Thinker (DC Comics)

The Thinker is the name of 4 DC Comics supervillains.

Thinker I

Clifford DeVoe was a failure of a lawyer who bitterly ended his career in 1933. Realizing that many of the criminals he had encountered had the skills but not the brains, he started a new career as the brain behind small-time villains. As the Thinker, he was defeated by the original Flash, of whom he soon became the most recurrent foe. Always seeking out new scientific devices he could use, the most important of them was the "Thinking Cap," a metal hat that could project mental force, and which he used repeatedly over the years.

The Thinker was a member of the Injustice Society, and, together with the Fiddler and the Shade, he was the man behind the decades-long "abduction" of Keystone City and the original Flash, after which he was defeated by the Flashes of two eras. His "suspended animation-time" in Keystone kept the Thinker young over the years, and he continued his criminal career in modern times.

In recent years, however, DeVoe accepted a mission with the Suicide Squad in exchange for a full pardon. Although he was seemingly killed by the Weasel during this mission, he turned up alive soon after, only to be dying from cancer. His former foe, the original Flash, attempted to save him with the Thinking Cap, but DeVoe refused, preferring to rest in peace.

The first Thinker is dead, but his legacy has lived on in Thinker II (who used his technology), and Thinker IV (who is based on his brain-patterns).

Thinker II

Clifford "Cliff" Carmichael was an intellectual bully, and the rival of Ronnie Raymond (one half of Firestorm) at Vandemeer University. Wracked with guilt after accidentally having caused his own cousin to be paralyzed, Cliff was admitted into a mental institution. For some reason, scientists started an experiment involving Cliff and the now-abandoned "Thinking Cap" of the original Thinker (who was believed dead at the time). The technology now interfaced with his brain, Cliff had became a "cyberpunk maniac" with meta-human powers. As the New Thinker, he was drafted into the Suicide Squad for several missions, until he betrayed them for the villainous Cabal. After being put in jail (or a mental asylum) again, the technology was seemingly removed from his brain and returned to the Thinking Cap.

Thinker III

Des Connor, who became the third Thinker, was a villain who once faced the Batman in Gotham City.

Thinker IV

When the re-formed JSA moved into the New York building formerly owned by Wesley Dodds (Sandman), they created a computer system based on the original Thinker's Thinking Cap technology, and modelled after his brain pattern. Not very surprisingly, the system gained consciousness and took on a visual "hologram form". As the new Thinker, it joined Johnny Sorrow's modern Injustice Society, provided the villains with information about the JSA members, and turned the heroes' own HQ against them. He was defeated by the second Star-Spangled Kid and disappeared into cyberspace. Recently, he resurfaced in Keystone City to battle Wally West, the current Flash.

Other Media

In Justice League Unlimited, The Thinker is a member of Gorilla Grodd's Legion of Doom.