In the Guardians of the Galaxy movie it is stressed that a mortal human cannot wield the Infinity Stones. In the comics, however, several humans appear to have wielded one or more Infinity Gems including The Hood, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Beast, and Charles Xavier. I don't know the details of most of these, however, as I learned of some of them via Wikipedia...
In Thor: The Dark World I can only imagine that Natalie Portman’s character somewhat wielded the red gem, though she definitely did not appear to be in control of it.
I would suggest that the human-destroying nature of the purple stone in Guardians could be exclusive to that one stone, but Power and Reality (the gems that seem to fit the appearance of the purple stone) were both wielded in the comics by The Hood.
So my question/s: is the idea that a simple human cannot wield the gem exclusive to the MCU/Earth 199999? Do human characters in Earth 616 (or others) have some way to more safely wield them?
Answer
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 normal human do the same thing? Unknown. I can think of no instance where an ordinary human ever came to be in the possession of any of the Infinity Gems for any length of time. I would consider it unlikely, however.
When we see the Infinity Gems in the canon Marvel Universe, they never showed up in the hands of people who don't already possess superhuman power. It is almost a requirement to have superhuman abilities to find them or use them.
- It can be said the gems possess a kind of sentience as well and allow their use if it suits their purposes. The Soul Gem and Adam Warlock had a symbiotic relationship where the sentience of the gem was not in doubt. The other Infinity gems are likely as capable of determining who uses them and who does not.
From Strange Tales #179 (1975): Adam Warlock is fighting against the Black Knight, Autolycus and the Soul Gem breaks away from Adam's control and kills Autolycus by taking his soul.
It's the... Soul Gem... it fights me... it's trying to... break free from my control... again! I can feel it... it wants to suck in... the Souls... of these fallen Knights... just like it did... to Autolycus... I can't allow this... to happen... not again! I did it! I've got it under control again! But it was so... so hard! I feared it might come to this! The Soul Gem is steadily growing stronger and shedding the Subconscious control I've had over it the last three Years! It seeks to be free to satisfy its unholy Hunger for fresh Souls to suck them out of living Beings! I wear a Fiend upon my Forehead... a Monster I now realize... I must destroy!
When we first learn of them, the Soul Gem was held by the High Evolutionary, a Human whose mental capacities had been evolved thousands of years beyond the Human norm, making him a god-like being with the capacity to fight against beings such as Galactus.
The High Evolutionary gives the Soul Gem to Adam Warlock, a genetically engineered human with the ability to manipulate cosmic energies and could control the soul gem (to a limited extent) using it to create energy fields, project energy beams and if necessary, absorb the souls of living beings taking them into an internal paradise realm.
When Thanos learns of the Infinity Gems, he tracks them down and each of them was to be found being used by the Elders of the Universe, last survivors of long-dead races, each with powers and technologies far beyond Human norms.
Suffice it to say, most of the time when we see the Infinity Gems, they are in the possession of beings of immense power, creatures capable of controlling and manipulating energies of their own already, and simply adding a more powerful weapon to their arsenal.
In the case of The Hood using the gems, he was possessed by a demon, which made it possible for him to understand how to interact with the gems and in a limited way use their powers.
In the case of the other Illuminati, they were meant to be caretakers, not users of the Infinity Gem in their possession. But none of them could be called ordinary in any case. In the end, it is the Illuminati's use which lead to the dissolution and possible destruction of the Infinity Gems in the end.
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