WARNING: This interview contains spoilers for Infinity Countdown Prime, available now


The Marvel Universe is home to many powerful objects, artifacts with abilities to alter creation on a grand scale. That power is available to anyone, be they small time crooks with grand dreams, would be world conquerors, or heroes looking to make a positive change in their world. All one has to do is gain possession of even one of the Infinity Stones, six gems that make their wielder incredibly formidable -- and when all six are gathered together, godlike power is unlocked.

The collective power of the Infinity Stones (then known as Infinity Gems) was first illustrated in 1991's classic The Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. They've fueled a number of stories since then, but with the birth of a new Marvel Universe at the end of 2015's Secret Wars, their presence seemed to vanish from this reality.

Of course, they've recently resurfaced as Infinity Stones in books like writer Gerry Duggan's run on Guardians of the Galaxy and the Marvel Legacy one-shot. And in the recent Infinity Countdown Prime Duggan and artist Mike Deodato kicked off a new race for ultimate cosmic power by introducing readers to the current wielders of the Infinity Stones.

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CBR: There's a lot going on in Infinity Countdown Prime since it's the culmination of many of your plotlines from Guardians of the Galaxy. It features the return of a Marvel icon in Wolverine, the return of iconic Marvel artifacts in the Infinity Stones, and also several classic cosmic characters. How does it feel to reach this point in the larger story you've been telling? And what can you tell us about the evolution of this story? Were you always headed in this direction?

Gerry Duggan: Yeah, this was always the story. We had a real good time setting the table for it in Guardians, and we always wanted to tell a different story with the Infinity Stones. That's what's starting now.

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Infinity Countdown #1 by Aaron Kuder and Jordie Bellaire

We wanted to put the Stones in some different hands, and everyone was super excited about the new ideas we were bringing to the table about the Stones and their place in the Universe.

Countdown Prime kicks off with an update on the wielder of the Space Stone, Wolverine. What's it mean for a down to earth guy like Wolverine to wield an artifact of cosmic power?

Logan is an unlikely holder of the stone, and I'm not sure he likes it as much as he doesn't care for it to be in the hands of some of the other people that are pursuing it.

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One of my favorite moments in this issue involved the reveal of another unlikely Stone wielder, the classic Daredevil supporting character and street thug Turk Barrett, who is in possession of the Mind Stone. I understand you and artist Chris Sprouse will have some fun with that in the Infinity Countdown: Daredevil one-shot.

Yeah, the idea that the stone ended up in Turk's hands came up in an editorial retreat. The one-shot will reveal how he got his hands on the Stone.

Turk is one my favorite parts of this event. He's an old legacy character, but he stands to either be destroyed by this, be elevated by it, or be elevated and then destroyed. It will be really exciting to see what happens.

I've always like Turk. His low-level status and dreams of being a major player remind me of one of my favorite characters from the television show The Wire, Bodie.

[Laughs] Totally. I also have enjoyed Turk for many, many years. I think you'll really dig the one-shot because it's not just a Matt Murdock story. It's also really a Turk story.

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Margaret Stohl is laying the ground work for Carol Danvers' possession of the Reality Sone over in her Captain Marvel series. From following her story and what happens in Countdown Prime, with alternate reality Captain Marvels holding Reality Stones, it looks like the idea of the Reality Stone and it's wielder in a place like the Marvel Multiverse might be more complex than readers originally thought.

Yes, the Infinity Stones seem to be on some pretty high shelves. The Reality Stone lives in another dimension, and the Power Stone seems to be too big for anyone to hold.

The idea that Carol had to go to another reality to get this Reality Stone poses a lot of bigger questions that will come into play at the end of the story. I also think what Carol will discover about Captain Marvel along the way is worth the journey

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It's interesting that Kl'rt, the Super-Skrull, is wielding the Time Stone. Because to me he seems like sort of a wild card. He's been both a long time foe of the Fantastic Four and a cosmic hero. What's your sense of the Super-Skrull?

We've seen that there are a lot of different characters who are wielding a stone or would like to wield a stone for some very good reasons. He'd be an interesting character to end up with the power of the Stones. His story continues in Doctor Strange.

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Infinity Countdown #1 by Aaron Kuder and Jordie Bellaire

By the end of Infinity Countdown you'll see that some of the Stone wielders will have learned quite a bit about how to wield the Stones. He'll be one of them.

I think it's especially interesting that Ultron has become the wielder of the Soul Gem considering he's sort of taken over the body and consciousness of his creator, Hank Pym. How big a role will the conflict between Ultron and his sort of dormant Pym side play in Countdown?

Ultron is definitely in the driver's seat now. The idea that Ultron killed Hank and is now wearing his face came out of the Rage of Ultron graphic novel and then was further developed in Uncanny Avengers. I think this is another chance to examine the relationship between Hank and Ultron. I don't want to say anything more than that right now, except for fans of both Hank and Ultron there's a really fun beat for those characters coming up Infinity Countdown. It was one of my favorite things that I ever worked on for Marvel.

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Earlier you mentioned the Power Stone. And the developments regarding that in Countdown Prime suggest that you're setting the stage for a story that allows you to tackle some of the threads you set up in Guardians of the Galaxy, and also allows Chad Bowers and Chris Sims to play with those threads as well in their Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk miniseries. What can you tell us about the connection between their story and your story?

It's a pretty organic shift. My editor, Jordan D White, and I had a story we had talked about for a long time that would be a great Darkhawk story. Chad and Chris brought a lot of new things to that tale, and I think it's my favorite Darkhawk story ever. There have been a lot of fun Darkhawk stories too.

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The Raptors and Rich Rider's brother have a plan and Chris Powell gets right in the middle of that. We put Rider's brother with them and he's armed with the Nega-Bands. So that makes him a pretty heavyweight villain. Their goal goes back to Raptor 101.

The involvement of the Chitauri in this story also links it to some of the threads in Donny Cates' Thanos series, which I'm excited about.

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Infinity Countdown #1 by Aaron Kuder and Jordie Bellaire

Yeah, Donny and I have been working pretty closely the last couple of months to make sure that the story that he's telling is reflected and isn't stepped on. There are a couple of other points that Donny and I have coordinated on. So it will be exciting. If you're a fan of Thanos, keep reading -- there will be some DNA shared there.

It also felt like your take on Loki in Countdown Prime was consistent with what we saw of him in Cates' Doctor Strange in that Loki is a guy who may have good intentions, but his methods and the ramifications of them are often quite questionable.

Yeah, I think so. He obviously has his own bedside manner so to speak. And Loki actually has a very important part to play over the next year or so. He's got a heavy burden and a big part to play.

I'm excited to see what folks think of my Loki, too. I haven't really had a chance to write too much of the character.

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You seemed to really enjoy writing the character. You also seemed to have a good time with Adam Warlock who we saw more of here and in that great Countdown: Adam Warlock special you did with Mike Allred. What do you enjoy most about writing Adam?

Adam Warlock is a perfect clockwork man, and in this story he's been told by Kang -- we haven't revealed whether it's true or not -- that he didn't have a soul until he encountered the Soul Gem. We'll explore what that means for him down the line. He's also made a bargain with Kang to return the Time Stone to his control. So right now that would bring him into conflict with Super-Skrull.

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We're telling a different kind of story, and the Warlock piece of it is also going to be a little different than what you've seen in the past. The fact that the universe is different from what we've seen in the past also come into play in this story. We'll talk a lot about creation, and all of creation.

EXCLUSIVE: Art from Infinity Countdown #1 by Aaron Kuder and Jordie Bellaire

In addition to playing with a line up of diverse and interesting characters the other perk of a big Marvel event is to have your stories drawn by a number of different great artists like Mike Allred who did the Adam Warlock special, Mike Deodato who did Countdown Prime, and your Guardians of the Galaxy collaborator Aaron Kuder who will draw the rest of Infinity Countdown.

Yes the series will be primarily drawn by Aaron Kuder, and Mike Hawthorne will be helping out. Marvel has said yes to so many of the things I want to do, so the page counts have been going up and we have Mike working with Aaron to accommodate that. Some of my favorite stuff is being turned in and e-mailed now.

I'll probably be closely associated with Deadpool for a long time, and I'm very proud of that. I'm also very proud of my Guardians work. We're having a lot of fun. I've gone into the editorial retreats about three times now to lay everything out. The story always comes away better from those and now I'm getting a chance to write it.

There are going to be really big changes coming to very specific characters. Some are fan favorites, and some are ones that we're elevating, but I think it all makes really good story sense. They're all fun, and yes this is an event that has quite high stakes. We're trying to remember though that this is entertainment too.

Finally, Infinity Countdown is a big, epic event that pays off a lot of stuff that has been seeded, but is also a chapter in a larger story that will continue into 2018 and perhaps beyond?

There is a third act that Marvel will reveal. That will become clear as Infinity Countdown continues to unfold. Around issue #4 you'll see that there are some big things happening here. It's certainly the biggest Marvel story I've ever had a chance to tell. So it's been a long time coming.