Avengers: Infinity War: The history of the Infinity Stones

Credit: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures; from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

The Power Stone

Guardians of the Galaxy was the first of the Marvel Studios films which told audiences the history of the Infinity Stones. It’s also where we first learn about Thanos’ ultimate goal in obtaining the stones. How fitting, then, that it’s the Power Stone in which we see Thanos and his minions actively pursue over the movie’s course.

Initially in the hands of the near-omnipotent Celestials (of which Peter Quill’s father, Ego, was one of them), the stone proved even too powerful for them to control, killing each of them one by one. The surviving Celestials encased the stone inside a metallic sphere simply named “The Orb,” hiding it inside a tomb on the planet Morag. There it stayed until Peter Quill took the Orb as part of a job for the Broker.

Of course, Thanos’ minions were after the Orb as well, including Ronan the Accuser, who wanted it for himself to destroy Xandar as revenge for what they did to his people, the Kree. Once Ronan obtained the Orb and found out what it contained, he used it to attack Xandar against Thanos’ orders. The Guardians of the Galaxy were able to stop him, and, due to Peter handling the Power Stone himself, audiences learned he was half-Celestial as well.

After placing the Power Stone back into the Orb, Xandar’s peacekeeping force, the Nova Corp, placed in one of their secure facilities. However, the trailers for Avengers: Infinity War confirm Thanos already has the Power Stone on the Infinity Gauntlet, along with the Space Stone. That means either sometime between Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War, or perhaps during the beginning of the latter movie, Thanos and his forces already invaded Xandar and took the stone.