'Arrow' Season 4 Spoilers: Who Is The Calculator? Theories On New Villain In Episode 12

The CW’s “Arrow” has a habit of taking characters from its DC Comics source material and bringing them to life for TV. However, despite the frequency with which villains and heroes are presented on the show, the bad guy coming to Season 4 in episode 12 could be one of the gang’s most personal threats yet.

TV Line reported in November that the series had cast former “Everwood” actor Tom Amandes as the villain The Calculator (a.k.a. Noah Kuttler) in the Feb. 3 episode. While it’s unclear exactly how the character will be adapted for TV, the comic book version of the villain may hold some important hints. The Calculator emerged as a bad guy to several other heroes that have made their way to “Arrow,” including Atom, Black Canary and Green Arrow himself.

He's not only a computer genius; he also developed an interesting bit of technology that spells trouble for any hero who crosses his path more than once. If he pressed a button on his costume, it would activate a highly advanced computer that could analyze his opponent’s battle tactics. As a result, he’s very difficult for even the likes of Batman to beat twice. In later continuities of the source material, he becomes obsessed with the superhero ally known as Oracle, and opts to be the hacker equivalent for villains.

It is this similarity to Oracle that has led many to believe The Calculator will be far more than a villain-of-the-week. As ScreenRant notes, many fans are operating under the assumption that the villain will be revealed as the long-lost father of Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), who has been mentioned but never introduced in the series. The connection to Oracle is a big clue given that, as previously reported, Felicity was sort of granted the title of the Arrowverse’s version of the character, nicknamed Overwatch. After losing the use of her legs in the midseason finale of Season 4, the super-hacker essentially took over the role during last week’s episode, meaning that The Calculator’s comic book obsession with Oracle would translate very well to a TV obsession with his daughter, Overwatch.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, “Arrow” executive producer Wendy Mericle as much as confirmed the relationship between the characters, confessing that there is a link between them that will be touched upon in his two-episode arc.

“Definitely tune in,” she said. “We are very excited about this character. He does have a connection to Felicity. We’re just really thrilled. Tom Amandes has been amazing in the role and is bringing a lot of kindness and a lot of malice to this character.”

In addition, actress Charlotte Ross, who plays Felicity’s on-screen mother on the show, has been retweeting some pretty damning evidence from fans that suggest her character’s relationship to Kuttler. If episode 12 is going to introduce Felicity’s dad, it will make for a pretty jam-packed episode as both Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) are set to make their respective returns to the show as well.

“Arrow” airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.