Calculator (comics)

The Calculator
Cover to Birds of Prey #87. Art by Adriana Melo.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #463 (September 1976)
Created by	Bob Rozakis (writer) Mike Grell (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Noah Kuttler
Team affiliations	Fearsome Five Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities	Computer genius and expert strategist with access to a range of high-tech gear and loyal criminal contacts. Technopathy & Cyberpathy; able to access the internet without a computer and manipulate machinery with his mind.

The Calculator (Noah Kuttler) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Calculator first appeared in Detective Comics #463 (September 1976), and he was created by Bob Rozakis and Mike Grell.

As is commonplace in comics, the character was based on a topical event or trend; in this case, Noah Kuttler took his powers and costume design from the recently popular pocket calculator. His costume had a large numerical keypad on the front and a LED display on the headpiece. When he typed upon the keypad, he could make "hard light" constructs appear from the headpiece, fashioning tools and weapons in the style of Green Lantern's power ring.

He was featured in a series of one-shot adventures in Detective Comics, stealing objects "when they are their most valuable" and fighting many Justice League members. As he was defeated by hero after hero, he presses a special button on his keypad that would (as it was revealed to the reader in a thought balloon) "turn defeat into victory". After months of appearances, the Calculator's scheme is revealed. The button somehow analyzes the powers or tactics of the hero defeating him, and effectively inoculates him from ever being defeated by that hero ever again. This immunity manifests itself as a force field, rendering a hero unable to touch or otherwise affect The Calculator. This of course meant he could only be defeated by a new hero; fortunately the heroes had many allies to draw upon. The Calculator could also be defeated when his own weaponry was turned against him.

The Calculator made intermittent appearances in DC titles over the years, such as Blue Beetle and Hero Hotline. In the 2004 miniseries Identity Crisis, he was revamped as a non-costumed villainous analogue to Oracle; a source of information for supervillains planning heists, offering suggestions of weaponry, assisting with logistics, etc. — but charging $1,000 per question, unlike Oracle, who works pro bono. He became a major player in the Infinite Crisis cross-over Villains United as a core member of Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains. His allies included such villains as Doctor Psycho, Doctor Light and Deathstroke.