The Thinker is the name of five supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The first incarnation, Clifford DeVoe, is an enemy of Jay Garrick. The second, Clifford Carmichael, is an enemy of Firestorm. The third, Desmond Carter, is an enemy of Batman. The fourth, an A.I. version of the Thinker, is an enemy of the Justice Society of America. An unidentified incarnation of Thinker, introduced in the New 52, is an enemy of the Suicide Squad.
The character has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including television series and feature films. The Clifford DeVoe incarnation of the Thinker made his live-action debut in the television series The Flash, portrayed primarily by Neil Sandilands. In the DC Extended Universe, a variation of the unidentified Thinker called Gaius Grieves appears in The Suicide Squad (2021), portrayed by Peter Capaldi.
The Clifford DeVoe incarnation of Thinker first appeared in All-Flash #12 (Fall 1943) and was created by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard.[1]
In October 1947, the Thinker was one of the six original members of the Injustice Society, who began battling the Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #37 (Oct 1947).[2]
The Cliff Carmichael incarnation of Thinker first appeared in Firestorm #1 (1978) and was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom.
Conway recounted, "My original notion on Firestorm was to do a book that would be DC's complement to Spider-Man, in a sense. We would have a young adolescent male who gets superpowers and doesn't know quite what to do with them. My flip on it was that rather than being the science geek who was being picked upon by the jock, my hero would actually be the jock who was picked on by the geek, and that was going to be Cliff Carmichael's role."[3]
In The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man #50, the strap on Ronnie Raymond's football helmet is cut, and in the following issues the cast members come to suspect Carmichael of the crime. Though Conway later said that he must have intended to ultimately reveal someone else as the culprit (commenting "Cliff was a jackass, but he wasn't a bloodthirsty maniac"), John Ostrander took over as the series' writer and had Carmichael confess to cutting the strap.[3] In Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #99, Carmichael was transformed into the Thinker as part of the genre-wide trend in which civilian cast members were almost eliminated from superhero comics.[3]
| Character Name: | Thinker |
| Real Name: | Clifford DeVoe |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | All-Flash #12 (September 1943) |
| Creators: | Gardner Fox Everett E. Hibbard |
| Species: | Human Cyborg |
| Alliances: | Injustice Society Suicide Squad |
| Powers: | Technologically derived telekinesis and mind control |
Clifford DeVoe is a failed lawyer who bitterly ended his career in 1933. Realizing that many of the criminals he encounter have the skills but not the brains to rule Gotham City's underworld, he starts a new career as the brain behind small-time villains. As the Thinker, DeVoe becomes an enemy of the original Flash, Jay Garrick, and wields the "Thinking Cap", a metal hat that can project mental force.[4] Furthermore, he joins the Injustice Society and spends decades in suspended animation, enabling him to survive into the modern day.[5]
DeVoe later joins Task Force X in exchange for a full pardon.[6] However, he dies from cancer caused by prolonged exposure to his Cap.[7]
In the "DC Rebirth" continuity, DeVoe is a former district attorney.[8]
| Character Name: | Thinker |
| Real Name: | Cliff Carmichael |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | As Cliff Carmichael: Firestorm #1 (March 1978) As the Thinker: Firestorm (vol. 2) #99 (July 1990) |
| Creators: | Gerry Conway Al Milgrom |
| Species: | Human Cyborg |
| Alliances: | Suicide Squad Secret Society of Super Villains |
| Powers: | Technologically derived telekinesis and mind control |
Clifford Carmichael is an intellectual bully and the rival of Ronnie Raymond (one half of Firestorm). After damaging his cousin Hugo Hammer's football helmet, leading him to be injured and paralyzed during a game, Cliff is guilt-ridden.
Cliff is admitted into a mental institution and used as a test subject for the original Thinker's Thinking Cap. After implanting microchip versions of the helmet into his brain, Cliff becomes a cyborg metahuman and joins the Suicide Squad.[9] [10] He battles the second Firestorm, Jason Rusch, who renders him comatose.[11]
In Infinite Crisis, Cliff joins Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains. He is killed by King Faraday in Suicide Squad (vol. 3), but resurrected in The New 52 continuity reboot.
| Character Name: | Thinker |
| Real Name: | Desmond Connor |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | #67 (October 1997) |
| Creators: | Alan Grant Norm Breyfogle |
| Species: | Human Cyborg |
| Powers: |
|
The fourth Thinker is Des Connor, an enemy of Batman who can amplify the fears of others. He hypnotizes civilians into committing heists before being defeated by Batman, who is immune to his powers.[12]
| Character Name: | Thinker |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | JSA #9 (April 2000) |
| Creators: | David S. Goyer Geoff Johns Stephen Sadowski |
| Species: | Artificial intelligence |
| Alliances: | Injustice Society Secret Society of Super Villains Checkmate Legion of Zoom |
| Aliases: | White King's Bishop |
| Powers: | Binary intelligence capable of integrating into and controlling computerized and electronics systems |
The fourth Thinker is a rogue artificial intelligence based on Clifford DeVoe's consciousness and created by Mister Terrific. As the new Thinker, it joins Johnny Sorrow's modern Injustice Society, provides the villains with information about the JSA members, and turns the heroes' own HQ against them. He is defeated by the second Star-Spangled Kid and disappears into cyberspace.[13]
The Thinker A.I. later joins Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains and the Legion of Zoom and becomes the White King of Checkmate.
| Character Name: | Thinker |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #24 (December 2013) |
| Creators: | Matt Kindt Patrick Zircher |
| Species: | Human Cyborg |
| Alliances: | Secret Society of Super Villains |
| Powers: | Superintelligence |
An unidentified Thinker is introduced in Forever Evil. Due to his powers gradually degrading his body, he takes over the body of OMAC before escaping Belle Reve.[14]
The Thinker, based on the unidentified incarnation, appears in The Suicide Squad, portrayed by Peter Capaldi. This version is Dr. Gaius Grieves, a sociopathic, Scottish metahuman geneticist who was employed by Corto Maltese's dictatorship and the U.S. government for the secretive "Project Starfish". Over the course of 30 years, he studied and experimented on the alien Starro using enemies of the Corto Maltesean government within the local Nazi-era research facility Jötunheim.[22] [23] After an anti-American dictatorship takes over the Corto Maltesean government and kill his scientific staff with the intention of weaponizing Starro in the present, Grieves sides with them to save himself, claiming that only he can control the creature. However, he is captured by the Suicide Squad, whom Amanda Waller sent to destroy Project Starfish and bury its U.S. ties, and forced to help them infiltrate Jötunheim until they accidentally release Starro who kills Grieves in retaliation for experimenting on it.