Infinity Watch

The Infinity Watch is the name of three fictional organizations appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of Infinity Watch was gathered in ''Warlock and the Infinity Watch'' #1, and starred in that series until it ended with issue #42. The six members were the self-appointed guardians of the Infinity Gems, which were each given to a single member in order to safeguard against anyone else assembling them into the Infinity Gauntlet.

Fictional group history

Adam Warlock's first version

When Adam Warlock obtains possession of the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet (that contained the six Infinity Gems) from Thanos, he is ordered by the Living Tribunal to separate the Gems so that they might never be used in conjunction again. Warlock forms the Infinity Watch, entrusting each member with an Infinity Gem to protect (keeping the identity of the sixth member a secret even from his fellow Infinity Watch-members). Under the Gauntlet's influence, Warlock is not in his right mind, and even he wondered if he had made the right choices later on.

Initially, Warlock did not intend for the Watch to become a team; he believes the gems would be safer if they were all kept separately, but Warlock's old enemy, the Man-Beast, abducts four Infinity Watch members and manipulated their gems in an attempt to destroy Warlock. After the Man-Beast is defeated, the Infinity Watch chose to stay together as a heroic team, except for Thanos. However, Thanos, having undergone a period of humility after the Infinity Gauntlet affair, did not abuse his gem, but kept it safe.

Warlock negotiates a deal with the Mole Man to use a castle on Monster Island as the Watch's base. With help from The Avengers and Warlock, the United Nations recognize the Mole Man's sovereignty of Monster Island (after a fatality-free battle with the Watch). The Infinity Watch goes on to deal with many other foes, most of them interested in the power the Gems could confer on their owner. Other opponents had personal interests in the Infinity Watch members.

An amnesic man appears on Monster Island and was taken in by the Watch despite Gamora's warnings. Gamora, holding the Time Gem, has visions of this man killing Adam Warlock. The Watch names the man Maxam after a symbol found on his belt and he joins the Watch, despite a violent outburst against Warlock.

The Watch also becomes involved in the events of ''The Infinity War'' and ''The Infinity Crusade'', both stemming from the events of ''The Infinity Gauntlet''.

A while later Gamora leaves the team after an argument with Adam Warlock. Maxam became the new Guardian of the Time Gem. This causes his memories to return; he is under the belief that Warlock is a danger to his homeworld. Under Moondragon's telepathic influence, Maxam believes that he had broken Warlock's neck and returned to his own world.

Meanwhile, the being known as Rune steals all the Infinity Gems and took them to the Ultraverse. With Gamora, Maxam and the gems gone, the Watch disbands. Although the gems are eventually returned to the Marvel Universe, the Watch has not been fully reestablished yet; however, Adam Warlock, Gamora, and Pip were shown attempting to overthrow the Champion of the Universe's rule of the planet Skardon in the 2004–2005 ''She-Hulk'' series, and at one point recruited Drax to aid in their efforts.

Doctor Strange's version

At the end of the "Infinity Countdown" storyline, Doctor Strange used a magic spell to speak to the holders of the Infinity Gems and requested a parley to reform the Infinity Watch. He states to Adam Warlock, Black Widow's clone, Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, and Turk Barrett that they need to safeguard them from such calamities even if one of them is Thanos.''Infinity Watch'' #5. Marvel Comics.

Loki's version

In order to retrieve her soul piece that was trapped in the Soulworld, Gamora using the alias of Requiem, stole the Infinity Stones from Doctor Strange's Infinity Watch, but ended being corrupted by her father's influence and the seductive power of the Infinity Stones. She uses the Infinity Stones, and the Soul Stone, in particular, to not only recover her missing soul but also fold the universe into itself, combining every two souls into a single being. This resulted in the creation of “warped” characters with Loki to be the only one who wasn't merged with another character since he was beside Requiem, nevertheless, before he was placed into this new reality afterward, he was able to lightly influence her while she was committing the act so he could dupe his own version of the Infinity Watch within the Soul World.

Adam Warlock's second version

To prevent the Infinity Stones from being stolen, Adam Warlock gave them a free will so they can choose their own Infinity Watch. The Soul Stone created the Mergiverse, a pocket multiverse that is home of the Secret Warps; the Time Stone chose Hector Bautista / Overtime, a Texan inmate convicted for a murder that he didn't commit; the Reality Stone chose Ripley Ryan / Star, a former journalist turned supervillainess; the Space Stone chose Quantum, a human test subject used by his boss Assessor; the Power Stone chose Apex/Prince of Power, a Musculan from the planet Muscula; the Soul Stone chose a robot named Ward who became Multitude; the Mind Stone chose a human named Worldmind before he was killed by Thanos and came into the possession of Colleen Wing; and the newly-created Death Stone revived Phil Coulson and chose him as its wielder.

Team roster

Other versions

A team called the Infinity Watch exists in the year 3193, first appearing in ''Uncanny Avengers'' #16. Led by Immortus, it includes Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, Martinex, Yondu, Starhawk, Adam Warlock, and the Vision with the power of The Phoenix.

In other media

In the 2017 video game '' Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite'', in a scheme concocted by Jedah Dohma and Mistress Death to combine both the Marvel Universe and the Capcom multiverse to bring about equilibrium, utilizing the Infinity Stones, they enlist the help of Thanos and Ultron in infiltrating Abel City. However, he is intercepted by Sigma, and they form an alliance, betraying Thanos and utilizing the Space Stone and Reality Stone to fuse into Ultron-Sigma, and succeeds in combining the Marvel and Capcom realities. After defeating Ultron-Sigma by the end of the game, the Reality Stone is cracked, thus rendering the restoration and separation of the combined realities impossible. Now with no choice but live on the unified world, the heroes resolve to individually protect the Stones one by one to prevent them from ever being used again, as to avert a similar disaster from happening ever again, paralleling the Infinity Watch's purpose.

Collected editions

References

{{Marvel Cosmic

Comics characters introduced in 1992
Marvel Comics titles
Fictional septets
Characters created by Jim Starlin