Could Marvel's New 'Death' Infinity Stone Cause The MCU's Blackest Night?
Considering that "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" are some of the biggest movies of all time, even the most neophyte of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans understands that the Infinity Stones are incredibly powerful objects that are often craved by those with nefarious purposes. This is because each Infinity Stone typically has a domain of influence — the Space Stone grants its wielder the ability to teleport, the Power Stone grants immense strength and energy, the Reality Stone can manipulate the fabric of reality, the Mind Stone can control minds and imbue consciousnesses, the Time Stone can rewind moments, and the Soul Stone can change and manipulate souls, as well as create simulacrums of the deceased.
However, this particular Soul Stone power isn't exactly used in either of the aforementioned Marvel blockbusters, and its true abilities are generally mysterious. Although the Infinity Stones are incredibly powerful, it seems as if Marvel has introduced yet another Infinity Stone, and this time its domain is that of Death. In this regard, this brand new Death Infinity Stone represents a shocking development in comics, and much like the Soul Stone, the true extent of the Death Stone is as of yet unknown.
However, one could speculate that the Death Stone may create an event similar to DC Comics' "Blackest Night" crossover event, which sees many formerly dead superheroes and villains returned to life as undead and with a powerful need to snuff out all life.
DC Comics' Blackest Night sees dead superheroes and villains return
Primarily a story involving the Green Lantern Corps, the "Blackest Night" event sees the rise of several different ring-bearers like the Green Lanterns; however, these new ring-slingers aren't fueled by the green light of willpower like the Green Lanterns, but rather other emotions. The Blue Lanterns are fueled by hope, the singular Orange Lantern by greed, the Red Lanterns by rage, and so forth. The appearance of these other emotional spectrum rings is part of a prophecy that says that death will consume all of life in order to stop the spread of emotional energy, which is represented by the Black Lanterns and is led by the classic DC villain Black Hand.
"The Blackest Night" proved to be a huge success for DC Comics, and it saw a renewed interest in many characters and comic books due to the nature of the crossover – some parts of the story were in "Green Lantern" comics, while others were in "Batman," "The Flash," "Wonder Woman," and "Superman," to just name a few.
So, where does the Death Infinity Stone fit into all of this? Since there is very little known about this enigmatic new Infinity Stone, and considering its name, Marvel may be setting up a similar event to the "Blackest Night," which will see dead Marvel characters return to the mortal coil — though what form they take could go in several different directions.
The new Death Infinity Stone was created by Thor's grandfather
According to Comic Basics, this new Death Stone was actually created by Thor's grandfather Bor, and it involved experimentation with dark magic in order to find a new power that would lead to a new era of peace. Unfortunately, this new power proved to be entirely corrupting and awash with the forces of Death, so Bor and his fellow Asgardians decided to seal the Death Stone away.
However, the comic book iteration of Thanos has a thing for jewelry, and he is able to recover this secretive and destructive weapon. Unlike when Thanos possessed the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos uses this Death Stone to bring several dead Avengers members back to life, and through the power of necromancy, force these animated corpses to serve his bidding.
At this point in the comics, this is the only power that is truly quantified with the Death Stone, and knowing Thanos' typical plans to cause death on an unspeakable scale, it seems as if the Death Stone and Thanos will very much create a "Blackest Night"-like event in Marvel. At least, the potential is there to see former dead superheroes battling their former friends. This wouldn't be the first time there have been comparisons to DC Comics' "Blackest Night" either.
Marvel has already seen reanimated heroes and villains in Marvel Zombies
Since Thanos is assembling an undead force through the power of the Death Stone, it obviously causes some feelings of déjà vu in comic book aficionados. These new events certainly echo many of the same plot elements of DC Comics' "Blackest Night," such as reanimated former superheroes serving a powerful villain, though there haven't been several new superheroes introduced, unlike the "Blackest Night."
However, as mentioned earlier, this wouldn't be the first time that dead superheroes have come back, and many Marvel fans look at the "Marvel Zombies" as something quite similar already. This storyline sees a zombie infection break out, and the infected superheroes become ravenous undead, though they more or less retain components of their personality and superpowers, unlike typical mindless zombies.
Though Thanos certainly isn't making brain-eating zombies, this comic book arc simply establishes that undead superheroes have already appeared in recent Marvel comic book history. Still, it is hard to deny the growing similarities between this new Death Infinity Stone and the events of the "Blackest Night" story, and it will be interesting to see where this fresh Marvel plot element goes — will the "Blackest Night" comparisons continue or will Marvel chart a different path?