Savant is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

, depicted as a member of the

Birds of Prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predato ...

and the

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

. The character made his cinematic debut in the

DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters tha ...

film '' The Suicide Squad'', portrayed by

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor known for his roles as Henry in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), Chick Gandil in '' Eight Men Out'' (1988), Frank Baily in '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), Terry Cruger in '' ...

Fictional character biography

Brian Durlin, better known as Savant, is the spoiled heir to an enormous fortune. Savant had moved to

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, t ...

to become a self-styled vigilante. However, after

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

discouraged his involvement in vigilantism because of his lack of care to protect others, he turned his own formidable computer skills into a profitable blackmailing business. Savant was joined in this by an ex-Russian KGB agent named Creote. Savant later kidnapped

Black Canary The Black Canary is the name of two superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics: Dinah Drake and her daughter Dinah Laurel Lance. The original version was created by the writer-artist team of Robert Kanigher and ...

in hopes to get the real identity of Batman from

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The wor ...

. However, he was soon defeated by her team. Oracle then made the decision to attempt to rehabilitate him, mainly in order to keep his data files on hundreds of real villains. Like his namesake, he is a genius; however, due to a chemical imbalance he exhibits a non-linear memory and seems to be quite forgetful. Savant has also exhibited feelings for Oracle, probably rooted in his envy of her computer skills. Savant went on, under Oracle's control, to clean up a Gotham neighborhood. However his unique methods led Oracle to regret her decision. Savant and Creote then joined forces with Huntress to take over the Gotham mafia by placing Huntress as capo. As part of a plan by

Calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-size ...

to get to Oracle, Savant was kidnapped and tortured by agents of the

Secret Society of Super Villains Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a DC Comics title that debuted in May–June 1976. The series presented a group of DC's supervillains, mostly foes of the Justice League of America. The series was cancelled with issue #15 in July 1978 ...

. His non-linear memory helped him to resist the interrogation, making it appear to last only a few hours rather than the days it had really been. He was rescued by the Birds of Prey and out of anger pushed the villain Black Spider out of a window. Spider survived, meaning the Birds did not have to arrest Savant for murder, though he did end his association with Oracle. He and Creote turn up alongside dozens of former Birds of Prey and friends of Barbara to confront

Spy Smasher Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by Fawcett and DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics. The second is a female anti-terrorism government agent, ...

. He is one of the villains sent to retrieve the Get Out of Hell free card from the

Secret Six The so-called Secret Six, or the Secret Committee of Six, were a group of men who secretly funded the 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry by abolitionist John Brown. Sometimes described as "wealthy," this was true of only two. The other four were in po ...

. Savant is seemingly attacked and murdered by The White Canary. After a failed attempt to keep him alive, a grieving Creote blames Oracle for this and shoots himself. It later turns out that they both faked their deaths. They later appear in Oracle's base and abduct her, planning for her to reveal her secret identity to the world. They take Oracle to the top of the Gotham Dam, where Savant reveals that his distorted sense of time means that his torture at the hands of the Secret Society feels like it only happened five minutes ago and that he has been in constant mental agony for two years. He then reveals that the true purpose of bringing Oracle out to the dam was to have her witness his suicide and attempts to throw himself off the dam, but Oracle leaps from her chair and stops him, convincing Creote to help pull them up despite his promise to let Savant die. She then explains to a confused Savant that Creote is in love with him. Creote later admits his feelings to Savant, who to his surprise reciprocates. Savant and Creote were offered positions in the Birds of Prey by Oracle yet again, Savant on technical staff, Creote as a bodyguard. Recently, Savant has appeared in a meeting with the Calculator to have faked his breakdown to infiltrate Oracle's operation. However, it is later apparent in a meeting with Oracle and Batman that he is a double agent for the Birds of Prey, to feed Calculator information that would ultimately allow the Birds to successfully fake the death of Oracle. The brief encounter with Batman revealed that neither of them has forgotten their previous hostility towards the other. In September 2011, DC Comics rebooted the continuity of its fictional universe in an initiative known as

The New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero American comic books, comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint (comics), Flashpoint" Fictional crossover, cross ...

. In this new timeline, Savant is reintroduced as a member of

Amanda Waller Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...

's new

. As part of an effort to weed out the weak link in the group, the candidates are tortured, with Savant eventually cracking under the pressure and betraying the group. He is dragged away and seemingly killed, but his fate is left uncertain.''Suicide Squad'' Vol.4 #1 (November 2011). DC Comics.

Powers and abilities

Savant possesses genius-level intellect. He is an expert at martial arts, computer operation, and multilingualism.

Weakness

Savant exhibits

forgetfulness Forgetting or disremembering is the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an individual's short or long-term memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process in which old memory, memories are unable to be recall ...

due to neuro-chemical imbalance; because of said- chemical imbalance, he exhibits a non-linear memory; his recollection of events does not occur in their

linear Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

-order; once, when kidnapped and tortured, Savant's non-linear memory helped him to resist the interrogation, making it appear to last only a few hours rather than the days it had really been; later, because of his distorted sense of time, his torture at the hands of the Secret Society feels like it only happened five minutes ago and he was in constant mental agony for two years.

In other media

* Savant appears in '' The Suicide Squad'', portrayed by

. This version is a war veteran who was convicted of blackmail. He is recruited into the eponymous team to destroy a Corto Maltese prison called Jötunheim. However, his

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

flares up after witnessing most of his team get killed in a battle with the local military and attempts to flee, leading to

executing him via an explosive device implanted in his skull.

References

{{Suicide Squad Comics characters introduced in 2003 Characters created by Gail Simone DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics male superheroes DC Comics martial artists Fictional characters with memory disorders Fictional blackmailers Fictional bisexual males Fictional hackers Russian superheroes Suicide Squad members Vigilante characters in comics