Marvel's Infinity Wars Finale Reveals Who Now Possesses the Time Stone

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Infinity Wars Finale Reveals the First New Infinity Stone Wielder

By Renaldo Matadeen

Published Jan 4, 2019

Marvel's Infinity Wars finale just placed one of the all-powerful Infinity Stones in the hands of a most unexpected character.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Infinity Wars: Infinity #1 by Gerry Duggan, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, Guru-eFX and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.

Despite Requiem's attempts to reshape the Marvel Universe in Infinity Wars, order was restored thanks to Loki, Adam Warlock and a new (albeit temporary) version of the Infinity Watch. However, with Gamora sent on a redemptive quest and Drax sacrificing himself so the Warped World could live, Warlock decided the Infinity Stones themselves needed a new lease on life.

And so, he used the Soul Stone to give them souls. As they became sentient, they jetted off to various parts of the cosmos. In the Infinity Wars: Infinity one-shot, we now have the full picture what happened to one of them -- the Time Stone.

Recently, Doctor Strange was the person wielding this stone after recovering it from the Super-Skrull. Instead of going back to one of these previous owners or leaving the planet, the Time Stone decided to land and bury itself into the body of a convict on death row, Hector Bautista.

However, it takes him a while to realize what has happened, as he simply thinks a pipe burst in his room. Not knowing the stone is embedded in him, Hector discovers later on that he can freeze time whenever his adrenaline spikes. This power manifests in confrontations with prison authorities, but soon after he's able to control his time-manipulating abilities at will. The criminal pulls pranks on everyone and then achieves the ultimate victory. He manipulates time and, with everyone frozen, escapes death row in Texas, commandeers a news team's van and heads out on the lam.

It remains to be seen if he'll use the power for good, but if he's anything like Turk -- the New York thug who used the Mind Stone to become a pseudo-Kingpin -- then we can expect a lot of trouble. It's an intriguing development because he's quite an odd choice for the all-powerful relic to partner with. Hopefully more light will be shed on this development soon, because as much as Hector is enjoying his newfound talent, there's a strong chance the stone could be controlling him in this union.

The scary thing is that Hector may find himself in hot water sooner rather than later, because Talonar (Nova's evil brother, Robbie) and the Fraternity of Raptors are monitoring the stones. The convene just outside of Earth's orbit and reveal that they know five (Space, Power, Soul, Reality and Mind) stones shot off into the depths of the galaxy, but one remained on Earth.

It's very likely they'll send a contingent to track the Time Stone, as it's an easy target. Knowing its location, well, it's clear the Raptors are now on a collision course with Hector. And we can all admit he'll have to step his game up if he wants to avoid death against these cosmic tyrants.

With that said, fans will be keeping a watchful eye for the rest of the stones, whether they roll solo or opt to find partners like Hector. With Wolverine: Infinity Watch up next, eagle-eyed readers will surely be looking for further details on how the stones are planning for life after Infinity Wars, and if criminals worse than Hector manage to come into their possession.