POWERS
Like all Eternals, Druig is normally immortal and invulnerable, and it would take the dispersal of most of his atoms to permanently slay him; currently his body is human and somewhat weakened, but if he is killed he will be reborn fully Eternal once more. While possessing all his species’ superhuman attributes, he has specialized in “changing,” manipulating reality. Superhumanly strong (Class 25), he can also fly, often preferring to do so on fire or earth platforms generated out of the air; teleport; telepathically sense someone’s psychological vulnerabilities or control their minds; and project energy from his hands or eyes, most commonly flame.
ORIGIN
One of the virtually immortal Eternals, results of prehistoric Celestial genetic experiments on primitive man, Druig has sought personal power at the expense of others for millennia, often thwarted by his cousin Ikaris. Around 18,000 BC, Druig helped his fellow Eternals battle the Deviants, who had conquered much of Earth before turning on the Eternals; though his fellow Eternals disliked Druig, they recognized his lethal skills, seemingly the only one of them who enjoyed slaughtering Deviants. The war ended when the Deviants attacked the arriving Celestials’ Second Host, who triggered the Great Cataclysm that sank the Deviant homeland of Lemuria beneath the ocean as punishment for the Deviants’ transgression. Through the following years the Eternals would visit primitive human civilizations, though Druig did not assist their development as the other Eternals did, and they became mistaken for gods. Around 1000 years ago Druig, Valkin, Ajak and Virako visited Peru and prevented the mind-controlled Asgardian god Thor Odinson from freeing the imprisoned Deviant Dromedan; coveting Dromedan’s immense powers for himself, Druig created a Neutralizer helmet to control him, but instead fell under Dromedan’s thrall. Druig’s allies subsequently recaptured Dromedan, unaware of Druig’s part in his escape.
By modern times, when the Celestials’ Fourth Host arrived on Earth, Druig had become a KGB agent. Druig plotted to slay the Celestial Ziran the Tester with an ancient weapon the Celestials once used to destroy one of their own; he tortured fellow Eternals Sigmar and Ikaris to learn its hidden location, but before he could fire it at Ziran, Ikaris disintegrated Druig. His life force was trapped in the Celestial prison, the Desecration Annex, though a fight between Captain Marvel (Genis- Vell) and the warden, Godstalker, nearly released it accidentally. More recently, the Eternal Sprite used the Dreaming Celestial’s power to change the world, transforming all the Eternals into humans with false identities and memories. Druig was reborn as deputy prime minister of Vorozheika, a former Soviet Republic. Though unaware of his true origins, his personality remained the same, and he planned to kidnap top foreign scientists for his country. Druig arranged for a celebrity party at the New York Vorozheikan embassy, ostensibly to raise Vorozheika’s international profile, while his assistant Prikrysh organized a “terrorist” raid to abduct the invited scientists; however, elements within Druig’s own Prosperity Party, concerned he was an old regime liability, ordered Prikrysh to have Druig killed during the attack. The party coincidentally brought together other amnesiac Eternals, Sersi, Thena and Makkari, and their proximity combined with the stress of being held hostage triggered the partial recovery of their powers and, gradually, memories. Realizing he had been betrayed, Druig slipped away while his gunmen were being overpowered and returned to Vorozheika, swiftly effecting a coup and purging his enemies. Shortly after, Druig assisted Zuras and Ajak trying to prevent the Dreaming Celestial awakening, on condition that his fellow Eternals did nothing in the future to interfere with him or his country. Despite the Celestial awakening, the crisis was averted; after assisting his fellow Eternals against a Deviant army threatening Olympia, Druig used Vorozheikan intelligence to track down other Eternals still trapped in human form before Ikaris’ faction could. Ikaris and Thena tried to stop him snatching Legba, but Druig endangered Thena’s mortal child Joey to distract them, escaping with his prize.
