The History of Infinity Watch

Across Marvel Comics history, various heroes have banded together to safeguard the Infinity Stones and prevent someone like Thanos from using them to alter the Marvel Universe in malicious ways. Over the years, multiple iterations of the Infinity Watch have come together to protect the Stones, often with new members chosen for a specific purpose by the group's leader.

Here is the history of the Infinity Watch, including the team's underlying mission, its cosmic importance, all the past incarnations of the Infinity Watch, and what the Infinity Watch is up to now as it defends the future of the Marvel Universe.

THE MISSION OF THE INFINITY WATCH

In INFINITY GAUNTLET (1991), Thanos obtained all six Infinity Stones, fitted them into the Infinity Gauntlet, and used them to wipe out half of all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers. The surviving heroes ultimately reversed the changes Thanos made and banished the Mad Titan to a faraway planet, leaving the Infinity Stones under the care of Adam Warlock. 

Warlock recognized the damage the Infinity Stones had caused, as well as the danger of having all six of them together, even under the care of a hero. He decided that separating them again wasn't enough.

As a result, Warlock formed the first Infinity Watch and gave each Infinity Stone to an individual he personally could trust. The tenets of this original mission largely remained intact for the subsequent formations of the Infinity Watch, albeit often under different leadership, including some less-than-noble figures. But whenever the Infinity Stones come into play, the Infinity Watch follows to ensure they are not misused.

THE ORIGINAL INFINITY WATCH

The first Infinity Watch formed in WARLOCK AND THE INFINITY WATCH (1992) #2 under orders from the Living Tribunal, who sought to ensure that the Stones were never brought together again. For this responsibility, Warlock selected five other individuals he believed were unwilling to use the full power of the Stones themselves, while keeping the Soul Stone for himself. Because of the universal nature of the Infinity Watch's mission, Warlock chose cosmic spacefaring heroes to look after the Stones rather than give them to heroes on Earth.

The lineup for this inaugural Infinity Watch included Warlock, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon, Gamora, and Pip the Troll. Drax took the Power Stone, while Moondragon protected the Mind Stone and Gamora oversaw the Time Stone. Pip the Troll tended to the Space Stone. Finally, Thanos received the Reality Stone, although his involvement was deliberately kept as a secret from the rest of the team.

Warlock and the four heroes worked together against threats that sought to obtain all the Stones for themselves, although Maxam eventually replaced Gamora as the Bearer of the Time Stone. Because of their cosmic roles, the Infinity Watch played prominent roles in INFINITY WAR (1992) and INFINITY CRUSADE (1993), where they faced evil personalities stemming from Warlock's connection to the Stones.

DOCTOR STRANGE'S INFINITY WATCH

After Maxam left the team and the Infinity Stones were scattered across the cosmos in THANOS (2003) #6, the original Infinity Watch disbanded, though some of its members continued to work together occasionally. Following the restoration of the Marvel Multiverse in SECRET WARS (2015), the Infinity Stones were similarly reformed, then recovered by different characters throughout the Marvel Universe. With different figures—some with murderously nefarious intent—looking to reunite the Stones, Doctor Strange formed a new Infinity Watch to protect them.

Using his magic to initiate a telepathic conversation in INFINITY COUNTDOWN (2018) #5, Strange communicated with the current holders of the Infinity Stones. Echoing the first Infinity Watch's original mission, Strange requested that the Stone holders safeguard the cosmic artifacts and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. 

Strange took command of this Infinity Watch while protecting the Time Stone. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel minded the Reality Stone, Warlock returned to the Soul Stone, Star-Lord took the Power Stone, a clone of Black Widow held the Space Stone, and low-level criminal Turk Barrett received the Mind Stone.

Star-Lord eventually learned his Infinity Stone was an elaborate fake. Under her new persona Requiem, Gamora stole it, then succeeded in gaining all the Infinity Stones. In INFINITY WARS (2018), she used them to bend reality to her will just like her father Thanos and created a pocket reality known as Soulworld. After failing its mission, this Infinity Watch quickly gave way to a new iteration of the team, this time with Loki as its unlikely leader.

LOKI'S INFINITY WATCH

When Requiem created Soulworld, Loki remained relatively unaffected by the changes to reality. Retaining his awareness of reality as it existed before Requiem's tampering, Loki decided to form his own version of Infinity Watch to recover the Infinity Stones from her, with the resulting team informally dubbed the Cosmic Avengers. Like Adam Warlock, Loki declared himself the leader of the Soulworld ensemble and became the Bearer of the Soul Stone.

Joining Loki on this impromptu Infinity Watch was Emma Frost as the Bearer of the Power Stone, the Hulk as the Bearer of the Space Stone, Ant-Man as the Bearer of the Time Stone, Ms. Marvel as the Bearer of the Space Stone, and Kang the Conqueror as the Bearer of Reality Stone. Together with other heroes, the team defeated Requiem and restored the Marvel Universe to its original state.

THE NEW INFINITY WATCH

To prevent the Infinity Stones from falling into the wrong hands again, Adam Warlock decided to give each of them sentience in INFINITY WARS (2018) #6 so they could choose who safeguarded them. Most of the Stones flew away from Earth to select their new hosts, and they chose an eclectic group of cosmic figures to serve as the new Infinity Watch. The initial group consisted of Overtime as the Bearer of the Time Stone, Quantum as the Bearer of the Space Stone, Star as the Bearer of the Reality Stone, Apex as the Bearer of the Power Stone, Worldmind as the Bearer of the Mind Stone, and Multitude as the Bearer of the Soul Stone.

Realizing his new role placed him in immense danger, Worldmind approached Colleen Wing to serve as his personal bodyguard, though the offer came too late. Thanos murdered Worldmind in INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL (2024) #1 as he scoured the universe for the Infinity Stones. However, the Mind Stone immediately chose Colleen as its new host, keeping the Infinity Watch intact.

THE DEATH STONE

Now, a new Infinity Stone has joined the original six, adding a new wrinkle to the ongoing cosmic saga. Frustrated by Death's continuing rejections, Thanos decided to distill her essence into a single object, which solidified as the Death Stone in THANOS (2023) #4. The embodiment of Death itself, this newly created Infinity Stone was used to resurrect the fallen Phil Coulson and immediately chose him as its new bearer in THANOS ANNUAL (2024) #1.

This Infinity Watch faced Thanos and his renewed drive to gather all of the Infinity Stones at any cost, putting this fledgling team to the ultimate test. Coulson wielded his abilities as the freshly minted Bearer of the Death Stone, initially relegating himself to the sidelines until it was clear he needed to intervene against Thanos. Following their battle with Thanos in AVENGERS ANNUAL (2024) #1, this team is poised to play a bigger role in the future of the Marvel Universe.

Meet the new Infinity Watch in AVENGERS ANNUAL (2024) #1, on sale now, and don't miss their return in INFINITY WATCH #1!

Want to read more about Infinity Watch? Join Marvel Unlimited for instant access to 30,000+ comics on the Marvel Unlimited app or on the web, with digital issues spanning Marvel Comics classics to ongoing series!

Grab these comics and more at your local comic book shop! Or redeem then read your digital copy on the Marvel Unlimited app by using the code found in your print comic. Find and support your local comic book shop at ComicShopLocator.com.

To read your Marvel comics digitally, download the Marvel Unlimited app for iOS and Android devices. Gain an expansive catalog of 30,000+ comics spanning Marvel Comics history, plus access your entire digital library including comics redeemed from print.