'The Flash': A New Detail Suggests a Connection Between Barry's Nonsensical Language and the Thinker

The Flash has returned to our screens as a much brighter and cheerier hero than the one who left us at the end of Season 3. After a six-month sojourn in the Speed Force, Barry has been reborn, faster and more powerful than ever.

The life of a superhero never stays too good for too long, however, and he's already been thrust back into action against a new enemy. Clifford DeVoe is the man who has put Barry to the test, and he's a villain unlike any that the Flash has faced before. Rather than an evil speedster, Barry will face the man with the fastest mind in the world: The Thinker. His calculating nature means that he'll be a worthy opponent to the Scarlet Speedster.

We've only had a brief look at the villain in the closing stinger of each episode, but there is one intriguing detail that brings about a number of questions.

Do the markings on DeVoe's face have a connection to Barry?

If you look closely, the markings on the Thinker's face have a very familiar look about them. Look just below his right eye and you can see markings similar to the drawings Barry scribbled on the walls of C.C.P.D. and his cell at S.T.A.R. Labs during the season premiere. This seemed to imply Barry had acquired some otherworldly knowledge during his time in the Speed Force, but the fact that these markings appear on the Thinker's face could imply something else.

Perhaps Clifford DeVoe also has some sort of connection with the Speed Force. For all of Barry's use of it, the true extent of the Speed Force remains a mystery. We know that it grants speedsters the ability to move at incredible speeds, but we've also seen that it allows them to absorb information much faster than the average human as well. This is shown a number of times throughout The Flash when Barry reads books by merely flipping through every page or when he's catching up on #GameOfThrones by watching it at 1000 times normal speed.

It could be that DeVoe actually is a speedster, just not in the way we all consider; rather than moving his body at incredible speed, he channels the Speed Force through his mind.

While it's possible that the #Arrowverse version of DeVoe has some sort of connection to the Speed Force, there are a few other possibilities. As Barry's return was manufactured by the Thinker, it's possible that the Barry who returned isn't actually the Barry Allen we've all come to know over three seasons of The Flash. The Thinker had obviously planned for Barry's return and chose the exact moment that he'd be released from the Speed Force; maybe DeVoe has also been able to bring back an imposter — one whom he'd manipulate to destroy Central City.

There's also the possibility that DeVoe will be playing a role similar to the one the Reverse Flash did in the highly-successful "Rebirth" comic storyline. Season 4 has already taken inspiration from this storyline as it features Barry's return from the Speed Force and the subsequent fallout from this. In the comic, Barry's reappearance was orchestrated by Eobard Thawne, who claims that he had shifted The Flash into reverse. Thawne peeled out of existence in the Season 2 finale of #LegendsOfTomorrow so he probably won't be returning any time soon, but it could be that DeVoe will take his role in an adaptation of "Rebirth."

Whatever the case may be, it seems that the Thinker will pose quite the threat to Barry Allen. We learned in "Mixed Signals" that DeVoe has created Metahumans for the Flash to battle, and he's clearly got plenty in store for all of Team Flash. Maybe there's more to the markings on his face than meets the eye.