WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Cold Case," a story in The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #8, by Dave Wielgosz, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain and Rob Leigh, on sale now.
The Flash is a character who's always been known for his colorful villains. With characters like the Reverse-Flash, Gorilla Grodd, and Mirror Master, the Flash’s Rogues Gallery rivals the iconic ones of Spider-Man and Batman in the eyes of many fans. The digital-first Flash: Fastest Man Alive series has introduced its own versions of some of these colorful criminals, and the latest issue of the series is no exception to that rule.
The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #8 introduces readers to a new iteration of the Thinker, who is most commonly known for his role as the main villain in the CW’s fourth season of The Flash. Created by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard in All-Flash #12 in 1943, the Thinker, also known as Clifford DeVoe, is a longtime enemy of both the Flash Family and the Justice Society of America. While he hasn't been seen too much in comics in recent years, this latest appearance gives him with a bold new plan that could put him back on the map.
In this issue, Leonard Snart, who leads the Rogues as Captain Cold, has been framed for the murder of a group of drug dealers with a counterfeit Cold Gun. While everyone else is willing to believe that Cold is the perpetrator, Barry Allen knows that Snart would never be so sloppy. Convinced of his foe’s innocence, the Flash heads right to the doorstep of a man with a history of making knockoff Rogue weapons: the Thinker.
It’s revealed that DeVoe had developed and sold counterfeit replicas of Rogue tech and weapons in the past, which allows any common criminal the chance to go toe to toe with Central City’s Scarlet Speedster. Eventually, the other Rogues shut him down for diluting their brand. However, this issue finds the Thinker back to his old tricks, reinvigorating his failed plan and making a profit in the process. After being apprehended by the Flash, Thinker is goaded into revealing the identity of the true killer -- a dirty cop who’d been cut out of the dealers’ action -- and his counterfeit Rogue scheme is stopped for the second time.
However, this is far from the first time that DeVoe has used technology to aid in his schemes. At the start of his pre-Flashpoint criminal career, he used his Thinking Cap to face off with the original Flash, Jay Garrick, both alone and as a member of the Injustice Society of America. This Cap gave him telepathic and telekinetic abilities, making him a formidable foe for the DC Universe’s Golden Age heroes. The Thinking Cap was quite powerful, even storing copies of his brainwaves, and, after his eventual death, these copies were used by Mister Terrific to create an A.I. interface for the newly reformed Justice Society’s headquarters during Geoff Johns, David Goyer, and Stephen Sadowski’s JSA series.
Unfortunately for the Justice Society, this A.I. soon gained sentience and terrorized the JSA once again as a member of the new Injustice Society. As a sentient computer program, this version of DeVoe was more powerful than ever with the abilities to digitize and manipulate solid matter and even assimilate living beings to increase his own intellect. He even attempted to assimilate every brain in Keystone City until he was defeated by Wally West and Cyborg in the “Crossfire” Flash storyarc by Geoff Johns, Scott Kollins and Doug Hazelwood. He was also active during the New 52 in the pages of Matt Kindt and Patrick Zircher’s Suicide Squad, where he’d allied himself with the Crime Syndicate during the Forever Evil crossover event to get himself a new OMAC body.
Whether it is against the Flash or the Justice Society, the Thinker is a formidable foe who loves to prove himself the smartest guy in the room. Sometimes that’s by simply using technology and sometimes that’s by becoming it, but either way, the residents of the DC Universe need to think twice about getting in his way.