The Power Stone is one of the six Infinity Stones, the remnant of a singularity that predates the universe. The Power Stone is a powerful weapon capable of granting a person great, cosmic power, but is highly likely to kill any organic beings that touch it. It was used by Eson the Searcher until it was forgotten for millenia in the planet Morag inside the Orb. The Orb containing the Power Stone was coveted by Thanos, who employed the Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser to bring it to him. However, before Ronan obtained the Orb, it was stolen by Star-Lord on Morag, prompting a galaxy-wide hunt that resulted in the Orb being given to the Nova Corps for safe-keeping. Thanos later retrieves the Power Stone from Xandar and inserts it into his Infinity Gauntlet.
History
Origin
The Guardians of the Galaxy seeing a recording of Eson the Searcher using the Power Stone on his staff.
The Power Stone is a remnant of one of the six singularities which existed before the universe. After the universe came into existence, the Cosmic Entities used the energies of these singularities to forge six immensely powerful objects known as Infinity Stones. Hence its name, the Power Stone represented the destructive nature of the universe, and was incredibly powerful, capable of annihilating entire planets. The Power Stone was used by the Celestial being Eson the Searcher to destroy planets and civilizations until it was forgotten inside the Orb for millenia.
The Cosmic Beings failing to use the Power Stone.
It was later in possession of a group of Cosmic Beings who attempted to harness the power of the Stone by sharing its power between them, achieved this by linking themselves together. The effects were short-lived as the energy of the stone disintegrated all nine beings after a few moments. Eventually the Orb, and the stone inside it, were hidden on the planet Morag, storing it in a secret tomb that was hidden beneath the planet's vast ocean. The ocean would recede every 300 years, making the tomb accessible.[1]
Quest for the Orb
Collector's Demonstration
Once the Orb had been found by Star-Lord, he found himself on a mission with the Guardians of the Galaxy to sell it before Ronan the Accuser could find it and use it's power for evil. The Guardians took the Orb to the Collector where he used his technology to open the Orb while explaining the history of the Infinity Stones, marvelling at the Power Stone when it was finally revealed to him as he prepared to pay for it.
Carina is destroyed by the stone's power
However the Collector's assistant Carina saw an opportunity to kill her master and attempted to grab the stone, only for it's power to violently rip through her body, destroying her entirely as well as much of the Collector's Museum. The Guardians attempted to escape with the Orb, only to be found by Ronan and his soldiers, as Nebula was able to defeat Gamora and took the stone into her own possession to return it to Ronan, much to the Guardians' horror.[1]
Ronan's Betrayal
Ronan using the power of the Power Stone.
- "The Orb is in my possession, as I promised."
"Bring it to me."
"Yes, that was our agreement. Bring you the Orb, and you will destroy Xandar for me." - ―Ronan the Accuser and Thanos[src]
Upon learning that the Orb contained the Power Stone after acquiring it from the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan the Accuser questioned his need for Thanos' assistance in his quest for revenge. Ronan ripped the Orb in half and took the Stone from it, consuming its energy and causing explosions all around him before attaching the Stone to his Cosmi-Rod in order to control its power. He became so powerful that he was no longer afraid of even the Mad Titan himself, who watched in silence and anger at the betrayal and cut off contact soon without being fazed by Ronan's threats to kill him.[1]
Battle of Xandar
Ronan attacking the Nova Corps' armies.
Unfazed by his enemies' attack on Xandar and filled with more power than all of them combined, Ronan the Accuser responded standing before the fleet of Nova Corps' Star Blasters and accusing them before sentencing them to destruction. He then used the Stone's power to fire a powerful blast from the Cosmi-Rod which destroyed the Nova Corps' entire fleet, as the burning remains of the army flew to the ground below and Ronan looked at the destruction with a sense of satisfaction watching the pain he was causing to his enemies.
Ronan attacks the Guardians of the Galaxy.
While to continued to watch the battle unfold, Ronan found himself confronted by the Guardians of the Galaxy after they subdued his bodyguards and shot Ronan in the chest with the Hadron Enforcer. Ronan then easily overpowered the group with a single shockwave blast from the Power Stone using his hammer.
Smiling to himself at the desperate and pathetic attempts to stop him that had been proved to be worthless, Ronan the Accuser mocked the Guardians of the Galaxy and prepared to unleash the Stone's power to annihilate Xandar. The moment before he could unleash the power, he became distracted by Star-Lord, who had challenged him to a dance-off. This distraction allowed Rocket enough time to repair the Hadron Enforcer allowing Drax the Destroyer to fire it at him, managing to destroy Ronan's Cosmi-Rod, disarming him and leaving the all powerful Power Stone flying in the air before him. In a desperate move to gain the advantage in the battle and kill each other, both Ronan and Peter Quill attempted to catch the Stone during the split second it hung unprotected in the air before them. Despite Ronan's best efforts to regain the powerful weapon, Quill was a moment faster and quickly caught the Stone.[1]
Ronan's Destruction
The Guardians of the Galaxy using the Power Stone.
- "You're mortal! How?!"
"You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." - ―Ronan the Accuser and Star-Lord[src]
The moment the Power Stone was touched by Peter Quill's hand, it unleashed a massive amount of energy, causing a shock-wave which threw Ronan backwards as flames engulfed the group. As Ronan watched on with a sense of delight, the Stone's incredible and almost uncontrollable power nearly killed Quill as his body was slowly ripped apart from the inside by the Stone. Ronan laughed as he watched Quill screaming in horrific pain.
Ronan's body being destroyed by the Power Stone.
However, Ronan witnessed Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and Rocket Raccoon come together as a team and grab Quill's hand, helping with the burden of the Stone's power and gaining complete control over it. He looked on in horror and demanded to know how that was possible for a human to survive such power and Quill informed him it was because together they were a team, before directing the Stone's energy at Ronan, destroying his body and killing him.[1]
Stored Away
After the defeat of Ronan, the stone was stored in the Nova Corps Headquarters vault. It remained peacefully untouched for three years.
Acquired by Thanos
The Stone in Thanos' gauntlet.
After Thanos decided to personally hunt for the Infinity Stones, his first attack was on the Nova Corps to retrieve the Power Stone. After Thanos effortlessly killed every single soldier protecting it, he inserted the Power Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet and then decimated half of Xandar with it.
He later uses it to torture Thor by exposing him to the Power Stone's energy, quickly getting Loki to hand over the Tesseract and later to blow the Statesman after acquiring the Space Stone.
Thanos would use the Power Stone's energy manipulating powers the most often out of all the stones when he battled half of the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange, using the Infinity Stone to destroy the Milano after Iron Man send it to him with a burst of energy, blast energy repeatedly at Star-Lord, although it failed due to Star-Lord having aid from Doctor Strange's use of Eldritch Magic to conjure platforms and later a shockwave, knocking out Drax, Star-Lord, and Nebula soon after being freed from Mantis's telepathy. His most notable feat was using the Power Stone to crush Titan's moon so he can hurl the pieces at his enemies. He then used the Power Stone to send out a beam of energy at Doctor Strange when he dueled with him after dodging all of the sorcerer's fiery rays of energy with a simple powerful leap and later to destroy Doctor Strange's use of the Mirror Dimension by empowering the Gauntlet with the Power Stone's energy as well as unleashing a burst of energy to free himself from the countless Eldritch Whips Strange used to bind him upon identifying the real Strange among the countless replicas he conjured while silmutaneously dissipating them all. Thanos also used the Power Stone to send a beam of energy that almost overwhelmed Iron Man's shield and then to send him flying with a concentrated beam that heavily damaged the armor. His final use of the Power Stone in the battle was to emit it's energy from the Gauntlet to act as a barrier to deflect Iron Man's repulsors while silmutaneously walking towards the hero, allowing him to quickly end the attack by punching off the armor's helmet.
Upon arriving in Wakanda, Thanos used the Power Stone multiple times to knock away Captain America and Winter Soldier and then to stop Okoye's spear in mid air and hurl her away, knocking her out of the fight. After completing the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos used all the stones in conjunction to successfully wipe out half of the universe even after Thor wounded him with Stormbreaker.[2]
Capabilities
As the Infinity Stone that represents and governs over the destructive force of the universe, the Power Stone grants whoever controls it vast energy manipulation powers in the form of projection of extremely powerful and lethal purple fire-like energy. Like all Infinity Stones, the Power Stone is among the most powerful artifacts in the universe and due to it's power, only beings of extreme power can use it and less powerful beings would be quickly and painfully killed by it's power. It can potentially overwhelm the combined efforts of lesser beings, as the Cosmic Beings who attempted to share it's power among each other were quickly destroyed. Even powerful beings had great difficulty handling the Power Stone, as Ronan the Accuser, among the most powerful Kree, struggled to hold it and was forced to use the Cosmi-Rod to be able to use it and Star-Lord, a half Celestial, would have died had Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot not helped him to use it's power. It is also possible to use instruments such as the Cosmi-Rod to contain it, preventing the need to directly touch the stone and experience its deadly effects, and still exploit its full power.
To whoever able to use it, the Power Stone allows the user to project powerful purple, fire-like energy waves and explosions. When used at its maximum potential, it can produce an energy wave strong enough to consume an entire planet. It also greatly enhances the user's strength and durability, as Ronan, wielding it, was able to effortlessly beat the Guardians of the Galaxy and withstand a direct, close range shot from the Hadron Enforcer, a weapon powerful enough to destroy a moon, without any damage and was completely uninjured by the crashing of the Dark Aster, walking away from the massive wreckage of the ship as if he had landed without any problems.
After Thanos inserts it into the Infinity Gauntlet, it is shown that the Power Stone's capabilities are not limited to just simply projecting energy and those who have full understanding and mastery over the Stone's powers are capable of using the Power Stone to achieve more diverse capabilities. Thanos showed that with his strong understanding and mastery of the Power Stone, he is capable of manipulating the Stone's destructive energy for a wide range of feats, with the Stone becoming among his most versatile and often-used in combat methods for its destructive potential.
Thanos's control over the Stone's destructive energy allowed him to channel the energy into the Gauntlet to empower it with enough power to shatter a dimensional gateway to the Mirror Dimension send at him by Doctor Strange. He also displays he can manipulate and unleash it's destructive energy to charge objects with unstable explosive energy with just a single gesture from the Gauntlet, causing them to overload and violently detonate. Thanos commonly uses this abillity due to its great versatility and combat potential thanks to his abillity to control the time and size of the detonation, whether instantly or slowly or how devastating, as Thanos used the Stone to slowly overload and detonate the damaged Statesman after retrieving the Space Stone, giving himself time to teleport him and his Children out. During the Battle of Titan, Thanos used the Stone's energy and versatile destructive powers to devastating effect, violently and instantly detonating a ruined spaceship fragment that was dropped on him by Iron Man, and was even powerful enough to rip apart the surface of Titan's moon with its sheer power.
However, despite Thanos's ability to use more versatile capabilities, he still primarily uses the Stone to simply project it's explosive energy in many forms of energy attacks, unleashing destructively powerful energy blasts or waves that applied incredible amounts of powerful concussive force that are even potentially capable of outright destroying objects with its volatile power or incatipating and greatly damaging even the most durable of individuals, with it's raw power being notably greater than Ronan's use. A wild shockwave of energy was easily potent enough to knock out Star-Lord, Drax and Nebula instantaneously despite their great superhuman resilience, while a few concussive waves were enough to effortlessly blast away the majority of the opposing heroes, even the superhumanly strong and resilient Captain America and Winter Soldier, with Thanos once using it to easily stop Okoye's spear while silmutaneously flinging her away, during the Battle of Wakanda. Thanos also displays he can concentrate the Stone's energy into direct beams of destructive power, capable of cleaving through structures with ease, forcing back a shielded Iron Man, and heavily damaging the Avenger's armour with a single point-blank blast, or use it as a powerful form of defense by conjuring a very strong force field of energy that was easily powerful enough to block Iron Man's repulsors even when the latter used both of his hands to emit 2 blasts at once.
Thanos also shows that he can use the Stone's power for more subtle applications, such as exerting the energy upon others as a very effective form of torture, with him being able to limit the amount of energy send into his target's body so as not to instantly kill them. During the Attack on the Statesman, Thanos utilised the Stone to effectively torture an injured Thor, pushing the Stone into his head and causing the nearly invulnerable Asgardian excruciating pain using its energy. Used together with the Space Stone, Thanos also brutally tortured Nebula with its power, by telekinetically pulling her mechanical components apart while silmutaneously exerting the Stone's energy to electrocute her, causing her severe pain but controlling the level of energy he sent at Nebula precisely enough to not kill her.
Thanos also displayed that he is able to combine the Power Stone with the other Stones to enhance it's powers and make it capable of achieving a more wide variety of effects. With the Soul Stone, Thanos can imbue the Power Stone's energy attacks with the power to attack the very soul of others rather than just simply physically attacking them, as shown when surrounded by Doctor Strange's Images of Ikonn, Thanos activated the Power Stone together with the Soul Stone, to simultaneously destroy the false Images and attack the real Strange in one fell swoop, briefly separating the Sorcerer's astral form from his body. Combining the Space Stone and Power Stone, Thanos can also manipulate and redirect outside energy, absorbing and channelling the explosive power of Iron Man's missiles into a concentrated beam of fire. Combined with the Reality Stone, Thanos was able to render the Panther Habit useless by blocking the nanites of the suit and then redirect it to the ground upon slamming T'Challa to the ground.
Trivia
- In the comics, the red-colored (later purple) Power Gem gives the owner access to all power and energy that ever has or will exist, and can back the other gems and boost their effects. Its most basic powers grant its user unlimited stamina and can increase the user's strength to unlimited levels depending on how much the gem is drawn upon. It allows the user to duplicate practically any physical superhuman ability and become invincible. It was used by the Champion of the Universe, Thanos, Nebula, Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer, Thor, Magus, Rune, Lord Pumpkin, Loki, Galactus, She-Hulk, Titania, Mister Fantastic, Odeni, Hood, Red Hulk, Xiambor and Namor.
- Eson the Searcher, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan the Accuser and Thanos are the only beings to have succesfully used the Power Stone thus far, with the latter using it in conjunction with all of the other Stones.
