The Thinker (DC Extended Universe)

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Evil-doer
Full Name	Gaius Grieves
Alias	The Thinker The Bad Man
Origin	The Suicide Squad
Occupation	Scientist
Powers / Skills	Enhanced intelligence Manipulation
Hobby	Clubbing
Goals	Become part of Silvio Luna's inner circle (briefly succeeded) Expand his research on Starro and evade consequences for it (failed) Escape from the Suicide Squad and preserve his own life (failed)
Crimes	Unethical experimentation Torture Mass murder Child abuse Corruption
Type of Villain	Opportunistic Scientist

“	I call it Starro the Conqueror!	„
	~ The Thinker's most famous quote as he introduces Starro.

“	I understand where you're coming from but look please don't! No please! I didn't mean to hurt you!	„
	~ Thinker's last words before killed by Starro.

Gaius Grieves better known as The Thinker is one of the three main antagonists (alongside Starro and Peacemaker) of the 2021 film The Suicide Squad, the tenth instalment in the DC Extended Universe.

He was a man with telepathic abilities and one of the top scientists in Corto Maltese and the chief behind the development of Project Starfish as well as a trusted ally of Silvio Luna, he is later forced into assisting Task Force X in infiltrating his base of operations Jotunheim to destroy all of his research.

He was portrayed by Peter Capaldi, who also played Angel Islington in Neverwhere, Ronnie Pilfrey in Fortysomething, Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and Cardinal Richelieu in The Musketeers.

Biography

Early Life

Gaius Grieves was a Glaswegian scientist based in Corto Maltese who was granted telepathic abilities upon becoming the leading scientist behind Project Starfish. Over the next thirty years Grieves tortured and tormented the beast and allowed many individuals trying to investigate the inner operations of his research and Cotro Maltese in general such as journalists, rival politicians, etc and even his own personnel into becoming extensions of Project Starfish who he now dubbed as Starro the Conqueror thanks to the creature's nature of conquering the minds of others with its ability to produce multiple copies of itself that would latch onto a human host's face and turn them into a puppet upon killing them. Over the course of his research The Thinker would also constantly add and upgrade his Thinking Cap, granting him even further knowledge than he had previously.

When disbanding Task Force X teams to infiltrate Corto Maltese, Amanda Waller briefs team 2 comprised of Bloodsport, Ratcatcher 2, Peacemaker, Polka Dot Man and King Shark on what to do once they're in the city itself, part of this brief includes having them get The Thinker to help them enter Jotunheim by whatever means necessary.

The Suicide Squad

Grieves first appears while being walked into a meeting with President Luna and General Suarez, almost immediately he expresses his annoyance to both men for killing his employees and he and Suarez get into a heated fight before being broken up by Luna who asks Grieves for an update on Project Starfish to which he obliges, showing off the captive Starro as well as his research much to the simultaneous awe and horror of everyone present, he then uses this opportunity to woo his way into a position as one of Luna's top men.

That night Grieves attended the local club he frequents in order to relax only to be confronted by Bloodsport who held him at gunpoint and explained his plan to him, Grieves scoffed thinking the idea was ridiculous but nevertheless was forced to comply and taken by Ratcatcher 2 and Polka Dot Man to the bus which Task Force X was using where he was left handcuffed to a chair, awaiting the team to regroup thanks to a mishap involving Bloodsport, Rick Flag and Peacemaker allowing themselves to be arrested to create a diversion. Once the three men escape they all regroup in the bus only for Flag to decide to delay the Jotunheim mission further so they can rescue Harley Quinn who the three were informed by the soldiers escorting them was being held and tortured by Suarez. The rescue attempt turned out pointless in the end however as Harley had already broken out herself. With that the team threatened The Thinker with death should he betray them and reiterated their plan to blow up Jotunheim which Grieves was appalled to find would be a dangerous mission that would put all of their lives at risk although never the less was still forced into complying.

The Thinker reluctantly helped the team into Jotunheim by driving the bus through the security gate to avoid suspicion and then had his retinal scan forced upon him by Peacemaker much to his chagrin. Once inside he led Ratcatcher 2 and Flag to Starro and all of his victims while explaining the truth behind their mission, Starro himself and The Thinker's research as well as what the government and Waller have been hiding from them while going on to rant about America and how they're too afraid to do what he feels must be done for the purposes of science. An infuriated Flag takes the evidence necessary to expose Waller and prepares to leave only to be stopped by Peacemaker who reveals that he needs the information to stay hidden as Waller promised him a pardon in exchange for it, just as an argument began to break out between the two however the explosives arranged to blow up the base went off early thanks to a mishap involving Polka Dot Man resulting in Starro's containment being breached. When everyone including The Thinker came to and realised what had happened he asked in horror what they had done before trying to flee before Starro dragged him into its chamber.

The Thinker pleaded for his life with the creature but to no avail and in revenge for all the years of torture Starro killed Grieves by tearing him in half. Following this Starro would then attempt to take control of Corto Maltese for itself feeling it was now entitled to it, justifying The Thinker's name for it even further now.

Ultimately the remaining members of the Suicide Squad managed to kill Starro and keep the evidence against Waller to themselves in order to blackmail her into releasing them, putting an end to all of The Thinker's machinations.

Personality

As his name would suggest The Thinker was a very intelligent man and a genius scientist, however he was also a self serving, narcissistic, opportunistic and ruthless individual willing to do quite literally anything to expand his ever-growing knowledge and research. He was also very immature and almost juvenile in behaviour and had little to no patience for anyone based on his explosive rant to Rick Flag and Ratcatcher 2. He also had a very sarcastic and condescending view of the world and those around him and was quite pessimistic, anxious and dismissive of the suicide squad upon being forced into assisting, them viewing their mission is practically impossible.

He also had a distaste for Americans, disliking them for being too clean in comparison to those in Corto Maltese, citing their reluctance and fearfulness over his continuing research on project starfish as "cowardice", especially since many officials in the government (including Amanda Waller) had ties to Corto Maltese's corruption and The Thinker's research.

Surpassingly however The Thinker was also quite social, frequenting a gentleman's club following his working day and is quite chatty with the squad themselves. He also is alluded to being kinky based on his response to Ratcatcher 2's threat to him.

Appearance

The Thinker was a handsome man in his earlier sixties and was tall and slender with pale skin, blue eyes, thick black eyebrows and a bald, bulbous head with several wires sticking out of it due to the thinking cap embedded into his skull. He also had very prominent veins visible across his scalp. Clothing wise The Thinker was first seen wearing a blue tracksuit with white piping and a matching collar however when out partying he wore a casual navy blue suit alongside a Hawaiian shirt and blue trainers, this is the outfit he wears for the remainder of the film and in all of the marketing.

In a brief flashback to his earlier days he looked mostly the same however with less wires in his head and was also seen wearing a lab coat.

Trivia

• This is the second live action incarnation of The Thinker following the Clifford DeVoe incarnation seen in the Arrowverse.
  • Related to the previous fact he is also the first version of The Thinker to appear on screen to not be based on Clifford DeVoe.
• The Thinker is Peter Capaldi's first ever comic book movie role.
• Prior to release many mistakenly believed that this incarnation of The Thinker was Clifford DeVoe due to the appearance of his thinking cap however James Gunn clarified this wasn't the case. Surely enough when the movie was released it was revealed that this was a new incarnation of The Thinker known as Gaius Grieves.
• James Gunn chose Peter Capaldi for the role of The Thinker after seeing him as Malcolm Tucker, something which becomes quite apparent as The Thinker's monologue to Rick Flag and Ratcatcher 2 is uncannily similar to the stylings and even delivery of Malcolm Tucker's infamous rants.