The current superhero fans will be more aware of the Infinity Gauntlet due to the success of Avengers: Endgame, and may scoff at the idea of the Mother Boxes matching up to it because of the lukewarm reception of Justice League; however, the two are actually locked very close in terms of capabilities.
In this list, we’ve considered mostly the practicality of the use of these weapons; comprising of the number of users capable of wielding these weapons, alongside the feats they have achieved. Also, only the core storylines involving the Mother Boxes and the Gauntlet have been considered for their feats, as these give the idea of their base powers.
10 Safety To Use: Mother Box
What is the point of an Infinity Gauntlet if you can’t use it? The Infinity Gauntlet’s various iterations always have it be nearly impossible to be wielded. Even when used by a powerful character, the result after completing unparalleled feats have the wearer suffer the Gauntlet’s harsh effects, making it a double-edged sword.
The Mother Boxes are great in that the one using them need not worry about any side effects. We’ve seen normal humans like Batman make full use of a Mother Box and even use it better than New Gods after understanding its characteristics. Since you want to be safe while using the weapon, the Mother Box is the obvious choice here.
9 Destructive Power: Infinity Gauntlet
The Mother Boxes can be used to great effect to cripple an enemy, but its use has mainly been applied in situations where outright power doesn’t apply. For that, characters rely on more offensive options.
The Infinity Gauntlet is a one-shot to victory, as the Power Stone injected into it guarantees a simple move that can slaughter thousands if used at full force. The range of the attack can also be played around with; the wearer can throw small blasts, or decide they want to blow up an entire planet.
8 Teleportation: Tied
Most people figure the Mother Boxes are only good for teleportation, so it was a no-brainer this would be a top feature for them. However, the Infinity Gauntlet also has a near-perfect teleportation option once you add in the Space Stone.
In fact, the Infinity Gauntlet is better if you want to use teleportation as an attack, as it has been implemented to strip away the weaponry of the character’s opponent. The Mother Box’s teleportation is more refined, though, as it incorporates larger groups and travels to another dimension in the Fourth World. Both the Gauntlet and the Mother Box have this one working for them well.
7 Practicality: Mother Box
Simply wearing the Infinity Gauntlet is a task of its own, as it generally fits only specific individuals who fit its size. Along with that, there’s also the matter of lugging the Gauntlet around and the ease with which it can be stolen because it’s just too big.
The Mother Boxes come in a variety of sizes, with the smaller ones (such as in the DC Animated Universe) being compact enough to be used by anyone especially discreetly. This has given heroes vital advantages when tricking more powerful enemies. The Infinity Gauntlet limits the wearer since all one can do at that point is to try and keep the Gauntlet on.
6 Primordial Powers: Infinity Gauntlet
As the gems/stones within the Gauntlet are of primordial creation, it allows the wearer to tap into the soul of anyone they want. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos was able to detect the soul of Doctor Strange and Iron Man to gather who they were; in the comics, he used the Gauntlet to make Nebula a walking zombie.
The Mother Boxes don’t offer this kind of control over something that isn’t from the land of the living, and if you stack up the Gauntlet against the Boxes using the soul-based abilities alone, then Gauntlet trumps in this regard.
5 Precognition: Mother Box
As the Mother Boxes are connected to the Source, the user can tap into the multitude of technological wizardry they possess. One of these is the ability to map out the future. Unlike normal precognition, the Mother Boxes show the calculation of the probability of the events to unfold, which basically serves as an actual prediction.
The Infinity Gauntlet does give the wearer the Time Stone capability of seeing the future, but it has a catch in that the wielder has to mentally live through all these possible futures. The Mother Box version is much simpler and the person using it can do so with other people around as well.
4 Reality Alteration: Infinity Gauntlet
Mother Boxes are capable of restructuring matter itself, as well as healing beings as powerful as Darkseid. They are also able to control minds, create force fields and control all kinds of technology; this still doesn’t compare to controlling reality.
After all, there are no limits when it comes to manipulating all there is with no boundaries. One could use the Reality Stone in the Gauntlet to change anything, and there would be nothing anyone could do about it. In this way, it doesn’t matter if it’s a matter of life and death, or if something before the wielder is mystical or not - the Gauntlet will alter the reality behind it, making logic and reason mean nothing.
3 Power Extraction: Mother Box
We’ve already listed the several properties that come with a Mother Box, and those who have come into possession of one have made full use of those. Power and knowledge have been extracted by the Mother Boxes to bring incredible feats to life. For instance, combining Mother Boxes can summon the Infinity-Man, a being with limitless power and abilities. In the DCEU, Cyborg was brought to life using a Mother Box.
We’re going to disregard the Infinity Stones from the Gauntlet for this point, as the Gauntlet itself doesn’t have intrinsic powers, so it can’t be used to extract any powers into anything else. Its durability is its sole inherent power, which pales in comparison to Mother Boxes.
2 Biggest Feat: Infinity Gauntlet
So far, the Infinity Gauntlet has been used in multiple stories to illustrate the use of the ultimate weapon, and we’ve seen the Snap happen in the comic books and the MCU. In both cases, the Gauntlet caused unprecedented decimation as lives in trillions of numbers were lost.
The DC Universe looks to the Anti-Life Equation as the counterpart to the Infinity Gauntlet; as such, the Mother Boxes haven’t had a feat that has reached the level of destruction caused by the Infinity Gauntlet. It's hard to beat a single snap that can kill off anyone.
1 Winner: Tied (Depends On The User)
One might be inclined to go with the Infinity Gauntlet, which comes into mind first when thinking of an enormously powerful weapon. However, the Mother Boxes have a more practical use and those have their own advantages that stack up equally to the Infinity Gauntlet.
Most of all, the fact remains that using the Infinity Gauntlet with most or all of its gems is a surefire way to die, and the Mother Boxes are a far better option to complete wondrous feats that can be achieved by beings of all kinds. So, our verdict is that if you’re a being like Thanos or Darkseid, then go for the Gauntlet; any being that isn’t as durable needs to pick the Mother Boxes.