If he couldn't before he can now.

...people start complaining about how bringing back the Thinker was a bad idea, because Morrison wrote a really cool story that killed him off.

The origin for the digital Thinker has always irked me a bit, because it serves to undercut the poignant end that Morrison gave to the Thinker in the pages of “The Flash.” He’d passed away as a more-or-less reformed old man, who was friends with Jay Garrick.

I really liked that issue. Jay brought him his Thinking Cap, which would have allowed the Thinker to cure himself, but he decided it was time for him pass on.

Marie came back in the pages of Checkmate not too long ago, Bill. Yes, she's a new character. But Winick is only writing her because she's in the crossover. Rucka created her (which, depending on your POV, might be just as bad).

And no, I didn't like Dini's previous use of the Joker. Although the slaughter of shoppers was kind of funny. The rest of the issue was lousy.

Far from me defend Winnick, but the Thinker isn’t a robot. He was a Firestorm villain that digitalized himself and became a Flash villain,

I'm pretty sure the digital Thinker's programming is based on the mind of the Golden Age Thinker, the Flash villain. Firestorm's Thinker, Cliff Carmichael, has shown up in the most recent Firestorm series, I believe.

The origin for the digital Thinker has always irked me a bit, because it serves to undercut the poignant end that Morrison gave to the Thinker in the pages of "The Flash." He'd passed away as a more-or-less reformed old man, who was friends with Jay Garrick. Then over in JSA, they had his mind reborn inside a computer program, and had him go full-blown supervillain again.

The editor of New X-Men should, at the time, have said, "No. You can't kill Magneto. We've got a major motion picture coming out in a year where he's one of the lead players, he's a cornerstone of the X-Books, Claremont's already made it clear he wants to use the character in Excalibur, come up with an ending that doesn't involve Wolverine chopping his head off." (And while we're on the subject, they should also have said, "Oh, for f**k's sake, killing and resurrecting Jean Grey is the industry punchline. Don't f**king kill her off again, because we'll just have to resurrect her again at some point, and it was dumb enough the first time.")

(Doesn't Charlton Heston's character in PLANET OF THE APES get shot in the throat, and that's why he can't talk after he gets captured?)

U. X-Men - It's good cuz it's Brubaker, and thus must be the greatest thing ever....didn't you get the memo? It came with the Kool Aid packet.

Aaah well, nothing good/bad lasts forever.