Character Highlight: Druig (Eternals)

*Druig-related spoilers.*

Druig makes for an interesting character in Eternals, defying expectations that we the viewing audience might have of him. He’s not one that really caught my interest in the run-up to the film, but after watching it, I’m looking forward to seeing more of him.

All the Eternals are of course supremely powerful. There’s the nigh-immortal eternal youth thing, and each of them has cool abilities far beyond what any human can do. Druig’s powers aren’t necessarily greater than that of his fellow Eternals, but they do perhaps pose a larger potential for corruption/misuse, which position him as the black sheep of the family.

Druig can overpower and control the wills of others. Taking over human minds is a cinch for him, but he can call on enough strength to subdue higher minds as well. Given the whole prevailing belief that free will is, you know, a good thing, that makes him a threat—Marvel has already given us Kilgrave and WandaVision, we know how this works. And to be sure, when Druig takes over other people, the film portrays it as a definite problem.

But it is more complex than Evil Druig and His Army of Brainwashed Slaves. Druig abuses his abilities, not to amass power or do battle with his fellow Eternals, none of the typical supervillain stuff. Rather, he does it because he can’t bear to see humans killing each other and wants to stop them from doing so. The Eternals’ edict from the Celestials is to protect humanity, but only from the Deviants; when humans destroy one another, they’re expected not to intervene. And Druig isn’t down with that.

Subverting their will to force them to be peaceful is certainly invasive, and it’s arrogant and paternalistic to reshape them into docile, passive dumbshows. However, it’s also a (very) misguided attempt to help people, Druig’s rebellion against the Celestials’ callous indifference to human suffering when Deviants aren’t involved. That difference in motivation doesn’t make what Druig does to people any better, but it does mean that he isn’t beyond reaching. His fellow Eternals can reach out to him, reason with him, argue that forcibly-imposed peace isn’t really peace at all.

I appreciate that. I like that the emo-kid-looking Eternal whose eyes grow creepily when he uses his easy-to-abuse powers isn’t willfully malicious. Instead, he’s trying to do right but making bad decisions. While I’ve spoken before about how genuine villain redemption stories often take too many shortcuts to be pulled off well, I highly approve when characters who are surrounded by villain tropes aren’t actually straight-up villains. It makes for a nice swerve in the story and is more interesting than clearly-delineated white hats and black hats.

Finally, Druig and Makkari’s lowkey relationship, happening largely in the background in just a few snatches of scenes, is so great. They’re very different from each other, but neither has an overabundance of respect for protocol, so I guess it makes sense that they would bond, and I love the softness Makkari brings out in Druig. Every scene they share is a winner.