The bearers of the Infinity Stones are charged with protecting the Marvel Universe and ensuring that the powerful gems are not misused—they are the Infinity Watch.
First Watch
During the Mad Titan Thanos' quest to fill the Infinity Gauntlet with the Infinity Stones, Adam Warlock, Gamora and Pip the Troll join forces with a number of other super-powered individuals from Earth and other parts of space to oppose the Titan. However, it winds up being Nebula who swipes the Gauntlet from him. She undoes most of the damage in her short time with the Stones, but soon loses the glove to Adam Warlock. Though he intends to continue wielding all six gems in the Gauntlet, he is told by the Living Tribunal that the Stones could no longer be used together. So, he keeps the Soul Stone for himself, grants the Space Stone to Pip, the Mind Stone to Heather Douglas, AKA Moondragon, the Power Stone to Drax the Destroyer and the Time Stone to Gamora. He also secretly gives the Reality Stone to Thanos for safekeeping. Collectively, the group of Infinity Stone wielders became known as the Infinity Watch.
Unlimited Potential
The six members of the Infinity Watch already boasted incredible powers before receiving their Stones. In theory, they could have been the most powerful beings in existence given their new possessions. However, because of the Living Tribunal's decree that the Infinity Stones could not be used together again, the Watch cannot fully tap into the full extent of their power. Most of them also lack an understanding of their stone's vast powers and only use a portion of them, or none at all, as was the case for Thanos. Still, even just being in contact with an Infinity Stone manages to increase everyone's already impressive abilities.
Cosmic Complications
After forming, the Infinity Watch made an ally in none other than Harvey Elder, AKA Mole Man. The group happens to land on Monster Island after an early adventure and finds it a suitable location. Understanding that a group of heroes living nearby could be good for him, the subterranean agreed. From there, the team interacts with Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk, Norrin Radd, AKA Silver Surfer, Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and beyond. Though the Watch always appears to help in huge conflicts against the likes of Magus and The Goddess—both aspects of Adam Warlock's personality—the other heroes never seem to fully accept this new group, partially because each one carries one of the most powerful artifacts in known existence and partially because of their tendency to be seen with Thanos.
In addition to Magus and The Goddess, the Infinity Watch goes up against the likes of Man-Beast, Milos Abyss, AKA Count Abyss, a rage-mad Thor, mind-controlled Avengers, Domitian and Tyrannus. The group also expands to include Maxam, a mystery man with no memories, but incredible powers. He turns out to be both an asset and a liability.
Watch This Space
In the wake of Thanos' near takeover of Eternity during the Infinity Gauntlet conflict, Adam Warlock walked away with the prized glove and the six Infinity Stones. Displeased with the assault on his person, Eternity asked the Living Tribunal to both stop the gems from being used together and also give them to him. The Arbiter of Cosmic Balance agreed with the first point, but ruled that Adam could hand out the Stones as he saw fit.
To that end, Warlock kept the Soul Stone and bestowed the Reality Stone to a reformed Thanos, who remained in space working on his own plans and keeping the gem safe. Meanwhile, Warlock gathered the rest of the team without letting them know the identity of their mysterious sixth member. The Mind Stone went to Moondragon, Pip received the Space Stone, Drax got—and promptly ate—the Power Stone, and Gamora begrudgingly accepted the Time Stone, though she swore not to use it. While most of the team was familiar with one another, there were some unfortunate incidents in their pasts, like the time Moondragon killed Drax, who is also, in essence, her father. However, thanks to a head injury, Drax at this time lacked many of his memories and also acted very childlike. Still, this caused a constant sense of fear in Moondragon, as she worried what would happen if the Destroyer remembered their last encounter.
After receiving the Stones, Warlock flew off and the others began to separate. An attack from a disguised Man-Beast led to the team's capture except for Warlock. Adam defeated his old foe and saved his teammates with an assist from Thanos. Landing on Earth, the Infinity Watch found themselves on Monster Island. In exchange for a bit of protection, Mole Man allowed the group to live in the castle on the island.
War Bound
Just after coming to an agreement with Mole Man about living on Monster Island, the group had an unexpected guest: Thanos. He brought word of an incredibly powerful foe going by the name Magus whose plans had evolved too far for the Titan to stop on his own. This version of Magus gained life during the brief time that Adam Warlock wore the Infinity Gauntlet. In an effort to become perfectly logical, he subconsciously expelled all of the bad and good from his soul. The evil parts became Magus, who wanted to remake reality in his own, dark image.
While the heroes of Earth struggled with monstrous doppelgängers, Thanos and the Infinity Watch sought out the source of Magus' incredible power, which turned out to be a quintet of Cosmic Containment Units (or Cosmic Cubes) from other realities. When the villain arranged for the Earth heroes to teleport right into the Watch's search, a huge battle broke out until the world-eater Galactus, of all people, appeared and shared everyone's experiences with everyone else to get the whole group on the same page.
In an effort to get the Infinity Gauntlet back in the game, Galactus took Gamora to Eternity and the Living Tribunal to get a reprieve on the rule saying the Stones could not be used together. The cosmic judge agreed, but by that time, Magus had kidnapped Adam Warlock, who already had the gem-studded Gauntlet with him! Luckily, Adam and Thanos had already worked out a plan to use a convincing replica of the Reality Stone instead of the real deal, which made the Magus vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Thanos defeated the copy of himself that Magus had been using as a minion, absorbing the creature's memories in the process. Moondragon also worked with fellow psychics Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, Besty Braddock, AKA Psylocke, and Jean Grey to stop Magus’ universal mental attack. All of this seemed to pale in comparison with Magus' ability to adapt to the full power of the Infinity Gauntlet and his plan to replace the existing reality with an evil one. Thanks to a solid effort by Thanos to fight the would-be world-breaker, Adam Warlock managed to touch the Gauntlet and regain some control over it! As Warlock absorbed Magus into Soul World, a huge explosion threatened to kill everyone, but cosmic beings Eternity and Infinityappeared and sent everyone back home.
Damage Control
Back on Monster Island, Adam Warlock lay in a coma. As Thanos was just about to leave, Eternity appeared, offered his thanks and said that the restrictions on the Infinity Stones being used together would be reinstated forever. With that, Thanos left and the others wondered about their futures. Gamora had a vision about a mystery man killing Adam and Drax flew off to mix it up with Hulk. At this time, a U.S. Senator named Kyle Munson began rousing anti-Infinity Watch sentiment and sent a contingent of soldiers to Monster Island who did not stand a chance against Gamora. After a chat with Eternity, Adam Warlock woke back up with renewed purpose.
Around this time, Adam Warlock felt that something big was coming and that having powerful allies on his side would be helpful. With that in mind, he and the Watch helped Silver Surfer fight Hell-lord Mephisto to save the soul of the former Herald's love Shalla Bal. The group also experienced its first encounter with Count Abyss, who wanted the Soul Stone for himself. That was interrupted by a stranger landing on the beach, the man from Gamora's vision! Though able to increase his mass and fight expertly, the man dubbed Maxam remembered absolutely nothing about himself or his past. Gamora didn't believe a word of it and wanted to kill the stranger right away, but Adam Warlock allowed him to stay on the island in an effort to help get his situation figured out.
The Last Crusade
The Infinity Watch found itself at odds when Adam Warlock's "good" side, The Goddess, finally began her own mission to purge the universe of evil—which, for the record, included every living thing. To accomplish this, she first gathered 30 Cosmic Cubes from throughout reality, having started with the five gathered by Magus during the Infinity War. Then, she appeared to heroes of faith and recruited them to her side and brought them to Paradise Omega, a planet she crafted. She needed the heroes—including Moondragon and Gamora—to watch out for her while she entered a Cosmic Egg created from the Cubes so that she could wipe out all life. Thanks to her already impressive mental powers and possession of the Mind Stone, Moondragon was placed in charge by The Goddess when she wasn't around, a role she filled with ruthless conviction.
Meanwhile, Adam Warlock investigated a tear in reality caused by The Goddess trying to recruit Thanos and failing. While those two began their own schemes, Pip, Drax and Maxam did their best to figure out what was going on when three of their teammates disappeared. To that end, Pip dawned a Super Hero costume and teleported Reed Richards, AKA Mister Fantastic to Monster Island and told him the situation. This not-quite-as Fantastic Four met up with their fellow heroes still on Earth and began to formulate plans. Maxam and Drax fit in well, but Pip felt persecuted and began to work up his own plan for stopping The Goddess, which included briefly taking control of the Cosmic Egg!
As the heroes attacked Paradise Omega, Warlock and Thanos enacted their own plan which included Adam giving Thanos the Soul Stone and going to confront The Goddess. When the Titan did so, Warlock managed to emerge and attack her. After an intense battle, Adam managed to stop his "good side" and imprisoned her in Soul World as he had Magus.
A Broken Watch
With another huge cosmic event behind them, the Infinity Watch returned to Monster Island. Further attempts to unlock Maxam's memories proved difficult even with the combined efforts of several Infinity Stone wielders working together. The group could not focus on that problem for long as Warlock saw another opportunity to ingratiate a powerful being to him and his squad: Thor. At that point, the Asgardian had gone insane from being linked to Donald Blake all those years ago.
The team tried to step in, but only managed to make his imaginary friend Valkyrie real and also lose the Power Stone to the nearly insane Thor. Desperate, they turned to Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, and Thanos who both helped. Ultimately, though, Thor's soul could only get saved by the being who put it in peril in the first place: Odin Borson, AKA Odin. Once restored, Thor returned the Power Stone to Drax and thanked the others for their efforts.
From there, the team found itself fending off all manner of attacks. The most surprising came when the Avengers invaded Monster Island with the intent of killing Warlock! This turned out to be a mind-control misunderstanding perpetrated by Kyle Munson. The Senator turned out to be none other than Man-Beast! After putting him away, the team once again dealt with Count Abyss and his minion Maya Teraxtola, AKA Maya, who managed to infect Adam with a love potion. Abyss said he would cure Warlock if he traveled to Abyss' dimension and handed over the Soul Stone. Once there, the Watch was nearly destroyed by Abyss as he could control how the Infinity Stones worked there. Once again, Adam's use of his Infinity Stone saved his friends and the innocents of Abyss' realm.
Infinity Watch also faced off against a Tyrannus, a kind of mystical automaton created by Doctor Strange, Zakaius, and another powerful foe in Domitian. During that last fight, Moondragon was badly injured and fell into a coma. Having returned home, the team had a meeting to figure out what to do. When it was suggested that Maxam take over as the wielder of the Mind Stone, Gamora flipped out. She felt like Adam—who she had shared a closeness with in the past—had totally disregarded her concerns over this stranger she saw kill him in her vision. Fed up, she quit, throwing her Time Stone at Maxam and leaving.
As a huge storm raged, threatening to submerge Monster Island, Maxam placed the Gem on his forehead and finally remembered everything about his past. He'd been bred from an early age in an alternate future (Earth-93112) to fight and kill Adam Warlock before he could turn into Magus. With his memories restored, he attacked his target. Moondragon helped with her mind powers, allowing them both to see Maxam's memories. With the storm worsening, Pip teleported Drax and Moondragon's bodies away while her mind stayed with Adam and Maxam. However, every member of the Watch was shocked when, out of nowhere, all of the Stones disappeared, losing their Stones to the Ultraverse’s Rune! Maxam took that opportunity to attack Adam once again, but Moondragon made the time-traveler think he'd killed his opponent and he disappeared.
Warlock followed the energy vampire back to his home dimension, but was unable to prevent the Stones from being reunited with the 7th Stone, the previously unknown Ego Stone. This allowed the return of Nemesis, who wreaked havoc in both dimensions until being destroyed by Dane Whitman, AKA Black Knight. Scattered throughout reality, the six primary Stones have been briefly regathered by Galactus and the Grandmaster. Warlock regained the Soul Stone, the Champion of the Universe and Mary MacPherran, AKA Titania, have since held the Power Stone, and Pip maintained the Space Stone—granting him the ability to teleport.
The Infinity Watch eventually crumbled apart with each member going their separate ways, but they came together in various combinations to stop evil in the spaceways, never for any length of time.
Always Watching
However, that hasn't quite been the end of the Infinity Watch. Though they never went by this name, the Earth-bound Illuminati became a fill-in for the group when they decided to collect the Stones for themselves and each watch over one. However, they did not actively use them as the original Infinity Watch had, but instead attempted to hide them away from those with ill intent.
More recently, after a reality-shifting event greatly changed the Stones, Doctor Strange called together a meeting of everyone then holding an Infinity Stone. The Sorcerer Supreme held the Time Stone, Turk Barrett the Mind Stone, Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, the Reality Stone, Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, the Space Stone, Adam Warlock the Soul Stone and Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord, the Power Stone. Actually, Star-Lord thought he had the Power Stone. Gamora had already stolen it and formed a plan to kill Thanos, defeat the new Watch, acquire all six Stones and rejoin a piece of herself that had been stuck behind in Soul World, which she succeeded at.
At this point, the Infinity Stones actually had lives and souls of their own thanks to Adam Warlock. Two of them joined with humans—Time with Overtime and Reality with Star— but the others' whereabouts remained a mystery. Perhaps someday soon, all six will reunite in some kind of new Infinity Watch! Only Time, Reality, Space, Mind, Soul and Power will tell.
