The Flash: Who is Clive Yorkin?

02/07/2017 11:59 pm EST

Tonight on The Flash, an obscure DC supervillain made his first appearance on live-action TV.

So...what's the deal with Clive Yorkin? Read on, dear reader...

First appearing in 1979, the Yorkin of the comics was a career criminal who been convicted of robbery and murder. After being placed in solitary confinement on a life sentence without parole, Yorkin realized he had no chance of release, so he agreed to undergo the experiment called the Nephron Process.

The experiment an attempt to cure him of his violent tendencies by making him associate crime with pain...but it went horribly wrong, and instead the pleasure and pain centers in his brain were reversed, driving him insane. The Nephron Process gave Yorkin the ability to drain life energy from other people through touch, not unlike the powers used by Parasite, a regular Superman villain who has appeared on The CW's Supergirl.

In the comics, he terrorized the city with his new ability until The Flash managed to defeat him by trapping him in a sinkhole.

Years later, during Geoff Johns's acclaimed run on The Flash, Yorkin was revealed to be alive and imprisoned in Iron Heights.

Big hat tip to the DC Wiki on this one, as we had almost completely forgotten about this character.

An interesting side note? In "The Trial of The Flash," a story from the early '80s in which the Reverse-Flash murders Iris West, and Barry kills him in retaliation and then has to face murder charges, it's Yorkin who finds the body and is initially thought to be the killer, until a security camera exonerates him. Considering how many callbacks to "The Trial of The Flash" the seem to be this year (including Joe's girlfriend Cecile being Barry's lawyer from the comics), the idea that this fairly minor villain would have appeared in that tale seems worth at least a mention.

More The Flash News: Recap With Spoilers: Untouchable | Flash Battles Grodd On Earth-2 In "Attack On Gorilla City" | Firestorm's Robbie Amell Is Back On Set With Caitlin Snow | Comparing Barry and Wally's Powers

The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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