It’s only The Flash Season 4 episode 2, and we already know quite a bit about the big bad. The Thinker, aka Clifford DeVoe, appeared again at the end of “Mixed Signals” with his sidekick, The Mechanic. They transformed a man named Ramsey Deacon into a metahuman with the ability to infect technology with viruses.
Deacon, a hacker, goes by Kilg%re. With his new powers, he took revenge on some old colleagues who stole his tech to make billions and nearly killed The Flash on his manhunt. Cisco’s new Flash suit, filled with crazy unnecessary technology, only made the situation worse. Kilg%re was able to take full control and hack the suit. The Flash had to drill himself in the chest with a lightning bolt just to stop his suit from entering a self-exploding protocol.
In the comics, Kilg%re is a sentient computer virus. It could only be seen by people traveling in high speed, and The Flash caught wind of it first. Kilg%re followed Wally West’s Flash to STAR Labs and killed the scientist helping him to train faster. He infected the world with viruses through multiple mediums and Wally had to recruit Cyborg, using the Titans' satellite, to ultimately defeat him.
In the final scene of “Mixed Signals,” we learn Kilg%re isn’t the only person The Thinker wants to turn into a metahuman. There will be many many more, who we can assume will all cross paths with The Flash, who seems to be The Thinker’s ultimate target.
The more we learn about The Thinker, the more likely it is Cisco’s speed bazuka/sphere tech wasn’t actually what got Barry Allen out of the speed force. And even if it was, The Thinker could have manipulated Cisco into figuring out how to save Barry. Why is The Thinker going after Barry Allen? We have yet to find out, but there will be many more "villains of the week" before we find out the Thinker’s true agenda. Kilg%re was labeled Subject 1 and there are 11 spots total.
It’s clear The Thinker has been at this for a while -- he has everything so planned out. In fact, his presence could explain how a villain from Season 1 got his powers. Deathbolt was not in Central City during the time of the particle accelerator explosion and the mystery of how he got his powers has never been discovered. Do you think The Thinker has been plotting for four years? Let us know in the comments.
