Orb

The Orb was an ancient artifact that housed the Power Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, the remnant of a singularity that predated the universe. The Power Stone was a powerful weapon capable of granting its wielder great, cosmic power, but was highly likely to kill any organic beings that touched it. It was used by Eson the Searcher until it was hidden for millennia on the planet Morag.

The Orb containing the Power Stone was coveted by Thanos, who employed the Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser in 2014 to retrieve it for him. However, before Ronan could acquire the Orb, it was stolen by Star-Lord, prompting a galaxy-wide hunt that resulted in the Orb being given to the Nova Corps for safe-keeping. Thanos later retrieved the Power Stone from the Nova Corps in 2018 and inserted it into his Infinity Gauntlet, using it in conjunction with the other five stones to eliminate half of all life in the universe. Following the completion of his life's goal, Thanos destroyed all six stones to prevent his work from being undone.

In 2023, the Avengers initiated a Time Heist in order to resurrect the lives Thanos had claimed, with War Machine and Nebula sent back in time to 2014 to retrieve the Power Stone from Morag. Following the Battle of Earth, where Iron Man used all six stones to kill Thanos and his army at the cost of his own life, Captain America time-traveled to Morag of 2014 to return the Power Stone, albeit without the Orb.

## Contents

* Contents
* History
* Containment Device
* Quest for the Orb
* Alternate Universe Versions
* Theft of the Power Stone
* Found by T'Challa
* Capabilities
* Trivia
* References

## History

### Containment Device

Millennia after its creation, the Power Stone was used by nine Cosmic Beings who linked themselves together in order to effectively harness the stone's power. The effects were short-lived, however, as the energy of the stone disintegrated all of them after a few moments.

Subsequently, the stone, sealed within the Orb, was hidden in a secret tomb on the planet Morag, where rising tides ensured access only once every 300 years.

### Quest for the Orb

Millions of years later, the Orb became the desired object of various different parties. Thanos and his allies, Ronan the Accuser, Korath the Pursuer, Nebula, and Gamora had been seeking it for some time and traveled to Praxius IX under false leads. Taneleer Tivan also sought to add the Orb to his collection, and hired Gamora to betray Thanos and give it to him.

Peter Quill discovered the Orb's location on Morag, but just as he recovered it from the tomb, he was attacked by minions of Korath. Barely escaping from the attackers, Quill took the Orb to Xandar where he had made a deal to sell it through the Broker. However, when the Broker learned that Ronan also desired the Orb, he refused to take it, fearing for his life.

Quill was then attacked by Gamora and the criminal duo of Rocket Raccoon and Groot, who had been pursuing Quill through a bounty. A chase ensued, after which the four were detained by the Nova Corps and taken to the Kyln, where they were imprisoned and the Orb was confiscated. Joining up with Drax the Destroyer, they re-obtained the Orb and escaped from the prison.

They then traveled to Knowhere, where they handed the Orb to Tivan who explained the Orb's history and capabilities. Carina suddenly attempted to take the Stone for herself, but upon touching it, she accidentally triggered its power, releasing an energy pulse that killed her and destroyed most of the installation.

Drax, mad with the desire for revenge, had also contacted Ronan, whose forces attacked Gamora, Rocket, and Quill. After Nebula destroyed Gamora's pod, Ronan then recovered the Orb. Realizing it contained an Infinity Stone, Ronan decided to double-cross Thanos out of spite due to Thanos' beratement of him. He tore the Orb open and harnessed the power of the Stone, forging it into his hammer, the Cosmi-Rod, vowing to destroy Xandar and kill Thanos.

Later as Ronan's forces attacked Xandar, Ronan used the power of the Stone to destroy countless ships, much to the horror of Nova-Prime Irani Rael, the leader of Xandar's police force. Quill attempted to use Rocket's Hadron Enforcer to destroy Ronan, but the Stone prevented him from being destroyed. When Ronan's ship, the *Dark Aster*, crashed onto Xandar, Ronan attempted to use the hammer to destroy Xandar once and for all but was distracted by Quill's antics.

Rocket shot Ronan's hammer with the Hadron Enforcer, destroying the hammer and releasing the Stone. Quill then caught the Stone, and through joining hands with Gamora, Rocket, and Drax, managed to withstand its power long enough to destroy Ronan and for the stone to be inserted into a new container by Gamora. Yondu Udonta then forced Quill to give him the new Orb, and flew away with it. However, Quill had switched the containers, so he had given Yondu a doll inside a container rather than the stone.

Quill entrusted the new Orb to the Nova Corps. as it was stored in a high-security vault on Xandar. In return, the Nova Corps pardoned Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Drax, and rebuilt Quill's spaceship.

However, four years later, Thanos extracted the Power Stone from the Orb after defeating the Nova Corps, using the Infinity Stone to decimate half of Xandar.

### Alternate Universe Versions

#### Theft of the Power Stone

In 2023, the Avengers initiated a Time Heist, where they used time travel to acquire all six Infinity Stones from different points in time in order to resurrect the victims of Thanos' Snap. Arriving in an alternate 2014, War Machine and Nebula were sent to Morag to retrieve the Orb from the Temple Vault, where War Machine knocked Star-Lord unconscious. Stealing a tool from Star-Lord, Nebula managed to successfully retrieve the Orb,

After being given the Orb by Nebula, War Machine used the Quantum Realm to return it to his timeline, where the Power Stone was extracted from the Orb and placed in the Nano Gauntlet. Using the gauntlet, Bruce Banner harnessed the power of the six stones to resurrect the victims of the Snap, albeit losing the ability to use his right arm. After the Battle of Earth, Steve Rogers journeyed to the alternate 2014 to return the Power Stone, albeit without the Orb.

## Capabilities

* **Energy Projection**: The Power Stone can be used to produce blasts, explosions, storms, orbs, or tornadoes of lethal, purple, fire-like energy. When used at its maximum
* potential, it can produce an energy wave strong enough to consume an entire planet. Though the Stone seems incapable of performing this function inside a containment orb, instruments such as the Cosmi-Rod can be used to contain it, preventing the need to directly touch the stone and experience its deadly effects, while still exploiting its full power. There have only been two known instances where living creatures channeled the energy of the Orb. The first resulted in the death of all those who were present. The second was by the Guardians of the Galaxy who, by joining hands to share the brunt of the stone's energy, were able to concentrate it to kill Ronan the Accuser. When the energy touched living things, it corroded and burned them by first coursing through and then causing them to burn and disintegrate until they are reduced to purple ambers that then fade. The process of being destroyed by the Stone's power is seemingly extremely painful.
* **Superhuman Enhancement:** The Power Stone can enhance any Superhuman abilities the wielder may have, Like when it increase Ronan the Accuser's strength, as seen in Ronan the Accuser's initial defeat of the Guardians of the Galaxy. It also can increase the wielder's durability like when Ronan the Accuser's withstood a direct, close-range shot from the Hadron Enforcer, with no apparent injury, and walked away from the crash of the *Dark Aster* unscathed.

## Trivia

* As with the Aether fused with Jane Foster, the eyes of those who successfully harness the Orb's power turn black, the irises changing color.
* Concept art was made of Entropy using the Orb to kill beings.

## References

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Orb.

1. ↑ *Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude*
2. ↑ *Guardians of the Galaxy*
3. ↑ *Avengers: Infinity War*
4. ↑ *Avengers: Endgame*
5. ↑ *Thor: The Dark World*
6. ↑ *The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy*