Avengers Just Introduced Its Era-Defining Infinity Gauntlet Replacement
Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.
Since 1991, the Infinity Gauntlet has been the ultimate artifact in the Avengers mythos - deadly, iconic and steeped in compelling cosmic lore. As of now, 2026 has the new millennium's answer to Thanos' favorite glove, and not only is it even more powerful, it's likely to inspire the same kind of ambitious stories.
Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, the Infinity Stones were initially the more generic 'Soul Gems,' with no specific function for each stone. Later stories gave us the iconic Reality, Time, Space, Soul, Mind and Power Stones, and turned them into Thanos' weapon of choice.
With the Infinity Gauntlet in hand, Thanos famously killed half of all life in the universe to court Lady Death, in Jim Starlin, Ron Lim and George Pérez's iconic Infinity Gauntlet. Shockingly, even that is peanuts compared to the superweapon the Avengers just discovered.
Avengers Unleashes The What If Machine
In the recent Avengers: Armageddon #3 - from Chip Zdarsky, Ario Anindito, Cory Petit and Jesus Aburtov - the Avengers discover the 'What If Machine.' Created by Doctor Doom, the device can accurately predict the future to answer, allowing the user to game out countless hypothetical scenarios in terms of decades or even centuries. However, what's jaw-dropping isn't what it can do, but how it works.
Marvel just introduced a new cosmic artifact so compelling that - like the Infinity Gauntlet - it could inspire decades of stories...
Tony Stark and Reed Richards study the device, discovering that it doesn't just 'predict' the future of the current timeline. It creates an "entire new universe" to answer the user's question. Once it has its answer, that universe is destroyed, with Tony Stark estimating that using the device kills "decillions of beings."
Iron Man admits the What If Machine has godlike power, but that it would be an act of incredible evil to actually use it (something the Red Hulk has already done multiple times this series.)
Doom's What If Machine isn't perfect. For reasons that aren't yet clear, Red Hulk's use of the machine didn't predict David Colton fighting against him.
Sadly, the Sentry-like David Colton doesn't trust the Avengers to resist temptation, and takes the device into his own custody. Now, the Avengers are trying to track down Colton and take back this cosmic engine of destruction.
The What If Machine Isn't Just Powerful, It's Also a Great Idea
Marvel's "What If" stories were made truly famous by the MCU's recent TV series of the same name, but they've been an iconic part of the comics since 1977. Usually, What If...? stories see Uatu the Watcher either hypothesizing about potential changes to the timeline, or scrying the multiverse to find worlds where things went differently.
The only issue with What If...? is that it rarely ties into Marvel's mainstream. The What If Machine changes that - now, any given What If...? narrative can be tied into the latest use of this powerful superweapon.
The thing that made the Infinity Gauntlet cool was never its power, but the collecting of the Infinity Stones. When not combined, each Stone traditionally passes to a guardian who has a unique connection to its power. The best Infinity Gauntlet stories aren't where the glove is used, but the quest the user has to go on to assemble it (see Jim Starlin and Ron Lim's Thanos Quest, where Thanos uses brains and brawn to challenge the Elders of the Universe one by one.)
Marvel has set up the What If Machine to operate in a similar way - sure, it allows you to see the future, but the real fun is that any use creates a new parallel universe. While those universes are theoretically destroyed by the device, there are endless twists you can put on that concept, from the residents of the new universe escaping to the One-Above-All descending to investigate why Earth-616 is missing with His multiverse.
Marvel Seems To Know What It Has With Its New Infinity Gauntlet
So far, each issue of Avengers: Armageddon has used an image of the What If Machine on its opening credits page. That seemed like an odd decision in a story seemingly about powerhouses like Red Hulk and David Colton clashing over the fate of the world. However, now it makes sense - Marvel knows the What If Machine is the series' most significant addition to its lore.
Marvel just introduced a new cosmic artifact so compelling that - like the Infinity Gauntlet - it could inspire decades of stories if handled the right way. After a decade failing to excite fans, Marvel promised Avengers: Armageddon would right the franchise's ship and kick off a compelling new era. The What If Machine is the biggest clue yet that the publisher and creative team know exactly what they're doing with Avengers and where they're heading next.
Avengers: Armageddon #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.
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