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Marvel’s 10 Most Powerful Wielders of the Infinity Gauntlet, Ranked (Only One isn’t in the MCU)
Marvel Comics‘ most powerful weapon of mass destruction has always been the Infinity Gauntlet, and there have been some very powerful people who wielded it. When Thanos first appeared in Marvel, he wanted to use the Cosmic Cube. However, this all changed when Thanos returned, and Marvel introduced the Infinity Gauntlet for the first time in Silver Surfer #44 (1990). Thanos showed how important this new cosmic weapon was in the Infinity Gauntlet storylines, and it quickly became known as a weapon that could not only destroy entire universes but also remake them and change them in ways that have wreaked havoc ever since.
From Thanos and Adam Warlock to several Avengers members, here are the most powerful characters to ever wield the Infinity Gauntlet in Marvel Comics.
10) The Hulk
Hulk wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in Ultimate Comics. He debuted in Ultimate Marvel Team Up #2 (2001) by Brian Michael Bendis and Phil Hester and wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in The Ultimates #25 (2013) by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Carmine Di Giandomenico. The Ultimate Universe uniquely has two Infinity Gauntlets holding eight gems total instead of the standard single six-gem glove. Hulk got it when Kang the Conqueror (a future variant of Susan Storm in the Ultimate Universe) freed him and gave him both Gauntlets with five of the eight gems already in them.
This made Hulk incredibly powerful instantly since he wore a Gauntlet on each hand. He faked his own death and then teamed with Kang and The Maker to beat the Ultimates. What was most impressive was that Hulk was beating the Ultimates without using the Gauntlets, and when it looked like Iron Man used the Hulk Buster to kill him, it was all a trick using the Gauntlets. Hulk was already powerful, and the Gauntlets were just a toy for him.
9) Captain America
Captain America never needed the Infinity Gauntlet, and he never wanted to use it. However, he felt he had no choice when he and the Illuminati learned about the ongoing incursions that were destroying countless Earths in the multiverse. Cap wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in New Avengers (2013) #3 by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting. Each member of the Illuminati had one of the Infinity Gems, and when they realized the incursions were coming for Earth-616, they decided to use it to stop them.
The Illuminati reassembled the Infinity Gauntlet specifically to shove an encroaching parallel Earth back out of collision range. They chose Steve Rogers to wield it precisely because he was the most moral among them. He succeeded, and the alternate universe was pushed away, saving both Earths. However, the strain caused catastrophic vibrational feedback that shattered all the gems, except the Time Gem, which simply vanished. Before this, Captain America used the Infinity Gauntlet to achieve a miraculous rescue that saved two Earths.
8) Gamora
Gamora of the Guardians of the Galaxy wielded the Infinity Gauntlet for selfish purposes, which ended up changing the entire universe. Gamora wielded it in Infinity Wars (2018) by Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr., where she is revealed to be the mysterious armored figure named Requiem. What makes this different is that she didn’t wear it as the Infinity Gauntlet, and instead, she harnessed all six stones through specialized armor that made her a walking Infinity Gauntlet.
Gamora wanted to retrieve her fragmented soul from the Soul Gem, and, in the process, she created a pocket reality called Soulworld. Instead of wiping out half of life in the universe like her adoptive father, she halved the universe by fusing pairs of beings into single amalgam characters. This reality-warping twist positioned her as a true successor to Thanos’s legacy rather than an imitator. However, her tenure was defined by an obsessive personal agenda and was reversed.
7) Black Panther
Black Panther is one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. When he used the Infinity Gauntlet, it was during one of the most important moments for Marvel heroes in history. He wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in the finale of Secret Wars (2015) #8–9, by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić. He put the Gauntlet on and came face-to-face with God Emperor Doom.
Because this Infinity Gauntlet was specifically created for Battleworld, it gave T’Challa godlike power for the climactic assault on Doom’s throne. With it, he turned Doom into a hardened, brittle substance that Namor shattered with his trident, deflected Doom’s energy blasts, and traded cosmic blows in one of Marvel’s most famous ultimate showdowns. The fight ended when Doom crushed the Gauntlet, but by then T’Challa had bought Mister Fantastic the time needed to reach the Molecule Man and remake the multiverse. Losing the battle holds him back, but it was still a massive battle against a godlike being.
6) Reed Richards
Reed Richards has wielded the Infinity Gauntlet more than once in more than one world. However, the most important time came in New Avengers: Illuminati #2 (2007), by Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, and Jim Cheung. The moment was from the past, a retroactive reveal of a secret mission by the Illuminati where Reed reassembled the Infinity Gauntlet in an attempt to destroy it. Of course, Reed Richards is the smartest man on Earth, but he often makes mistakes. He couldn’t even wish the Gauntlet out of existence. The gems simply refused, exposing a hard limit on the weapon’s own indestructibility.
What is even more interesting is that Reed was smart enough to split up the gems between Illuminati members to ensure the Gauntlet can’t be used again. In Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four run, Reed discovers the multiversal Council of Reeds, where several alternate Reed Richards possess their own Infinity Gauntlets. Only Reed from Earth-616 refused the power.
5) Iron Man
Iron Man wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers (2010) Vol. 4 #7–12, by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. This is where the Hood hunted down the gems to restore powers he lost in “Siege.” However, Iron Man is the one who ended up getting the Infinity Gauntlet and wielding it in this storyline. Tony Stark ended up as the first human to wield the complete Infinity Gauntlet, with the entire set of gems set on his armored hand.
This provided Iron Man with a huge decision to make. Tony contemplates ending all war or resurrecting his father and the presumed-dead Wasp. However, he rejects the temptation because doing so would rob humanity of free will. Instead of doing anything that would end humans’ free will, he uses it to send the Hood back to prison and then makes the Gauntlet disappear. However, he faked the last part since it won’t allow a user to destroy it, and he ends up returning it to the Illuminati.
4) Nebula
Nebula wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in The Infinity Gauntlet (1991) #5 by Jim Starlin, George Pérez, and Ron Lim. This was where Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to snap out half the life in the universe, and the big reversal came when his own foster daughter, Nebula, took control of it. Kept as a half-dead, tortured living corpse at Thanos’s side, Nebula seizes her moment when Thanos abandons his physical body to merge his consciousness with the cosmos as its new center. She simply pulls the Gauntlet off his discarded hand.
This made her the single most powerful being in existence, and, in the next issue, she immediately turned back time roughly 24 hours to undo Thanos’s snap, resurrecting the trillions he’d erased. This was a feat that matched the Mad Titan’s own snap. She also took revenge, hurling Thanos and his fabricated consort, Terraxia, into space. What makes her power impressive is that she is only a minor character in the storyline, yet did one of the most powerful and important things with the Infinity Gauntlet in history.
3) Magus
The Magus is Adam Warlock’s expelled evil self, made corporeal when Warlock purged good and evil to become pure logic. The Magus wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in The Infinity War (1992), the six-issue sequel by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. With Thanos beaten in the first miniseries, Warlock took control of the Infinity Gauntlet. The Magus then amassed five Cosmic Containment Units to paralyze Eternity, create an interdimensional realm, and unleash an army of evil superhero doppelgängers against Earth.
He did all this because he wanted the Infinity Gauntlet. He then collected all six Infinity Gems from the Infinity Watch and took Adam Warlock prisoner, and became seemingly unstoppable with the full glove. However, Thanos and Warlock had anticipated him. The former enemies replaced the Reality Gem with a fake, disguised by Thanos’s machinery, leaving a subtle flaw that let his enemies overcome him. He was then sealed inside the Soul Gem.
2) Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock has been one of the most powerful Marvel Comics cosmic characters since his first appearance. He was one of the main heroes standing up against Thanos in The Infinity Gauntlet (1991) by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, and George Pérez, and Adam Warlock ended up claiming the Infinity Gauntlet in issue #6. He got it after Nebula brought everyone back to life by reversing time, and then he deemed himself a god, repairing the damage of the entire saga.
However, his time wielding it was short-lived. In a trial presided over by the Living Tribunal, with Eternity arguing Warlock is unfit to rule the universe, the Tribunal rules he cannot be trusted to keep the Gauntlet and orders him to disperse the gems. He obeyed the decision and split up the gems to the Infinity Watch, although the Magus eventually took them one by one for the sequel. No hero on this list wielded it more responsibly or consequentially, and only Thanos held it with greater raw menace.
1) Thanos
When anyone talks about the Infinity Gauntlet, the name that comes to mind is Thanos. That is because Thanos is the one who introduced it to the Marvel Universe, as he gathered all the gems and then wielded the full Gauntlet to unleash its full powers. His actions came to fruition in The Infinity Gauntlet (1991) #1–6 by Jim Starlin, George Pérez, and Ron Lim. Thanos wanted to win the love of Mistress Death, and he believed that a mass genocide would win her love.
With the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos defeats and humiliates almost every hero and cosmic entity who challenges him, ascending to replace Eternity as the living embodiment of the universe. This led him to do the unthinkable when he snapped his finger and killed half of all living beings in the universe, the most devastating act anyone ever used it for. He only lost when someone he trusted betrayed him and stole the glove. Thanos conquered the entire cosmic universe and replaced Eternity until the twist ending.
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