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    Doctor Druid

    Character » Doctor Druid appears in 327 issues.

    Doctor Druid was a psychiatrist who was attracted to the mystic arts. After being trained by a Tibetan Lama, Druid gained mastery over some mystic arts.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Doctor Druid last edited by SlamAdams on 12/11/23 06:07PM View full history

    Origin

    Doctor Druid obtained his psychiatry degree from Harvard but soon became interested in the occult. He spent most of his time studying the occult and gave psychiatry lectures on the side. He was soon contacted by a sick Tibetan Lama seeking treatment. In actuality this Lama was the the Ancient One seeking a successor for the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. Druid was taught some magical abilities by the Ancient One, but he was soon overshadowed by Doctor Strange.

    Creation

    Doctor Druid was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, a couple of years before the Fantastic Four and is said to be the first Marvel hero created in the Silver Age. He was at first called Doctor Droom, but that was changed a few years later to avoid confusion with Doctor Doom. His first appearance is in Amazing Adventures #1.

    Major Story Arcs

    With the Avengers

    Mind over Matter
    Mind over Matter

    Druid later joined the Monster Hunters to help them defeat the Deviants. He then played a major role in drawing the Masters of Evil out of the Avengers Mansion so that the Avengers could retake it. During this conflict, Dr. Druid held a battle of wills against Baron Zemo wherein Druid and Zemo were fighting for mental control over the Masters of Evil member Blackout who had been crucial in the assault. Blackout's mind can't handle the stress of having these two people fighting over his mind, and he is killed. Dr. Druid's highly advantageous aide granted him membership within the Avengers. His membership was soon threatened when he was possessed by Terminatrix. During this time the Avengers were manipulated to elect Druid as chairman and locate the ultimate weapon that Terminatrix was searching for. Druid and Terminatrix were banished to Limbo.

    Druid eventually escaped after regaining control of himself and upon exiting Limbo he was younger and revitalized (regaining a full head of hair and even a ponytail!). During this period, Druid offered his services to the heroic gathering during " The Infinity War" as part of a living battery of mystical energy that included himself, The Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness and Shaman.

    Secret Defenders

    Secret Defenders
    Secret Defenders

    After the previous roster disbanded, Doctor Strange decided to try a new way of recruiting Defenders. He would use a tarot deck to let fate decide which heroes he would need for any catastrophe he happened to track. He would teleport the new members where ever they needed to be. When Strange got busy with the War of the Seven Spheres, he passed his duty on to a reluctant Doctor Druid.

    Druid would have more regular members on his team rather than a revolving one like Strange's. Those members were fellow cursed beings, Sepulchre and Cadaver. They worked out of Druid's sanctum in Boston. Together, they would protect the Moebius Stone.

    When Druid was manipulated into summoning the demon, Slorioth, Joshua Pryce summoned some of the original Defenders to stop him and allied with Druid's two teammates. Unfortunately, Druid was tired of his responsibility to the team, so he used the opportunity to fake his death just to get out of it. Meanwhile, his teammates needed the help of The Living Tribunal to contain Slorioth, who was a threat to reality itself. His team fell for Druid's ruse but committed to be available for each other if any of them ever needed the help of the rest.

    Death

    He was later empowered by Celtic Druid Gods with all the powers of the ancient druids as he was the last following their traditions, and gained a handful of followers (three to be precise). When he received his power boost, he also received a traditional 'geize', that being a specific taboo that he must not break or he would lose his powers. Unfortunately for Druid, there was no second person left to be involved in the ceremony as the ritual typically had it, so nobody was able to tell him what his geize was. Shortly thereafter Druid was seduced by the sorceress Nekra, setting off Druid's geize, which was apparently that he must never love a witch. In extreme pain, Druid manages to work out a deal with the Celtic gods wherein he is forgiven and has his powers restored after he sacrifices one of his followers. Druid's powers restored and seemingly running out of control, he was confronted by Daimon Hellstorm, who was at that point the undisputed ruler of Hell. Druid was no match for Hellstorm and he was killed, this time for real. Following this he briefly served in the Legion of the Unliving (this version consisting entirely of dead Avengers) under the Grim Reaper. When he rebelled he was sent back to the afterlife.

    Druid has the distinction of being one of very few superheroes who has managed to remain deceased without interruption for a decade or more.

    Chaos War

    The Dead Avengers
    The Dead Avengers

    The Chaos King had destroyed the underworld, freeing the dead to walk the Earth, including Doctor Druid. He returned with fellow Dead Avengers: Mar-Vell, Vision, Deathcry, Swordsman, and Yellowjacket, to the Olympus Group Building on Wall Street. Unfortunately, the living world had fallen into a deep sleep since the Chaos King also destroyed the Dream Dimension. While most of them jumped back into action as if they never died to keep the sleeping Avengers safe, Druid tried to convince them not to. He believed death was their destiny, and they no longer had a right to interfere in the lives of the living.

    While arguing, they were confronted by the Chaos King’s disciple, Grim Reaper, who manipulated their return to this location so that he may slay all the Avengers at once. He was still partnered with Nekra, since when they previously killed Druid. Druid raised a thorn wall to slow Reaper down. While the others searched for weak points in their shelter, Druid’s astral projection form confronted Nekra. Her hate ultimately overwhelmed him, causing him to lose focus and drop his defenses. This gave Reaper an opening to take some of these Dead Avengers out.

    Finally returned to his wits, Druid finally starts to fight for the living again. Working with the awake, he moved the bodies of the asleep Avengers to the roof where a Quinjet was parked. As Reaper and Nekra pursued them, Druid held them back until he was felled once more.

    Weirdworld

    After returning to death, Druid could travel around as a spirit. After roaming into Weirdworld, he was able to take corporeal form, and as long as he stayed in Weirdworld, he wouldn’t return to his spiritual form. He also did not remember his resurrection during The Chaos War. The last he remembered was his death.

    He took over as king, torturing Ogeode to make him a tower with a giant crystal on top. It increased his power and allowed him to mind control the rest of this world. A few people who do not belong in Weirdworld were able to fight off his thrall, including Thundra who comes from the future. For help, Thundra teleported a version of the Squadron Supreme, each member a refugee from a dead world, trapped on Earth-616.

    The Squadron managed to destroy the crystal, releasing the people of Weirdworld of Druid’s influence. Thankfully, his plans were close to fruition. He was working with Mordred to rebirth himself physically on Earth.

    Return to Earth

    When Druid managed to return to Earth, the heroic lifestyle no longer appealed to him. Instead, he put his psychiatry degree to good use as chief of staff at McCarthy Medical Institute, setting up his office in the greenhouse on the roof. Around the same time, Doctor Strange had finally figured out how to heal the nerve damage in his hands with magic, allowing him to occasionally work on any neurosurgery case that no one else was willing to. While the administration disliked that Strange required they let him split his time as a magic based superhero, Druid pledged to support it.

    Powers and Abilities

    His powers include some sorcery but most of his spells require long rituals and would not be used in battle. He is also able to detect the use of any type of magic and track it to its user. He possesses some degree of telepathy and telekinesis and he is able to briefly levitate himself. After being powered up by the Celtic Druid Gods he was able to command nature, including plant life, animals and earth.

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