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The Infinity Watch is the name of three fictional organizations appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of Infinity Watch was gathered in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1, and starred in that series until it ended with issue #42. The six members were the self-appointed guardians of the Infinity Gems, which were each given to a single member in order to safeguard against anyone else assembling them into the Infinity Gauntlet.

When Adam Warlock obtains possession of the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet (that contained the six Infinity Gems) from Thanos, he is ordered by the Living Tribunal to separate the Gems so that they may never be used in conjunction again.^[1] Warlock forms the Infinity Watch, entrusting each member with an Infinity Gem to protect and keeping the identity of the sixth member a secret even from his fellow Infinity Watch members. Under the Gauntlet’s influence, Warlock is not in his right mind, and even he wondered if he had made the right choices later on.

Initially, Warlock did not intend for the Watch to become a team; he believes the gems would be safer if they were all kept separately, but Warlock’s old enemy, the Man-Beast, abducts four Infinity Watch members and manipulated their gems in an attempt to destroy Warlock. After the Man-Beast is defeated, the Infinity Watch chose to stay together as a heroic team, except for Thanos. However, Thanos, having undergone a period of humility after the Infinity Gauntlet affair, did not abuse his gem, but kept it safe.

Warlock negotiates a deal with the Mole Man to use a castle on Monster Island as the Watch’s base. With help from The Avengers and Warlock, the United Nations recognize the Mole Man’s sovereignty of Monster Island (after a fatality-free battle with the Watch). The Infinity Watch goes on to deal with many other foes, most of them interested in the power the Gems could confer on their owner. Other opponents had personal interests in the Infinity Watch members.

An amnesic man appears on Monster Island and was taken in by the Watch despite Gamora’s warnings. Gamora, holding the Time Gem, has visions of this man killing Adam Warlock. The Watch names the man Maxam after a symbol found on his belt and he joins the Watch, despite a violent outburst against Warlock.

Gamora leaves the team after an argument with Adam Warlock. Maxam became the new Guardian of the Time Gem. This causes his memories to return; he is under the belief that Warlock is a danger to his homeworld. Under Moondragon‘s telepathic influence, Maxam believes that he had broken Warlock’s neck and returns to his own world. Meanwhile, the being Rune steals all the Infinity Gems and took them to the Ultraverse. With Gamora, Maxam and the gems gone, the Watch disbands.

At the end of the “Infinity Countdown” storyline, Doctor Strange uses a magic spell to speak to the holders of the Infinity Gems and requested a parley to reform the Infinity Watch. He states to Adam Warlock, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, and Turk Barrett that they need to safeguard them from such calamities.^[2]

In order to retrieve her soul piece that was trapped in the Soulworld, Gamora using the alias of Requiem, steals the Infinity Gems (now called the Infinity Stones) from Doctor Strange’s Infinity Watch, but ends up being corrupted by her father’s influence and the Stones. She uses the Stones to not only recover her missing soul but also fold the universe into itself, combining every two souls into a single being. This resulted in the creation of “warped” characters, with Loki to be the only one who was not affected.

To prevent the Infinity Stones from being stolen, Adam Warlock gave them sentience so they can choose their own wielders. The Soul Stone created the Mergiverse, a pocket multiverse that preserves the merged reality created by Gamora. The Time Stone chose Hector Bautista / Overtime, the Reality Stone chose Ripley Ryan / Star, the Space Stone chose Quantum, the Power Stone chose Apex, the Soul Stone chose Multitude, the Mind Stone chose a human named Worldmind before he was killed by Thanos and came into the possession of Colleen Wing; and the Death Stone chose Phil Coulson.

A team called the Infinity Watch exists in the year 3193, first appearing in Uncanny Avengers #16. Led by Immortus, it includes Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, Martinex, Yondu, Starhawk, Adam Warlock, and the Vision with the power of The Phoenix.