In Guardians of the Galaxy, meanwhile, the purple Power Stone was used by villain Ronan to try and destroy the Guardians. Formed into a weapon called Aether, it can be used to turn anything into dark matter, or to drain energy from others. Then there's the red Reality Stone, which, as mentioned, was the focus of Thor: The Dark World. It can boost intelligence, and unlocked the mutant powers of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver during the credits of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Then there's the yellow Mind Stone handed over by Thanos himself, which powered Loki's weapon in The Avengers and merged its intelligence with a computer program to become an enemy in its own right, Ultron. It's the power within the Tesseract, and can create wormholes connecting times and planes of existence. The first stone introduced in the MCU was the blue Space Stone, in Thor's post-credit sequence. Avengers: Infinity War will focus on Thanos' attempts to gather the remaining stones. If completed, the Gauntlet would give its user godlike powers over space and time, including nigh-invulnerability and immortality. Thanos is the Titan who's been causing trouble across the galaxy for Marvel's heroes, slowly collecting the Infinity Stones to use in his ultimate weapon, the Infinity Gauntlet. When your nicknames include 'Genocidal Maniac' and 'The Most Powerful Being In The Universe', you're clearly not someone to mess around or be mess around with.

It's a tangle web these gems weave, but the strands are all drawing together as a massive enemy seeks to unite them all in Infinity War. A red stone nearly rips Asgard apart in Thor: The Dark World, and is handed over to Guardians of the Galaxy's Collector. A yellow stone powers Loki's treachery in The Avengers, but pops up briefly mid-credit sequence in The Winter Soldier. The six stones have popped up in Marvel movies before, and each has been said to have its own unique powers and abilities. But exactly how many Infinity Stones are there? The number is surprisingly few for the immense power with which they shape the Marvel world. Don't be fooled by the name, there's a limited amount of these precious gems sought across the universe.

The latest entry, Avengers: Infinity War, is about to join the saga, bringing together not just The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Spider Man, and numerous other Marvel superheroes, but the mysterious objects haunting the last few films - the Infinity Stones. Much like the actual universe, Marvel's Cinematic Universe continues to expand beyond the point of human comprehension.

Infinity stones