Warning! Spoilers ahead for DC Future State: The Flash #1
DC’s Future State is already making good on its promise to completely change the comics universe in 2021. Amid all the massive changes, one of DC’s lamest villains, known as Calculator, managed to snag a major upgrade, which he uses to seriously hurt the Flash Family right out of the gate.
Created by Bob Rozakis and Mike Grell, Calculator made his debut in Detective Comics #463 back in 1976. Despite being around for decades, Calculator has always been a relatively minor villain in DC’s library, most often serving as an occasional antagonist for Batman or teams like the Birds of Prey and Teen Titans. However, DC Future State: The Flash #1 pits the Calculator against the Flash Family, who have all lost their speed, forcing them to use gadgets stolen from their lamest villains to compensate. Even without their powers, a low-tier villain like Calculator should be easy enough for Team Flash to take down, but there’s a catch.
DC Future State: The Flash #1 opens with Calculator running operations for Checkmate, a division of Task Force X. Having Checkmate’s resources, which extends even to alternate Earths, already makes Calculator more of a threat than he’s ever been, but that’s not all he has going for him. On top of his genius intellect and cyberpathic abilities (which allow him to mentally manipulate technology at will), Calculator has also gotten his hands on the Thinking Cap previously owned by the Thinker, a Suicide Squad character and longtime adversary of the Flash. The Thinking Cap gives the wearer telekinetic and telepathic powers, which Calculator makes better use of than the Thinker ever did. Even Jay Garrick has to admit, “Calculator almost punched our tickets. He’s stronger than Devoe was back in my day.” Fortunately, Impulse manages to swipe the Thinking Cap from Calculator using Rainbow Raider’s goggles, which enable him to hastily move around on solid beams of light, but the victory is short lived.
Before Team Flash can make their escape with the helmet, Calculator uses a device that causes the beam Bart is running on to explode. The rest of the Flash Family sees the attack coming, but with their speed lost, they are too slow to stop it. The rainbow shards cut through Bart’s body, and sadly, his wounds prove fatal. Within the first six pages, the Flash Family suffers a devastating loss caused entirely by Calculator, previously thought to be one of DC’s lamest villains. With an opening like this, DC proves that no one is safe in Future State, and even minor villains can become major threats.
It’s unclear what role, if any, Calculator will have to play in the DC Future State going forward. He may have lost the Thinking Cap, but he’s still in charge of Checkmate, so no one should count Calculator out just yet.