Marvel: What Does The Soul Stone Do?

The first few phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were all about the lead-up to "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." It all began to coalesce with 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy," when the Collector (Benicio Del Toro) revealed that "before creation itself, there were six singularities. Then, the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots ... Infinity Stones." This revelation marked the beginning of the MCU's journey toward a monumental conflict.

The Collector was speaking about the Power Stone, which imbues whoever wields it with, well, massive power. The other Infinity Stones each have their own unique properties, and if wielded together, they can accomplish pretty much anything imaginable. That makes them exceedingly dangerous, and, over the subsequent MCU films, each of the Infinity Stones is revealed as they're hunted down by the franchise's heroes, villains, and primary antagonist, Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Of course, the Infinity Stones weren't created solely for the movies; they have a long and detailed comic book history as well. In Marvel Comics lore, the Infinity Stones (originally called Infinity Gems, a name we'll use in this article for clarity's sake) have similar names and abilities, but are used in very different ways and don't kill or maim whoever wields them. Perhaps the most fascinating of them all is the Soul Stone, which has properties unlike any other stone in the movies or the comics.

The Infinity Gems were introduced in 1972's "Marvel Premiere" #1, featuring a story starring Adam Warlock by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. Here, the gems are all referred to as Soul Gems, and though only one is introduced in the issue, they're referred to as the most powerful artifacts in the Marvel Universe. The Gems, on their own, don't appear to have any power, but anyone who realizes their potential can use them to effectively become a god.

The Gems are the remains of a once-omnipotent being called Nemesis, who was alone in the universe. The beings Nemesis created were flawed, so she ended her own existence. The remnants of Nemesis that were left behind developed their own sentience and became what those in the Marvel Universe eventually came to call "Infinity Gems." They are as follows: Soul, Power, Time, Space, Mind, and Reality, and they each possess the ability to dominate their given nature.

The Space Gem can instantly transport a person anywhere, while the Mind Gem can unlock every thought and dream of any being in existence. The Time Gem grants the ability to move to any point in time or alter its flow, while the Power Gem unlocks all power and energy that ever was or will be. The Reality Gem is the most powerful, as it can render all scientific laws and senses meaningless. However, the Soul Gem is the most dangerous, as it hungers for souls, either living or dead, which it collects within a perpetual limbo reality called Soulworld.

The Infinity Stones were revealed over the course of several movies until they were finally explained by the Collector. Wong (Benedict Wong) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) further described them, detailing how they arose from the Big Bang as "six elemental crystals. ... Each controls an essential aspect of existence." As in the comics, they are the Space, Time, Power, Soul, Mind, and — the most powerful — Reality Stones, and their capabilities remain essentially the same across mediums.

The Sorcerer Supreme was tasked with keeping the Time Stone safe, while the Space Stone was revealed to be at the core of the Tesseract, and the Mind Stone was hidden within Loki's scepter before being transferred to Vision's forehead. The Reality Stone was liquified into the Aether sought by the Dark Elves in "Thor: The Dark World," while the Power Stone was recovered by Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) on the planet Morag, as revealed in "Guardians of the Galaxy." The final Stone, the Soul Stone, was the hardest to retrieve, as it required a steep price in order to possess it.

The Soul Stone was hidden on the planet Vormir, where the spirit of the Red Skull (Ross Marquand) was stationed as its keeper. A sacrifice — someone loved by the person seeking the Stone must be thrown over a massive cliff to their death — had to be made to retrieve it. Thanos cast Gamora down to retrieve the stone, while Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) sacrificed herself in "Avengers: Endgame" to ensure Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) could retrieve it during their mission to undo Thanos' snap, which had ended half of all life in the universe.

Of all the Infinity Gems in Marvel Comics, the Soul Gem is the most complex, and its sentience is the most highly developed. It was in the possession of the High Evolutionary when he rebirthed Adam Warlock, who gave it to the gold-skinner hero so he could save Counter-Earth, a planet the super-scientist created as a "pure" version of our Earth. Over time, it became challenging for Adam to control the Soul Gem, as it attempted to steal the souls of anyone it came into contact with. Eventually, he found a way to communicate with it. This is how he first learned it was one of six powerful artifacts.

During a conflict with Thanos, Adam is drawn into the Soul Gem's Soulworld, where he lives a peaceful life with Pip, Gamora, and others. The Soul Gem passed around from one powerful being to another until Thanos decided to gather it and its five counterparts. To accomplish this, the Mad Titan went on a quest detailed in the 1990 three-issue miniseries, "Thanos Quest," where he travels about the universe collecting the Infinity Gems.

Thanos initially travels to the Nexus of All Realities, where the cosmic entity known as the In-Betweener is imprisoned by Lord Chaos and Master Order. Thanos frees the In-Betweener and takes the Soul Gem from him, as the otherwise omnipotent being was powerless in the Nexus. This begins a series of events that ultimately leads to three Marvel Comics' limited series: "The Infinity Gauntlet," "The Infinity War," and "Infinity Crusade."

In the MCU, the Soul Stone is hidden from Thanos until he learns that Gamora (Zoë Saldaña) has discovered its location. Once he pulls this information out of her by torturing Nebula (Karen Gillan), they travel to Vormir. There, they meet the wraith form of the Red Skull, who tells them of the Soul Stone's price: "To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power. The stone demands a sacrifice."

The Skull further explains, "In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul." Thanos then obtains the Soul Stone by sacrificing Gamora, an action that does something to her soul that cannot be undone. According to "Avengers: Endgame" writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, what the Soul Stone does is take a soul as payment, and it cannot be returned. This means that Gamora and Natasha Romanoff's souls are forever trapped within it. Once Thanos obtains the Soul Stone, he gathers the rest and uses the Infinity Gauntlet to snap away half of all life in the universe.

Years later, the heroes band together to reclaim the Infinity Stones from across time, which is when Natasha sacrifices herself to retrieve the Soul Stone. Once they have them all, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) undoes Thanos' snap. Finally, at the end of "Endgame," Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) snaps away Thanos and all his forces, leaving Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) to return the Stones to their proper places and times.

Since the Soul Gem was the first of the six to be introduced and has been around for over 50 years, it's been used in far more stories in the comics than in the films. Most prominent is the tale that inspired the MCU's Infinity Saga, where Thanos gathers the Gems for his Infinity Gauntlet and snaps away half of all life. He does this to literally court Death, who is personified in female form in the comics.

Thanos is in love with Death and believes he can win her over by killing half of all life in the universe, but she's unmoved by his gesture. Ultimately, Thanos is stopped, and many Marvel characters subsequently wield the Infinity Gauntlet, including Adam Warlock, as a member of Infinity Watch. This leads to the Infinity War, where the being known as Magus, who desires to become a god, takes control of the Soul Gem and the other Infinity Gems for that purpose. Eventually, he, too, is defeated.

The Soul Gem is returned to Adam's forehead, but because Adam's soul is indomitable, and the Soul Gem wants a soul it can consume, it seeks a new host in a short-lived character named Darklore. After a time, the Infinity Gems pass to the possession of the Illuminati, and Doctor Strange takes control of the Soul Gem. Most recently, Adam imbued all six Infinity Gems with the ability to choose their own destinies — they are sentient, after all. The Soul Gem chose Multitude, a synthetic being who desires a soul of his own, as its host.

One of the most important aspects of the Soul Gem is the limbo-like world it contains. Soulworld, a dimension that exists inside of the Soul Gem and is inhabited by every soul the Gem consumes, was introduced in 1977's "Avengers Annual" #7, so it took a few years for it to enter the Soul Gem's lore. Adam Warlock notably lived in Soulworld for a long time, undisturbed by the events unfolding in the outside Marvel Universe.

Adam wasn't merely held within Soulworld; he functioned as its steward on several occasions, living there alongside the souls of his friends. Still, when a soul is captured by the Soul Gem, it is "permanently" stuck there, living in a beautiful world to the end of their existence. In "Strange Tales" #179, it's stated that "[t]he captured souls reside here in complete harmony, sharing a dimensional consciousness and well-being."

Even when someone does manage to escape from Soulworld, a fragment of their soul remains. When Gamora learns this, she assembles the Infinity Gems, intent on rebalancing Soul World to prevent its decay. In doing so, she traps every soul in the universe by folding it in half, merging them all, and creating a pocket universe known as Warp World. This is only one story of how Soulworld has impacted the events of the wider Marvel Universe, though there are many that have been told since its introduction nearly five decades ago.

In the MCU, Soulworld is only seen once. Similar to its comic book counterpart, souls sacrificed to obtain the Soul Stone are trapped inside, but in the MCU, when Gamora is sacrificed, she reverts to her childhood self. Later, when Thanos snaps away half of all life, he is transported into Soulworld, where one of the MCU's most important scenes plays out as he interacts with Gamora. She asks him if he was successful in his quest, and he says that he was. She then asks what it cost, and he replies, "Everything," suggesting he truly regrets killing her.

The MCU's Soulworld is visited once more, but not when Natasha sacrifices herself or when Hulk undoes Thanos' snap. In fact, the only other scene set in Soulworld was actually left on the "Avengers: Endgame" cutting room floor.

The scene was meant to come immediately after Tony Stark snaps away Thanos and his minions, sending the founding Avenger to Soulworld. He's greeted by a young woman, his daughter Morgan (Katherine Langford), but she's grown up, so he doesn't immediately recognize her. They speak briefly, and she tells him his snap worked. He apologizes and questions his decision, but Morgan reassures him and tells him she's happy they shared the time they did, and he was there for her until he couldn't be. She tells Tony she's proud of him and sad, but Tony says that if she's happy, so is he. It's a lovely scene, but including it would have been confusing as Morgan wasn't sacrificed, nor was she an adult in the movie.

In "Avengers: Endgame," Thanos tells the heroes who track him down that his final act with the Stones was to use them to destroy them, which is how the Avengers detected the Stones' power signature during their desperate hunt for the Mad Titan. This means that the Soul Stone was annihilated, suggesting that Soulworld likely was as well, though this theory remains unconfirmed. The Soul Stone was seen again, sitting in a drawer in the Time Variance Authority, where TVA agents use them as paperweights, as they have no power there.

In the comics, the fate of the Soul Gem is considerably more detailed, as it has been wielded multiple times throughout its existence. It's been used by Iron Man, the High Evolutionary, Adam Warlock, the Gardener, the In-Betweener, Nebula, Doctor Strange, Magus, Ultron, Hank Pym, Loki, Requiem, and, most recently, Multitude. It's nearly impossible to destroy the cosmic artifacts in the comics, making Thanos' destruction of their MCU counterpart unique and unexpected.

The Gems cannot be used to destroy themselves, but there was one instance where they were accidentally shattered. During an incursion from another dimension, the Illuminati assemble the Infinity Gems, but when Captain America uses the Infinity Gauntlet to push an entire universe away from Earth-616, the primary Marvel Comics universe, the Time Gem disappears, and the rest shatter, including the Soul Gem. This didn't last long, though, as Doctor Doom found replacements from other realities. Eventually, each Gem was fused with a person from Earth, including the Soul Gem, which currently resides with Multitude.