The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a decade to introduce its six most powerful artifacts, the Infinity Stones. In that time, though, only five stones have materialized. The sixth, the Soul Stone, has yet to be introduced, with many fans assuming that the all-powerful gem will make its debut in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.

There may be a good reason why the Soul Stone is currently missing in action. A recent movie tie-in comic, Avengers: Infinity War Prelude, described the Soul Stone as the most dangerous of the Stones, and the one the universe would least like to see in Thanos’ possession. Considering that the other five stones grant their wielder mastery over space, reality, power, time and mind, it is worth pondering what makes the Soul Stone so special -- and so powerful.

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To fully explore what the Soul Stone is capable of, and what makes it so dangerous, we need to look to its comic book counterpart, which was originally called the Soul Gem. First introduced in Marvel Premiere #1 back in 1972, the Soul Gem started off as a gift, handed down from the High Evolutionary, a scientist-turned-cosmic being with the power to evolve and devolve things at will, to Adam Warlock. Using the Soul Gem, Adam Warlock helped save the planet of Counter-Earth.

Things got strange for Adam Warlock after he departed Counter-Earth, learning in short order that the Soul Gem was sentient, and that it had an innate desire to consume souls. But that is not all. Once a soul was consumed, it resided within a reality created and contained exclusively within the gem. The gem’s wielder could then access the skills and memories of those imprisoned. The gem also has the power to effectively read minds, allowing the wielder to peer into the soul of another and glean information.

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That might not sound as sexy as being able to punch Captain America back to his enlistment date (literally) or the freedom to teleport vast distances at will, but the Soul Gem comes with its own offensive abilities. Those include the power to attack an enemy’s soul or revert them back to their natural state (Adam Warlock did this on Counter-Earth when he reverted the New Men, animals evolved rapidly to create a race of man-beasts, back to their original, unevolved forms).

That might not sound like much, but consider the Soul Stone’s power for a hot minute. The MCU’s heroes use all sorts of energies and projectiles to lob attacks at enemies, but the jury is out on whether audiences have seen soul-based magic. The only person likely to know what such an attack would look like, let alone how to defend against it, would be Doctor Strange. As for reverting creatures back to their natural states, well, what is the Hulk if the Soul Stone prevents Bruce Banner from maintaining his transformation? All that reasoning could be null and void, though, if the Soul Stone can simply trap someone inside itself, effectively erasing them from a fight.

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So, if the Soul Stone is so powerful, where is it? Surely some cosmic being in the know would have dredged up the gem by now if it is such a vital artifact. There are plenty of theories swirling about where the Soul Stone could be. Some are likely verging on probable, while others are a bit of a stretch.

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The most likely theory posits that the Soul Stone rests at the heart of Wakanda, that the meteorite that fell to Earth all those years ago, blessing the African country with Vibranium (and thus centuries of prosperity), was actually the Soul Stone crash landing and infecting the land around it. This would line up with the Djalia, the Wakandan afterlife seen in Black Panther. If the Soul Stone can trap souls in its orbit, creating an idyllic world to keep them bound, it would stand to reason that world might look a little like, well, the Djalia. It would also, however, almost completely invalidate Wakandan religion, which would be a bad look.

There are other theories, of course. One states that Thanos’ homeworld of Titan is actually the Soul Stone, or that the gem is hidden somewhere on the planet. Another theory posits that the Soul Stone is lost in time, and that Thanos first needs Doctor Strange’s Time Stone (encased in the Eye of Agamotto) to access the Soul Stone. Another theory wonders if Heimdall, the former guardian of the Asgardian Bifrost, was gifted his power by the Soul Stone somehow.

Finally, there’s the Sovereign, the race of perfect, gold people from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The Sovereign created Adam at the end of the film, who might as well be Adam Warlock, a character intimately connected to the Soul Stone.


Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston, and Josh Brolin. The film opens April 27.