FEATURE: WHERE IS THE SOUL STONE?!?! And is Tony Stark Connected?

[Possible spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War. We haven’t seen the movie, this is just speculation based on marketing observations and leaked bits and pieces. If you want the blindest viewing experience, come back and read this after you see the movie and let us know what we got wrong!]

The Soul Stone. The most elusive of all Infinity Stones. From the moment The Collector explained this concentrated ingot in Guardians of the Galaxy, fans have been obsessed with figuring out where it was. And as Avengers: Infinity War rapidly approaches, we still don’t have a clue.

Well, I say we don’t. A new trailer released on April 7th gave us our very first glimpse of the Soul Stone, located on Thanos’ left pinky knuckle in the gauntlet.

The trailer is notable because the shot is blink and you’ll miss it; also notable: the widescreen version of the trailer specifically crops the stones out of frame. Was this a marketing blunder? Who knows. But as we can see in the above image, Thanos has EVERY stone assembled except for the Mind Stone. Which begs the question: where did he even get the Soul Stone?

A March 27th trailer gives us another clue:

Over on my Twitter page, I took note of how the narration synced up with with the images.

“We have what Thanos wants, so that’s what we use.” #InfinityWar pic.twitter.com/b25HYaNYBW

— The Beallman (@thebeallman) March 27, 2018

Thanos wants the Time Stone and Mind Stone, obviously. But Tony Stark? How would Tony have an Infinity Stone? And which one could he possibly have?

There’s two possibilities, as I see it.

Possibility #1: Tony harbors the Mind Stone

This is a theory that’s been going around the internet for a long time. It takes Howard Stark’s line from Iron Man 2, “My greatest creation was you,” and assumes it to mean that Tony was a product of the Soul Stone. I find this to be a very probable theory.

Tony being a child of the Soul Stone would tie back to his role in the creation of Vision, Ultron, Jarvis, and even the Iron Man suit itself. It is, however, an explanation that robs Tony of his development in Iron Man 3, where the conceit was that the suit doesn’t make the man. Saying “the Infinity Stone makes the man” has less of an impact, but it would tie things up neatly to give Tony a connection to the stones.

Other pieces of info backing up this theory include a recent piece of merchandise centered on characters central to the introduction to each Infinity Stone. Iron Man is featured prominently on the artwork for the Soul Stone.

Possibility #2: Tony has the Reality Stone

This is a theory of my own making. In a leak prior to the Infinity War trailer’s release, The Collector is heard saying he sold the Reality Stone. To whom? Who knows. But did you see Tony’s new sleek, liquid-like Bleeding Edge armor? I know an Infinity Stone that takes the form of a liquid. Could it be that Tony purchased the Reality Stone and turned it into a suit of armor? Anything’s possible.

While I think this theory has merit, I’m less partial to it. If Tony were to have the Reality Stone, then we’re back to square one theorizing who has the Soul Stone. And while I suppose it’s possible that Tony could have BOTH Stones, that seems impractical unless Tony was attempting to use them together and accidentally summoned Thanos to Earth.

…which, I mean, now that I think of it, I guess that’s as probable as anything considering the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

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Who really has the Soul and Reality Stones? I couldn’t tell ya. But I wanna hear your theories! Let us know over on Twitter @WOBAMEnt!

And for more news and features on all things Avengers, keep it here on WOBAM!