Could The Thinker be The Flash Season 4 prime villain? To fans who enjoy connecting the dots to see if the writers of favorite shows foreshadow upcoming developments with narrative hints, TV Line gave an unnamed, inside sources report of The Thinker (aka Clifford DeVoe) as the Season 4 prime villain. Neither The Flash cast, writers, nor producers have responded to the report, as of this writing.
In Season 3’s ‘Abra Kadabra’ episode, a time travelling villain from the 64th century named off The Flash’s greatest nemeses: “Thawne, Zoom, DeVoe, Savitar.” At the close of Season 3, when Barry Allen attempted to bring his time remnant into the fold to prevent Savitar from existing at all, Remnant Barry mentioned a “cerebral inhibitor to stop DeVoe.” This kind of name dropping foreshadowed a prime villain on Arrow a couple of years back, as season 3 ended. In several episodes of the back half of Arrow Season 3, the name Damien Darhk popped up in dialog. Later, the Season 4 premier revealed Darhk as the prime villain. The writers and producers of The Flash could be doing the same thing here.
So, who is this DeVoe/The Thinker? In the DC comics and in Justice League animation, Clifford DeVoe has appeared as The Thinker, a criminal strategist and planner; a criminal consultant, if you will. DeVoe’s origin often features him as a prosecutor who loses big cases and decides to switch sides. The Thinker has sometimes fought other good speedsters when the Fastest Man Alive was unavailable. This scenario will be the case with Jay Garrick, Wally West, Jessi Wells and Barry at the start of Season 4. The DeVoe story also offers a path to redemption. The Thinker has received a Suicide Squad pardon and subsequently left the life of crime to become a productive citizen.
The Flash writers have only dropped the last name so far. Thus, they’ve left themselves wide open for a Clarise DeVoe, or a Clemintine DeVoe, etc. Christine DeVoe would give Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg the opportunity to go where rival Kevin Feige wouldn’t in Iron Man Three. Substantial rewrites during that film’s development changed primary and supporting villains. Aldrich Killian became Tony Stark’s central foe; Maya Hansen became a much more sympathetic and tragic character. A lady villain as The Flash Season 4’s central foe would be refreshing change, since it has rarely been done before in superhero and detective shows with male leads.
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