Every Time The Infinity Stones Were Used Wrong In The MCU
The Infinity Stone have been repeatedly misused in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The powerful gems functioned as the McGuffins of the Infinity Saga, particularly playing an important role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Before Thanos actively sought and eventually used them, however, the Infinity Stones have been used separately and in-tandem for different reasons — most of them were for not their original intended purposes.
The Infinity Stones had been in the MCU since the beginning of its known history, even if it didn't appear that way at first. For example, Captain America: The First Avenger the Cosmic Cube seems to have been retconned into holding the Space Stone, and in The Avengers, Loki's Scepter was also shown with no mention that it housed the Mind Stone. It took Marvel Studios a little while before they finally acknowledged that these mysterious gems were what they were presumed to be perhaps because they wanted to keep the overarching narrative of the Infinity Saga under wraps or this wasn't their plan at the beginning. Regardless, once their existence firmly established, the remaining stones popped up in varying films; only the Soul Stone was saved for Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos finally sought them himself.
Given this, some of the Infinity Stones had been wielded by different people and beings throughout the Infinity Saga. Since not much was known about them, they have been used incorrectly a surprising number of times, by both hero and villain alike.
Formerly known as Johann Schmidt, Steve Rogers' first personal villain transformed into the Red Skull after using an imperfect replica of the Super Soldier Serum in the hopes of being physically enhanced in Captain America: The First Avenger. As part of his endeavor to being all-powerful, Red Skull also sought the power of the Space Stone making him the first person in the MCU to pursue an Infinity Stone. Unfortunately for him, his lack of knowledge as to how the mythical gem worked resulted in him being banished to Vormir and becoming the forced Soul Stone gatekeeper as part of the punishment for his greed. His whereabouts were unknown in the years following his first appearance in the MCU, only making his re-emergence in Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos and Gamora traveled to the remote planet.
As the first Infinity Stone to factor into the MCU, the Tesseract had changed hands several times, including a stint with SHIELD. While searching for the missing Steve Rogers, Howard Stark retrieved the Space Stone at the bottom of the ocean, starting his and the organization's decade-long attempt to harness its powers. In the modern era, the World Security Council ordered the Nick Fury-led SHIELD to develop advanced weapons using the cube to better prepare Earth in case it's attacked by any extraterrestrial threats. Knowing the existence of aliens following his encounter with Carol Danvers, Skrulls, and Kree during the events of Captain Marvel, Fury led the program until this was discovered by the Avengers after Loki stole it in The Avengers.
After the Space and Mind Stones became prominent in MCU Phase 1, Marvel Studios Phase 2 continued introducing the Infinity Stones via Thor: The Dark World which brought the Reality Stone; which was called Aether in the film, as a result of its liquified form. Dark Elf Malekith wanted to use the Aether to plunge the Nine Realms into total darkness using an event known as the Convergence. The Asgardians were able to prevent this from happening the first time, but this didn't stop Malekith from attempting to do it thousands of years later during the next Convergence.
With three Infinity Stones already established in the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy introduced the fourth one in the Orb/Power Stone. After a tussle for the gem, Star-Lord and the rest of his ragtag team brought the Orb to the Collector who used his technology to open it up and reveal the powerful gem inside of it. While they're in Knowhere, Taneleer Tivan explained the history of the Infinity Stones which functioned as an effective expository scene. However, Carina, the Collector's assistant, saw this as an opportunity to kill him, assuming that she could use the crystal to execute her nefarious plan. Without any hesitation, she grabbed the exposed Power Stone which quickly destroyed her body, effectively killing her.
Like SHIELD, HYDRA also attempted to experiment on an Infinity Stone in hopes of using it to their benefit. Following The Avengers, Wolfgang von Strucker's cell was able to get a hold of the Scepter with the Mind Stone as revealed in Avengers: Endgame which they used to experiment on Wanda and Pietro Maximoff to give them powers. Marvel Studios may end up backtracking on this initial idea, though, as the explanation that the Mind Stone was the source of their powers was a way to retcon their mutant origins in the comics as kids of Magneto. Now, however, that the character rights of the X-Men are back to them, it seems the new explanation for the twins' powers is that they already had the X-genes, with the power of the Infinity Stone merely activating them.
Once the Avengers re-acquired Loki's scepter from Hydra in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner used it to move forward with Ultron Program which aimed to create an AI peacekeeping program. Unfortunately, their experimentation backfired after they attempted to harvest the net of neurons found inside the Mind Stone, which resulted in Ultron, the film's major antagonist. Granted that the pair used it again later in the film to create Vision, but the red Android was the result of the experimentation gone right, as he's dubbed the perfect form of Ultron.
There's a reason why the Infinity Stones were scattered throughout the universe - to prevent any being from wielding their collective powers. However, Thanos was devoted to his goal to "balance" the universe. After he learned that there was a far quicker way to accomplish his mission with the use of the Infinity Stones, he started tracking them down. While Thanos justified his decision to wipe out half of the universe with the Stones as a brutal way to try and do "the right thing", it was in practice as Doctor Strange put it: genocide. Though Thanos' actions would eventually be undone, they are unquestionably the biggest misuse of the Infinity Stones to ever feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.