Fictional Character Biography
Doctor Druid's real name is Dr. Anthony Ludgate Druid, although he usually refers to himself as Dr. Anthony Druid. He is a psychiatrist and explorer as well as a minor telepath and magician, specializing mostly in hypnosis and other feats of mesmerism. He has minor magical abilities that have varied over the years. He is also an expert on the occult, having been trained by a Tibetan lama who had come to the U.S. for medical attention. Many years later Druid discovered that the lama was in fact the Ancient One who selected Anthony Druid as a back-up in case his grooming of Doctor Strange failed. Ludgate was later revealed to be a distant descendant of the real-life Amergin the Druid of the 10th century.
Doctor Druid remained on the sidelines for years. He eventually appeared again and teamed with the Hulk against the Maha Yogi. With the Avengers, he encountered the Fomor and his ancestor Amergin.
Doctor Druid some time later aided the Avengers in thwarting Baron Zemo and the fourth Masters of Evil's takeover of Avengers Mansion, making contact with the mentally damaged Blackout and helping him resist Zemo's control while also prompting him to bring Avengers Mansion back to Earth after banishing it into his Darkforce Dimension. He joined the ranks of the Avengers shortly after helping to defend from this attack. He battled a Dracula doppelganger in the realm of Death.
His membership was tainted when he was mind controlled by supervillainess the Terminatrix (at the time impersonating the space pirate Nebula) into manipulating the team on her behalf. While in this state, he even assumed chairmanship of the team for a very short period. When "Nebula" was cast into Limbo, Druid followed, as he was still under her thrall. He eventually regained control of his own mind and returned to Earth, where, after learning his true origin, banished "Nebula" and became younger by magic.
Due to his actions while in the villain's thrall, Druid was disgraced. He was briefly reunited with his former teammates while working with Doctor Strange during the Infinity War, and later became leader of the Secret Defenders. In that role, he was once again victimized by a villain's mind control, this time by the demon Slorioth. Doctor Druid and the demon were defeated, Druid faked his own death, and the team disbanded.
He then abandoned his spandex costume and became even more of a real, traditional druid, a fact reflected by his taking on the simple name of "Druid", and the new nature of his nature powers, but he let his feelings of rage and power lust take him over, went insane, was betrayed by his allies, and was finally killed by Hellstorm, the putative Son of Satan. Druid's ghost appeared later alongside the spirits of other dead ex-Avengers, confirming that Druid had in fact died this time. The Avengers later placed a memorial statue of him in the garden of Avengers Mansion.
A mere 36 hours before his death, Druid is visited by a time traveling Black Widow. He happily assisted her with magical research pertaining to her mission, no wiser of his imminent demise.
Doctor Druid's son is introduced as one of Nick Fury's new recruits to fight against the Secret Invasion. Secret Invasion #4 reveals that he is operating under the name of Druid.
During the Chaos War storyline, Doctor Druid is among the dead heroes brought back to life when Amatsu-Mikaboshi dominated the death realms.
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