Power Stone (Earth-199999)

The Power Stone was one of the six Infinity Stones. It glowed a deep purple hue, and was known for simply containing a vast amount of power, even compared to the other Stones—as such, few mortals could hold it safely without being utterly overwhelmed by its energy. For the vast majority of recorded history, the Power Stone was held within the Orb in a temple on Morag—it is likely that an ancient race recognized the stone's intense potency and sought to prevent anyone from obtaining it. In 2014, Star-Lord claimed the Orb from the temple, beating the forces of Ronan the Accuser to it by mere minutes. Ronan, on a mission from Thanos, soon obtained the Power Stone and attempted to use it to destroy Xandar, but he was thwarted by Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the stone was stored on Xandar by the Nova Corps for safe keeping. Thanos himself assaulted Xandar in 2018 and took the Power Stone as part of the Infinity War, and soon used the combined power of the six stones to destroy half of all life in the universe in an attempt to bring balance and conserve resources. He then destroyed the stones using their own power shortly before the Avengers found and killed him. In 2023, the Avengers performed the Time Heist, retrieving past versions of all six stones and successfully resurrecting those Thanos had killed. When a version of Thanos and his army from 2014 unexpectedly came to 2023, Iron Man was forced to sacrifice himself by using the stones to defeat them. With victory over Thanos finally secured, Captain America was tasked with returning the stones to their proper times. Though precisely what occurred isn't known, it is presumed that he did so successfully. As a result, no version of the Infinity Stones exist any longer in the central timeline.

History

Battle for the Orb

For much of recorded history, the Power Stone was contained inside the Orb within a derelict temple on Morag. The Orb achieved its own notoriety as a powerful artifact to the point that most weren't aware of the fact that it contained an Infinity Stone. In 2014, Star-Lord retrieved the Orb ostensibly on behalf of Yondu Udonta and the Ravagers, but decided to sell it off for his own profit. Rogue Kree forces led by Ronan the Accuser also sought the Orb on behalf of Thanos, and it was this intense scrutiny that precluded Star-Lord (Peter Quill) from selling the Orb to the Broker on Xandar. Ronan sent Gamora to Xandar to intercept the Orb, but she and Quill were both imprisoned by the Nova Corps, who went on to seize the Orb. Bounty hunters Rocket and Groot, seeking the bounty on Quill's head, were also imprisoned—the four of them, along with the already imprisoned Drax, worked together to escape the Kyln and make off with the Orb.

In truth, Gamora meant to sell the Orb to the Collector, realizing the threat that Ronan and Thanos posed. She and the others took the Orb to the Collector on Knowhere, where he revealed the power of its contents to them. An attack by the Collector's assistant Carina kept them from making the sale, and they were further set upon by the arrival of Ronan's forces—Drax had brazenly radioed Ronan to challenge him face-to-face. Thanos's adopted daughter Nebula took the Orb from Gamora and nearly killed her, reclaiming it for Ronan. Upon realizing that the Orb contained an Infinity Stone, Ronan turned his back on Thanos and set his sights on destroying Xandar for his own sense of revenge. He destroyed the protective Orb and installed the Power Stone at the end of his Cosmi-Rod to harness its energy more effectively. Quill, Gamora, and the others, who came to be known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, managed to reclaim the Power Stone and kill Ronan with it, saving the people Xandar from genocide in the process. Gamora contained the Stone in another Orb-like object, and the Guardians handed it over to the Nova Corps on Xandar for safe keeping.

Infinity War

In 2018, Thanos's quest for the Infinity Stones brought him to the Power Stone on Xandar. He and his army massacred the planet's people and stole the stone, and he secured it in the first slot in his Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos went on to successfully collect the rest of the stones and use them to eliminate half of all life in the universe, despite the best efforts of the Avengers and their allies. Thanos returned to planet 0259-S and basked in his victory. He used the stones once more to destroy themselves so that no one could undo what he had done. The massive amount of energy dispersed by this event attracted the remaining Avengers, who planned to do precisely what Thanos had prevented. Thor killed Thanos upon learning that the stones were destroyed. With seemingly no avenue open to reviving those killed by Thanos and the stones, the Avengers gave up, and the universe grieved for the next five years.

Time Heist

In 2023, Ant-Man emerged from being trapped in the Quantum Realm since the moment of Thanos's genocide to find a desolate, depressed world. He came to the remaining Avengers and told them of his belief that the mysterious Quantum Realm held the secrets of time travel. He suggested that they could go back in time, retrieve the Infinity Stones, and use them to bring back everyone Thanos had killed. Tony Stark did some research into Scott Lang's claims and found that the idea held water. After much research, the Avengers figured out a way to travel to the past and back in a limited capacity. They went in small groups to different points in the past in an attempt to get the six stones in as few trips as possible. Nebula, War Machine, Black Widow, and Hawkeye went to Morag in 2014: the former two would retrieve the Power Stone, while the latter two would take a ship to Vormir to find the Soul Stone. Nebula and War Machine intercepted 2014 Star-Lord and secured the Orb from the temple. War Machine took the Orb and quickly returned to 2023, but Nebula found her memory banks entangled with those of her past self. This complication led to 2014 Thanos capturing her, scanning her memory, and learning of the Avengers' plot in the other timeline. 2014 Nebula, still loyal to Thanos, posed as her alternate self and returned to 2023 instead. Nonetheless, all six stones were successfully returned to 2023.

With the Infinity Stones in hand, Stark developed a new Infinity Gauntlet, and the Hulk stepped up to bear the brunt of the stones' power. He donned the fully equipped gauntlet and snapped his fingers, successfully resurrecting everyone Thanos had killed five years prior. All such people returned to the exact spot they had been at that moment, in an event known as the Blip. Moments later, Nebula successfully operated the Avengers' time machine to bring Thanos's 2014 fleet and army to the area and promptly initiate a massive attack. Having seen via the future Nebula's memory banks what became of his future self, Thanos decided that destroying half of all life wasn't enough of a solution to the universe's woes. Instead, his goal was to use the Infinity Stones to destroy the universe entirely and create a new one in his image. As Thanos's forces sought out the gauntlet, the shocked and disorganized Avengers did their best to keep it away. Soon, thanks to a large series of portals devised by Doctor Strange and other sorcerers, countless heroes, soldiers, and allies arrived on the new battlefield. Those present hastily decided that they needed to return the stones to their original times, and tried to relay the gauntlet to the quantum tunnel as best as they could. Thanos's forces made this impossible however, and he soon got a hold of the fully-powered gauntlet. Iron Man managed to wrest the stones from him without his knowledge however, magnetically installing them in a special sleeve in his suit. Iron Man snapped his fingers, obliterating all of Thanos's forces. The demoralized Thanos sat and sighed at his defeat as he faded to dust. The power of the stones was too much for the human Tony Stark to bear, and he died minutes later. Captain America was tasked with returning the stones to their original times. Little is known of what occurred after he went back in time: rather than returning to 2023 as planned, Cap lived out his life in 1945 with Peggy Carter. Nonetheless, he is presumed to have successfully returned the Power Stone and its five counterparts to their appropriate times.