Infinity Gauntlet #6 really only works as long as you have as much faith in Adam Warlock as Jim Starlin does – well, maybe not, given that Starlin likely loves the character far more than anyone else on the face of the planet. The logic of the final issue – indeed, of the entire series – is essentially “Warlock is the smartest, the purest, the bestest, so he can do whatever needs to be done to win!” with some added cod-philosophizing thrown in for effect. (Somewhere, Chad Nevett is losing his mind in disagreement.) The beatdowns that didn’t work with Thanos work with Nebula just because, and the “I’m grabbing the glove” that also didn’t work with Thanos works with Nebula just because, and the series ends with Warlock in charge of the magic glove and assuring people that he’s the best guy for the job. They might not believe him, but it doesn’t matter; Starlin does, and that’s all that counts.
(Art by Ron Lim, 1991.)
Man… it’s like Graeme is baiting me. I ask him a question yesterday via his Tumblr ask function about what event he thinks is the best event (prompted by his Crisis posts), mentioning that The Infinity Gauntlet would probably be my pick (to the surprise of no one), and he tells me to watch the Wait What Tumblr today for something I’ll love (possibly hate)… And, here we are… with a series of posts just tearing into The Infinity Gauntlet. Mostly in ways that are correct, but still. I’ll just say a few things:
* This was really just an expansion of a Silver Surfer story. Jim Starlin took over that title, brought back Thanos, and soon it was the two-part Thanos Quest followed by this series. It’s barely an event. There are, apparently, tie-in comics that I’ve never read. I’m tempted to get that complete Infinity Gauntlet omnibus thing with them all out of morbid curiosity, but it seems unnecessary when that money could go towards feeding my kid. But, one of the reasons why this works so well is that it was an organic story, not designed as an Event.
* I prefer the Ron Lim issues to the George Perez ones. Lim and Starlin just go together.
* This is where Starlin solidifed the “Thanos loses because Thanos thinks he deserves to lose” part of the character and began his path toward anti-villain status. He was God and still was filled with self-loathing and insecurity. Say what you will, that’s an incredibly unique direction to take a character. Villains lost because they were flawed all of the time, but the flaw was never (maybe rarely) that they hated themselves so much that they sabotaged themself. He literally loses here in the same way that he lost to Mar-Vell.
* I’ve never understood why issue four is seen as having one of the ‘great’ Captain America moments. He sees God kill all of his friends, makes a big speech about how God can’t win shit while he still stands, and, then, after a brief distraction, God kills him with ease (an absent-minded backhand while not even looking at the Avenger!). It’s the end of an issue devoted to the idea that all of your favourite Marvel heroes are completely out of their league when it comes to cosmic affairs, but are too stupid to realise it. Cap thinks he’s making a grand stand against a tyrant when all he is a distraction. He’s cannon fodder for Adam Warlock. Every Infinity event would reiterate this point as much as possible. It makes me laugh that, for a while, Marvel devoted their energies to events that completely dismissed their entire lineup of superheroes as basically useless when outside of Earth. They are the tools and pawns of the Gods.
* Warlock’s end plan had a few subtle differences (and is based in the idea that Thanos’s granddaughter wouldn’t learn from his mistakes any more than he did): his presence in the Soul Gem to throw the Gauntlet out of balance, her being even less adjusted to her new power than Thanos was, and, well, her being a pretty shit villain that isn’t in Thanos’s league. It works. No one is surprised.
* The ending of this story planted the seeds for The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade. Hey, at least those events were somewhat organic, too!
What is great about this is that the entire Infinity Gauntlet run of posts had been pre-scheduled ahead of Chad asking his question. It was fate.