Heart of the Universe

The Heart of the Universe, originally called Heart of the Infinite is the most powerful object in the entire Marvel Comics Universe, above that of the Cosmic cubes, the Great Powers of the Universe, the Infinity Gauntlet, and even the Living Tribunal itself.

It is unknown where the heart came from. It was discovered by a group of alien explorers who learned to harness its great energy and became the Celestial Order. The order decided to use the power to attempt to forcibly bring peace to the universe, by appointing beings they deemed worthy of the Heart's power to rule sectors of the universe. (As of this writing, it is an unknown as to why the Living Tribunal didn't try to stop the Celestial Order - who clearly intended to unbalance the Universe by forcing it to become all "good" - before the events of "Thanos: the End" took place; but based on the Tribunal's observed actions in the past, it may very well be that the Living Tribunal is not allowed to take actions to balance or re-balance the Universe until after the cosmic "crime" in question has been committed).

In the comic book series entitled "Marvel Universe: The End," the being Thanos mathematically ascertained the existence of the heart and decided to seek it.

After the Order's agent Akhenaten conquered earth, Thanos led the Defenders and Captain Marvel to seek the Order. As they fought the Order Thanos destroyed the instruments that allowed them to access the power of the heart. However the Celestial Order's stored energies were still too great for the heroes. Thanos then jumped into the Heart (believing his body would be able to absorb the power of the Heart). Upon merging with the Heart, Thanos gained ultimate power, which he used to go back in time and destroy the Celestial Order before they found the Heart of the Universe.

After a while, a group of the most powerful cosmic beings (including Eternity, The Living Tribunal, Galactus, and the Celestials), gathered to stop Thanos but failed miserably, since Thanos had by absorbing the Heart of the Universe not simply become more powerful - as was the case when he wielded the Infinity Gauntlet - but had actually become every one and every thing; even the Living Tribunal had become no more than a "part" of Thanos (however, it is uncertain whether this was the true Living Tribunal or merely an avatar, as the entity is supposedly beyond the beings and artifacts of any one universe).

Prior to the confrontation, however, Thanos discovered a flaw had developed in the universe due to the constant resurrection of beings and attempted to fix it. Ultimately, Thanos found that even for him was this flaw impossible to correct, and the only way he could repair the damage would be to destroy the universe and re-construct it. (In the interim, he was at long last driven to mindless rage by the attempt of the Great Powers to usurp his reign and decided in one fateful, final moment to absorb the entirety of the universe back into himself, so that none might ever again threaten his reign.)

Then Adam Warlock, who was outside space-time continuum when Thanos absorbed the universe, appeared and Thanos explained to him what had transpired. Adam convinced Thanos to undo the destruction and sacrifice himself to fix the universe. Thanos speculated and it was strongly implied that the whole scenario had been a set-up from the beginning by a far greater power (implied to be the original "God" of the Marvel Multiverse) to fix the universal flaw. Thus, Thanos had himself been manipulated and possibly even "guided" .

These events took place in Marvel Universe: The End which is considered outside the main MU.

However, since these events did actually come to be, as revealed by Thanos himself when Adam Warlock tracked him down to an Earth-616 world (within the pages of the Marvel Comics series entitled "Thanos") and found that he hadn't killed himself, after all, but had found some way to preserve his existence, it remains to be seen if Thanos allowed the Heart of the Universe to continue to exist within this reality and if it will be possible for anyone in the future to track down the "frequency" and find a way to use the energies generated.

In short, as to whether these events are canon or how much it did happen is unknown and perhaps will never been known.

Powers and Abilities

The Heart of the Universe, as can best be determined, is a means by which one can be "synchronized" with the 'frequency' of the entire Universe, becoming one with all of it, from the Great Powers of the Universe all the way down to the most abstract ideals; when in possession of the entirety of the Heart , Thanos realized that he not only became the entirety of such things as all matter, energy, and arcane forces but also became, for example, the individual thoughts of each and every sentient being and "...the last breath of a dying woman."

As was the case with the Infinity Gauntlet, however, the possession of this power did not impart to its wielder any added wisdom or intelligence.

Due to the nature of Thanos's body and its "experience" in channeling vast amounts of energy, he alone was capable of directly merging the Heart within himself (whereas the Order and Akhenaten were forced to use machinery to siphon energy from the Heart; even thousands of years later, they could not directly interface with it). As a result, he became far more powerful than even the combined might of Akhenaten and the entire Celestial Order. By comparson, Akhenaten was powerful enough in his own right to take over the entire planet, defeat the Avengers, and even take the down the combined might of all of the Marvel Universe's assembled gods with very little effort.

References

• Thanos: The End (Volume 1, Issues 1-6)
• Thanos (Volume 1, issue 1)