Which infinity stone in the MCU had the best journey and backstory to it and was represented flawlessly, according to you?

Personally, in terms of backstory, I really enjoyed the visualisation of the Mind Stone and how it's power was showcased throughout the movies with characters such as Vision and Loki's scepter. Moreover, the stone being ripped from Vision's head was a truly traumatising moment for fans.

However, in terms of sheer power, I think the use of the Time Stone and its significance to the events of Infinity War was absolutely crucial, and was crafted to perfection. It also gave us some really cool sequence with Dr.Strange fighting Thanos on Titan, and the debate over the repercussions of the Time Heist in Endgame between The Ancient One and Bruce Banner which was amazing to witness on the big screen.

That being said, which stone's journey and backstory did you enjoy the most in the MCU, and was shown with great precision and care in the movies, according to you? Let me know your thoughts and views in the comments.

Commentaires

chefboyardeejr2025-11-02 16:41

I know lots of people didn't like Age of Ultron, but I personally enjoyed it and the mind stone storyline all the way through to Wandavision, but I will admit the Power Stone was quite fun too. It's a close call for me.

cracked-canoe2025-11-03 11:25

I would have loved to see Thanos taking the Power Stone from the Nova Corps on Xandar.

GiantChocoChicknTaco2025-11-03 12:30

Hoping that’s the intro of a Nova show/movie if they ever do it

wohotata2025-11-02 16:43

Space stone - started from Steve rogers, went to Carol, then to Loki during avengers, then to Thanos. And it again helped Loki to travel to TVA during time heist and became timekeeper on the throne. It featured in many movies and satisfactory one to watch across.

My vote is space stone

Hello_There_2122025-11-02 16:54

Not to mention it used to belong to Odin before it was left in Norway

El_fara_252025-11-02 17:01

Always liked how Marvel integrated the nazi esotherism in Phase 1 that tied Captain America, Thor and Avenger plots.

I think this wasnt in neither original 616 or Ultimates plot.

SteveBob3162025-11-02 18:06

Being around for Phase One was really something special. I'm not going to be up in here claiming they've lost the sauce or anything, but the sauce *was* different.

johnsciarrino2025-11-02 19:22

themes and threads of plotlines that bound those early movies together is absolutely what's missing from the current MCU. Individual movies without any overlap just doesn't pack the same punch. It baffles me that Feige and Co intentionally went away from it. I don't think there'd be any talk about comic book fatigue if they kept an overarching plot driving the MCU forward.

danielsdesk2025-11-02 20:56

My personal belief is that they thought up Secret Wars in the MCU, realized they wanted everyone they could possibly have in there, would need to introduce (and even re-introduce) all these characters and variants of characters, and went backward from there without a tight plan. Tbf, original Secret Wars (not the incursion one) was literally just an excuse to get all these characters toys and merch together to sell; they just needed an excuse for why everyone had to be involved (Battleworld). I think this desire really ruined the very deliberate narrow focus of Phase One through Three.

Iron Man and the Avengers were literally their choices for the MCU only because they were the ones left over since everyone else’s rights were tied up. Good art usually requires constraints and I think this actually helped Marvel Studios focus up to Endgame. Now without constraints they have nearly every character past and present involved and it’s not working as well for their ability to execute.

They also mentioned that they wanted to step away from “too much homework” for audiences, but I think that wasn’t much of a complaint until after Endgame; a lot of folks I knew were enjoying following the threads because it felt like they were building up to something they understood was exciting. I still really like the content the MCU has been putting out but I can see where folks have felt like losing interest

CuteLingonberry97042025-11-02 20:57

I don't think they went away from it so much as did it in such a densely convoluted form that fans couldn't keep up. Specifically the onslaught of D+ series that were made as almost homework to understand what was going on. MoM was basically a sequel to Wandavision, and if you didn't see it, you'd be scratching your head as to why Wanda is doing what she's doing. Kids? Wtf are you even talking about?

Not to mention, several of the post credits scenes in the post-Endgame era *still* haven't gone anywhere. Like the MoM scene, was that just so Marvel Studios could say we got Charlize?

Heisenburgo2025-11-02 19:01

I liked how Thor's dad hid the teserract on earth, then the nazis found it and Captain America would fight them over it, then Iron Man's dad would retrieve it and base the design of the original Arc Reactor on it, which Tony would later use to power the Iron Man armor. The main OG Avengers were all connected in such an interesting way. Miss that era of the MCU.

ThisIs_americunt2025-11-02 20:26

This is something I'd love to watch in a What if? Show us what he and Hela did before Thor was born

Successful-Grand-5492025-11-02 17:52

Here's your answer

dvaibhavd2025-11-02 18:00

You forgot Howard Stark..

arnathor2025-11-02 18:24

Yep, I think something else that should always be mentioned in the MCU version of the Infinity Stones is that Howard Stark basically theorised, and then Tony Stark created, a version of the Space Stone’s power in the Arc Reactor technology. Iron Man sees Tony miniaturising the Arc Reactor, Iron Man 2 sees the revelation that it’s Howard’s design and he originally envisaged it with a new unknown element at its core which Tony manages to synthesise, which just happens to glow like the Space Stone. Add in that Hydra create weapons directly powered by the Tesseract that act and sound a lot like Iron Man’s repulsor weapons, and that in Avengers, Loki’s staff cannot penetrate the upgraded Arc in Tony’s chest, despite having no problem getting through different layers of armour earlier in the film - why? Because it’s effectively a junior infinity stone and presumably can’t be affected by another stone.

I’ve always loved that Phase 1 is basically about super soldier programmes and the Space Stone’s power, and they’re tied together via the Stark family.

Ragnarok_6192025-11-02 20:38

One of the best comments I have ever read in this subreddit. Part of what made phases 1, 2 and 3 so special was the relatively grounded approach they took.

danielsdesk2025-11-02 21:02

What you said follows right through into Endgame too, considering we find out there that Howard and SHIELD had the Tesseract in the lab for a bit

sasssyrup2025-11-02 20:09

It’s the final frontier stone

ThisIs_americunt2025-11-02 20:24

NGL this can be a great new watch order lol

ChemicalExperiment2025-11-02 23:03

For me personally, the timeline is too messy for it. I prefer the Soul Stone. Simple concept for getting it, clear story both times it's obtained, that both neatly tie into one another. Plus clear themes about sacrifice and love throughout both instances, that both play off of each other. Space stone is kind of just a plot device in each of its inclusions. Just a powerful artifact used in many different scenarios. Which is fine, but not as impactful for me as a story on its own.

Pab0l2025-11-03 12:12

But Power Stone was the first one introduced as an infinity stone, showed clearly to be able to destroy entire planets, and was BY FAR the most used stone by thanos.

Space stone was cool but it always remained on a secondary level.

Front-Advantage-70352025-11-03 16:09

Wait explain “became timekeeper” to me because miss minutes is not the space stone

Rich_Syllabub982025-11-02 16:44

Space

jackospades882025-11-02 16:45

It probably has the shortest backstory of all of them, but I did like the simplicity of the soul stone. A soul for a soul.

It was mysterious and pretty shocking when we first saw the first sacrifice in Infinity War. Then all on the edge of our seats knowing one of the OG avengers was going to sacrifice themselves in Endgame.

Poopiepants6662025-11-02 19:52

[deleted]

jackospades882025-11-02 21:38

Lame

Electro_Llama2025-11-03 00:30

A soul stone for a soul doesn't have the same ring to it.

Poopiepants6662025-11-03 01:09

[deleted]

paganbreed2025-11-03 02:27

Not when everyone already understands and agrees with the fact, and the reason said fact is ignored is for entirely poetic reasons that elevate the metaphor.

Personally, I think there's poetry in being down voted for the original *and* popular purpose of down votes: not contributing to the conversation and being disagreeably silly.

TL;DR Nobody like a pedant.

Beodrag2025-11-04 01:18

I wish we could've gotten some insight on its power and how one could use it. We never see the stone independently used.

jackospades882025-11-04 01:25

I assumed we saw it used during the scene with Thanos and young Gamora and was in the soul world

Abbi_Rose2025-11-04 11:47

Yeah I think out of all the stones and their stories—the soul stone is the most impactful. The briefness and emotional toll of the scenes involving the soul stone are some of the most intense MCU scenes, especially since we basically get the same scene twice but with 2 different but loved characters.

jtfjtf2025-11-02 16:45

I liked the power stone. Guardians 1 is one of my favorite movies.

PhotoBonjour_bombs192025-11-02 16:54

It was reality before

2MinuteSamurai2025-11-02 17:08

No, it was always the Power Stone. It was originally red like the comics but the MCU changed all the colors of the stones

PhotoBonjour_bombs192025-11-02 17:12

Where’s the source

Balam_12025-11-02 17:24

James Gunn mentioned it in one of the making of videos. The Guardians stone was originally red but Marvel decided to make the Aether a stone, so the colour was changed in post production

robodrew2025-11-02 17:29

And it works better in the end because thematically the Guardians are all about purple

PhotoBonjour_bombs192025-11-02 17:44

Talk about marvel had a clear plan back in the day.

Odd-Sound-5802025-11-02 21:56

marvel never really had a focused plan until maybe civil war, they were just good at covering up any mistakes and signs they were just going with the flow

Bruhmangoddman2025-11-02 16:47

So, let's recap.

The Soul Stone had some narrative weight to it, and while the mechanism around its obtention seems sound, it's kinda contrived that no other stone, bar maybe Power, requires such a price. Its capabilities were near-nonexistent, except for that one time Thanos used it as a detector to spot the real Stephen Strange amongst hundreds of astral clones of him.

The Power Stone had arguably even stronger narrative weight around it, being this dangerous was very logical as it interacted with all of the universe's energy at times (or at least that's what I think it was), the few times it was used was cool. I just wish it was blue instead of purple... but no one said the stones couldn't change colors, did they?

The Time Stone had great narrative purpose, sick-ass displays of its capacity, and arguably the most impressive VX around it. No complaints.

The Reality Stone was constantly being held back, whether by its "casing" - the whatthefuckisthatnium that was the Aether, or by the Russos' reluctance to use it meaningfully in any way. Thanos used it for two temporary body altercations and a terrain shift. Wow. I'm so whelmed.

The Mind Stone had the most impressive journey events-wise, and its mind control was portrayed in a neat way: didn't make the subject a mindless drone, but instead reprogrammed their way of thinking to suit the brainwasher's intent. I guess the energy blast power it held were also nice, but it seemed very unorthodox for its primary ability, in both Loki and Vision's cases.

The Space Stone had very good visuals around it, but definitely overstayed its welcome as a McGuffin.

The Time Stone wins.

90zvision2025-11-02 17:32

Great recap. Thanos also used the Reality Stone when he changed the debris to bats/birds, or whatever. Soul & Mind could’ve used a few more instances of their individual power being displayed.

I also hope to see the acquisition of the Power Stone at some point in the MCU, not that it’s entirely needed, but I think it could be done well.

Dames_to_DIE_for2025-11-02 20:56

We don't know if the soul stone itself needed a sacrifice or if it was put in place by some people trying to keep it safe.

CuteLingonberry97042025-11-02 16:47

In terms of how one shaped the MCU, its hard NOT to say the Space Stone. Literally *three* MCU films have it at the center of the story. Captain America, Captain Marvel, and then The Avengers. Its why Captain America had to crash into a frozen wasteland, why Captain Marvel even has powers, why Loki showed up in Avengers. So I am going with the Space Stone.

However, the Soul Stone is the one I wish we'd gotten a film wrapped around. So much potential yet we never really get a background on it.

Balam_12025-11-02 17:52

The only thing that lets it down for me is that the Tesseract was just a power source until Thor Dark World. Then it was retconned as an infinity stone

JaDe_X1052025-11-02 18:24

It literally opened up a portal to space and sent Red Skull to Vormir at the end of CA1

yuvi30002025-11-02 20:50

While I love that it did that, it was originally assumed that the energy just killed him until it was sort of retconned later on. I would be truly shocked if they planned that the Tesseract was the Space Stone all the way back in the first Captain America movie. It seemed like they just had Red Skull be overly confident and destroy himself but left just enough ambiguity in case they wanted to bring him back. Some did think he got sent to the future or something, but after a while, the rumours of his return died out and nobody expected to see him again so it really was one of the biggest surprises to see him on Vormir.

All that said, I am a little disappointed that he didn't have any kind of villainous role after his disappearance and I would still be okay if he returned or if we at least get to see one of his descendants or supporters in present time take up a similar role.

caniuserealname2025-11-02 21:06

It wouldn't be planned as the space stone, but it was clearly intended to be more than a simple power source, it was meant to be the cosmic cube.

Balam_12025-11-02 21:16

I don’t know the exact chain of events but things were retconned during production on Thor Dark World. Marvel decided that the Aether was going to be one of the stones. Guardians had to alter the colour of their stone from red to purple in post production. Until then the Tesseract and Loki’s sceptre weren’t infinity stones.

CuteLingonberry97042025-11-02 20:52

Yep. The Tesseract just made it easier to harness the stones power. Although it actually seemed more dangerous to use in that form as opposed to it being just the stone like in IW.

storiedpages2025-11-02 16:50

Time stone x

Ok_Relationship15992025-11-02 17:01

Space stone

WallyOShay2025-11-02 17:03

The mind stone is the only one with an actual story. Gave the twins their powers, gained sentience through ultron, then learned humanity through vision. Was ripped out of visions head and destroyed, yet was still able to manifest its memories from a fake vision created by Wanda and transcend “death”. White vision getting its memories is basically the mind of the mind stone resurrecting itself.

achilles_45102025-11-02 17:03

According to me time stone

MemeGaming20112025-11-02 17:05

Wasn't Wanda also made from the space stone??

HeWhoFights2025-11-02 17:09

Mind stone. It was the one inside Loki’s scepter.

CuteLingonberry97042025-11-02 17:39

She wasn't "made" by it, she always had the power she had. The Mind stone simply unlocked it.

Ok_Negotiation312025-11-02 17:07

Time Stone but I have always been a Doctor Strange Stan

someguyye2025-11-02 17:15

Space and mind

PurpleScientist43122025-11-02 17:21

Definitely the space stone

gautify2025-11-02 17:25

The Mind stone was right in front of us and until AoU we didn't realise it

FridayMorningLaundry2025-11-02 18:34

Well that's because it wasn't the Mind Stone until AoU.

You could say the Mind Stone was right in front of Marvel the whole time and they didn't realize until pre-production on AoU lol.

gautify2025-11-02 18:35

Na I'm pretty sure it was all planned along with Loki's mind control

AAC08132025-11-02 17:41

The time stone is guarded and kept safe by sorcery for thousands (millions?) of years but as *soon* as Doctor Strange gets his hands on it he gives it away. I do love the irony in that

Single-Pianist-22112025-11-02 17:43

I’m always annoyed that the mind stone in the scepter glowed blue.

reddit_hayden2025-11-02 17:56

that’s because the stone was held in a blue gem-like container that housed the mind stone when it was in loki’s sceptre.

kind of like an egg in an egg shell.

Single-Pianist-22112025-11-02 17:59

Yeah….just saying it should have been a yellow container then 😂

reddit_hayden2025-11-02 19:06

oh yeah i do agree. it’s quite confusing for the casual viewer.

ThePreciseClimber2025-11-03 13:46

True. They really should've made the Sceptre yellow. Would feel like it was planned out rather than retconned.

You can't even headcanon it in any way. I mean, what was Thanos thinking? "Hahaha, there's no way they'll figure out that this mind-controlling stone is THE Mind Stone now that it's BLUE! Suckers!" :P

PucaFilms2025-11-02 17:48

I love them all apart from the Mind Stone. It's inconsistent in power and purpose, it changes colours, it's the most obvious retcon and Thanks giving it to Loki to help him get the Space Stone makes little sense IMO.

ThePreciseClimber2025-11-03 13:54

Yeah...

Off the top of my head, here's how I would try to fix it:

1. Make the Sceptre Loki's signature weapon since the 1st Thor movie. It's what allows him to create illusions and stuff.

2. Instead of Thanos giving him the Sceptre, he would've planned to double-cross him and steal the Mind Stone from him once he delivers the Space Stone.

3. Obviously, the Sceptre would need to be yellow the entire time.

4. At one point, the Mind Stone is used to give Vision life but he's not dependant on its presence to continue living.

Sere12025-11-03 14:48

To add to this, the Mind Stone could have been an upgrade to Loki's staff. Say it didn't have the glowing gem in Thor 1 and had it in Avengers 1 as an upgrade Thanos provided him to help with his invasion. Would have worked as the set up for the reveal it is in the staff.

rover_G2025-11-02 17:53

Space and Time stones

WillNutForFood2025-11-02 17:58

Loved the visualisations of the Power Stone but the short but powerful story behind the Soul Stone (twice!) is really elegant.

Shreyansh5112025-11-02 18:10

space stone

bepeacock2025-11-02 18:57

can I get this as a poster? I love it!

dashing_5832025-11-02 19:16

The time stone

Ehcanadianeh2025-11-02 19:18

Just wish we saw more of the soul stone in action besides being used briefly against Strange.

navagrw2025-11-02 19:45

wish we could see more of the time stone

Caracallademise2025-11-02 19:54

Time stone. Its really OP even for an infinity and is the only stone that can permanently reverse the effects of the other stones. Its not used in a way that nerfs it's powers either (Vision and the mind stone say hello). The way it was used against Dormammu is still one of my favorite scenes in the MCU because usually battles are won by strength and power but Strange didn't use any of that to beat Dormammu. It also gave us the most emotional scene ever in the MCU with Wanda destroying the mind stone and therefore vision only for Thanos to just reverse it. Plus it was the reason Strange fought Thanos which is honestly a 10/10 fight scene that should've been longer

saifB-522025-11-02 21:06

Soul stone when black widow died

PeckingDuck912025-11-02 21:11

Im still mad that the soul stone wasn't Heimdall's Eye. It makes perfect sense. The color matches, and his powers make him able to see everyone

KalelRChase2025-11-03 05:56

And the spelling of Thanos, works for it…

Tesseract
Heimdall
aether
Necklace
Orb
Scepter

FREMGER2025-11-02 21:15

Reality stone was basically just Thanos's personal illusion machine. What a waste.

CaptHayfever2025-11-02 21:48

The Space stone had the clearest backstory by far; I'm not sure this is even arguable.

Cabamacadaf2025-11-02 21:55

I'm not a huge fan of how they combined most of them with other powerful objects, so the power stone and soul stone are the ones that work the best for me.

Vegetable-House50182025-11-02 22:15

It’s very close between the mind and space stones. But I think I’d have to pick mind stone overall. It’s unknowingly a big part of the first Avengers with Loki using it to control people. Then Hydra used it to experiment on people and gave Pietro his powers and either gave Wanda some powers or just unlocked her Scarlet Witch self. Then when the stone was retrieved it was used to create Vision. And was the final stone for Thanos in infinity war and the scene of him ripping it from Visions head was huge (along with Wanda destroying it and her love just before). It played a very central part of all the avengers movies and backstory for numerous characters and around for others with Vision having it as part of himself.

Picassof2025-11-02 22:17

mind or cosmic are the only ones that make sense, the others just kind of appear

elpajaroquemamais2025-11-02 22:40

Soul. Although it was introduced last I thought it was neat that it was the only one that had to be “earned”

PrimeMortal12025-11-02 23:31

Time stone for me

![gif](giphy|8FV8DMUqB6oUOsDkQd)

TheMaze172025-11-02 23:32

Space stone, followed by the time stone

Dribbler3652025-11-03 01:21

Time stone had the coolest scene (Dormammu) , Space stone had the best story

_el_i__2025-11-03 01:52

Tesseract (space stone), the Mind stone, and the Time stone. They were all quite fun journeys.

Pab0l2025-11-03 01:58

Power stone was the first one introduced as an infinity stone and was very impactful, saying it could destroy planets. It was also the "main stone" of thanos. - 8/10.

Time stone had the BEST movie individually but it became very inconsistent and unnused in later movies - 7/10.

Space Stone had the most impact in the MCU, giving everyone powers and making some movies possible - 7/10.

Mind Stone. Kind of unnused. Was cool when loki had it though. - 5/10.

Reality Stone: Not very good movie for his introduction, marvel at his early stages. - 4/10.

Soul Stone: No powers shown or prior introduction to infinity war. - 0/10.

Far_Combination76392025-11-03 10:05

Mind stone was unused?? It was in Vision’s head, it unlocked Wanda’s powers, and it was the whole way Loki made the first Avengers movie happen.

Pab0l2025-11-03 12:10

Vision was said to be incredible strong, but the most important thing he did was disconnect ultron from the internet. He did nothing in infinity war and civil war.

r01-85062025-11-03 02:32

Mind Stone. Without it, there's no Vision.

AstariaEriol2025-11-03 03:46

I think we can all agree it’s not the reality stone.

Moist-Audience-74662025-11-03 05:50

Mind stone is the only stone that appears in all avengers movies

EVD272025-11-03 06:07

What's the first picture in the soul stone collage?

Such-Manufacturer3962025-11-03 06:25

The space stone I think

Complex-Artichoke1222025-11-03 07:10

Tesseract and time stone

PurpleCyborg282025-11-03 08:01

Best representation would be time or power. The other stones you have to do a little bit of mental gymnastics to explain some things they did like mind stone giving/unlocking Wanda and Pietro their powers, or space stone not making Carol OP.

Time and Power was straightforward. Time stone allows the wielder to reverse time, fast forward, stop, etc. Power Stone is even more straightforward - it has so much energy that just touching the planet makes the planet go boom.

Best journey and backstory would be space stone, and it's simply because it had an entire phase dedicated to the tesseract, appearing in several other movies thereafter until it finally breaks and reveals the space stone itself.

Jereboy2162025-11-03 16:33

Time stone had the coolest use of power

Mid stone had the coolest story background

Space stone had the coolest journey through multiple films for me

The31stUser2025-11-03 17:19

Im split between the space stone and the time stone

Western-Chart-67192025-11-03 17:35

For me, the Time Stone had the best story. It always felt purposeful, from Strange learning its power to Thanos using it in Infinity War. The Ancient One’s talk in Endgame tied it all perfectly it wasn’t just power, it was about control and consequence.

jazzmaster_YangGuo2025-11-03 22:19

Power stone, just from the dance-off alone

![gif](giphy|ej0Ay8fH6Y1Wg|downsized)

JragoUmage002025-11-04 19:12

I will say, the infinite one

the_tchootch6582025-11-06 03:01

Power stone was my favorite since they made it this terrifying MacGuffin in GotG, I just wish they had shown Thanos obtaining it.

No-Thought75712025-11-07 05:05

I can tell you which wasn't, Soul Stone