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human
[MCU] What does it take to hold an Infinity Stone?

What is required for a being to hold an Infinity Stone in their bare hands? What about if they have gloves on or something?

It’s established that only beings of “great power” can wield Infinity Stones. But what exactly does this mean? Is it a matter of constitution and biology? Or is it something more abstract like “worthiness?”

The Red Skull is shown to be beamed away when he holds the Tesseract in his bare hands. Many others who have tried to hold the Power Stone have failed as seem by the Collector’s montage.

However, both Ronan the Accuser and the Guardians of the Galaxy together successfully hold the Power Stone. Jane Foster is mortal, yet holds the Aether and does not die. Nick Fury handles the Tesseract with gloves on without suffering ill effects. Loki, Thanos, and Ebony Maw have all been shown to hold the Tesseract in their bare hands as well.

Are all Infinity Stones equally powerful? Could Thor hold an Infinity Stone? What about Captain America? Or the Hulk? What about your average mortal like Hawkeye or Iron Man?

Additionally, how can Infinity Stones be safely stored? We see the Tesseract burn through the steel of the *Valkyrie* plane, but the Tesseract is shown to be handled by metal instruments and even stored in a seemingly plain old case without problems. Ditto for the syringe Rocket uses to obtain the Aether or the Vision housing the Mind Stone.
gpt
The Stones hurt people to the extent that their element is harmful to life. This means the Soul Stone can be held by anyone without any ill effects, because it is literally the stone of life. Meanwhile, no one with a physical constitution worse than the Hulk can hope to hold the Power Stone and live. The Guardians only survive because Peter's Celestial powers work best when he uses his heart, so Gamora, Drax, and Rocket's act of friendship moved him and gave him a brief moment of control over his powers. As for storing, the stones are generally quite hot (Fury burns his hands grabbing the Space Stone's Tesseract container), but they only start burning through steal after extensive abuse.