The Flash Season 3 episode 18 named dropped a man named DeVoe. A quick Google search tells fans this is Clifford DeVoe, otherwise known as DC Comics’ The Thinker, a longtime Flash villain to the likes of Reverse-Flash, Zoom and Captain Cold. So did Abra Kadabra just bless Barry with the name of Season 4’s big bad, or did the writers just give us a cool easter egg to sit with? Because if Barry does end up changing the future, it could mean we won’t ever meet The Thinker at all.
Speaking at Paleyfest in Los Angeles, Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg revealed there will be a change of pace in the show. The villain of The Flash Season 4 won’t be a speedster. With The Thinker fitting that description, it’s easy to think (pun intended) we’ll meet this Devoe character next year or maybe even in The Flash Season 3 finale. But who’s to say Barry will even get that far?
There are many iterations but Clifford DeVoe is the original Thinker, an ex-lawyer famous for his ‘Thinking Cap,’ giving the villain telekinesis and mind control abilities. He became a member of the Injustice Society and Suicide Squad. After DeVoe’s death, his cap technology (to the fault of Mr. Terrific) lived on, grew sentient, and became the AI Thinker.
If Barry successfully travels into the future to learn how to prevent Iris’ death, he could change the course of the timeline Abra Kadabra was familiar with, rendering the warning useless. Then again, time does have a way of ‘fixing’ itself, so if The Thinker is really destined to be introduced as a main adversary or The Flash, the writers may include him even though the timeline has changed. But the name drop is still kind of suspicious. The Flash usually follows the ‘expect the unexpected’ formula and for the writers to introduce a season-long big bad this far ahead of time is quite unusual. Abra Kadabra said none of Barry’s biggest foes (Thawne, Zoom, or The Thinker) even compare to the threat of Savitar, which suggested the villain’s looming presence but if Barry changes the future, he could end up just being a villain of the week or never introduced at all.
What do you think? Is the DeVoe a simple name drop or a villain Barry should be worried about? Let us know in the comments below!
