By now, hopefully, you are one of the millions of people who have seen Avengers: Infinity War. If you were, you’d know that the sixth and final Infinity Stone, the Soul Stone, was introduced. And if you saw the film, you’re probably wondering how Marvel Studios will proceed going forward. The film doesn’t really go into detail as to what the Soul Stone does. But if it follows the same power set as the Soul Gem in the comics, we might have an idea as to how it will be used in Avengers 4.
Since talking about this stone involves talking about Avengers: Infinity War, let me throw this up here:
In the film, Thanos (Josh Brolin) finds the stone on a planet called Vormir, guarded by the Red Skull (Ross Marquand). In order to obtain the Soul Stone, he must sacrifice someone he loves–a soul for a soul. He sacrifices his daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana), gains the Soul Stone as a result, and moves onto the next stone on the list. Eventually, he gains all the stones, and succeeds in eliminating half of all life in the universe, including many of our favorite Avengers, who disintegrate into dust.
Like I said above, they don’t go into much detail in the film about what the Soul Stone powers are. But in the comics, it is arguably the most powerful of the Infinity Gems. It gives its wielder the ability to control all life in the universe and the ability to manipulate, steal or alter the souls of the living and the dead. But it also has another very important attribute that Marvel Studios might use to bring all those dead Avengers back.
In the comics, the Soul Gem was also the doorway to an idyllic, peaceful and tranquil world that resides inside the gem itself. Numerous times, the comics showed that the souls of the valiant deceased can reside there–most notably Adam Warlock, Gamora and Drax. It isn’t a final resting place either. All those characters came back to life. So if the Soul Stone has the same ability, all of those souls could have been absorbed into the Soul Stone, waiting for the surviving Avengers to come and rescue them.
Do I think the film’s Soul Stone has this ability? No. I know it does. There’s a scene right after Thanos completes his mission. He transports to another world where he meets up with Gamora, who looks like she did when she was a child and Thanos took her in. After a brief conversation, where he tells her he succeed in his quest, Thanos returns to reality.
It has the look of a dream sequence or a hallucination Thanos’ conscience thought up to mess with him. However, I think it was Thanos being transported into the Soul Gem and he’s speaking with Gamora’s soul, which was absorbed by the Stone when she was killed.
Why do I think this? Well, the sky in the scene is the same color orange-yellow as the stone, as if the conversation took place inside the stone. And the fact that Gamora appears as a small child is also important. She makes several references throughout the movie about that being the last time she was truly happy, back before Thanos turned her into a killer. If the stone was to create an idyllic existence for her, it would take her back to that time when she was innocent and happy.
And while the fact that Gamora seems to be alone there, people didn’t start really disappearing until after that scene. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a scene early on in Avengers 4 where all the people who disappeared start popping up in front of child Gamora after Thanos leaves.
Listen, we all know that the people who turned to ash won’t disappear forever. Heck, a bunch of the characters already have sequels scheduled and one just starred in the third highest grossing film of all time. They ain’t staying dead. This is just the way I think Marvel will bring them back. I guess we’ll find out in a little under a year.
