Technology has always played a major role in superhero
comics. Sometimes the tech makes the hero, like the often upgraded suits of
armor worn by Iron Man. Other times it can benefit a team of do-gooders, like
the rings used by the Legion of Super-Heroes that give its members, whose
adventures are set in the future, the ability to fly.
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But the true heroes-behind-the-hero, one could argue, are
those keyboard surfers who type furiously at a terminal and provide critical
information to whoever they are assisting in the field. This special kind of
tech support falls under the trope known as “the guy in the chair,” but they
are not always men; nor do they always help the good guys.
Below are some examples, both virtuous and villainous.
Professor X
Charles Francis Xavier, or Professor X as he is popularly
known, is the founder of the X-Men, Marvel’s mutant heroes who are often feared
and distrusted by society. Professor X has often used a wheelchair and has led
the X-Men from afar, keeping tabs on the team in the field with his telepathic
abilities.
He has provided the team with some formidable innovations.
The Danger Room, the facility where the heroes train in the use of their
powers, started out relatively low-tech: an obstacle course with battering rams
and flamethrowers. Later on, thanks to an infusion of alien technology, it was
souped up with holograms that simulated the extreme terrains the X-Men often
encountered.
Another invention, Cerebro, was like a DNA test combined
with Apple’s Find My iPhone app: It can pinpoint the location of mutants and
alerts him to the emergence of new ones.
Microchip
David Linus Lieberman is the aide-de-camp of the Punisher,
Marvel’s antihero. Lieberman, aka Microchip, provides all manner of illicit
services: money laundering, weapons procurement and computer hacking.
In his origin story, Lieberman’s initial crime is changing
the grades of a fellow college student whose scholarship is in danger. After
tangling with a mob-connected bank, he begins a life on the run. From there, he
slowly evolves into an underground hacker who also creates computer viruses. He
meets an untimely end when he tries to replace the Punisher, who is becoming
increasingly violent and unstable.
Shuri
Black Panther’s brilliant little sister, Shuri, made a big
splash in the 2018 “Black Panther” film with her technological wizardry — Q to
her brother’s James Bond. In the comics, Shuri is similarly gifted but also
more ambitious: She has her eye on becoming Black Panther, a ceremonial title
of power and leadership in the advanced African nation of Wakanda. Shuri serves
as Black Panther when her brother is incapacitated and later sacrifices her
life to save him. But worry not: He finds a way to bring her back, and they
fight side by side today.
Shuri is very much a field operative in comics, and she’s
responsible for creating an array of gadgets and gear, including a spaceship
and nanotech wings (of which she boasts, “My latest success! Emergency flight
in a can! I am awesome!”).
Oracle
When Barbara Gordon becomes paralyzed after being shot by
the Joker, her crime-fighting career as Batgirl might come to an end. Instead,
Barbara trades in her cape, motorcycle and grappling hooks for a keyboard,
multiple monitors and Wi-Fi to become Oracle, a genius-level computer hacker
and information broker to the heroes of DC Comics. After undergoing an
experimental surgery that implants a microchip into her spine to restore her
mobility, she becomes Batgirl again but later decides that she has a wider
reach as Oracle.
In a recent issue, her father, former police Commissioner
Jim Gordon, confirms that he knows about Barbara’s other identities. After a
heart-to-heart chat, she outfits him with a special satellite phone in his
latest quest to apprehend the Joker. The phone is linked to Batman’s
communications system and is set to self-destruct if he does not check in on a
daily basis.
The Calculator
Noah Kuttler, a DC villain known as the Calculator, was
originally a costumed crook with a gimmick: He wore a numerical keypad on his
chest and would say things like, “I compute you have less than one minute to
live.” Despite his confidence, he never made it to the upper echelon of
villains. That changes after Kuttler heard whispers about Oracle. Kuttler
ditches his costume and set up a similar operation — this time catering to
supervillains at substantial fees: $1,000 per question answered and even more
for other services.
In addition to supplying information to villains, he also
provides a measure of protection: He playfully counters a wiretap setup by the
heroes to hear only speeches by Vice President Adlai Stevenson.
Amanda Waller
“The Wall” is an apt nickname for the steel-willed Amanda
Waller. She made her mark on the DC Universe as the head of the government
program Task Force X, which is also known as the Suicide Squad. Waller enlists
supervillains for dangerous missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences
— if they survive. One of her favorite pieces of tech is explosive devices,
often in metallic collars and sometimes implanted beneath the skin, that
encourage the villains to keep within the parameters of the assignment.
Waller witnesses a lot of casualties in her line of work,
but one especially strikes close to home: Flo Crawley, the coordinator of Task
Force X’s missions, wants to take part in missions. Waller’s response: “If I
let you do that, your mama would shoot me and I’d give her the gun.” But Flo
defies orders and takes part in an operation that results in her death.
Cecil Stedman
Invincible, the title character in the recent animated
Amazon Prime series, is often assisted by Cecil Stedman, the head of the Global
Defense Agency, which was vigilant for threats that might require superhero
attention. Stedman is a big fan of the gadgetry afforded to him by his
government job. Early on, he gets to use a teleportation device, of which he
said: “It costs taxpayers $5 million every time we use it, but I just had to
try it.” He also outfits Invincible with an earpiece that serves as a direct
line to the hero in times of need.
Stedman can be a little cocky — he once said, “I’m so high
ranked in the
US government, I don’t even have a rank” — but his heart is
usually in the right place. When Invincible’s family faces a crisis, Stedman
leaps into action: His machinations help provide the family with a steady
income, and he stages a funeral with holograms to help preserve secret
identities.
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