Doctor Druid

Doctor Druid
Promotional image of Doctor Druid.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	As Dr. Droom: Amazing Adventures #1 (June 1961) As Dr. Druid: Weird Wonder Tales #19 (September 1976)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Anthony Ludgate Druid
Species	Human
Team affiliations	Monster Hunters Avengers Legion of the Unliving Defenders
Notable aliases	Druid
Abilities	Limited telepathy Limited telekinesis Hypnosis Magic detection Mystic manipulation Scholar of magic

Doctor Anthony Druid, also known as Doctor Droom and Druid, is a fictional mystic and a supernatural monster-hunter appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller Jack Kirby, he debuted as Dr. Anthony Droom in Amazing Adventures #1, published in March 1961 (with a cover date of June 1961).^[1] Kirby's art was inked by artist Steve Ditko. Dr. Droom appeared in four more issues of Amazing Adventures before his stories discontinued. Over a year later, artist Steve Ditko approached Stan Lee with a new magic character called Mr. Strange.^[2] Liking the idea, Stan Lee renamed the character Dr. Strange and wrote an origin story similar to Dr. Droom's. Dr. Anthony Droom was finally reintroduced to comics in 1976 in Weird Wonder Tales #19 in a retelling of his origin story which renamed him Dr. Anthony Druid. This retelling included new writing by Larry Lieber (brother of Stan Lee).^[3]

Through his knowledge, Dr. Druid has enhanced physical and mental abilities (such as hypnosis and the ability to sense magic) and knows how to counteract magic and protect against it (through rituals and special arrangement of symbols). According to the lore of Marvel Comics, this makes Dr. Druid a mystic but not a full sorcerer like Dr. Strange since he does not cast spells that alter the state of people or the environment around him and does not draw power from Earth's magical energy, extra-dimensional energy, or energy linked to magical entities.^[4]

Considered a scholar of multiple fields, the brilliant Dr. Anthony Druid is originally a psychiatrist who then becomes an author and physician. After Dr. Druid undergoes a series of tests in Tibet, a dying lama and mystic mentally transmits to his mind secrets of how to enhance his own body and mind's power and control, as well as knowledge regarding magic and supernatural threats. Later it is said Dr. Druid also taps into the knowledge of Celtic ancestors regarding magic. With the combined knowledge of both his Celtic ancestors and the Tibetan lama, Dr. Druid acts as a magic-based consultant and hero of Earth. Over the years, he has worked with the superhero team known as the Avengers, and it is later said he was part of a group known as the Monster Hunters. On multiple occasions, he has worked with the sorcerer Dr. Strange.