The Infinity Gauntlet

Publication history

Background

Artist and character creator Jim Starlin introduced Thanos, the antagonist for the storyline, in Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973). After providing artwork for Captain Marvel #24-25 (Jan. 1973 & March 1973), Starlin co-wrote #26 (May 1973) with Mike Friedrich, which featured Thanos (albeit in shadow) on a Marvel cover for the first time and marked the beginning of what was later coined the "First Thanos War". After collaborating with Friedrich for #27-28 (July & Sept. 1973), Starlin then assumed sole writing duties for the remainder of the sweeping cosmic saga from #29-33 (Nov. 1973 - July 1974). Starlin completed one final issue, #34 (Sept. 1974), laying the groundwork for the eventual death of hero Mar-Vell before leaving the title.

In 1975, Starlin began writing and illustrating Strange Tales, in which he made significant changes to Adam Warlock and developed the concept of the Infinity Gems. He reintroduced Thanos first as Warlock's ally, then as his opponent in a storyline known as the "Second Thanos War" that ran until 1977. Because of their close publications dates, the two Thanos Wars are sometimes considered to be one storyline. Both are considered "cosmic" stories and led to Starlin being known as a "cosmic" writer.

Starlin stopped doing regular work for Marvel after concluding the Second Thanos War, but occasionally returned for short projects like The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel and creator-owned work such as the cosmic-themed Dreadstar through the 1980s. He also did high-profile work for DC Comics, such as Batman and Cosmic Odyssey. In a 1990 interview, Starlin described himself as the only writer who had been allowed to "play" with Thanos, although other writers had scripted some tie-in chapters of the First Thanos War.

Artist George Pérez was known for drawing comics featuring large casts. He came to prominence in the 1970s while working on Marvel's The Avengers before leaving the company to work for DC on comics such as New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Wonder Woman. In 1984, Pérez entered into an exclusive contract with DC.

Development

In 1988, Steve Englehart was writing Silver Surfer and one of his storylines involved the Infinity Gems and Mistress Death. He asked to do a follow-up story in which Mistress Death uses Thanos to get revenge on her enemies, but editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco did not know who Thanos was. After the character was explained to him, DeFalco liked the idea so much he wanted to save it for a big summer crossover instead. At the time, he indicated he wanted to format it like "The Evolutionary War", a 1988 crossover spread across the annuals of several continuing series instead of being contained in a limited series.

Because of his ties to Thanos, Starlin was invited back to Marvel to write the story. He returned because work for him at DC declined following his controversial Batman story "A Death in the Family" (1988). Inspired by the work he had recently read from Wilhelm Reich, Carlos Castaneda, and Roger Zelazny, Starlin wanted to purposely add multiple layers to his characters instead of letting them be one-dimensional. He started writing with the expectation that this would be the last Thanos story "at least for a while" and was midway through the story before deciding to make Thanos an antihero. He began writing Silver Surfer with #34, cover dated February 1990. To organize various plot and character points, Starlin made notes on 3-by-5 cards and pinned them to a large piece of plywood hung on his wall.

His first four issues reintroduced Thanos and was seen as the first act of the new Thanos storyline. Initially, Starlin and editor Craig Anderson planned for the story to remain contained within the pages of Silver Surfer. However, Marvel had recently been purchased and the new owners mandated all intellectual property be exploited to maximum potential. To capitalize on the excitement surrounding Thanos' return, the start of the second act was spun off into the two-issue limited series The Thanos Quest, released in September–October 1990. The plot then continued in Silver Surfer beginning with #44. In Silver Surfer #46, Starlin reintroduced Adam Warlock and his supporting cast. He included these characters because the editors told him a different writer wanted to use them, and they would let him unless Starlin wanted to use them first. Starlin was not impressed by the other writer's work, so he wrote Warlock into his Silver Surfer story. Again, Starlin and Anderson planned to conclude the story in the pages of Silver Surfer, but the sales of The Thanos Quest were high enough to warrant another spin-off. After Silver Surfer #50, the plot moved to The Infinity Gauntlet. Because of the time required to write the double-length issues of the limited series and coordinate tie-ins, Starlin had to leave the Silver Surfer series at #50.

Publication

Marvel's marketing department "mega-hyped" the event in the months leading up to its release according to journalist Sean Howe. One aspect of the promotion was sending direct market retailers a kit that included a letter explaining details of the series, a sign to put by their cash register, and a poster 18 inches wide by 36 inches tall. Marvel's promotional magazine Marvel Age featured a cover story on The Thanos Quest and a Starlin interview in issue #91 (August 1990), followed by a 7-page preview of The Infinity Gauntlet #1 in Marvel Age #99 (April 1991). The limited series was the cover feature on Comics Interview #94 in March 1991, which included an 8-page interview with Pérez, and Starlin was interviewed about the series in Comics Scene #19 in June 1991.

Marvel initially planned to release a new issue every two weeks, but deadline problems caused it to be released monthly. Issues had cover dates between July and December 1991. Each one was available in both comic specialty stores and newsstand outlets, which included supermarkets and department stores. Although the cover artwork was identical, the edition sold in comic stores featured additional artwork celebrating Marvel's 30th anniversary in place of the barcode found on the newsstand edition. Each issue was 48 pages and cover priced at $2.50 at a time when the average Marvel comic was $1.00 and 24 pages.

Tie-ins

To emphasize the connected nature of Marvel's comic books, some ongoing series starring characters seen in The Infinity Gauntlet had contemporary issues showing the main plot from a different point of view or explored consequences of certain events. These issues featured a triangle in the top right corner of their covers with the text "An Infinity Gauntlet Crossover". These tie-in issues did not impact the plot of the limited series and could be skipped by readers without creating plot holes. Doctor Strange #36 was set after the events of the crossover and featured a triangle with the text "An Infinity Gauntlet Epilogue".

Unlike other crossovers such as Armageddon 2001 (the competing 1991 crossover from DC Comics) which featured tie-ins from a large majority of their publisher's comics, The Infinity Gauntlet only had tie-ins from titles which were obviously connected to the event or from series which needed a boost in sales. According to Pérez, Marvel's stance toward the tie-ins for its low-selling titles was "do it or else". Starlin remained uninvolved, allowing writers to choose for themselves which story elements they wished to use.

Collected editions and reprints

The miniseries was collected in a single softcover edition released in 1992, a time when publishers only collected popular storylines, to coincide with the release of The Infinity War. It featured new cover artwork by Pérez and was enhanced with a foil logo. Later printings of this edition had alternate cover artwork from different artists and no enhancement. The suggested retail price was $19.95, five dollars more than the total retail cost of the individual issues it contained.

In June 2006, Marvel issued a second softcover collected edition to coincide with Keith Giffen and Andrea Di Vito's Annihilation, another cosmic-level crossover starring Thanos and the Silver Surfer. This edition used the cover art from issue #1 and had a trade dress matching the first edition collections of The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade which were released shortly thereafter. The month of release, it sold approximately 2,500 copies and was the 33rd best-selling comic collection according to Diamond Distribution. Marvel also released a Silver Surfer collection subtitled "The Rebirth of Thanos" in 2006 which included four of the lead-in issues of Silver Surfer and both issues of The Thanos Quest.

A hardcover edition was released in July 2010 as the 46th entry in the Marvel Premiere Classic line. Like other volumes in this line, it was available with two covers. The standard cover featured a cutout of Thanos from the cover of issue #4 on a black matte background with the title in metallic red ink. The variant cover, available only to comic specialty stores, featured the cover art for issue #1 reduced 50% against a black and red background. The variant edition identifies itself as #46 on its spine.

In 2011, a third edition softcover was released. The first printing reused the artwork from the standard cover of the Premiere Classic edition. Later printings reverted to the cover of issue #1. Sales of the collection spiked after Thanos appeared in a post-credits scene of the 2012 film The Avengers, causing The Infinity Gauntlet to be the highest selling graphic novel in 2018.

In July 2014, Marvel released a 1,248 page omnibus edition of The Infinity Gauntlet. In addition to the limited series, the hardcover also included the lead-up issues of Silver Surfer, The Thanos Quest, and the marketed tie-ins. It also included additional issues of Incredible Hulk, Quasar, Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man which had not been advertised as tie-ins, but were connected to the story. Comic book stores and the book market both offered a regular edition featuring the cover to The Infinity Gauntlet #1, but comic shops could also order a variant edition with cover art by Starlin.

Plot

Resurrected by Mistress Death to correct a perceived imbalance between life and death, the Mad Titan Thanos first encounters the Silver Surfer, and subsequently fakes his own death to proceed without interference. Thanos decides to reacquire the six Infinity Gems that he had previously used as a simple weapon. After defeating several of the Elders of the Universe and the In-Betweener, Thanos regains the gems and now has control over the six aspects of existence: Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality and Power. Ironically, now that Thanos is in possession of his "Infinity Gauntlet", Death must advise him via an intermediary - she cannot speak directly to him as he is now her superior.

When the Silver Surfer learns that Thanos is still alive and confronts him, Thanos traps the Silver Surfer's soul inside the Soul Gem. On "Soul World", the Silver Surfer encounters former enemy of Thanos, Adam Warlock. Warlock returns the Surfer to his body and promises to help defeat Thanos. The Surfer races to Earth to warn super-team the Avengers about the coming threat. Demonic entity Mephisto senses the power in the Infinity Gauntlet and offers to instruct Thanos in its use, while secretly waiting for an opportunity to steal it for himself.

Angry at Mistress Death's rejection, Thanos creates a shrine in her image, and then traps and burns Nebula – who pretended to be his "grand-daughter" – as an offering. When still rejected, Thanos in a fit of rage destroys several stars and then remembers the reason Mistress Death wanted him. With only the snap of his fingers, Thanos eliminates half of all living beings in the universe. The Surfer warns Doctor Strange about Thanos and encourages him to summon Earth's heroes. Cosmic entities Galactus and Epoch seek the source of the sudden imbalance, while Warlock and companions Gamora and Pip the Troll leave Soul World and occupy recently dead humans on Earth, reviving and altering the bodies to match their former appearance. Warlock appears before Doctor Strange and claims Thanos can only be defeated if Earth's remaining heroes unite under his command.

Warlock meets with a group of cosmic entities, who, despite the reluctance and withdrawal of the Living Tribunal and Eternity, agree to attack Thanos. The combined heroes attack while Warlock and the Surfer observe, with Thanos almost defeated after heeding Mephisto's advice to limit his power to demonstrate his devotion to Death, until Doctor Doom, a part of the team working against Thanos, arrogantly tries and fails to steal the gauntlet, to which Thanos then knocks Doom throughout all of space and kills most of the heroes.

Reception

At release

The Infinity Gauntlet was an instant success and became one of the most influential storylines in comics from the 1990s. Both of the nationwide comic distributors at the time (Diamond Distribution and Capital City Distribution) reported each issue was one of their top ten sellers for the month of its release. When Capital City released their top 100 best selling single issues of 1991, Infinity Gauntlet issues fell between the 42nd and 64th positions. Aside from the first issue of The Punisher War Zone, all of the higher ranked entries were issues of Spider-Man, Robin II: The Joker's Wild!, or the X-Men franchise. Wizard, a comic magazine known for embracing speculation in the comic market, listed The Infinity Gauntlet #1 as the ninth "Hottest Book" in September 1991, and two lead-in issues of Silver Surfer were ranked sixth and tenth. The first issue's resale value rose above its $2.50 cover price in the back issue market, plateauing around $9 or $10 in late 1992.

The debut issue of the follow-up series, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, was the top recommendation from Wizard for December 1991. It led directly into the first sequel, The Infinity War, which began in June 1992. The next sequel, The Infinity Crusade, began in June 1993. The tie-ins to The Infinity Gauntlet also sold well, leading the editors who had put limits on characters appearing in The Infinity Gauntlet to request their books tie in to its sequels. Although both sequels sold well, they were viewed by critics like Wizard's Pat McCallum as being motivated by sales rather than storytelling because of their excessive tie-ins and slow narratives.

In later years

By the end of the decade, interest in the continuing story dwindled, with sequels poorly received by fans, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch canceled in 1995. The same year, Marvel moved the Infinity Gems from their main continuity to an alternate universe called the Ultraverse, a property Marvel acquired when it bought Malibu Comics. The Ultraverse comics were then canceled in 1996. By 1998, Wizard was no longer listing Infinity Gauntlet in its monthly price guide. The first edition of the paperback collection saw its last printing in 1999.

The iconography of the gauntlet remained popular, however. When Marvel partnered with fellow Disney subsidiary ESPN to create promotional images for the 2010–11 NBA season, the October 22, 2010 issue of ESPN: The Magazine included an advertisement showing Kobe Bryant wearing the gauntlet. When IGN released an unranked list of the all-time best comic book events in 2011, The Infinity Gauntlet was included and was noted for being "a template on which all future cosmic events were based". Its lasting appeal is often attributed to Pérez's artwork and Starlin's unusual treatment of classic heroes.

When Thanos made a cameo appearance in the 2012 film The Avengers, there was renewed interest in The Infinity Gauntlet. This was further heightened in October 2014 when the title of the third and fourth Avengers films were revealed to be Infinity War – Part I and Infinity War – Part II. As the 2018 release of Infinity War neared, several comic news websites produced articles explaining the storyline and speculating on which elements would be included in the adaptation. The renewed attention from the films made the paperback collection of The Infinity Gauntlet the best-selling graphic novel in 2018.

Not all evaluations were positive – in a 2013 review for Multiversity Comics, Drew Bradley felt the story was "only great" if read in its entirety. At the time of his article, the collected edition of Act One was out of print, with much of Act Two not been reprinted in any form. Bradley felt the story would not live up to its hype if readers skipped the lead-in material. Writing for Digital Spy, Hugh Armitage complained about the comic's lack of real consequences, calling it "essentially [...] a really bizarre love story".

Legacy in comics

Aside from its immediate spin-off and sequels, the events of The Infinity Gauntlet have impacted storylines in later comics, including Thanos in 2003, Avengers (vol. 4) in 2011, and Secret Wars in 2016. Several of these later stories have downplayed the power of the gauntlet, often showing someone possessing it being beaten by a more powerful opponent.

The storyline from The Infinity Gauntlet has been revisited by other comic books in the years since its release. The series What If...?, which explores alternate outcomes to important events in the Marvel Universe, featured several issues in which different characters stole the gauntlet from Thanos or obtained it in another fashion. Beginning in August 2010, writer Brian Clevinger and artist Brian Churillathe retold the story for a younger audience in the four-issue limited series Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet as part of the Marvel Adventures imprint. He used the basic framework of the story, but purposefully wrote it in a fashion that did not invite comparisons to the original, with which he did not believe he could compete. During the 2015 crossover Secret Wars, a five-issue limited series by Gerry Duggan and Dustin Weaver reused the title and featured similar elements.

Merchandise

During initial publication, Tenacity Incorporated offered a licensed black T-shirt featuring cover artwork from the series. It was available exclusively through ads placed in Marvel comics. The front side had the cover artwork from issue four, and the back had the cover artwork from issue three.

Although no contemporary toys were created for the series, several Thanos action figures have been created in the years since that include the Infinity Gauntlet either as an accessory or as part of the sculpt, such as the 12 inch Marvel Select toy and the 2 inch Super Hero Squad toy. In 2011, a Marvel Universe toyline two-pack included Thanos, Warlock, an Infinity Gauntlet accessory for Warlock, and a reprint of The Infinity Gauntlet #3. Some toy sets have incorporated the series logo on their packaging, such as the 2009 Minimate set with Thanos, Warlock, Mephisto, and Drax the Destroyer or the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive set with Marvel Universe editions of Thanos, Mistress Death, Eros, Nebula, and a wearable Infinity Gauntlet made of foam.

A variety of licensed merchandise shaped the like Infinity Gauntlet has been created as well, including a coin bank and earrings from Think Geek, a bottle opener from Diamond Select Toys, a coffee mug from Entertainment Earth, and an oven mitt from Loot Crate.

Adaptations

Television

After the animated television series The Super Hero Squad Show introduced an "Infinity Sword" in its first season, its second season (2010–2011) loosely adapted The Infinity Gauntlet. Griptonite Games released a tie-in video game, Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, for several platforms in 2010.

In 2014, the early episodes of the second season of the animated series Avengers Assemble adapted the storyline. It also included elements from the Thanos-centric 2013 crossover comic series Infinity written by Jonathan Hickman and penciled by Jim Cheung, Jerome Opeña, and Dustin Weaver, such as Thanos' allies, the Black Order.

Film

An Infinity Gauntlet prop with gems was included in the 2011 film Thor as an Easter egg for fans before Marvel Studios decided the Avengers films would adapt The Infinity Gauntlet. A post-credits scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) showed Thanos with a gauntlet without gems, and the one from Thor was stated to have been a fake in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). The 2018 film Avengers: Infinity War drew inspiration from The Infinity Gauntlet and depicts Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones and using them to kill half of the universe. Its 2019 sequel, Avengers: Endgame, focuses on the Avengers' attempts to undo Thanos' actions.

Video games

Capcom adapted the storyline into two video games shortly after its release. The first, Marvel Super Heroes, was a fighting game released as an arcade game in 1995 before being ported to Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1997. The second, Marvel Super Heroes In War of the Gems, was a beat 'em up released in 1996 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

In October 2011, WizKids announced they would adapt The Infinity Gauntlet into an organized play tournament for their collectible miniatures game Heroclix in 2012. Vendors who wanted to participate qualified for free game kits by purchasing a minimum amount of new Heroclix booster packs. It began in January and a new round was held once a month through August. At each round, players received a special game piece for participating and winners received limited edition pieces based on characters from the storyline. The eight participation pieces could be combined to create Thanos' shrine to Death and featured all of the gems. At the time of release, it was the largest Heroclix tournament.

Capcom released Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows in September 2017. While it features elements from the series, it is not a direct adaptation. To coincide with the game's release, Capcom held a global tournament series called "Battle for the Stones". The winner of the tournament received a cash prize and a light-up Infinity Gauntlet trophy.