The Thinker (Flash Villain) (original) (raw)

[[The Thinker]](bigimages/thinker.jpg)

Real Name: Clifford Devoe
Occupation: Criminal
Past Occupation: District Attorney
Group Affiliations: Injustice Society, Suicide Squad, Checkmate
Base of Operations: Keystone City, Kansas
First Appearance: All-Flash #12 (Fall 1943)

[The Original Thinker]Cliff Devoe, Keystone City’s district attorney, became frustrated with his inability to stop crime. After he lost a high-profile case against mob boss Hunk Norvock, Devoe decided he was on the wrong side. He offered Norvock a deal: in exchange for room and board, he would apply his mind to any task Norvock wanted.

Devoe spent the next ten years doing nothing but researching and planning crimes, earning the nickname, the Thinker. Norvock finally called in the favor, then tried to kill Devoe as a potential rival. Devoe was prepared for every contingency, and Norvock ended up killing himself. The gang chose the Thinker as their new leader. (All-Flash #12,1943)

The Thinker tangled repeatedly with the original Flash. His crimes were always meticulously researched and planned, often technologically advanced, and he would sometimes taunt the city’s protector ahead of time with a clue.

The Thinking Cap

[The Thinker with his Thinking Cap]Devoe obtained a “thinking cap”* which would boost his intellect even further, enabling him to plan even more elaborate schemes, eventually modifying it to give him telekinesis, mind control, and other psionic abilities.

The Thinker’s greatest scheme was carried out with the aid of the Fiddler and the Shade. Together, they managed to shift Keystone City out of phase with the rest of the world for thirty years while the population slept. No one inside could put up any resistance, and no one outside could remember the city even existed. The three of them were able to plunder the city at their leisure. About ten years ago the second Flash discovered and crossed into the hidden city, then tracked down the original Flash, waking him up and joining him to stop the trio and restore the city.**

Digital Afterlife

Eventually Cliff Devoe developed cancer. During his time in the hospital, he became friends with Jay Garrick. When the doctors told Devoe he only had a few days left, Garrick went on a hunt for the thinking cap, hoping that with it Devoe might devise a way to cure his brain tumor. He found it, but Devoe declined its help, and passed away. (Flash v.2 #134, 1998)

When the new Justice Society formed, Mr. Terrific used the Thinker’s thinking cap as a basis for the artificial intelligence in their new headquarters’ computer systems. Somehow the Thinker’s essence was transferred into the JSA HQ. Unfortunately, his friendship with Jay Garrick did not come through. Approached by Johnny Sorrow, the Thinker aided in an attack by the Injustice Gang until his system was shut down.

The Thinker’s electronic form was not destroyed, however, and took up residence in the data networks of Keystone City. He lurked there for months, gathering his strength until he took control, transforming the city into a giant supercomputer with its residents as the ultimate CPU cluster. The Flash overaccelerated his program and—apparently—erased it. (“Crossfire,” Flash v.2 #184–187, 2002)

The Thinker AI has since resurfaced as the White King’s Bishop operative for the covert-ops agency Checkmate, answering to Mr. Terrific. (Checkmate v.2 #9, 2007)

Text by Kelson Vibber. Do not copy without permission.

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Notes

* The Thinking Cap did not appear during any of the Thinker’s Golden-Age appearances, including the story that eventually appeared in Flash v.1 #214 (1972). It looks like the first time he used it may be in “Flash of Two Worlds” (Flash #123, 1961), though the first chronological appearance would be the flashback story “Honeymoon in Vegas,” from Flash v.2 #161 (2000).

There is an earlier appearance of a ”thinking cap” in Flash Comics #65 (1945), “The Adventure of the Thinking Cap.” The Comics Archives suggests that this is the same device, and indicates that it was invented by Dr. Hartford Jackson.

** “Flash of Two Worlds,” originally presented in_The Flash #123_ (1961) and now available in_The World’s Greatest Team-Up Stories_ andThe Flash Archives Volume 3, was the first meeting of the pre-Crisis Earth-1and Earth-2. In it, Barry Allen crossed over to Earth-2 and convinced Jay Garrick to come out of retirement to help solve a string of robberies carried out by the Thinker, Fiddler, and Shade. The aftermath of the Crisis placed Keystone and Central Cities on the same Earth, across the river from each other. Grant Morrison, in Secret Origins #50(1990) updated the tale to fit with post-Crisis continuity. As far as how long it was out of phase, that’s less clear. Morrison’s story implies that it was under 10 years (“There were a couple of orphans there that day who suddenly weren’t orphans anymore”), but Brian Augustyn’s “Riddle of the Retro Robberies” (Flash 80-page Giant #2, 1999) states that it was thirty.

Continuity Alert! According to the Suicide Squad/Doom Patrol Special, the Thinker’s throat was slashed during a mission with the Suicide Squad (a program in which super-villains could work off their sentences carrying out dangerous missions for the U.S. government) and he was left for dead. This story or the Thinker’s role in it may have been retconned out of existence by Flash #134, or the Squad may simply have assumed too quickly that he was dead.

A second Thinker, Cliff Carmichael, implanted microchips based on the Thinking Cap into his own brain. This “New Thinker” worked with the Suicide Squad, then dropped out of sight, eventually reappearing to battle Firestorm. Firestorm liquefied the implants (at great cost to himself), and Carmichael was captured (Firestorm v.2 #11–13, 2005).

(Thanks to Netglider5 and Troy Desrosiers for the Suicide Squad info. Thanks also to Liquidcross for news of the second Thinker’s fate. And thanks to Jacob Kosmicki for the tip on the Checkmate connection.)