‘The Flash’: Who Is Prank?

Tonight’s episode of The Flash introduced audiences to the new normal for Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash now that the hero is serving time for murder, but the episode also introduced a character to the Arrowverse that, for Flash fans, just so happens to be a familiar face.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Flash, “The Elongated Knight Rises”.

In tonight’s episode, Barry (Grant Gustin) is trying to adjust to his first week behind bars at Iron Heights Prison and while in the prison yard he comes upon Axel Walker/Trickster Jr., son of Mark Hamill‘s Trickster. Axel and his father once kidnapped Henry Allen, so Barry doesn’t exactly have a reason to want to socialize with him, but that doesn’t mean Axel is someone to ignore. The villain is broken out of prison by his mother, Prank.

For those who aren’t familiar with the character, Prank was an acolyte of the Trickster in the ’90s television series. In that series, Prank is Zoey Clark, and is the second character to go by the name Prank. Owner of Clarx Toys, she’s a huge fan of the Trickster, so huge that she becomes obsessed and frees him during his trial. She then becomes his sidekick, using her wealth to finance the villain’s evil schemes. The character — who dressed in loud, crazy harlequin-style costumes — is considered by some to be something of a proto-Harley Quinn. Prank predates Harley Quinn (Harley didn’t appear until 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series, a year after Prank appeared on Flash) and shares not just a similar appearance, but similar themes as well — particularly the obsessive love of a clown-like villain that may or may not actually care about her in return. While Harley Quinn eventually made the leap from animated material to comic books and beyond, Prank never really did.

In tonight’s episode, Corinne Bohrer — who played Prank/Zoey Clark in the ’90s series — reprises her the role, this time serving as sidekick to her son. Bohrer is the latest actor from the ’90s Flash series to reprise their original ’90s characters on The CW series, joining Amanda Pays who played Tina McGee and Hamill’s Trickster while John Wesley Shipp has returned both as Barry’s father, Henry Allen, and a Flash of a different sort — Earth-3’s Jay Garrick.

The Flash airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.