What role did each Infinity Stone play in Thanos’ Avengers: Infinity War snap? Thanos (Josh Brolin) was quickly able to accomplish his mission of killing half of life in the universe thanks to the power of all of the elemental crystals. However, the film didn’t exactly reveal how each gem played a part in accomplishing this universal task.

The Infinity Stones were the MacGuffins of the MCU’s Infinity Saga, but their existence in the franchise wasn’t made clear until later years. The first gem to appear in the film series was the Space Stone in Captain America: The First Avenger - although it’s worth noting that it was only referred to as cosmic cube at that point. Soon after the remaining stones made their presence known, factoring in some of their movies before they were all gathered in Infinity War thanks to Thanos’ efforts. From there, the Avengers raced against the Mad Titan and his minions in the hopes of stopping him from his nefarious plans by keeping the crystals from him. However, he proved to be a worthy adversary to the heroes, ultimately emerging as the winner of the battle by collecting all six Infinity Stones, snapping his finger, and successfully wiping half of life in the universe.

As pivotal as the Infinity Stones (and Infinity Gauntlet) were to the overall Infinity Saga narrative, the MCU didn’t really dwell much on how wielding all its power through a snap would actually work. So, based on what’s known about them, let’s breakdown what each Infinity Stone’s role was in executing Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War.

Power Stone

It was in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy where fans first saw Thanos explicitly making moves to collect the Infinity Stones - in this case the Orb/Power Stone. It was the central item that brought all members of the comic team together as they attempted to keep it away from Ronan the Accuser and by way, the Mad Titan. The Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded, handing the Orb to the Nova Corps in Xandar for safekeeping as the gang roamed the universe for more adventures.

Avengers: Infinity War skipped showing us how Thanos got a hold of the Power Stone. By the time he ambushed the Asgardian refugee ship, he already had it on the Gauntlet, although viewers belatedly learn that the Nova Corps did put up a fight against the Mad Titan. Unfortunately, they were no match against the villain and his army leading to the annihilation of the Nova Corps and Nova Empire. The Power Stone provides its wielder immense energy, but not just in terms of physical strength (as we saw when Thanos used it against Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame). The film’s VFX  supervisor Dan DeLeeuw revealed that it was the “the Power Stone [that] was blipping them out of existence” but that may not be the role it played. The Orb also has the capability to execute massive tasks like obliterating half of the population in the universe - in this case, it may have very well instigated the snap.

Space Stone

The Space Stone was the first gem to appear in the MCU timeline with Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) known as the first person to pursue an Infinity Stone. Later on in Avengers: Infinity War, we find out that after his greedy attempt to wield its power, the stone transported him to Vormir where he was forced to be the location of the Soul Stone’s gate keeper. Also known as the Tesseract, the cube also factored in the events of Captain Marvel and The Avengers since it was in the possession of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the longest time. Prior to Thanos’ acquisition, it was revealed to be in Odin’s vault in Thor: Ragnarok and was swiped by Loki just before the destruction of Asgard. The God of Mischief, unfortunately, had to hand it to the Mad Titan in an effort to save Thor from death.

The Space Stone allows its wielders to open portals, making transportation from one point to another easier. It opened up the sky to get Loki’s Chiaturi army to Earth during the Battle of New York, and subsequently in Avengers: Endgame it helped the trickster to escape the Avengers, effectively creating an alternate timeline. Considering its capabilities, It may have allowed Thanos’ snap to have total access to all corners of the galaxy ensuring that the snap would affect all species in the universe. Otherwise, the effects of his snap could’ve been localized which means more work to do for his goal of balancing the universe to be accomplished.

Reality Stone

The key plot device in Thor: The Dark World, the Reality Stone also know as the Aether was brought by the God of Thunder and Lady Sif (Jamie Alexander) to the Collector on Knowhere for safe keeping. They decided to have the gem be somewhere else than Asgard, thinking that it would be safer to not have two stones in one location since the Space Stone was already in Odin’s vault. For years it was safe in that location until Thanos ransacked the place and forced the Collector to hand the crystal to him.

As seen in The Dark World and more recently in Avengers: Infinity War, the Reality Stone allows its user to alter reality as we know it. The stone can fulfill whatever its wielder desires - even the most bizarre ones as we saw Thanos changing Drax and Mantis’ physical form. On Titan, Thanos also used it to create an illusion of the old Titan while explaining to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) his motivations for the Decimation. With these capabilities, the Reality Stone could’ve played a part in obliterating the physical bodies of those who were affected by the snap. Instead of simply leaving them lying lifeless, the blip caused them to be dusted out of existence.

Soul Stone

Unlike the other Infinity Stones, the Soul Stone had never been seen in the MCU until Avengers: Infinity War, causing fans to formulate their own theories as to where it may be. The reason why it never factored in any prior movies was because it’s on an entirely new planet introduced in the same film - Vormir - not to mention that it required a massive sacrifice to be able to wield it. Given viewers’ limited time with the Soul Stone, it’s quite unclear how it actually works. There was an assumption that the orange-tinged place that Thanos went to after the snap was the Soul World, Digital Domain’s Kelly Port and DeLeeuw revealed that the Soul World doesn’t technically exit. In any case, one particular moment from the Mad Titan’s battle against Doctor Strange gives an idea how said gem works.

The Sorcerer used various tricks during his one-on-one with Thanos, including creating multiple copies of himself to confuse and contain the villain. It worked for a while, until the Mad Titan used the Soul Stone to decipher where the real Doctor Strange was. Seeing this, the Soul Stone could’ve aided in locating all the living things in the universe and then randomly choosing which ones were going to be dusted off via the snap, also being used to take their lives.

Time Stone

The Time Stone was initially referred to as the Eye of Agamotto when it debuted in Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange back in 2016. After the Ancient One’s (Tilda Swinton) passing, Strange became its official bearer, using it to protect the main MCU reality from out-of-this-world adversaries like Dormammu. Strange was adamant about not giving up the gem - insisting that it’s pivotal in making sure that he’s able to properly carry out his responsibility as the protector of his dimension. So fans were surprised when at the last minute, he willingly gave it up to Thanos in exchange for sparing Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) life in Avengers: Infinity War.

As suggested by its name, the Time Stone allows its user to manipulate time - whether that be going back or forward; stop, slow-down, speed up and even reverse the flow time, although not without any dangerous ramifications. Its primary purpose in Thanos’ snap was most likely in ensuring that its effects would be executed at the exact same time; it may have also made sure that all six Infinity Stones worked at once. Granted that there are deaths that were a bit drawn out like Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland), but it’s because his Spidey-sense was trying to fight the inevitable.

Mind Stone

Powering both Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), the Mind Stone was also in Loki’s Scepter during the events of The Avengers. Thanos had the gem in his possession before handing it to the God of Mischief to help him in his attempt to invade Earth in the Battle of New York. The general assumption was that without it, Vision would perish, so the heroes fought hard to keep the Android and the gem away from the Mad Titan. Shuri (Letitia Wright) was supposed to safely remove it from Vision’s forehead with Wanda on stand-by to destroy it and forever keep it from Thanos’ hands, but they ran out of time.

The Mind Stone’s role in Avengers: Infinity War snap was more likely something to do with the manifestation of what actually Thanos wanted to accomplish. The rules of how the snap exactly works remain murky, but the general idea is that it can basically do anything that the gauntlet wielder wants to do. In Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark reminded Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) that his snap’s goal was only to bring back those who were snuffed out of existence without changing whatever else happened in the last five years. This means that Thanos had to set his mind on what he wants to happen via the snap, with the Mind Stone essentially becoming the messenger to all the other Infinity Stones on what they need to do.

More: How Regular People In The MCU Abused Avengers: Infinity War’s Snap

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