Entertainment

The Calculator May Have A Major 'Arrow' Connection

by Molly Freeman

In the wake of the devastating attack on Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak in Arrow's midseason finale, the show came back and began dealing with the emotional fallout from those events (y'know, the events that are almost too tragic to talk about). However, this is Arrow, a show based on a comic book superhero, so it makes sense that even in times of emotional hardship, Star City's Green Arrow would have a comic book villain to face off against. Enter: The Calculator. But who is The Calculator on Arrow and how will he fit into Season 4's storyline?

In DC Comics, Noah Kuttler/The Calculator started off with a super-intelligent suit that could figure out his opponent's weakness, then use that knowledge to defeat them. However, the character has since become an evil hacker of sorts, working with other supervillains and using his genius-level intellect and knowledge of computers to face off against superheroes. In fact, Calculator is sort of the evil version of Oracle, a DC superhero that many Arrow fans theorized Felicity would become. Although Felicity is definitely not Oracle — her codename that was recently revealed is Overwatch — these two characters could have more of a connection than their tech-wiz abilities.

Okay, a creepy comic book evil genius: check. But what's he doing in Star City? When TV Line initially reported Tom Amandes had been cast, they revealed The Calculator is "a criminal mastermind and technical genius." Additionally, the episode will see the return of Roy Harper (welcome back Colton Haynes!) who is blackmailed by The Calculator using some advanced tech gadgetry. The Calculator's plot brings Roy back into the fold on Team Arrow — so can we really be too mad at him?

Yes, yes we can, because apparently The Calculator has some kind of connection to Felicity. Executive producer Wendy Mericle (who, just to recap, also debunked the rumors that Felicity could become Oracle) revealed to Entertainment Weekly that The Calculator "has a connection to Felicity" when asked about the fan theory that Noah could be her father. Now, maybe I'm reading too much into the fact that Mericle shot down the rumors about Oracle and played it a bit more coy about whether The Calculator is her father, but that has to mean something! Plus, he does fit everything we know about Felicity's father: He's smart and a criminal.

So, The Calculator is bringing his own brand of tech-wiz badness to Star City, giving Team Arrow a truly worthy opponent — while they take a break from dealing with Damien Darhk. But, he also may be an emotional opponent as well, depending on what kind of connection exists between him and Felicity. My money is on Noah being her father, but they may simply have a past from her days as a hacktivist in college. No matter what is revealed, The Calculator's introduction on Arrow is sure to be exciting.

Image: Liane Hentscher/The CW