Why Does The Thinker Have Spikes In His Head?

WARNING: Spoilers for The Suicide Squad.

Why does The Thinker have head spikes in The Suicide Squad? The new villain-laden DC film brings in a wide array of different criminals and evildoers with their own powers and skill sets, including Thinker. Played by Peter Capaldi, Thinker, as his name implies, is a metahuman whose powers are much more cerebral in nature.

The Suicide Squad‘s portrayal of Gaius Grieves aka The Thinker includes a collection of electrodes implanted into his skull. This isn’t given a huge amount of context in the movie itself, other than Thinker replying, “Yes, makes my brain good,” when asked if that’s the purpose they’re intended to serve. While a brief and simplified explanation of this purpose within the film’s story, it’s a fairly accurate set of cliff notes nonetheless.

In the comics, Thinker, first introduced as Clifford DeVoe in 1943, is known for wearing a “Thinking Cap”, which enables him to expand his vast intellect to its fullest potential and wield cerebral powers. Thinker himself has gone through numerous incarnations throughout his comic book history, and has even included an A.I. version. The version seen in The Suicide Squad seems to be most directly based upon the New 52 reboot’s character.

Not identified by name, the New 52 Thinker was affixed with head spikes identical to those of Grieves, with the goal to transfer his consciousness into a cyborg body known as an OMAC, or Omni Mind and Community. He also aligned himself with the Crime Syndicate of America, and lent his services to eliminating the Suicide Squad. Thinker is similarly an enemy of Task Force X and the always manipulative Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad, working with the government of Corto Maltese to experiment on Starro and human test subjects.

The Clifford DeVoe version of Thinker has been seen on The Flash, complete with his famed Thinking Cap, while The Suicide Squad‘s clearly favors the more body horror portrayal of the villain with mini-lightning rods infused into his skull. In either case, Thinker is a classic mad scientist given a supervillain motif, and DC’s Multiverse landscape after The CW’s Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover grants the freedom to show different versions of him in different continuities.

The Suicide Squad also has a very high body count, including some quite unexpected character deaths, with Thinker meeting his end at the tentacles of Starro. While this might seem to write him off from any future big screen appearances, the A.I. version of Thinker could also be on the cards. In any case, while the electrodes drilled into his skull are certainly right out of a sci-fi lab accident, it’s a cool supervillain look, while the devices themselves also serve the important purpose of Thinker being able to utilize his brain to its maximum potential, enabling him to really embody his name.

About The Author

Brad Curran
(715 Articles Published)

Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

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