The Abandoned An’ Forsaked - The Infinity Gauntlet Can Never Be Used Again! Or Can It?

In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, based on a suggestion by reader Jack C., we take a look at how the Infinity Gauntlet was taken completely off of the board before it was, well, put back on to the board...

So Thanos collected all of the Infinity Gems into the Infinity Gauntlet, which made him into possibly the most powerful being in the universe. In Infinity Gauntlet #1 (by Jim Starlin, George Perez and Joe Rubinstein), Thanos showed the power of the Gauntlet by killing half of the universe with a snap of his fingers...

At the end of the Infinity Gauntlet series (by Starlin, Ron Lim and Rubinstein), Thanos has lost control of the Gauntlet and eventually it finds its ways into the hands of Adam Warlock, who essentially fixes everything (all the people who died are brought back to life)...

But the cosmic beings of the universe don't want Warlock to have control of the Gauntlet, either. So they go before the Living Tribunal (in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1 by Starlin, Angel Medina and Terry Austin) who rules that Adam must give up the Gauntlet...

He does so, splitting the Infinity Gems between himself and a few of his acquaintances, who stick together as a group called the Infinity Watch.

Starlin smartly realized that everyone would be waiting for the next time that the Gauntlet would be used, so he addressed it quickly in the sequel to Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, where Warlock and the heroes of the Marvel Universe are in battle against Warlock's evil self, the Magus (when he took control of the Infinity Gauntlet, Warlock split off his good and evil selves because the Gauntlet saw that he desired to be purely neutral). In Infinity War #4 (by Starlin, Lim and Rubinstein), Warlock decides he must put the Gauntlet back together, but discovers something shocking...

The Magus then kidnaps Warlock, along with the Gauntlet, but he is dismayed to find out that the Gauntlet won't work...

However, at the same time, Galactus is petitioning the Living Tribunal to make an exception. The Tribunal is willing if Eternity (who petitioned him to make the initial ruling that the Gauntlet never be allowed to be used again) agreed to drop his case. Eternity does so right before the Magus was about to have to give up the Gauntlet to Doctor Doom, who had been stalking the gems throughout Infinity War...

In the final issue of Infinity War, Warlock defeats Magus and reabsorbs him into his self. We also learn that the Infinity Gauntlet was never actually put back together, as they had used a fake Reality Gem. However, we also learn...

Eventually, Mister Fantastic got together with his secret group of heroes known as the Illuminati (in New Avengers: Illuminati #2 by Brians Michael Bendis and Reed, Jimmy Cheung and Mark Morales) to acquire all of the infinity gems themselves...

Note that Bendis and Reed at least pay a little bit of notice to the notion that someone at some point said that the gems could no longer work together. But then they ignore it (as what does Eternity know, am I right?) and at the end of the issue, Reed puts together the Infinity Gauntlet and after finding he can't will it out of existence, they decide to split the gems up among themselves...

Later, after Black Bolt died, leaving his gem exposed, the villain known as the Hood began slowly collecting the Infinity Gems from the Illuminati and in Avengers #12 (by Brian Michael Bendis, John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson), he almost has them all before the Avengers stop him and Iron Man completes the Infinity Gauntlet himself and it, well, works...

Iron Man didn't ACTUALLY get rid of the Gauntlet, of course, but he and the Illuminati once again began safekeeping the gems.

The Gauntlet was put back together one last time in New Avengers #3 by Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting and Rick Magyar, with Captain America wielding it this time around...