Infinity Gauntlet #2

(I apologize in advance for how choppy this post is. Working on how to summarize better) 

The second issue of this series starts off with Thanos wearing a maniacal grin. Thanos is very pleased with himself at how easy his task was with the aid of the Infinity Gauntlet.

 The story then cuts to the Avengers aiding people in a plane crash in front of a Cathedral, one of the many catastrophes happening around the globe. Then we see Wendall Vaughin in his office working. He then hears the voice of Epoch, the mentor of Quasar. He turns to look at Epoch, turns into Quasar, and take off. Next, we see the Kree empire observing the disappearance of half their people and blaming their greatest adversaries, the Skrull. Now we are back with Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer. Luckily Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, is with them observing the Silver Surfer in his disoriented condition. After examining the Surfer Pym deducts that he won't be able to help him and has to leave. Then one of Strange's helpers is trying to get his attention but Strange enters a daze due to Adam Warlock trying to contact him.

Adam informs of what is going on and tells Strange that he will need him help along with others. Stephen is cautious and tells him that he must convince him and his companions that will aid him. Adam warns him that in order for the obstacles he faces he must meld souls with him. Strange knows there are risks as to what will happen but with everything going on it is a risk he must take. As they meld Stephen sees what Adam has seen and knows, now trusting Adam. Strange now understands what is going on and will help in any way he can. 

    

    The next page we see computer screens with maps of the universe and other world. Doctor Doom is aware that with the disappearances of people on Earth and knows there is an outside force tampering with "his" people. Doom believes this is an opportunity to expand on his scientific knowledge and power. 

    It then cuts to Drax and Eros, Starfox, investigating the disappearances of the population. Suddenly Eros disappears and finds himself confined to a chair with his brother, Thanos, looking at him. Thanos welcomes him to the "family reunion." Introducing Mistress Death as his love and pointing out Nebula below them. Eros points out that it's not a family reunion without their father. Thanos turns to his brother and states that he was not invited nor will he be there. The reason being is that The Mentor (their father) was among those who disappeared and Thanos made sure of it because he would have tried to stop him. he brandishes the Infinity Gauntlet telling him that nothing must interfere with his "Holy" mission. Eros grins manically and 'offers' his help (Eros' power allows him to manipulate ones emotions with his voice. Also, Eros doesn't care for his brother). But Thanos senses Eros' intention and stops him.

    We then see Captain America tallying all heroes who have gone missing. There is a scene of Captain America working with the Avengers, Odin and the Father's of other Pantheons discussing events at hand, Quasar speaking with Epoch, and then Pip being hurled due to the explosion of Adam emerging from his cocoon and leaving. 

    Then we see Silver Surfer waking up to Dr. Doom standing over him and his henchmen subduing Dr. Strange and his servant. Silver Surfer tries to stop Doom but is to weak to take him on. With the Surfer out of the way Dr. Doom turns to Dr. Strange and demands the information that the Surfer has passed onto him. Suddenly, the robots restraining Strange and his assistant get ripped apart by Adam Warlock

    We go back to Thanos torturing Nebula and Eros. Thanos, with a enjoyment on his face, asks if his gesture is amusing. Mephisto whispers to Thanos that his Mistress is indeed not amused. He relieves Eros and Nebula of their torment. Eros looks up to see Thanos grinning manically above him and he is scarred knowing that with Thanos' mind with the Infinity Stones, anything in his twisted imagination is possible. 

    Again we are back at the Sanctorum as Adam Warlock sums up the events of Thanos Quest and Silver Surfer's encounter with Thanos and his gauntlet. He warns everyone present that he must lead those who will fight Thanos. 

    Back to Thanos tormenting Eros and Nebula in a different way. Again asking if his gesture amuses her, but again she is not. Thanos asks, with anger, what he must do to amuse her. He exclaims that he has given and done everything for her yet she still does not give her approval. 

 And in his anger, a wave of of immense psychic force bursts from the monument and destroys a Red Giant Star. But that was only the beginning, the wave continued and destroyed everything in its path. Including a planet the Galactus was about to consume. This was not the first planet that Thanos cheated out of Galactus. And now Galactus is on a quest of vengeance. 

    We then see Earth in chaos due to the psychic wave. Buildings are falling and streets cracking open. We also see Ironman in space taking readings then suddenly his instrument explodes making him plummet to Earth. He quickly recovers to see a tsunami engulfing the coast. He knows there isn't much he can do but he must try. Luckily he encounters a few members of the Avengers in a Quinjet with the same objective that he has. But they were to late. The wave already took the millions of lives before they could react.

   

    We then see Asgard broken and crumbling. The wave shattered the rainbow bridge and left Asgard nearly in ruins. Odin sees the rainbow bridge and hangs his head for he and the other pantheon fathers are stuck on Asgard. Now Odin feels helpless and responsible that the other fathers cannot go back and protect their homes.

    

    Back to Earth see Namor diving into the water to see volcanoes rising from the ocean floor and knows that this event will cause Tidal waves on the US Eastern coast. Cutting to Namoritas (a mutant clone of Namor's cousin, Namora) flying over New York saving a few people before the gargantuan wave taking the city out and all who fell under it. Thor flies over Japan to find that it too has been claimed by a tidal wave. Back at Avengers HQ the Avengers are calling anyone who will help and accepting help where ever it comes from.

    

     

But back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Adam Warlock knows exaclty what has caused this catastrophe

The Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Gauntlet #1 event

After the events in Thanos Quest, the story continues in Silver Surfer #44 where Thanos has embedded them into one of his gauntlets creating The Infinity Gauntlet.

After experiencing his new found god hood he realizes that he must remove the nuisance who is the Silver Surfer. (In Silver Surfer #34-38 the Surfer has the vision of Thanos being resurrected. Thanos seeks out the Surfer to convince him to join him in his cause but the Surfer does not buy into it and tries to stop him. Drax is also resurrected who's soul purpose is to destroy Thanos.)  Thanos opens a portal to between him, the Surfer, and Drax. Drax sees Thanos and immediately runs to fulfill his life purpose and the Surfer tries to stop him knowing that it's a trap but both get sucked in. Drax and Silver Surfer both fall confused as to what happened. When Drax gets over his confusion he looks to Thanos and goes after him. Thanos tells Drax (Condescendingly) to calm down and to quite shouting. He then shows Surfer and Drax the prehistoric era of the planet they are on and then the last day. At first Silver Surfer and Drax believe it to be an illusion but then realize it truly is reality. Thanos boasts his use of the Time Gem and changes its color to orange.

After we see the three over New York then the planet once more confusing the Silver Surfer. He points out that he did not sense any teleportation and that could not be. We then see Thanos circled around the Surfer and Drax saying that it is true that we (the multiple Thanos') could be anywhere and nowhere, distance no meaning anymore because of the Space Gem and turns it purple.

 After his demonstration of his control over space Drax begins to yell Thanos then attacks the Silver Surfer stating he will kill him. Thanos explains that he has manipulated the very essence of his soul. Leaving the center gem of the gauntlet green. 

While Drax has the Surfer by the throat Thanos explains how he finds it funny how in the last moments, their life flashes before their eyes but it was not the body responding to the impending doom it was Thanos who was manipulating the Surfer's mind with the gem. Thanos then turns the Mind gem blue.

Then Thanos demonstrates the power of the Reality stone by twisting the very fabric around them then turning the stone yellow.

Lastly we see Drax and Silver Surfer trying to escape the grasp of a large Thanos telling them that they must accept what they have seen and nothing is impossible for him and he may do anything with the cosmos for he also controls all the power in the universe and changes the Power gem red.

After showing off his new found power the Silver Surfer is still in denial and calls Thanos a liar. Thanos, with all sincerity, tells Surfer that what he has seen was all true and he could do nothing to stop him. Silver Surfer and Drax try to stop him but their defeat is inevitable. With the Surfer and Drax at his feet Thanos boasts his power, his invincibility, and he who is now a supreme being and none can challenge his godly might. (A quick summary of Silver Surfer #45, we see Mephisto has been keeping an eye on Thanos and foolishly devises a plot to steal the gauntlet. Mephisto appears to Thanos and bows and "submits" himself as a humble servant. Thanos turns him away but Mephisto persists on becoming his servant and is willing to "prove" it. Thanos transports them both to a barren planet and Mephisto tells Thanos to open his mind to the stones and to truly understand what they are capable of. While Thanos is in a "daze" of his new found knowledge, Mephisto grabs the gauntlet and prides himself on besting the new god. But it was only an illusion. The gauntlet grabs Mephisto by the throat and Thanos breaks the image in Mephisto's mind. Thanos is holding Mephisto by the throat and asks him did he really believe he could so easily deceive him. Thanos drop Mephisto and the Lord of the Underworld, on his hands and knees, pleads for forgiveness and (this time) truly asks to serve Thanos.) And so starts the Infinity Gauntlet event.

(Quick note, there are a few more issues that cover what happened to Silver Surfer and Drax and their time in the Soul Gem, their encounter with Adam Warlock, and Silver Surfer crashing into Dr. Strange's Sanctum, but I won't be discussing those.)

Infinity Gauntlet starts off with Mephisto praising Thanos and asking what he can do to serve him while standing on a ledge looking at a giant rock formation spelling "GOD." Thanos tells Mephisto to silence himself and that soon the universe will be unable to deny Thanos the title of a Cosmic God. Next we see Silver Surfer crash into the Sanctum Sanctorum (The home of Dr. Strange). The Sanctorum's alarm goes off and Strange gets ready to fight the "stranger" that is on his way. Surfer crashes threw the ceiling to Strange's surprise. The Surfer moans in pain for Dr. Strange that he needs to warn him about Thanos and informs him of his visions and his confrontation with the new god. Then it cuts back to Thanos telling Mephisto that he pondered what he would do with his new found power and thought he would loose himself in the myriad of questions what he would do with it and the answer is anything he wants for a God makes no mistakes and blows up the planet they were on. It then cuts to Surfer explaining what happened in Silver Surfer #34-38 and Thanos Quest. We then see Pip the Troll talking about how he, a woman and Adam Warlock gained physical bodies after being the Soul Gem (you will read more about them later). Three "Grade-A Losers" were coming out of a bar plastered drunk. They were running from the police and took a back road. The driver forgot about a turn and drove right off the cliff. The crash killed them instantly allowing Adam, the woman, and Pip to inhabit their bodies. The woman and Pip freak out about how they are disfigured but Adam reassures them that his healing abilities were repairing their bodies and changing their biology to suit them. We then turn to see Thanos and Mephisto appearing in the Hall of Death so Thanos could once more show his love. Thanos asks Mistress Death if she would forgive him of taking his gift of resurrection to find the Infinity Gems. Death turns on him and Thanos tells her it was never his intention to wrong her and believes he did not. Yes he sought out the gems to become a supreme being but only to become her equal, one he would be worthy of her love. Death's herald informs him that Mistress Death is not his equal and that he is her superior. To Thanos, she is nothing more than a love slave to him. This is the exchange between Thanos and her herald:

T: But she is the keeper of my heart!
H: How can she find such status any less stifling? You love is bondage.

T: My love is worship!

H: The Mistress if the Hall of Dead has no need for sycopaths.

T: NO!! You are wrong! Death should be revered! Shrines should be built to her!
Thanos then has the idea to build a shrine

He summons two thrones for himself and his Mistress but she still turns away from him. Mepshisto suggests that maybe the Mistress does not realize the depths of his black soul is achieving. She is a Dark Spirit and her mate must be like her. So to prove his likeness of her he brings the body of his

"so called grand daughter" to the edge of life and death. Her body mangled and destroyed but conscience to what was going on around her. But still Mistress is not impressed by his antics. Her herald tells him that she finds his boasts empty and distasteful. Thanos looks at the herald with disgust and obliterates it. With anger in his voice, he demands that she addresses him directly or not at all. Telling her that he does not understand her attitude toward him and that all he asks is her love and approval and asks what he has done to deserve such rejection. Mephisto whispers to Thanos that maybe it's not what he has done but what he has NOT done. Thanos then remembers the duty that his Mistress tasked him with. He realizes that his quest and his love for Death had clouded his mind from what he was charged to due. He walks to the edge of the shrine raises his hand and snaps his fingers. We then see various Marvel characters witnessing the disappearance of others. It then goes back to Pip talking about how they were adjusting to their new bodies and then as he was admiring himself the woman disappeared. Pip freaked out and looked for the woman and when he realized she was really gone he rushed into Adam's room to find him in a chrysalis.