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In Avengers: Infinity War, in an attempt to find one of the Infinity Stones before Thanos gets it, the Guardians of the Galaxy go to Knowhere to try and take the Reality Stone before Thanos can get it.

Thanos, being one step ahead, already has the Stone and when they come and start attacking him, he uses it to literally turn Drax and Mantis into little cubes. He then kidnaps Gamora and after he leaves they get up like nothing happened.

Did Thanos use the Stone to "put them together again" or does it mean the Stone's effects are only temporary?

Napoleon Wilson
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Dr. Sheldon Cooper
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1 Answers1

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From MCU wikia on Aether (reality stone):
Capabilities:

Reality Manipulation - The user with the Aether can manipulate reality. During the convergence, this is manifested mostly through energy projections. Thanos used it primarily to create illusions (such as the one that hid the destroyed Collector's Museum from the Guardians of the Galaxy, or another that showed to Doctor Strange how Titan was in Thanos’s prime), or prevent lethal attacks, with both Peter's beams and Gamora's dagger being turned into bubbles, and the Hulkbuster being embedded inside a cliff wall.

They are illusions, he is not really harming them, just affecting their reality (it is the reality stone after all). Also I think it's an ilusion because, if it wasn't Thanos could easily create infinite resources and "fix" the universe.

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Plexus
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    This reminds me of Thanos turning The Runner into a child in Thanos Quest, though he was using Time and not Reality to do so. That, too, was only temporary. – Michael W. Apr 30 '18 at 23:21
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    If they were just illusions shouldn't Quills gun have killed Gamora? – Marie May 01 '18 at 01:10
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    Thanos /can/ create illusions with the Reality Stone, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing he can do with it. Presumably he actually changes reality when it’s necessary—but why do that all the time if it’s not required if an illusion serves just as well? – Kitkat May 01 '18 at 04:23
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    @Marie I think Kitkat is onto something – Plexus May 01 '18 at 06:48
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    I think there's an important point here: Thanos didn't kill them. Cubes they may have been, but did you notice Mantis's eye blinking? They may have been changed into such a form that, under ordinary reality, they couldn't be alive: but they retained consciousness in Thanos's version. – Obie 2.0 May 01 '18 at 10:24
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    They were not illusions. Thanos altered their forms, but didn't kill them, and the effect vanished when he stopped concentrating on it. Perhaps he could have made it permanent, but maybe not. Or perhaps he didn't care, so he didn't bother. – Obie 2.0 May 01 '18 at 10:26
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    That is what I am thinking as well. You cant say "How did they survive something that no person could survive" because you are basing that on our reality. He just made reality different so the normal rules don't apply. I dont think that he wanted to kill Mantis and Drax, he just wanted to subdue them. – Marie May 01 '18 at 13:43
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    I wrote how I understood it, and what said on the wikia. Feel free to add your own answers to further improve the post. – Plexus May 01 '18 at 14:44
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    I didn't interpret that as an illusion but an actual physical change. However, until he unites all the stones, the reality stone's effects seem to be localised only and they dissipate when he leaves the area. – bp. May 17 '18 at 05:31
  • Since it was the Aether inThor Dark World which could be used to "convert matter [into dark matter]", it must be able to do permanent real change as well. Alternativly mentioned in http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Reality_Gem is that it can break the laws of reality (as well as just bend them) – Wilf Jun 26 '18 at 00:16