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           KeyLockerTwo
This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains.

Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban.
Additional Notice: This template is meant for admin maintenance only. Users who misuse the template will be blocked for a week minimum.

Villain Overview

You may be the fastest man alive, Allen. I'm the fastest mind.
~ Clifford DeVoe to Barry Allen.
Think of it. A world enlightened. Within a day, soldiers will lay down their arms. Every nuclear weapon will be disarmed within six months. Poverty, famine, disease eradicated. We will clean up the streets. People will put down their idiot phones and become curious again, and I will be there to teach them. I, not you, will save this godforsaken world.
~ DeVoe explaining his long term plan to Barry.

Professor Clifford DeVoe, also known as The Thinker, is the main antagonist of Season 4 and one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside The Reverse-Flash) of Season 5 in the TV series The Flash.

He is a college professor who teaches history before being granted super-intelligence, where he goes on to become a criminal mastermind who sought to take over the world by wiping everyone's intellect and rebuild civilization in his own image, becoming an enemy of the Flash.

He was portrayed by Neil Sandilands. When inhabiting other bodies, he was portrayed by Kendrick Sampson, Sugar Lyn Beard, Miranda MacDougall, Arturo Del Puerto and Hartley Sawyer.

Personality[]

Initial Personality[]

Prior to his transformation, Clifford was a fairly ordinary but socially awkward man who genuinely craved knowledge and wanted to reach people so he could pass on his love of knowledge to others, becoming frustrated with how so few of his students seemed to actually respect or listen to what he was trying to teach them. He at the same time had a relatively extreme outlook on life. Believing that such technological advances have corrupted the morality and reduced the personal drive of man, he became rather outspoken to his disdain on such over-usage of technology, even writing a thesis on how the world would be better off without technology. Feeling that their minds had become too small whilst his own ability to convey information effectively was lacking, Clifford began his efforts to construct the "Thinking Cap" with his lover in the name of bringing forth an "age of enlightenment".

New Personality[]

Since becoming "the Thinker", Clifford's personality had changed; though still craving knowledge, he was now more ruthless and brutal in his willingness to hurt innocents to get what he wants. Clifford was a calculating and patient man, very much focused on his current objective all the time, not having much emotional reaction while doing so. He was very confident in his abilities and did not hesitate to emphasize just how thoroughly he has accounted for every possibility and every outcome, even to his own wife.

Clifford also possessed an ambitious nature even before his transformation, wishing to advance the human consciousness to instill change in humanity. Whether as a façade or not, he can be a nice person towards people, especially to his students, but he also takes advantage of this trait when he lied to David Singh about Barry harassing him and his wife in which the latter was actually investigating him.

However, even at his worst, Clifford was not without a romantic side; he feels the need to be the great man his wife Marlize needs despite his condition and noted that he would be nothing without her. He also allows Barry Allen and Iris West to have their wedding without any intervention.

Clifford's superhuman intelligence had made him quite arrogant to the point of having a massive ego, this is evidenced by the fact that after Barry confronted him, as he wanted to know who he really was, he not only revealed to the latter that he knows he is the Flash, but Clifford also boasted that he has nothing to fear from Barry, he even (arrogantly) believes himself to be superior to Eobard Thawne, the late Hunter Zolomon and the late Savitar respectively, completely disregarding the fact that all three are incredibly powerful meta-humans in their own rights; this new-found intellect of his, also causes him to sometimes underestimate his opponents, like Barry.

Clifford retains a polite edge, despite his arrogance, even referring to his adversaries as "Mr." and "Mrs." though with various levels of condescension.

Ultimately, Clifford's arrogance and ego led to his downfall; at the hands of Barry Allen and Team Flash respectively.

Bus-Meta Body Transfers[]

It appears Clifford's constant body change may be affecting his mind as theorized by Marlize. This was evident by the fact Clifford seems to be cruel towards his wife especially when she points out potential flaws in him, something Clifford in the past never did. His immoral and selfish nature has even reached the point of viewing his wife as nothing more than a tool for his needs, going so far as to repeatedly alter her memories to keep her docile.

However, Clifford was proven to be even more cruel to his wife after she find out about him drugging her and erasing her memories and he comes out of nowhere to telling everything he's done to her and when she was about to turn against him he uses his chair to shoot out one of the claws to stab her on the side of the neck drugging her and leaving his wife unconscious on the floor and later on she wakes up having her on his side as his partner. He was also not above killing and could even take sadistic pleasure in it, as he did to Gregory Wolfe, without any reason. Ultimately, his discuss on the world had evolved to believe that it was emotional views and personal ties that have weakened people's understanding.

Victims[]

Indirectly[]

  • Barry Allen/The Flash (erased timeline)

Appearances[]

Appearances of Clifford DeVoe

The Flash[]

Season 3[]

  • "Abra Kadabra" (mentioned)
  • "Finish Line" (mentioned)

Season 4[]

  • "The Flash Reborn"
  • "Mixed Signals"
  • "Luck Be a Lady"
  • "Elongated Journey Into Night" (mentioned)
  • "Girls Night Out"
  • "When Harry Met Harry..."
  • "Therefore I Am"
  • "Don't Run"
  • "The Trial of The Flash" (as Dominic Lanse)
  • "The Elongated Knight Rises" (mentioned)
  • "Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash" (pictured)
  • "True Colors" (as Dominic Lanse and Becky Sharpe)
  • "Subject 9" (as Becky Sharpe and Izzy Bowin)
  • "Enter Flashtime" (mentioned)
  • "Run, Iris, Run" (video)
  • "Null and Annoyed" (as Izzy Bowin)
  • "Lose Yourself"
  • "Fury Rogue"
  • "Therefore She Is"
  • "Harry and the Harrisons" (pictured)
  • "Think Fast"
  • "We Are The Flash"

Season 5[]

  • "Nora" (mentioned)
  • "The Death of Vibe" (mentioned)
  • "News Flash" (mentioned)
  • "All Doll'd Up" (mentioned)
  • "The Icicle Cometh" (video footage; as Ralph Dibny)
  • "What's Past is Prologue"
  • "Seeing Red" (mentioned)
  • "Memorabilia" (name seen)
  • "Goldfaced" (mentioned)
  • "King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd" (mentioned)
  • "Time Bomb" (mentioned)
  • "Godspeed" (name seen)
  • "Legacy" (mentioned)

Season 6[]

  • "Into the Void" (mentioned)

Trivia[]

  • After having been named "The Thinker" by Team Flash, DeVoe reveals to his wife that in one of the possible outcomes he deduced, they called him "The Teacher". The Teacher is actually the alias of a different villain from the DC Comics.
  • DeVoe is the second The Flash villain to be credited as a main character. The first being Eobard Thawne.
  • Ironically, he is never called The Thinker throughout his season. Instead he is called solely by his last name the entire time.
  • A version of Devoe's plan would be attempted by the Injustice Society of America on Earth-2.
  • He is the first main antagonist of The Flash to not be a speedster, with the exception of Alchemy who was puppeteered by Savitar. Other differences include:
    • DeVoe never worked with Team Flash unlike the first three big bads and cared little about Caitlin Snow.
    • In contrast to Eobard Thawne, who faked his paralysis and used his wheelchair to charge him with Speed Force energy, DeVoe's powers are the reason he's ill and resents using a wheelchair.
    • The three speedster's who identities were hidden on screen for at least the first half of the season, we as the audience know The Thinker's identity since the beginning of his season.
    • Thawne was seemingly celibate, while Zoom and Savitar had failed relationships. DeVoe, on the other hand, has had a loving marriage to Marlize but he has become too evil that she is being alienated by his plans.
  • DeVoe is the first Flash main antagonist to not be an evil speedster.
    • On top of that, DeVoe is also the second Flash main antagonist to not be from the future. The first was Zoom.

Navigation[]

           Arrowverse Villains

Main Antagonists
Dark Archer | Edward Fyers | Deathstroke | Anthony Ivo | Ra's al Ghul | Matthew Shrieve | Damien Darhk | Baron Reiter | Prometheus | Konstantin Kovar | Ricardo Diaz | Emiko Queen | Keven Dale | John Diggle, Jr. | Reverse-Flash | Zoom | Savitar | The Thinker | Cicada (Orlin Dwyer & Grace Gibbons) | Bloodwork | Mirror Monarch | Speed Force | Godspeed | Deon Owens | Red Death | Negative Speed Force | Cobalt Blue | Kuasa | Benatu Eshu | Vandal Savage | Mallus | Neron | Lachesis | Bishop | Evil Gideon | Astra | Non | Lillian Luthor | Rhea | Selena | Reign | Agent Liberty | Lex Luthor (Earth-TUD25) | Gamemnae | Nyxlygsptlnz | Overgirl | Alice | Safiyah Sohail | Black Mask | Marquis Jet | Tobias Whale | Martin Proctor | Percy Odell | Gravedigger | Tal-Rho | Ally Allston | Bruno Mannheim | Dark Arrow | Monitor | John Deegan | Anti-Monitor

Secondary Antagonists
China White | Billy Wintergreen | Brother Blood | Isabel Rochev | Ruvé Darhk | Andrew Diggle | Conklin | Anarky | Talia al Ghul | Artemis | Ishmael Gregor | Tobias Church | Anatoly Knyazev | Cayden James | Joe Wilson | Dante | Grant Wilson | Trickster | Doctor Alchemy | Marlize DeVoe | Amunet Black | Vanessa Ambres | Joseph Carver | Deathstorm | Zaman Druce | Valentina Vostok | Atropos | Indigo | Silver Banshee | Colonel James Harper | Cyborg Superman | Thomas Coville | Morgan Edge | Otis Graves | Manchester Black | Eve Teschmacher | Red Daughter | Phil Baker | Margot Morrison | Rama Khan | Catherine Hamilton-Kane | Jonathan Cartwright | Chuck Dodgson | Hush | August Cartwright | Enigma | Tatiana | Russell Tavaroff | Poison Ivy | Lala | Syonide | Lady Eve | Kara Fowdy | Giselle Cutter | Helga Jace | Carson Williams | Sara Grey | Yuri Mosin | Leslie Larr | Zeta-Rho | Bizarro | Onomatopoeia | Agent Smith | A.M.A.Z.O | Despero

Minor Antagonists
Adam Hunt | Thomas Galen | Black Caesar | Constantine Drakon | Martin Somers | Jason Brodeur | Huntress | Frank Bertinelli | Ted Gaynor | Firefly | Count Vertigo | Al-Owal | Dollmaker | Mayor | Officer Daily | Milo Armitage | Clock King | Chase | Vertigo | Komodo | Cooper Seldon | Captain Boomerang | Danny Brickwell | Murmur | Joseph Cray | Cupid | Mina Fayad | Deathbolt | Phaedra Nixon | Thomas | Joyner | Double Down | Liza Warner | Calculator | Bug-Eyed Bandit | Janet Carroll | J.G. Walker | Derek Sampson | Scimitar | Hideo Yamane | Sean Sonus | James Edlund | Justin Claybourne | Kimberly Hill | Sam Armand | Sheck | Alex Faust | Nylander | Athena | Virgil | Beatrice | Red Dart | Kodiak | Silencer | Chimera | Wade Eiling | The Mist | Weather Wizard | Girder | Rainbow Rider | Pied Piper | Peek-a-Boo | Everyman | Clyde Mardon | Multiplex | Simon Stagg | Blackout | Clay Parker | Vincent Santini | Trickster II | Anthony Bellows | Dr. Light (Earth-2) | Killer Frost (Earth-2) | Deathstorm (Earth-2) | Geomancer | The Turtle | Tokamak | Atom Smasher | Sand Demon | Lewis Snart | Tar Pit | Reverb | Trajectory | James Zolomon | Griffin Grey | Rupture | The Rival | Mirror Master | Top | Plunder | Magenta | Shade | Clive Yorkin | Abra Kadabra | Heat Monger | Samuroid | Kilg%re | Gregory Wolfe | Matthew Norvock | Nergal | Black Bison | Dwarfstar | Prank | Crucifer | Laurel Lance (Earth-X) | Rag Doll | Jones | Goldface | Ultraviolet | Dr. Light | Sunshine | Mr. Blake | The Colonel | Jon Valor | Hawk-Beasts | Bud Ellison | Per Degaton | The Hunters | The Pilgrim | The Leviathan | Baron Krieger | Shogun | Lead Samurai | Quentin Turnbull | Henry Stein | Tabitha | First of the Fallen | Aleister Crowley | Vartox | Hellgrammite | Maxima | Reactron | Ethan Knox | Red Tornado | T.O. Morrow | Jemm | Dirk Armstrong | Bizarro-Girl | Toyman | Miranda Crane (White Martian) | Metallo | Scorcher | Roulette | Parasite | Phillip Karnowsky | Beth Breen | Rick Malverne | Zod | Bloodsport | Pestilence | Mercy Graves | Natalie Hawkings | Menagerie | The Hat | Midnight | Magpie | Executioner | The Rifle | Bruce Wayne (Earth-99) | The Detonator | Nocturna | Duela Dent | Mabel Cartwright | Johnny Sabatino | Tim Teslow | Joker | Victor Zsasz | Ethan Rogers | Candy Lady | Amygdala | Ellis O'Brien | Kilovolt | Cluemaster | Circe Sionis | Liam Crandle | Killer Croc | Professor Pyg | Will | Joey Toledo | Deputy Chief Cayman | Cleaners | Tori Whale | Eldridge Whale | Glennon | Steven Conners | Looker | New Wave | Shakedown | Heatstroke | Coldsnap | Instant | David Fuglestad | Thaddeus Killgrave | Reno Rosetti | Atom-Man | Cyber-Woman | Prometheus (Earth-X) | Quentin Lance (Earth-X) | Plastoids | Psycho-Pirate

Anti-Villains
Green Arrow | Deadshot | Amanda Waller | Nyssa al Ghul | Bronze Tiger | Ragman | Vigilante | Stanley Dover | Captain Cold | Gorilla Grodd | Killer Frost (Earth-1) | Heat Wave | King Shark | Time Wraiths | Black Siren | Solovar | Music Meister | Cassandra Savage | Nora Darhk | Astra Logue | Kayla | Maxwell Lord | Livewire | Master Jailer | Lena Luthor | Purity | Mxyzptlk | Psi | Malefic J'onzz | Mary Hamilton | Two-Bits | Painkiller | John Henry Irons | Lucifer Morningstar

Groups
Royal Flush Gang | League of Assassins | A.S.A. | H.I.V.E | Suicide Squad | Shadowspire | Demolition Team | Rogue Anti-Vigilante Task Force | Jackals | Ninth Circle | Longbow Hunters | Deathstroke Gang | Stillwater Gang | Legion of Doom | Project Cadmus | Children of Liberty | Morae | Crows Security | Wonderland Gang | False Face Society | Many Arms of Death | Leviathan | Black Hole | Mirror Duplicates | The 100 | Shadow Board | Masters of Disaster | Markovian Insurgents | Dominators | Shadow Demons | Intergang

See Also
Batwoman Villains | Black Lightning Villains | Flash Villains | Green Arrow Villains | DC's Legends of Tomorrow Villains | Supergirl Villains | Superman Villains

           Flash-Logo Villains

Comics
Abra Kadabra | Angle Man | Anti-Monitor | Aquaman (Flashpoint) | Black Flash | Black Hand | Bloodwork | Brain | Brother Grimm | Cadre | Calculator | Captain Boomerang | Captain Cold | Carol Ferris | Cheetah | Chillblaine | Chronos | Cicada | Clive Yorkin | Clayface | Cobalt Blue | Dark Knights | Deadshot | Deathstroke | Doctor Alchemy | Double Down | Doctor Light | Doctor Polaris | Eclipso | Enchantress | Fallout | Fiddler | Future Flash | Felix Faust | Giganta | Girder | Godspeed | Goldface | Gorilla Grodd | Hector Hammond | Icicle | Killer Frost | Kobra | Lady Flash | Lex Luthor | Livewire | Magenta | Major Disaster | Maxwell Lord | Merlyn | Mirror Master | Mongul | Monsieur Mallah | Murmur | Neron | Pied Piper | Poison Ivy | President Thawne | Queen Bee | Ragdoll | Rainbow Raider | Razer | Red Death | Renegades | Reverse-Flashes (Inertia, Professor Zoom, Daniel West, The Rival, & Zoom) | Riddler | Rogues | Savitar | Shade | Shadow-Thief | Sinestro | Solomon Grundy | Speed Demon | Suicide Squad | Thinker | Thorn | T.O. Morrow | Tobias Whale | Toyman | Trickster | Turtle | Vandal Savage | Warp | Weather Wizard | Wonder Woman (Flashpoint)

Movie
Dark Flash | Sword of Rao (Dru-Zod, Faora-Ul, & Nam-Ek) | Al Falcone | Reverse-Flash

Television
Season 1: Reverse-Flash | Captain Cold | General Wade Eiling | Gorilla Grodd | The Mist | Heat Wave | Weather Wizard | Girder | Rainbow Raider | Pied Piper | Peek-a-Boo | Everyman | Clyde Mardon | Multiplex | Simon Stagg | Blackout | Clock King | Captain Boomerang | Clay Parker | Vincent Santini | The Trickster | Trickster II | Anthony Bellows | Bug-Eyed Bandit | Blackout | Royal Flush Gang | Golden Glider | Deathbolt | Negative Speed Force
Season 2: Zoom | Reverse-Flash | Captain Cold | Killer Frost (Earth-2) | King Shark | Dr. Light (Earth-2) | Geomancer | The Turtle | Time Wraiths | Tokamak | Heat Wave | Atom-Smasher | Anthony Bellows | Sand Demon | Lewis Snart | Gorilla Grodd | Vandal Savage | Dark Archer | Damien Darhk | Weather Wizard | The Trickster | Tar Pit | Deathstorm (Earth-2) | Reverb | Trajectory | Pied Piper | James Zolomon | Griffin Grey | Rupture | Girder | Speed Force | Black Siren
Season 3: Savitar | Dr. Alchemy | Killer Frost | Captain Cold | The Rival | Black Flash | King Shark | Mirror Master | Top | Plunder | Gorilla Grodd | Solovar | Reverse-Flash | Magenta | Shade | Dominators | Trickster (Earth-3) | Clive Yorkin | Time Wraiths | Music Meister | Abra Kadabra | Reverb | Vigilante | Speed Force | Heat Monger
Season 4: The Thinker | Marlize DeVoe | Samuroid | Kilg%re | Gregory Wolfe | Amunet Black | Matthew Norvock | Killer Frost | Black Bison | Dwarfstar | King Shark | Anthony Bellows | Peek-a-Boo | Dark Arrow | Overgirl | Reverse-Flash | Prometheus (Earth-X) | Quentin Lance (Earth-X) | Trickster II | Prank | Jones | Crucifer | Siren-X
Season 5: Cicada (Orlin Dwyer & Grace Gibbons) | Reverse-Flash | Vanessa Ambres | Jones | Icicle | Weather Wizard | Rag Doll | Monitor | Zoom | Savitar | The Thinker | Clyde Mardon | John Deegan | A.M.A.Z.O. | Psycho-Pirate | Matthew Norvock | Peek-a-Boo | Goldface | King Shark | Gorilla Grodd | Godspeed | Negative Speed Force | Bug-Eyed Bandit
Season 6: Bloodwork | Anti-Monitor | Eva McCulloch | Black Hole (Joseph Carver, Ultraviolet, Dr. Light, & Sunshine) | Reverse-Flash | Mirror Duplicates | Monitor | Matthew Norvock | Godspeed | Pied Piper | Echo | Lex Luthor | Amunet Black | Goldface | Gorilla Grodd | Solovar | Rag Doll | Negative Speed Force
Season 7: Mirror Monarch | Speed Force | Godspeed | Black Hole (Mirror Master, Top, & Olsen) | Mirror Duplicates | Psych | Deon Owens | Chillblaine | Ultraviolet | Reverse-Flash | Sunshine | Abra Kadabra | Matthew Norvock | Psycho-Pirate
Season 8: Reverse-Flash | Deon Owens | Deathstorm | Despero | Negative Speed Force | Royal Flush Gang | Xotar | Top | Chillblaine | Damien Darhk | Psych | Blockbuster | Goldface | Sunshine | Dr. Light
Season 9: Red Death | Cobalt Blue | Negative Speed Force | Captain Boomerang II | Fiddler | Chillblaine | Pied Piper | Murmur | Goldface | Rainbow Raider | Tar Pit | Grodd | Bloodwork | Reverse-Flash | Zoom | Savitar | Godspeed

Video Games
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe: Dark Kahn | Deathstroke | Catwoman | Kano | Lex Luthor | Scorpion
Injustice: Superman | The Flash | Yellow Lantern | Sinestro | Killer Frost | Solomon Grundy | Gorilla Grodd | Captain Cold | Reverse Flash | Deadshot | Wonder Woman

See Also
Impulse Villains

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