page_title: The Infinity Gauntlet
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: The Infinity Gauntlet / Publication history / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Jim Starlin.
context_page_description: The Infinity Gauntlet is an American comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics. In addition to an eponymous, six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, cross over chapters appeared in related comic books. Since its initial serialization from July to December 1991, the series has been reprinted in various formats and editions.
  The series' events are driven by Thanos, a nihilist character created for Marvel by Starlin in 1973. When Starlin began writing Silver Surfer in 1990, he and Lim began a new plot with Thanos that developed over sixteen monthly issues and a spin-off limited series before concluding in The Infinity Gauntlet. Pérez was brought in to draw The Infinity Gauntlet because he had more name recognition among fans and because Lim already had a full schedule. However, after completing three issues and part of the fourth, his own busy schedule and dissatisfaction with the story led to him being replaced by Lim.
  At the start of The Infinity Gauntlet, the character Thanos has collected all six Infinity Gems and attached them to his gauntlet.
context_section_description: In 1988, Steve Englehart was writing Silver Surfer and one of his storylines involved the Infinity Gems and Mistress Death. He asked to do a follow-up story where Mistress Death uses Thanos to get revenge on her enemies, but editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco did not know who Thanos was. After the character was explained to him, DeFalco liked the idea so much he wanted to save it for a big summer crossover instead. At the time, he indicated he wanted to format it like "The Evolutionary War", a 1988 crossover spread across the annuals of several continuing series instead of being contained in a limited series.
  Because of his ties to the character, Starlin was invited back to Marvel to write the story. Inspired by the work he had recently read from Wilhelm Reich, Carlos Castaneda, and Roger Zelazny, Starlin wanted to purposely add multiple layers to his characters instead of letting them be one-dimensional. He started writing with the expectation that this would be the last Thanos story "at least for a while" and was midway through the story before deciding to make Thanos an antihero. He began writing Silver Surfer with #34, cover dated February 1990. To organize various plot and character points, Starlin made notes on 3-by-5 cards and pinned them to a large piece of plywood hung on his wall.
  His first four issues reintroduced Thanos and was seen as the first act of the new Thanos storyline. Initially, Starlin and editor Craig Anderson planned for the story to remain contained within the pages of Silver Surfer. However, Marvel had recently been purchased and the new owners mandated all intellectual property be exploited to maximum potential. To capitalize on the excitement surrounding Thanos' return, the start of the second act was spun off into the two-issue limited series The Thanos Quest, released in September–October 1990. The plot then continued in Silver Surfer beginning with #44. In Silver Surfer #46, Starlin reintroduced Adam Warlock and his supporting cast. He included these characters because the editors told him a different writer wanted to use them, and they would let him unless Starlin wanted to use them first. Starlin was not impressed by the other writer's work, so he wrote Warlock into his Silver Surfer story. Again, Starlin and Anderson planned to conclude the story in the pages of Silver Surfer, but the sales of The Thanos Quest were high enough to warrant another spin-off. After Silver Surfer #50, the plot moved to The Infinity Gauntlet. Because of the time required to write the double-length issues of the limited series and coordinate tie-ins, Starlin had to leave the Silver Surfer series at #52.
  The editorial staff did not oppose Starlin's plans to kill major characters, which he believes was partly because Anderson did not share many of the details with his peers. They did, however, limit which of "their" characters could have roles in the story. For example, X-Men editor Bob Harras only allowed Cyclops and Wolverine to appear. The rest of the X-Men cast were said to have died off-panel or were otherwise omitted. This hesitancy was due in part to the relative newness of summer crossover events.
  Early in 1990, Marvel writer/artist Jim Valentino learned Pérez's contract with DC Comics was going to lapse in August. He contacted Pérez by phone to see if he would ink a cover to Guardians of the Galaxy, a comic Valentino was currently writing and penciling. Pérez agreed, and Valentino told Anderson, who was his editor as well. Anderson passed the information to Starlin, who called Pérez and asked him to pencil The Infinity Gauntlet. After working out the terms with Starlin and Anderson, Pérez agreed to the job. In a 1991 interview, Pérez speculated that he was asked because Silver Surfer and The Thanos Quest penciller Ron Lim was too busy.
  Although Pérez had been a writer as well as an artist at DC, he agreed to work from full scripts on The Infinity Gauntlet because he was not familiar with the current state of Marvel's characters. From the start, Pérez found this to be "a little aggravating, unnerving" because o
caption: Series writer Jim Starlin in 2008
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