We take a look at who the Thinker is and why he is coming after the Flash in season 4 of CW’s hit series.
Flash fans got their fair dose of speedsters in the first three seasons of the Flash. All protagonists in the first three seasons were speedsters making the story quite repetitive and boring for the fans. In the first two seasons we saw the Reverse Flash and Zoom. The third season introduced us to Savitar who turned out to be Barry Allen himself. Now, finally team Flash has decided to change this trend and make way for something different. The Flash will now face the Thinker which means that the Flash may not only have to move quickly but would also have to complement with super speedy thinking abilities as well.
So who is the Thinker? To us when we first thought of the Thinker, it reminded us of the Riddler. But as we did more research and looked into his attributes we found that they weren’t that alike. The Riddler always tried to outwit the Batman with his clever and intriguing riddles. But the Thinker is someone who tests his foes with more than just riddles. The Thinker in addition to being clever than the average human being found a way to connect himself to the internet. But the connection had a devastating effect. The shock was so great that the Thinker lost control of his own physical body and became something akin to artificial intelligence. Some might even think of him as an Ultron of a parallel universe.
The Thinker is Cliff Devoe who’s a district attorney of Keystone City. He was an advocate of the weak and fought many cases against the crime lords. However, after losing one case to a big mob bosses, he lost the will to continue his profession and instead turned to the dark side. Devoe’s story kind of reminds us of Harvey Dent or Two Face. Like Devoe, Two face was an attorney himself and also turned to the dark side following the death of Rachel. However, there’s one catch. While Dent was all human, Devoe has a huge database at its disposal. His cunning mind along with the world wide web (WWW) gives him immense power and adds a Cyborg like element within him.
Devoe’s connection to the internet gives him unprecedented power. According to the comics, the Thinker is able to create realms and vacuum in whole cities and people into it, creating a perfect universe from him to rule. We all know how the greed of power can play with someone’s mind and something exactly of that nature happened with the Thinker. The need for power infiltrated his mind and forced him to resort to unfair means.
The Thinker is someone who’s transitioning process started before Barry Allen even turned into the Flash. We believe that the Thinker wouldn’t have something of a personal grudge against his Flash but rather his thirst for power would be the real reason why both parties would cross one another’s paths. Moreover, we also believe that Wally West the new Flash will have a hard time facing the Thinker. The situation will allow the Flash to unleash his true potential against a foe who takes him to his limits.
