Avengers: Infinity War: The history of the Infinity Stones
By Mike McNulty
Credit: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures; from Doctor Strange (2016)
The Time Stone
In this author’s opinion, this Infinity Stone has the coolest power: time manipulation. For anyone who watched Doctor Strange (2016), this allows for very impressive and creative visual effects. Interesting, too, how the Marvel Cinematic Universe turned this stone into the key part of one Doctor Strange’s signature magical objects, The Eye of Agamotto.
Who is Agamotto? He was Earth’s first Sorcerer Supreme, the founder of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and architect of the three Sanctum Sanctorums which protect the world from supernatural and inter-dimensional threats. While unexplained how Agamotto obtained the Time Stone, it’s clear he and his successors knew what the stone is capable of and how dangerous the Eye could be. Thus, every Sorcerer Supreme kept the Eye of Agamotto in Kamar-Taj, using it only as a last resort.
Since Stephen Strange is one of those “the rules don’t apply to me” types, he had no qualms about using the Eye of Agamotto when studying the Mystic Arts. Never mind that, as both Wong and Mordo warned him, using the Eye could potentially cause fissures in the space-time continuum, or create branching timelines and time loops.
Doctor Strange used the Eye on two other occasions. The first was stopping then rewinding time to undo the destruction of Hong Kong’s Sanctum Sanctorum by Kaecilius and his followers. The second was trapping himself and Dormammu in a continuous time loop, forcing Dormammu to agree to leave Earth alone. Afterwards, Doctor Strange placed the Eye back in Kamar-Taj’s library, although he wears it during Thor: Ragnarok and in the Avengers: Infinity War trailers.
Those same trailers also imply that Thanos’ minions arrive in New York, no doubt to take the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone. There’s even a moment where one of the Children of Thanos tortures Doctor Strange. Stands to reason then that Thanos will get the Time Stone one way or another.