Marvelrecently introduced its new seventhInfinity Stone, withPhil Coulsontaking possession of the Death Stone- which only makes it all the more surprising thatthere is now aneighthInfinity Stone in Marvel’s reality. However, rather than embodying a new fundamental force of the universe, this Stone is an aberration that just rewrote the rules of Marvel’s most powerful artifacts, even removing their biggest weakness.
In the pages of Derek Landy, Ruairí Coleman, Scott Hannah, Brian Reber, Erick Arciniega and Cory Petit’sInfinity Watch #1, Phil Couls meets Avery Zavala. Currently, Coulson is trying to shape the current Infinity Stone bearers into a team, leading them into battle against new villains the Apeiron. However, the team are quickly overpowered, and are only saved from death when Zavala steps in to help.
Avery Zavala reveals that he’s a previously unknown Infinity Stone bearer, wielding his own Infinity Stone outside of the natural seven. However, the huge twist of his existence reveals thatthis Stone isn’t native to Marvel’s reality. Zavala’s arrival breaks almost every rule we knew about the Infinity Stones and their limits.
The Infinity Stones function as a circuit, with each drawing its power from the others. This makes them more powerful when in close proximity, but it’s yet to be seen how an alt-universe Stone fits into this system - could it potentially break the circuit?
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The Eighth Infinity Stone Arrives from Another Reality
Recently,Thanos trapped the cosmic entity known as Deathinside a new Infinity Stone, creating the new Death Stone. This Stone - like the others - quickly chose a host, resurrecting Phil Coulson and bonding with him on the biological level. Coulson has made it his mission to train the other Infinity Stone bearers, hoping to turn a ragtag team of established villains, incompetent heroes, and selfish opportunists into the most powerful assembly of mortals in Marvel lore. The current members of this new Infinity Watch are:
Short-range reality manipulation
Former Thunderbolts member and Captain Marvel enemy
Close-range teleportation and portals
Former henchman for the Assessor and Miles Morales enemy
Colleen Wing
Telepathy, hypnosis and illusion creation
Former member of Heroes for Hire and founding member of the Daughters of the Dragon
Marvel Premiere #19by Doug Moench and Larry Hama
Can summon lifelike energy constructs
Solo operator
Time Stone
Overtime (aka Hector Bautista)
Low-power time manipulation, including pausing events and very short-range time travel
Enhanced physique and ability to enhance powers of others
Galactic mercenary and Guardians of the Galaxy Ally
Resurrection, ability to cause immense pain (living death)
Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Battle Scars #6by Chris Yost, Matt Fraction, Cullen Bunn and Scot Eaton
However, the Apeiron are the exact worst villains Coulson’s team could have gone up against so early. Zavala explains that the Apeiron are cosmic predators who travel between realities, consuming the Infinity Stones of each world and leaving it totally destroyed.Zavala is the last survivor of the Apeiron’s previous hunting ground, and seemingly commands that world’s answer to the Soul Stone.
The Apeiron appear to wield the powers of the Infinity Stones they consume. Existing members are Star-Slayer, Inflict and Seeker, but it’s clear there are more of these villains still to meet.
Zavala reveals that he saved his people by absorbing every soul in his reality, safeguarding them from destruction inside his own body. While that’s a power most likely to belong to a new Soul Stone, fans already know that the Infinity Stones have different names and functions in other realities (for instance,the Ultimate Universe naturally has eight), so Zavala could also wield a type of Stone never seen before. Whatever the name of his Stone,Zavala reveals several major changes to Infinity Stone lore, transforming the meaning of being a Stone Bearer.
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The Infinity Stones Just Lost Their Biggest Weakness
But They Now Have Cosmic Predators Looking to Eat Them
One of Zavala’s biggest revelations is thatInfinity Stone bearers keep their powers whatever reality they’re in. On their own, the Infinity Stones can only be used in their native reality, since they embody and command each reality’s fundamental forces. Trying to use them in another reality is useless, and in the worst case scenariocan even destroy the Stones. However, bonding with a living being apparently removes this weakness. Zavala also reveals that Stone bearers are a rare occurrence in the multiverse, especially because they’re hunted down and consumed by the Apeiron.
The Infinity Stone bearers were created in 2018’s Infinity Wars, when Adam Warlock transformed the Stones as a way to avoid them falling into the wrong hands once again. However, it was only this year that the last of the new bearers - the Mind Stone bearer Worldmind - was revealed. Sadly, he was quickly killed by Thanos andreplaced by classic hero Colleen Wing.
It turns out the Apeiron can only be killed by aspecial kind of steel forged by all the Stones working in unison, with Zavala’s sword being the only current example of this metal in Marvel’s mainstream reality. It’s something he can teach the Infinity Watch to make, but only if they go along with his plan - to use their combined powers to create a new world he can populate with the souls he saved. And if the Infinity Stone won’t agree to this plan, Zavala plans to kill them and take their Stones for himself.
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Marvel’s Seventh Infinity Stone Is the Apeiron’s New Target
Zavala just brought an eighth Infinity Stone into the mainstream Marvel Universe, but he admits that - because he overloaded it by absorbing so many souls - he can’t access its power without the Infinity Watch’s help. Because of this, it’s unlikely that this new eighth Stone will overshadow the newly introduced Death Stone.Infinity Watchreveals that due to the stone,Phil Coulson has now taken on the role of Marvel’s Grim Reaper, personally attending to deaths all over the world.
The Apeiron admit they’ve never encountered a Death Stone before, making Thanos' creation even more unique.
So far, fans have barely seen the Death Stone at work, and it’s one of the biggest promises ofInfinity Watchthat fans will see what powers Coulson now possesses and how he chooses to wield them. With a new threat in the Apeiron and an alt-universeInfinity Stoneto reckon with,Phil Coulson’s role as the Infinity Watch’s leader just became way more complicated, even with the powers of a god.
