Marcus Cutter

## Biographical information

### Aliases

William Carter
Jonas Highland
Arthur Keller
Charles Kerr
Wyllis Fletcher
R.W. Niemann
Matthew Newman

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Scotty Shoemaker

**Marcus H. Cutter** (originally Matthew Newman) was the Director of Communications for Goddard Futuristics and the primary antagonist of Wolf 359. He oversaw a few portfolios of the Special Projects division, and was directly involved in recruiting several members of the last Hephaestus crew. Previously, he co-wrote "Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual" with Dr. Miranda Pryce in 1992, under the name William Carter..

His past identities include Wyllis Fletcher, Jonas Highland, R.W. Niemann, Charles Kerr, William S. Carter, Arthur Keller and Matthew Newman.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born Matthew Newman, Cutter grew up in California. As a high school student in the late 1940s, he discovered a timed sequence of pulses originating from outside Earth's atmosphere with his homemade radio telescope. Recognizing the pulses were not a natural phenomenon, Cutter took his findings to his high school teachers, and the professors at the local college. No one provided any explanation for the transmissions. Cutter believed he had discovered signs of alien life, but the pulses were actually the result of Project Menagerie, a highly classified air force operation. When the air force found out about his discovery, military police raided Cutter's home and confiscated his equipment. Despite this, Cutter continued to to pursue his passion for space exploration.

By the 1950s, Cutter worked for a small aviation prototyping company that was acquired by the Goddard-Wright Aeronautics Company. He worked his way up to become the vice president of Goddard-Wright, while building its reputation. However, Cutter's career was nearly cut short with the failure of an early interstellar mission. He became a scapegoat for the immense public backlash, and the board of directors forced Cutter out in the 1960s. His final directive as Matthew Newman was a company restructure that would later give rise to the communications department.

With the help of Miranda Pryce's biomechanical advancements, Cutter recreated his identity and returned to Goddard as Arthur Keller. As Keller, he instituted the communications department and became Communications Director. He spent the next several decades passing the position from one alias to the next, allowing him to maintain control of Goddard from a less conspicuous office.

## Personality

A vocal fan of chai latte, Cutter is extremely enthusiastic, flamboyant, and happy-go-lucky. Laughing often and notably sounding like he is near-constantly smiling, he cultivates a sweet, overly friendly personality, and is on a one-sided first name basis with all of his employees. At the same time, he makes no attempt to hide how absolutely ruthless he is from the very beginning, casually and cheerfully threatening his employees with intense bodily harm, and delivering on his promises.

## Relationships

Cutter's prominent position both at Goddard Futuristics and within the *Wolf 359* narrative placed him at the nerve center of all the happenings – and, consequently, smack in the middle of each of the lives of most, if not all, of its characters, major or minor.

### Allies

#### Miranda Pryce

A cross between protégé and business partner, Miranda Pryce was first recruited by Cutter (then Matthew Newman) after he was fired from the Wright-Goddard Aeronautics Company. In exchange for the opportunity to "fix" the world, she developed biotechnology that extended the lifespans of both Cutter and herself. Pryce's technology also allowed Cutter to change his appearance in order to return time and again to his role as Communications Director at Goddard, even granting him superhuman abilities. Together, they wrote Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual.

In "Idle Hands", Lovelace refers to Pryce as Cutter's "work-wife," a phrase that Cutter seems to accept readily. Cutter saw Pryce as his oldest, and possibly only friend. When Pryce, along with Kepler, Minkowski, and Eiffel, was blasted off the Sol towards Wolf 359, Cutter radically changed his cheerful demeanor, and demonstrated genuine concern. Pryce, however, was not nearly as warm toward Cutter. She tolerated his sentiment, but always saw Cutter as a partner rather than a friend.

#### Rachel Young

Rachel's first appearance on the show introduced her as somewhat of an enigma-- able to talk back to Cutter, nevertheless, she followed his orders to the letter. In "Volte Face," it was revealed that she attempted to blackmail her way into Goddard Futuristics under the identity of Andrea Nash, investigative reporter, a plan during the execution of which Cutter revealed his former identities and tragic backstory. He did so with the impression that she would soon be under the influence of one of Pryce's restraining bolts, but a last-minute insightful answer on Rachel's part saved her from that fate, and led to Cutter offering her a position within the company, for which she changed her name to Rachel Young.

 – Marcus Cutter, Rachel Young, "Terms and Conditions"

#### David Clarke

David Clarke's first and only appearance on *Wolf 359* is in "Volte Face" where he is introduced as an assistant to Mr. Cutter. He immediately takes a strong dislike to Rachel, and throughout the episode Cutter is amused by Clarke's efforts to dissuade her. He is the one Cutter entrusts with finding and potentially using the restraining bolt onboard Cutter's private airplane, although that never comes to pass. The interaction between the two can be compared to the relationship between Rachel and Cutter in previous episodes. In an audio memorandum, Cutter address David by name about his work, but he does not make a voiced appearance in that episode.

## Trivia

* Cutter had seen *Monsters, Inc.* at least twice prior to the events of "Volte Face".
* Cutter stated he loves Westerns.
* Cutter knew how to play piano.
* Cutter's biomechanical enhancements give him supernatural capabilities; he doesn’t appear to need to eat or sleep, and can catch bullets.
	+ The only thing he has ever been shown to consume throughout the entirety of the podcast are chai lattes.
* In "Lambert Week Live" Day 4 and Day 5, Cutter is implied to enjoy ASMR and ASMR Mukbang content, ordering Lambert to make the Mukbang "More messy." Although, the canonicity of this is questionable, as only Zach Valenti was involved.

## Image Gallery

* Mr. Cutter's character sheet from the Wolf 359 website.
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## References

1. ↑ Tumblr post by creator Gabriel Urbina; https://personalinsanitymoment.tumblr.com/post/126617522468/what-do-you-think-the-zodiac-signs-of-the-wolf-359
2. ↑ Tumblr post by creator Gabriel Urbina; https://personalinsanitymoment.tumblr.com/post/147626050643/so-cutter-was-one-of-the-authors-of-price-and
3. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 14: "The Kumbaya Approach."
4. ↑ *Wolf 359* episode 60: "Terms and Conditions."
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Wolf 359* episode 61: "Brave New World."