The title of this blog sums up the nature of it, quite frankly. Let's see some arguments 'for' and 'against'.

Nah. I doubt it. I agree with Vice, that Calculator would probably be working with the Russians, not the Chinese if he appeared in the movies. Lau's probably more like the paranoid schizophrenic Thomas Shift (sp?), a character who seems familiar but is actually new.

I can certainly see WHY Lau could be thought of as the Calculator, but there are a few differences that might be enough to disprove this:

1) He was much more interested in money management than technology…and conducted a fair amount of his business in person, something the Calculator would never do.

2) He was easily fooled by Lucius Fox's phone gambit..again, Calculator is a master of technology.

3) He seemed to have very little to do with any criminals outside of the small mafia racket: he had not heard of the Joker, and was not mentioned in regards to the League of Assassins. Calculator's main job in the DCU is an information broker to OTHER VILLAINS. Yes, Lau was trying to scam Bruce Wayne, but that's really more a mobster thing. Calculator would just drain his bank account.

@Edamame: Yeah, him!

I'm not saying he was, but that was how he was identified in the movie and since my spelling was atrocious I thought that might be the best way to et people to know who I was talking about.

@Icarusflies: Those are some very valid points, but I still believe the character is at least a very loose inspiration for Lau.