the six Infinity Stones by the Cosmic Entities.
They are Entropy, Infinity,...
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Out-of-universe, I suspect they hadn't decided yet that the Tesseract or Loki's staff held an Infinity Stone. That fact raises a number of questions, not the least of which is "Why was Thanos willing to give away one of the Infinity Stones he's so desperate to get?". So at the time the dialogue was written, it's most likely that the idea was that Loki's ...
13
The Russos have confirmed the stones haven’t been “destroyed”, just atomized in such a way as they don’t exist in the same solid form.
"Thanos only reduced the stones to the atomic level. The stones are
still present in the universe."
Endgame Directors Say That [SPOILER] Still Exist in the Present MCU Timeline
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