Arrowverse: Clifford DeVoe / Characters

Clifford DeVoe

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"You may be the fastest man alive, Allen. I'm the fastest mind."

^{In the Bus Metas}

Species: Metahuman

Known Aliases: The Thinker

Played By: Neil Sandilands, Kendrick Sampson (as Dominic Lanse), Sugar Lyn Beard (as Becky Sharpe), Miranda MacDougall (as Izzy Bowen), Arturo del Puerto (as Edwin Gauss), Hartley Sawyer (as Ralph Dibny), David Ramsey (impersonation of Diggle)

First Appearance: "The Flash Reborn" (The Flash 4x1)

Appearances: The Flash (2014)

The Fastest Mind Alive.

A professor at Central City University who was transformed into a metahuman with Super-Intelligence and became the Thinker. He made it his Goal in Life to carry out what he calls "The Enlightenment", a mysterious plan of global proportions. He makes his presence known as soon as Barry returns to Central City and has been manipulating his life ever since.

see the DCEU: Task Force X - Targets page for Gaius Grieves, the character on an undesignated Earth who bears his codename

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A-E

Absent-Minded Professor: Was this before gaining his powers, bumbling about in a lecture and failing to grasp student attention.
Achilles' Heel:
- Savitar suggested that the cerebral inhibitor would be important to defeat DeVoe. Double subverted: In "Subject 9", as pointed out by Cisco and shown by how DeVoe shorted it out with his Technopathy, Savitar never said it would work. But in an ironic twist, Savitar was right all along, as while the cerebral inhibitor doesn't directly work on DeVoe, it was instrumental in defeating him, as it allowed Barry to enter into DeVoe's mind so that Ralph could take back control and kick DeVoe out.
- His real Achilles' Heel turns out to be his inability to understand emotions, which causes him to miscalculate on a number of occasions. It's even pointed out by his wife for why he ultimately failed as he loses control of Dibny's body.
- After acquiring the bus meta powers, powerful kinetic sound waves are one of the few things that can hurt him such as those generated by the Fiddler. Ralph very nearly kills him using the Sonic Scepter. Unfortunately, he loses this weakness after gaining Ralph's elastic body.
- Ironically, or perhaps not, many of the Bus Metas that he created have the potential to disrupt his plans. As previously mentioned the Fiddler's sonic powers almost killed him in their first encounter, Melting Point could potentially remove DeVoe's abilities and Folding Man's powers can enter his pocket dimension. Unfortunately DeVoe foresees these complications and manages to absorb all of their abilities before they have the chance to overwhelm him.
- While he can anticipate anything within the scope of his vast knowledge, he's not omniscient and can be caught off:guard by what he doesn't know about. Ralph is able to ruin his plan to keep Barry in prison with his newly acquired shapeshifting abilities, and his plan to destroy the Earth is foiled by Nora II, who was born in the future.
- It's shown later in the season that not even he can disable the force fields his chair creates, as shown when Marlize uses them against him.
Adaptational Badass:
- This Thinker's intellectual status has been moved from being merely having Super-Intelligence to being World's Smartest Man. A chessmaster so proficient he's pretty much an Invincible Villain.
- Due to him stealing the powers of eleven other metas, this Thinker boasts an assortment of powers that allows him to overwhelm the Flash with ease.
Adaptational Villainy: While he's still a villain in this continuity, he ends up performing far more personal misdeeds, like framing Barry for murder and drugging his wife into compliance.
Adaptational Job Change: From an attorney to an university professor.
Adaptational Nationality: He's from South Africa here instead of America, although he still has American citizenship. This was likely put in just as a way to explain the actor's accent, since it has no real bearing on the story.
Alas, Poor Villain: The 'Good DeVoe' that Marlize considers to be "The Thinker's first victim". Barry and Ralph find said DeVoe murdered in Ralph's mind by the Evil DeVoe.
All According to Plan: Much of his dialogue consists of him saying this.
All Take and No Give: How his relationship with Marlize seems to play out. She builds his tech, keeps him as healthy as possible, and helps him evade the eye of the law, making her a target for Team Flash as well, and he doesn't even have to say "thank you." Even worse, she's completely fine with this arrangement as long as he remains alive and successful in his plans, and he knows this. Later subverted when Marlize comes to see how vile DeVoe really is and he uses measures to forcefully keep her compliant.
All Your Powers Combined: He stole all the powers of the Bus Meta inmates which includes: Technopathy, good fortune, psycho-active tears, effigy animation, Telepathy, size shifting, powerful sound wave generation, taking and giving powers, personal gravity manipulation, dimensional teleportation, and lastly Ralph's stretching and shape shifting power.
Ambition Is Evil: His desire for tracking knowledge drives him into villainy.
Amoral Afrikaner: Although he lacks common elements of this kind of character, such as mercenary work or bloodthirstiness, he is a villain who was born in South Africa. It's hardly important to the story outside of explaining his accent.
Arch-Enemy:
- To Barry Allen. DeVoe dedicated his entire existence to ruining Barry's life, and made sure to hurt Barry on a very personal level with incriminating Barry by framing him for murder, and killing many of their bus meta friends, especially Ralph. It's no wonder that Abra Kadabra groups him in the same vein as Thawne, Zoom, and Savitar.
- To Ralph, especially after murdering Izzy Bowen and with Ralph in constant fear of his own life. Ralph soon develops a burning hatred for DeVoe and very nearly kills him when he had the chance and had to restrain himself at the last moment.
- He also becomes one to Harry, being built up as his Evil Counterpart and leading Harry to feel absolutely helpless against him, even more so after losing his own intelligence.
As the Good Book Says...: DeVoe does not seem like a religious man, but he does highlight his messiah complex in Think Fast by quoting lines from the Book of Genesis.
Awesomeness by Analysis: Comes hand in hand with having Super-Intelligence. He's able to finish Schubert's Unfinished Symphony simply through listening to his entire body of work in a single morning.
Marlize: All 600 symphonies?
DeVoe: I woke up early this morning.
Ax-Crazy: It's done more subtly than with the likes of Zoom, but he does gain a taste for random and horrific violence, as shown by his butchery of the A.R.G.U.S. agents that were standing between him and Fallout.
Badass Longcoat: He takes to wearing a knee-length black coat after stealing Ralph's body.
The Bad Guy Wins: The first phase of his plan is a complete success, as he manages to steal the powers of every bus meta and kill them all in the process, something Team Flash spent all season trying to prevent.
Bait the Dog: He does this quite a few times in Season Four.
- In Therefore I Am, he evokes more sympathy than the two earlier Big Bads with his former wishes to serve the world, his unfortunate transformation that ruined his health, his crippled condition and his willingness to let Barry and Iris marry. The very next time he appears, he unhesitatingly steals Dominic's body to save himself and frames Barry for murder, using his own "wedding present" as the alleged murder weapon no less.
- He is initially shown to have a rather supportive and loving relationship with Marlize. When she begins questioning his actions, he drugs and brainwashes her into obedience, even telling her that she's nothing without him.
- Even with the above, one can be forgiven for thinking that he was a good man who became Drunk On Power. Then it is revealed he intended to make everyone stupid all along.
Batman Gambit: Thanks to his Super-Intelligence, he can anticipate Team Flash's every move and quite often counts on their certain actions to further his own agenda. For instance, he wanted Team Flash to find and capture all of the bus metas, as it put all of them in one place and made it easier for him to take them.
- One notable instance is in "Lose Yourself" where DeVoe allowed Team Flash to capture Folded Man and anticipated they would try to use his powers to invade his lair. The instance Team Flash's super members cross over into the lair, DeVoe and Marlize enter S.T.A.R. Labs where they have easy access to Folded Man and Ralph.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Achieves his dream of super intelligence, but at the cost of his lifespan, which frustrates him to no end.
Became Their Own Antithesis: A flashback revealed that in his younger days he advocated against technology due to the risk of power in the hands of someone intelligent being used to harm. After acquiring the bus meta powers he is exactly that, an Evil Genius who kills anyone who gets in his way and using technology to further his goals.
Beneath the Mask: He acts rather normally in his civilian identity, without any hints of the arrogance from his Super-Intelligence with his Thinker persona.
Beyond Redemption: He becomes increasingly violent and coldblooded over the course of Season 4, but Marlize still banks her final plan to save the world on Barry going into his mind and appealing to his good side. When he reports that DeVoe no longer has a good side to appeal to, she finally realizes that he has to be stopped by any means and ends up pulling the plug on him herself.
Big Bad: Of Season 4, being the main driving force for all of the problems Team Flash face; specifically, all of the Villain of the Week metas Team Flash encounters are his personal pawns.
Body Horror: The seventh episode of the season shows exactly how the process of attaching himself to the chair goes: first, Marlize removes his artificial scalp, revealing his pulsating, energized brain underneath. Then the chair reaches out with mechanical tentacles attached to his helmet, which goes over his dark matter-powered brain before he himself enters the chair.
Borrowed Catch Phrase: When using Kilg%re's powers, DeVoe repeats his line "Call me Kilg%re.".
Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Seems to be building up to this, as DeVoe accomplishes things using his mind while Barry relies on his speed.
Brain Uploading: Uses Kilg%re's power to transfer his mind to his chair after Ralph takes back his body. Lasts just long enough to drop a giant satellite on the city in revenge for his plan being foiled, before Marlize pulls the power source and kills him for good.
Brainwashing for the Greater Good: His end goal, he wants to subject the world to subpar intelligence so it can't be perverted.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He never makes any attempt to kill Barry or go after his body. Ultimately it's revealed that DeVoe needed Barry alive as well as his access to the Speed Force, which would give eternal knowledge. Putting Barry into DeVoe's mind was exactly what he wanted.
Card-Carrying Villain: No matter how he started, by the end of the season he's straight-up evil and he knows it. In the finale, he even refers to himself as "the Big Bad" while taunting Barry.
Cast from Hit Points: His brainpower takes up too much energy for his body to handle, causing him to become slowly paralyzed similar to ALS.
Catchphrase: One he shares with Marlize is that he often tells her that "I'm nothing without you" which becomes less sincere as the season goes on.
Chekhov's Gunman: He's been mentioned quite a few times before he even makes a proper appearance.
The Chessmaster: Straight from the get-go, he's been shown manipulating Team Flash's every move. Tricking them into releasing the Flash from the Speed Force, using the Speed Force dark matter to create a dozen metas, planting the Samuroid head as a surveillance device in S.T.A.R. Labs, breaking Team Flash apart, and perfectly orchestrating Barry to be framed for his murder. Barry likens him to treating them all like chess pieces, and DeVoe is actually seen playing chess to hone the analogy through. Team Flash discover DeVoe has been setting his plan in motion for three years, that's three years to orchestrate getting everyone onto the bus so they could get hit by dark matter.
Colony Drop: In a final act of spite, DeVoe sends the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite into a decaying orbit to destroy Central City.
Combat Clairvoyance: In "We Are The Flash", the DeVoe clones conjured up in his mind can read Barry and Ralph's thoughts and able to perfectly counter their attacks. However, Ralph gets around it by thinking up something he loves (shrimp) to act as a Psychic Block Defense.
Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: He's almost exclusively referred to by his last name. His supervillain moniker "The Thinker" wasn't established till the seventh episode of Season 4, and even then characters generally call him DeVoe with Thinker being scarcely used.
- Thinker himself finds this amusing, and is glad they chose it over the alternative, The Teacher.
- Played straight with his Thinking Cap, which is his own description of it.
The Comically Serious: His ponderous speaking style suddenly becomes hilarious when he's describing people's regular lives before becoming metas.
Composite Character: He uses a Thinking Cap like his classic comic self, but he also takes some traits from his New 52 incarnation, most notably his deteriorating body. In the finale, he uploads his consciousness into his chair, making him the show's counterpart of the AI Thinker created by Mr. Terrific. In addition, this Thinker combines traits from many other characters from DC comics, from both Flash lore and other sources.
- Appearance-wise, he takes cues from Metron (sitting in a chair and a helmet over his head) and Brainiac (wires protruding from his head connected to a machine).
- He's also the World's Smartest Man; typically in the DC mythos, the person with that title is Lex Luthor.^note He also has a similar Brains Evil, Brawn Good relationship with the Flash, which fits with Barry being The Cape for Earth-1's Arrowverse.
- He's the one who controls Samuroids, something that was done by Baron Katana in the comics.
- His characterization is very similar to the Ultra-Humanite, who is a scientist who has genius-level intelligence and transferred his brain or consciousness into other bodies, including women's, and hi-jacking their bodies as his own. In addition, both UH and DeVoe shared a degenerative disease that was slowly destroying their bodies pre-transformation.
- Speaking of Body Surfing, him doing so through a set of wires attached to a Cool Chair brings to mind the Batman Beyond's version of Ra's Al-Ghul.
- His costume is very similar to that of Brainstorm (specifically the Axel Storm version) being a purple suit with pauldrons and massive silver headgear used for amplifying their powers and utilising a hovering Cool Chair. Fittingly, DeVoe actually takes over the body of Brainstorm in the series.
- He takes the place of Eobard Thawne as the one Barry Allen is put on trial for murdering in The Trial of the Flash story.
- His ultimate plan (the Enlightenment) is identical to Dr. Sivana's from a 2000s Outsiders (2003) arc.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He is the first major villain who isn't a speedster. He also breaks the trend of the Big Bad hiding a secret identity underneath a mask, as both his name and face have been shown off since the first episode of the season, while Team Flash track him down and confront him by Episode 7, "Therefore I Am".
- DeVoe never used to be a member of Team Flash unlike the three previous Big Bads.^note Although his final body was a Team Flash member.
- He's also a contrast to Season 1 Thawne. Both use wheelchairs, but in Thawne's case it was Obfuscating Disability as he could walk, but he needed it to balance his powers. DeVoe on the other hand does truly need it due to his powers giving him a form of ALS and rather resents having to use a wheelchair. Thawne steals the likeness of people (or at least duplicates it) by putting their DNA on him while DeVoe possesses bodies.
- Unlike Thawne, Zoom, and Savitar but conversely very much like Barry, he happens to be in a relationship with someone who knows of and supports everything he does; by contrast, the previous three Big Bads were loners who didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves. Also worth noting, he's the only one of the antagonists who never got close to Caitlin^note.
- Much like Savitar, he is able to anticipate Team Flash's every move and develop an appropriate way to counter it. However, whereas Savitar could do that because his memories were constantly being rewritten by his past self and thus he could quickly develop a counter-measure, DeVoe really is just that good a planner, being the World's Smartest Man and all. In fact, it turns out that trying to outsmart a man who has been able to plan for every single possible scenario turns out to be at least as difficult as trying to break a predestined time loop, if not even more so.
- Thawne and Zolomon stole the identities of real heroes to hide their identities, while Savitar used a few impersonations to trick people. DeVoe steals bodies of Bus Metas to get their powers.
Cool Chair: It flies and shoots lasers. And is probably quite comfortable as well. It also serves as a means of life support, granted to him by Marlize.
Crazy-Prepared: This guy plans for everything.
- His Evil Plan was set into motion four years in the works, where he has planned for each subject to be on the bus to get hit with dark matter and predicting the specific powers they'd gain.
- He anticipated that Team Flash would try to destroy one of the satellites he built, so instead had the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite as a backup already in place.
The Cynic: Even before gaining his Metahuman powers, DeVoe had a very negative viewpoint on people and believed that the advancement of technology would just lead to humans finding new ways to hurt each other. It's what eventually leads him to begin The Enlightenment and the rest is history.
Dark Reprise: He sings a rendition of "Goin' Out of My Head", which symbolizes his connection with Marlize, when he's shown brainwashing her with the Weeper's tears.
The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: As the season progresses, he becomes increasingly cruel with each bus meta power he acquires, and eventually the once Well-Intentioned Extremist that he was to begin with is no more and in his place is a sociopath who kills without hesitation and only seeks to remake the world in his own image.
Dead Man's Switch: On the chance that The Enlightenment failed and he was defeated, DeVoe implemented one last failsafe which would activate once he died. He has the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite plummet towards Central City which would trigger an extinction-level event as one final screw you to Team Flash. Barry very nearly dies trying to stop it and is only saved due to his future daughter Nora interfering with history and assisting him in taking it down.
Death by Depower: His M.O in killing metas: snag them with his Combat Tentacles and drain their powers until they're nothing but a corpse.
Death of Personality: The original DeVoe, who was a devoted husband to Marlize and a man who genuinely wanted to make the world a better place, is eventually revealed to be well and truly dead in the season finale when Barry enters his mind and finds the 'Good DeVoe' dead with a hole in his chest.
Didn't See That Coming:
- For all his claims of being smart enough to plan for everything this happens to him twice over in True Colors. The first instance being a failure to predict Amunet and Warden Wolfe selling the Bus Metas he made before all of them were caught and gathered in one place. The second where he didn't expect Ralph's ability to shape shift, and pose as a still living Clifford DeVoe, in order to free Barry from prison.
- Happens again in "Fury Rogue" when DeVoe fails to anticipate Barry freezing in fear, causing him to lose Fallout. This seems to overlap with Evil Cannot Comprehend Good as Marlize surmises that despite his incredible ability to account all possibilities, he cannot know how someone is feeling.
- He remarks his first miscalculation he ever made was letting Marlize build his Cool Chair without his supervision, as she had put in a force field that even DeVoe couldn't penetrate. When she turns tail and abandons him, it's the one thing that keeps getting in his way.
Domestic Abuse: While he starts out as a loving husband to Marlize, as time went on and DeVoe's morals degraded, he became increasingly controlling and manipulative towards her, drugging her with Weeper's tears to keep her docile, and eventually falling into straight up emotional abuse, telling her that she's nothing without him and that her only purpose is to support him.
Drunk on the Dark Side: The more superpowers he acquires the more of a bastard he becomes. Although presented as being sympathetic at first, he's lost all his redeeming qualities by the season's end and is just as bad as his predecessors.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When first introduced his relationship with Marlize was a loving one and they were equally devoted to each other, but as time went on his powers gave him a nasty case of Drunk on the Dark Side and he started to only care about himself, proven when he gave Marlize the Weeper's tears as an obedience sedative to keep her in line. It reaches the point where his last shred of humanity, his love for his wife, is lost and all that is left of him is The Thinker.
Even Evil Has Standards: Played for Laughs; while monitoring Hazard, he remarks that Sarasota, Florida is a terrible place to be born. That being said, even with all his scheming, he won't interfere with Barry's wedding, not wanting to disrupt true love.
Evil Costume Switch: Whenever he steals the body of a bus meta, he dresses his new body in a black outfit. After using Ralph's elastic body to regain his original form DeVoe dispenses with his frumpy hairstyle and goes for a much shorter one now that he is no longer masquerading as an Absent-Minded Professor.
Evil Counterpart:
- Despite being so different to his predecessors, DeVoe still manages to be one to Barry. Both of them were 'created' on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion, and both of them were struck by lightning. But while Barry's physiology became super powered, DeVoe's mind was what became enhanced. They similarly wanted to help the world, but while Barry was hailed as a superhero, DeVoe was slowly dying due to his mind siphoning all the energy from his body. They also have extremely different approaches, with Barry being well known for rushing in blindly, while DeVoe plans out everything to the finest detail. Also, both he and Barry are in supporting relationships, which is more that can be said about all the other Big Bads.
- He's also been played up as one to Harry Wells. Both of whom regard their intelligence as being their superpower. Harry even makes himself a Thinking Cap so that he could keep up with DeVoe, almost making him a Good Thinker. And when both Thinking Caps went wrong DeVoe's intelligence was supercharged to Super-Intelligence levels while Harry's intelligence got slowly sapped away until he was a complete simpleton with barely any functional brain power.
- He could also be one to Martin Stein. Both of them are renowned Professors and both have loving wives. Both became metahumans on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion which they regard as Cursed with Awesome. However, Martin went on to become a superhero and resolved his condition with the help of his friends, while DeVoe became a villain who used his newfound powers to ruin the lives of others in his own interest.
Evil Cripple: Due to his superpowered brain slowly killing the rest of his body, he's become paralyzed from the waist down and can't move without his hovering chair or a wheelchair.
Evil Genius: A supervillain who has Super-Intelligence.
Evil Gloating: Loves reminding Barry and Team Flash of how every failure they've experienced at his hands.
Evil Is Petty: Goes out of his way to gloat about how much more intelligent he is than everyone else. He also ends up gratuitously killing Warden Wolfe simply for unwittingly interfering in his plans, much to his wife's shock.
Evil Plan: Refers to his plan as "The Enlightenment". While it's unclear at the start of the season what exactly it is, he'll go to any lengths to make sure it succeeds. Near the end of the season its revealed that the Enlightenment is a plan to use five satellites orbiting the Earth to release a wave of Dark Matter to reset the brains of everyone on Earth in order to make them susceptible to being retaught by DeVoe and remake the world in his own image. Apparently, he was then going to use Barry's body to access the Speed Force and impose his will on all of time itself.
Evil Sounds Deep: He has a low, resonant voice that adds to his cold, creepy aura. His second body also has a deep voice, which keeps up the trend, but the third has a high-pitched voice that almost clashes with DeVoe's highly intellectual dialogue.
Evil Teacher: Before his alleged death, he hides his identity behind his job as a university professor. That said, he was already a professor before becoming a supervillain.
Evil Luddite: It turns out he was a staunch detractor of technology.
Evil Wears Black: After stealing bodies, DeVoe dresses in black.
Exact Words: In "True Colors", DeVoe, in the telepathic body of Dominic Lanse, promises Marlize he will "erase every doubt from [her] head". Later he's shown using his telepathy to literally erase Marlize's memories of her discovering DeVoe's true intentions.

F-M

Face Death with Dignity: Double subverted. He claims to have considered the possibility of failing in his plan and dying, but he goes out screaming and blubbering as Ralph takes back his body. The digital version of him, by contrast, doesn't bat an eye when Marlize prepares to destroy it.
Face–Heel Turn:
- He goes from well-meaning professor to narcissist murderer and becomes more awful with each bus meta he hijacks. Marlize justifies this as being a result of the excessive dark matter corrupting his mind, though even she gradually turns on him.
- Even after becoming the Thinker, there is a very sharp contrast between the DeVoe at the start of the season, who genuinely loved and cared for his wife, to the DeVoe at the end of the season who was so devoid of humanity that he could not bring himself to see his wife as more than a mechanic to carry out his bidding.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: After stealing Becky Sharpe's body, he/she has the face of a sweet young woman (which Becky genuinely was) and the mind of a calculating evil genius willing to murder someone else to take over their body. Later he steals Ralph Dibny's body, which also gives him an adorable appearance, but he uses Dibny's powers to have his original likeness back.
Faking the Dead: After hijacking Dominic Lanse's body, DeVoe uses his old body to fake his own murder to frame Barry for it.
Faux Affably Evil: While he's not as vicious as Hunter Zolomon, DeVoe's courtesy hides an absolute arrogance and distinct lack of regard for others. He also hides his true villainous persona by pretending that he's still an affable history professor. The façade grows thinner and thinner as he becomes more powerful and cruel, to the point that any time he acts polite, he's simply mocking whomever he's speaking with, and he's much more open with how callous he truly is. His tendency to call everyone with Mr. and Ms. just show condescension.
Fan Disservice: He dresses more provocatively while killing and hijacking two female bodies of attractive women, but it shows how careless DeVoe has become to his wife, who is not even lesbian or bisexual, not to mention that he has become outright abusive to her. Even back with the more or less handsome Dominic, his morality was decaying.
Fatal Flaw: His emotional detachment as he becomes more powerful proves to be his undoing as his callousness alienates his wife, who later provides crucial aide to Team Flash in allowing Barry to enter his mind to find Dibny, and use the emotional bond created through the season to work together in allowing Dibny to take back control of his body.
Flaw Exploitation: Clifford DeVoe has exploited Harry Wells' Inferiority Superiority Complex to bring his undoing.
Foil:
- He has a lot of parallels with Eobard Thawne. Both are an enemy to Barry Allen, both are chessmasters who go to ridiculous lengths to plans and anticipate their opponent's every move. Both also created metas via dark matter as part of their plan, both made use of a wheelchair in their civilian identities, and both need The Flash to improve their bodies. However, the differences emerge with their personal connections. Thawne started as a The Sociopath who only desired to best The Flash, but after getting Trapped in the Past he slowly humanizes and grows genuinely fond of Team Flash and even Barry himself while retaining his hate. DeVoe was introduced as being in a loving relationship with his wife Marlize, but as the season progressed and he grew more detached from her, seeing her more as a tool to serve him rather than a lover, even keeping her drugged and erasing her memories so that she will stay compliant. Both sought to launch a dark matter wave from S.T.A.R. Labs, but Thawne's explosion was to empower some heroes including but not limited to Barry Allen while DeVoe's wave was to activate satellites that would make everyone stupid.
- He's also this to Zoom. Both function as an Evil Counterpart to Barry and start out with merely trying to prevent their own death, and their lethal conditions come from their overdose of powers. Both are also The Sociopath and alienated their Love Interest as a result. However, DeVoe differs from Zoom as preventing his death was merely a step towards his actual goal to erase the intelligence of humanity while Zoom simply decided to destroy the multiverse because he had nothing better to do. DeVoe genuinely believed he was making the world a better place by erasing humanity's intelligence before being Drunk with Power. Zoom started out well aware of how evil he is. Finally DeVoe got more sociopathic as his plan progressed while Zoom still retained some emotional bonds to his parents and Caitlin. They just weren't enough to overcome his sociopathy.
- To a lesser extent to Savitar. Both are villains who are both The Chessmaster and able to anticipate everything Team Flash does, only Savitar is able to do so because he's from the future and already lived it, while DeVoe's Super-Intelligence allows him to account for all variables. Both are also among the only sympathetic Tragic Villains who took a fall from grace and still having Morality Pets believing they can be redeemed. Both also utilize one of Barry's sidekicks as an asset to achieve their Evil Plan, with Savitar using Wally to escape the Speed Force, while DeVoe uses Ralph and his Super-Toughness to permanently stave off the degeneration of his body.
Force-Choke: He can do so via Null's gravity powers.
Foreign Culture Fetish: He appears to have a fixation on Japan, judging by his lectures on Japanese history and his decision to model his android on a samurai.
Foreshadowing: Talked up by both Abra Kadabra and Savitar prior to his appearance in Season Four. Savitar says that Barry will use a "cerebral inhibitor" against DeVoe.
- DeVoe's body is rapidly deteriorating, and has already survived past its predicted death of four years ago due to the chair.
- DeVoe repeatedly emphasizes that he has predicted everything that has so far transpired, presumably including all the details on his new metas.
For the Evulz: After acquiring all the bus meta powers, he develops an enjoyment in taking lives simply because he can.
- When a security guard tries to stop him and Marlize, he makes the guard perform a Psychic-Assisted Suicide. Marlize's pleas that killing him was unnecessary, he unempathically states that there would be casualties and he brought his death upon himself for standing in DeVoe's way.
- He cruelly slaughters all of the ARGUS guards when he goes to steal Fallout, for no reason other than his own amusement and because the modern music of one of the guards displeased him.
- He attempts to kill Gypsy just because even if she represents no threat to his plans and is only stopped by Marlize.
Frame-Up: He sets up his old body to be stabbed and left for Barry to find, leaving him to be arrested by the CCPD.
Freudian Excuse: Realizing his super-intelligence is also slowly killing him is unfair. He sees certain metahuman living to become criminals as another unfair example.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a mild-mannered professor, annoyed by the apathy of his students to a megalomaniac.
A God Am I: While he never outright claims to be god, he's under the impression he's the only one deserving of intelligence. He also loves making biblical references as if he's the Messiah.
Grand Theft Me: What he does to Dominic. And later to Becky. And then to Izzy. And to Edwin. Then Ralph, with the last body theft proving to be the last one he needs, as Ralph's powers allow DeVoe's body to endure his enhanced intelligence without degrading.
Green-Eyed Monster: He's more than a little resentful that his powers cost him his mobility, while other metas — especially the Flash did not pay a price for theirs; he specifically wants to teach Barry what it feels like to "lose".
Good Hair, Evil Hair: After he steals Ralph's body and uses the Rubber Man's ShapeShifting powers to assume his original form, he goes with a completely different style to what he had at the start of the season, signifying how he's no longer the well-meaning professor he was was but now a cold-blooded killer who stops at nothing to get what he wants.
Gotta Kill Them All: He created twelve metahumans to dispose of their lives.
Happily Married: He loves his wife and helper Marlize. Or at least did before his mental health deteriorated.
Handicapped Badass: His lethal condition has not made him any less of a menace; he is skilled with his flying chair and he kills and steals the body of people and copying powers, which hasn't cured his condition but makes him extremely dangerous.
Hate Sink: Whatever sympathy the audience may have for him dissipates as his actions grow more and more vile. These include kidnapping the Weeper, stealing Dominic's body, and framing Barry for his own murder. But what really seals the deal that he's a villain meant to be despised is how he keeps stealing the bodies of bus metahumans that were about to befriend Team Flash, with the implication the original owner of the body dies, along with the revelation his once healthy relationship with his wife turned to a far more abusive one. He gets to the point of irredeemable when he steals Ralph's body, just after Ralph had decided to spare his life too.
He Who Fights Monsters: He was fighting at first against human evilness, but later he ended up becoming a serial killer, an abusive husband, and someone who desires to remake the world in his own image.
Hero Killer: He ultimately bodyjacks Ralph, leading to his apparent demise.
Hidden Agenda Villain: While we get to see his face in the very first episode of his debut season, his exact plan and motives remain a mystery. He refers to his ultimate goal as "The Enlightenment", but exactly what this is remains unexplained. Whenever asked what he's planning, he always claims that no one else could comprehend what he's going to do. It's finally revealed that his Evil Plan is to reboot the brains of everyone in the world so that they become unintelligent, allowing him to reteach all of them and remake the world in his image.
Hidden Depths: No matter what stage in life he's in, DeVoe is shown to have a fascination with music. "Goin' Out of My Head" is sung by him several times to illustrate his relationship with Marlize, and he shows off his genius by finishing Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and playing the violin right after picking one up. His attack on A.R.G.U.S. starts with him forcing a guard's phone to play the Hallelujah Chorus. He specifically singles out "modern music" as one of the many things he hates about the current world.
Iconic Outfit: He changes his appearance a lot, but his most iconic outfit is him donning the Thinking Cap, clad in black, and sitting in his hoverchair.
If I Can't Have You…: When the Enlightenment is averted and he realizes that he will never become the ruler of humanity like he wanted, he decides to simply destroy the world. Knowing that Marlize has well and truly cut her ties with him, he's content with the idea of her dying with everyone else.
In Spite of a Nail: In the original post-Flashpoint timeline, DeVoe was said to be one of the primary enemies of the Flash. Even with Savitar dead and his role in the timeline erased, this is apparently still the case.
Insufferable Genius: He never misses an opportunity to bring up how smart he is, or belittle Team Flash. He's amused that Barry thinks he'll understand his Evil Plan.
In Their Own Image: This is the main point of the Enlightenment; he wants to use dark matter-equipped satellites to dumb down every other person on Earth so that he can rule over the stupefied masses. In this way, all human society will be turned into a giant monument to himself.
Invincible Villain: Initially, his ridiculous planning and his wife's scientific acumen make him a formidable but rather even-handed match for Team Flash. But on top of that, then he gets telepathy. And then the power to size-shift, to manipulate probability, to control technology, and to bring inanimate to objects life. And then the power to induce soundwaves. And then gravity manipulation, the ability to create portals, and the ability to siphon, transfer and/or nullify the powers of other metahumans. And then all of Ralph's powers. And before his defeat, we learn he was gunning for Super-Speed as well. Suffice to say, it would now be a gross understatement to say that Team Flash is an underdog going against him.
Irony: An Evil Luddite ends up completely dependent on technology to get anything done.
It's All About Me: As the season progresses it becomes clear that DeVoe is only out for his own self-interests even destroying his relationship with his wife if it means she gets in the way of his plans. His end goal, the Enlightenment is less about trying to better the world but rather to remake it in his own image, effectively achieving godhood.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: "Therefore She Is" has him almost looking like he'll spare the security guard who stood in his way, but he forces him through a Psychic-Assisted Suicide just as he teleports away.
Journey to the Center of the Mind: Barry does this in the finale, traveling into DeVoe's mind in the hopes they can find the "good DeVoe" to overpower the "evil DeVoe", only to find the good DeVoe is dead.
Kick the Dog:
- Not only did he steal the bus meta bodies but he takes great amusement in reminding Barry of his failures, even speaking in Ralph's voice to further taunt him.
- When he raids ARGUS in "Think Fast", not only does he kill all of the guards, he does so very cruelly and painfully. He shrinks one of the guards and squashes him under his foot, Kilg%re's the guards tasers to shock themselves, Force Chokes several of them, and after he's killed a whole heap of them he uses his effigy animation to reanimate the dead guards' corpses to kill the reinforcements sent in. To top it all off he had no reason to kill a single one, as he had already gone to the trouble of impersonating John Diggle to bypass security, he killed the guards for the fun of it.
Kick the Morality Pet:
- When Marlize starts questioning DeVoe's plans, DeVoe responds by drugging her with Weeper's tears to keep her in line.
- When Marlize starts pleading him not to kill anyone else and reminds him they were trying to save people, DeVoe scoffs and states that they couldn't save everyone. Marlize then declares she would not watch him take another innocent life, to which DeVoe uses his gravity powers to turn her around and forces her to watch him kill Gypsy. Though Marlize does manage to talk him out of it by appealing to his ego on teaching lessons.
Kick Them While They Are Down: In "Subject 9" after Barry is hit with a Mind Rape, DeVoe proceeds to kick the incapacitated Barry while he's on the ground.
Knight of Cerebus: As with previous season-long Big Bads before him, his very presence creates a dark and oppressive atmosphere wherever he goes, which is especially evident in the Denser and Wackier Season Four. Most of his appearances immediately precede some major tragedy (by his hands).
Lack of Empathy: DeVoe often speaks of others as if they're specimens beneath a microscope, rather than human beings with their own thoughts and feelings. He calls the bus metas "test subjects" and views them as nothing more than assets that house powers. He's not totally void of compassion (at least, not at first), but he still seems rather detached from the rest of the human race. He becomes more and more apathetic as time goes on.
Last-Name Basis:
- For the first six episodes of Season Four, he's only referred to by his last name as opposed to his full name from the comics, Clifford DeVoe. Even after being nicknamed "The Thinker" he is mostly called DeVoe.
- This also holds true on his end, always referring to everyone by their Mr. or Mrs. title.
Leitmotif: DeVoe has a very creepy, mechanical almost Darth Vader-esque sounding theme music.
Love Is a Weakness: Comes to believe this after seeing Marlize get distracted through affectionate gestures, before fully adopting it when she turns on him.
Me's a Crowd: When Barry invades his mind and battles him alongside Ralph, DeVoe conjures hundreds of copies of himself to fight them.
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He holds the legitimate title of a Professor of History, but he's secretly a criminal mastermind.
Moral Myopia: He does not appear to think of himself as a villain, more as a Necessarily Evil who will help achieve his endgame of "The Enlightenment".
Mortality Phobia: Despite claiming that his main goal is carrying out a plan called "The Enlightenment," DeVoe spends much of Season Four trying to ward off his death by any means necessary, including the theft of multiple metahumans' bodies.
Movie Superheroes Wear Black: The Thinker of the comics generally wore civilian clothes or a purple costume. This Thinker has a black leather outfit for when he uses his chair, and later takes to wearing a black Badass Longcoat after stealing Ralph's body.
Mythology Gag: In "We are the Flash" he performs a Brain Uploading, essentially existing as an AI, which is what he did become in the comics.

N-W

Narcissist: In the present, he's all but in love with himself and his intelligence. The effects of this range from him proclaiming himself to be the Fastest Mind Alive to boasting that he's more of a threat to Team Flash than even the likes of Eobard Thawne. Then it turns out that his plan revolves around making everyone else a simpleton, meaning he can reshape the world of idiots in his own image.
Near-Villain Victory: He was mere moments away from finishing the execution of The Enlightenment and almost killed Team Flash. Only the timely intervention of Barry freeing Ralph from the grasp of DeVoe's mind and having him take back control of his body put a stop to his plans.
Never My Fault: After Marlize leaves him when he crosses one line too many, DeVoe never once considers that his own abusive actions were the cause and instead concludes that Love Isa Weakness, one that must be purged from humanity with the Enlightenment.
New Body, Old Abilities: It doesn't matter which body he takes over, he keeps every single ability of every metahuman he has ever possessed before.
New Media Are Evil: In "Think Fast", he professes a distaste for modern music and bemoans the use of "idiot phones."
No Love for the Wicked: As he falls deeper and deeper into villainy, his love for his wife diminishes.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: While the other Big Bads like Thawne, Zoom, and Savitar kept Barry either because their evil plans required it, or just to toy with him — DeVoe is very blunt, he frames Barry for his own murder and sends a tip to Captain Singh to have him arrested.
No-Sell: He knows to negate the seer skills of a Vibe character.
Non-Action Big Bad: He creates plans and sends his minions to fulfill them while monitoring them from his control room rather than try to fight Barry himself. Justified, as he has an advanced form of ALS and must rely on his Cool Chair to delay the effects. Subverted, as the mid-season finale shows that his chair is indeed capable of kicking ass. Completely averted in the second half of the season, where he steals the bodies and/or powers of the bus-metas, making it so he's more than capable of putting up a fight. By the end of the season he might very well be the most powerful Big Bad Barry has ever faced, physically and intellectually.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He surely started out wanting humankind to live up to its intellectual potential before he got his powers, but as of now, it's made very clear that the one thing he is interested in is gaining power for himself. Not even his own wife is safe from him. He loses all redeeming qualities after taking all of the bus metas powers for himself, he's all about carrying out his Enlightenment, and everyone in the way will die. The Enlightenment itself, as Barry points out, is not out of a desire to actually improve the world as he so claims, but to effectively gain control over a newly stupefied world and lead it in his own image. When foiled, he is more than willing to have a massive satellite crash into Central City and kill countless people as well causing an extinction-level event that would wipe out all life on Earth, simply out of spite.
Obviously Evil: When hooked up to his black Cool Chair and dressed in a dark leather shirt he very much looks like a stereotypical Evil Overlord. Though this is averted entirely in his civilian guise.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: After using his Thinking Cap, he easily outclasses a neurologist consult; DeVoe not only corrects the timeframe for his deterioration but within moments deduces his new mind is the cause of it. He's also shown casual brilliance at music theory, and especially high-end probability, claiming he can predict thousands of variables with certainty. Oddly, his chair is solely his wife's creation.
One-Man Army: After acquiring all the bus meta powers, he is, in Cisco's words, a "one man Legion of Doom".
Orcus on His Throne: Subverted. He certainly qualifies at first glance considering he usually delegates tasks to his assistant and is always shown sitting in his chair (in fact, it's initially unclear whether or not he even can leave it). However, it turns out his chair is highly mobile (it can literally fly) and as such, DeVoe is entirely capable of going to different locations if he wants to. He also can't leave it for very long, given that it balances out how much dark matter is powering his brain to the rest of his body.
Pet the Dog: Despite all his later Domestic Abuser tendencies towards her, he does spare Gypsy after the pleading of his wife.
Possession Burnout: He can prolong his life by pulling a Grand Theft Me on one of the bus metas, but his new body will have the same problems with ALS his old one had. As a result, he's had to go through four metas so far; Dominic, Becky, Izzy, Edwin and Ralph. Ralph's body ends up solving this problem, as Ralph's abilities allow his body to host DeVoe's enhanced intellect without degrading.
Power at a Price: Basically, his super intelligence comes from his brain taking energy from his body rather than the other way around, resulting in his paralysis.
Power Parasite: He body surfs between the bus metas his scheme created, adding each one's powerset to his own in the process, making for a dangerous combination. Though with some of them he absorbs their powers without explicitly transferring his consciousness into them.
Pretender Diss: He calls Harry's own Thinking Cap a "counterfeit cap."
Punny Name: It sounds like "The Foe".
Purple Is Powerful: Thanks to Kilg%re's powers, DeVoe becomes heavily associated with the color purple, including that of The Enlightenment.
Putting On My Thinking Cap: Wears his literal trademark Thinking Cap and states "I'm thinking" in his debut.
Rage Breaking Point: Although he keeps himself composed in the face of his disease and upcoming death, Therefore I Am has him finally losing his cool when he realizes that he's so weak that he can't even get a book off his shelf.
Rage Quit: After the Enlightenment fails and he himself is reduced to a digital hologram in his chair, he spitefully decides to drop the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite right on Central City.
Reality Warper: His eventual All Your Powers Combined lets him manipulate gravity, matter, probability, and space.
Red Baron: "The Fastest Mind Alive".
Remember the New Guy?: Although he was only introduced in Season 4, DeVoe was retroactively present at the night of the particle accelerator explosion and had been a metahuman all this time despite never making an appearance until 4 years later.
Revealing Skill: During his initial interview with Barry and Joe, they mention the name "DeVoe" was revealed to be part of several investigations. Thinker responds that the city must have upwards of 1100 people by that name; in fact, it's 1122, so close Barry latches onto the slip.
Rogues' Gallery Transplant: The DeVoe Thinker was typically an enemy of the Jay Garrick and Wally West Flashes, before later moving over to Mr. Terrific. This DeVoe is a very personal enemy to Barry Allen having personally strived to destroy his life.
Sanity Slippage: With every jump from one body to another, DeVoe's mind becomes more and more unstable due to the excess amounts of dark matter he absorbs from each meta. Whatever goodness he once had is entirely gone, and just to drive the point home, Barry discovers that the DeVoe killed the goodness inside of him.
Secret Identity: Inverted. Unlike previous Big Bads, he wears no mask, and we know what he looks like right from the start of the season (and find out his name even before that). Even so, he's still a mystery because very little else is known about him (it's mentioned that he has neither a criminal record nor any social media), least of all his motives.
Serial Killer: He hunts down the bus metas, taking over their bodies and, with the execption of Ralph, destroying their consciousness.
Showing Off the New Body: After stealing bodies of attractive bus metas, he wears somewhat sexily.
Sliding Scale of Villain Threat: Each Big Bad has become progressively more powerful, from Thawne, to Zoom, to Savitar. But that seemed to be averted with DeVoe who was a Non-Action Big Bad. This all changes after he steals the powers of the bus metas, and becomes easily the most powerful antagonist Barry has gone up against, being an Invincible Villain who was almost unstoppable.
Smart People Play Chess: He's shown playing chess against himself in "Luck Be A Lady".
Smug Super: He's very smug about his intellect and just loves rubbing it into Barry's face. After he acquires all of the bus meta powers he becomes even more arrogant, letting Barry strike him with the Sonic Scepter, just so he can demonstrate his body being completely invulnerable all the while smugly smiling.
The Sociopath: Granted he didn't start as one as he genuinely cared for his wife originally but as the season progresses, he becomes one. With his Lack of Empathy, manipulations, arrogance about his own powers and intelligence and selfishness to the point he's willing to start abusing his own wife and has thrown their once loving relationship away.
Something Only They Would Say: No matter whose body DeVoe steals or who he happens to be impersonating, what always gives him away is his distinctive Creepy Monotone and use of technical words.
Start X to Stop X: He is a luddite that wants to destroy technology but not only is he alive thanks to technology, but also his plan depends on technology.
Story-Breaker Power: When DeVoe steals the powers of almost all the bus metahumans, he becomes nigh-unbeatable to Team Flash. Brainwashing tears, brain damage, electronic control, bad luck, sonic waves, genetic control, gravity manipulation, portal creation, super resistance and shapeshifting. All of this combined with Super-Intelligence makes him unbeatable, so as a weakness he became unable to recognize emotions.
Straw Nihilist: He's very fond of delivering Hannibal Lectures, is extremely cynical, pretty much believes himself to be the only one either capable of, or even worthy of, intelligent thought. He even quotes Nietzsche at Barry in Think Fast.
Super-Intelligence: DeVoe's metahuman power is that his intellect was enhanced to superhuman levels. Word of God has described him as literally the World's Smartest Man. Given that this is the Arrowverse, filled to the brim with super scientists, hackers, and brilliant tacticians^notee.g. Deathstroke and Prometheus, that is saying a lot.
Surrounded by Idiots: Even before he gains his super intelligence.
Take Over the World: What "the Enlightening" ends up becoming, from helping humanity achieve intellectual potential to sapping away their intelligence and emotion to make the world more to his liking.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When complaining to Captain Singh about Barry's stalking, DeVoe tells Barry to call him "Professor".
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: While he does have a costume, when Barry and Joe finally manage to track him down he appears to be just an ordinary-looking guy in a wheelchair.
Tom the Dark Lord: He's a criminal mastermind and supervillain named "Clifford." In-universe, he shares his surname DeVoe with over a thousand people, making it difficult for Team Flash to single him out.
Took a Level in Badass: He started off as the Big Bad with the least physical threat in The Flash, but over the course of the season he continuously steals the powers of the bus metas he created, by the end of the season he's a walking arsenal of superpowers and was the most powerful villain Barry had ever gone up against at that point, reaching Invincible Villain levels.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Between the flashbacks and present day, he became an enormous dick. While he still claims that he wants to improve the world, it's called into question as he seems mostly motivated to save himself now. He only gets worse as he grows more powerful, gradually losing any capacity he once had for empathy, occasionally devolving into cruelty for cruelty's sake, and even drugging his wife to keep her in line.
Ungrateful Bastard:
- Marlize was a devoted wife and assistant to her husband, but that doesn't stop Clifford from drugging her into submission when she starts thinking in ways he doesn't like.
- Ralph spared DeVoe's life after overpowering him. This proved to be a lethal mistake as DeVoe repaid his mercy by stealing his body without a hint of remorse.
Unholy Matrimony: His assistant Marlize is also his wife. While their relationship is initially supportive, this evaporates once he becomes Drunk with Power.
Unskilled, but Strong: DeVoe has no fighting abilities or significant combat experience. When he begins to take over the bodies of the bus metas, he generally fights by taking his opponents head-on and overwhelming them with his new powers.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Season 4 sought to return the series to its comedic tone, but this villain is quick to delete any goodwill since he is willing to incriminate, take the bodies of metahumans that bonded with Team Flash, mistreat his wife and dominate everyone with technology while depriving anyone else of intelligence.
Villain Has a Point: As he points out in a flashback, it doesn't seem fair that one of the few metahumans who wants to use his powers for a higher purpose should have to suffer paralysis and a slow death. He's also somewhat right in believing that technology may someday doom humanity. He is also right when mentioning that men corrupt even the best of ideas, and Marlize takes it as Hypocrite Has a Point.
Villain with Good Publicity: What makes it so hard to deal with DeVoe is there is absolutely nothing to legally pin him down. His record is squeaky clean so that the police refuse to press charges against him, and even the other members of Team Flash had a hard time believing he was the one behind everything. Part of Iris' plan is to write an exposé against him, making the public aware of his activities so that he can no longer stay hidden.
Villainous Breakdown:
- Begins to show signs of this in "Subject 9" when his second host body (Becky) is beginning to fail him faster than his wife can keep up, leading to him lashing out verbally at her.
- He doesn't take it well when he fails to anticipate the outcome. In "Fury Rogue" he had anticipated that the Flash would defeat Siren-X, but to his confusion Barry stands there frozen and doesn't retaliate, and this makes him absolutely lose it. This is due to his Lack of Empathy as he doesn't understand the grief Barry is going through over losing Ralph which in turn affects him out in the field.
- He doesn't take actually losing well, screaming in disbelief that he's lost. While he regains some composure, his last spiteful act is attempting to take the whole world with him.
DeVoe: THIS IS NOT MY WILL!
Villainous Legacy: While he dies in the season four finale, the events of The Enlightenment drive most of the plot in season five.
- The falling pieces of the dark matter-infused satellite create more metahumans as well as meta-technology, and kill and injure several people—including a young Grace Gibbons, motivating her uncle to hunt down every metahuman as a result of DeVoe's actions.
- In addition to the above, S.T.A.R. Labs loses their satellite, making it now very difficult to track metahumans and other dangers... at least until they figure out to hijack the other four satellites DeVoe launched.
Virtue Is Weakness: He starts to believe this after stealing Ralph's body which deeply hurts his wife and ultimately drives her into leaving him. Which is ultimately the flaw that brings him down.
Visionary Villain: Whatever his plans are, it vaguely involves uplifting humanity to its intellectual potential. In a conversation with Barry and Joe in his civilian identity, he almost tips his hand with a monologue about not just teaching people but changing how they think so they can learn. It was revealed later that he wants to strip everybody else of their intelligence so that he can teach them from scratch.
Voices Are Not Mental: He takes on the voice of whatever body he steals. It's averted in the case of Ralph; he takes advantage of his current host's powers to regain his old voice and face.
What Happened to the Mouse?: His chair ends up being the property of Star Labs in later seasons, but it's never explained what became of his A.I.
Wicked Cultured: He's very fond of classical pieces. He's seen playing classical piano quite skillfully and is even able to compose the rest of Schubert's Symphony No. 8, aka the "Unfinished Symphony," after listening to all 600 symphonies in the span of a single morning. In "Think Faster" while raiding ARGUS, he disapproves the modern music one of the guards is playing and uses Kilg%re's powers to change it to "Hallelujah To The King Of Kings" which continues playing as he slaughters all of the ARGUS guards.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: After getting his enhanced intelligence, he has become more and more immoral. This worsens when he kills and hijacks bodies of benevolent metahumans, growing increasingly unhinged with even the most minor setbacks in his plans, and becoming abusive to his wife even when he uses Ralph's body to regain his original likeness. He even loses the ability to understand other people's emotions, disregarding emotion as "that most aberrant of human weaknesses".
World's Smartest Man: Word of God has stated he is the smartest person on Earth-1 and possibly The Multiverse.

Characters / Arrowverse: Clifford DeVoe

Clifford DeVoe

Species: Metahuman

Known Aliases: The Thinker

Played By: Neil Sandilands, Kendrick Sampson (as Dominic Lanse), Sugar Lyn Beard (as Becky Sharpe), Miranda MacDougall (as Izzy Bowen), Arturo del Puerto (as Edwin Gauss), Hartley Sawyer (as Ralph Dibny), David Ramsey (impersonation of Diggle)

First Appearance: "The Flash Reborn" (The Flash 4x1)

Appearances: The Flash (2014)

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Characters / Arrowverse: Clifford DeVoe

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Clifford DeVoe

Species: Metahuman

Known Aliases: The Thinker

Played By: Neil Sandilands, Kendrick Sampson (as Dominic Lanse), Sugar Lyn Beard (as Becky Sharpe), Miranda MacDougall (as Izzy Bowen), Arturo del Puerto (as Edwin Gauss), Hartley Sawyer (as Ralph Dibny), David Ramsey (impersonation of Diggle)

First Appearance: "The Flash Reborn" (The Flash 4x1)

Appearances: The Flash (2014)

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