Dryad (Callie Betto) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, she first appeared in New X-Men: Academy X #1.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. (August 2018) This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. (August 2018) This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2018)

Dryad
Callie Betto as she appeared in New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook Special Art by Georges Jeanty and Don Hillsman
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New X-Men: Academy X #1 (July 2004)
Created by	Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir
In-story information
Alter ego	Callie Betto
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Corsairs training squad Xavier Institute
Abilities	Plant manipulation

Fictional character biography

Dryad is a member of the former Corsairs training squad. The leaders of the team were Specter, Quill and the Stepford Cuckoos. She appears in New X-Men: Academy X #2 as background character, in the party, on the cover with Anole and with the students that aren't fighting with the Blob.

Depowered and Death

After Scarlet Witch's actions of M-Day, Dryad is depowered and boards a bus with other depowered students leaving the Xavier Institute. She is killed when William Stryker fires a missile at the bus, blowing it up, killing the depowered students aboard.[1]

Powers and abilities

Dryad had the mutant ability to communicate with plants much like a telepath can with people, which allowed her to manipulate plant life. It was not a particularly strong connection in that she had to actively maintain a link (a plant cannot simply call out telepathically to her mind) for communication to occur. It is for this reason that she rarely used the power, and tended to forget about it at times.

In the explanation that she gave at one point, she explained that when a plant communicates, it is not like humans or animals because plants do not have emotions. They cannot express fear, excitement, happiness, etc. Instead, Callie explained plants as “speaking” in senses. For example, if a plant needed water Callie would receive wetness. She wouldn't feel wet, but because she knows what wetness is from prior experience she would be able to understand. The same holds true for when she spoke to them. She could only focus on one “thought” at a time; usually the ones she understands. When she didn't understand (for example if the plant is being killed off by a certain chemical that she wouldn't respond to) she could sometimes offer vague explanations about the general state of the plant, or she had simply no idea what was going on.

Callie could accelerate, decelerate, or reverse plant growth in a twenty-foot radius. The type of growth that occurred depended on each plant. Smaller, less complex plants would grow very quickly (for example vines, weeds, flowers, etc.) while larger plants, such as trees, she could only control a section of. For example, she could cause a branch of a tree to bend at an angle from the tree. Growing a full tree was possible with much time and concentration, and certainly not in one sitting.

After Decimation, Dryad lost her powers.

Alternate versions

Too Much Information

In the storyline "Too Much Information", Dryad appears as one of the future X-Men that is blown up during the mission to find the Hellions.

References