The Prankster (Oswald Hubert Loomis) is a supervillain appearing in media published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of Superman.

[2] The original Prankster is Oswald Loomis, a criminal and conman who uses elaborate practical jokes and publicity campaigns to commit crimes.

[3] In his debut in Action Comics #51, the Prankster and his assistants break into a series of banks and force the employees to accept money.

[5] As part of his advertisements for getting rewards for missing items, the Prankster later had his henchmen kidnap Lois and printed a story for Superman to pay a ransom of $50,000.00.

[5] The Prankster collaborates with the Toyman where they plotted to drive Superman crazy by committing ridiculous obsolete laws like putting pennies in ears in Honolulu.

[11] In the Alan Moore-scripted story, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, the Prankster and the Toyman are unwittingly manipulated by Mister Mxyzptlk to discover Superman's secret identity.

After managing to unmask Clark Kent in front of Lana Lang and others by machine-gunning him and revealing his costume beneath his clothes, the Prankster and Toyman are captured by Superman.

Bitter that his gravy train has come to an end, Loomis seeks revenge on the network executives that were responsible for his show's cancellation (including Morgan Edge), but is foiled by Superman.

This turned out to be an intentional objective for the Prankster since he knew he could not seriously oppose Superman, and so immediately surrendered upon facing the superhero with plans to exploit the media attention while in prison.

In The Adventures of Superman #579 (June 2000), Loomis reappears with a younger, more athletic body, presumably granted to him by the magic of Lord Satanus (though in Superman: Day of Doom #2 (January 2003) he claims his new figure is the result of "thousands of dollars' worth of plastic surgery, dental work and diet clinics").

His personality is changed as well; no longer an inept goofball, he is now a manic trickster seeking to unleash his twisted brand of laughter upon the world.

The Prankster takes advantage of the new technology, creating high tech gadgets and weaponry, which retain a comical theme.

During the Critical Condition storyline, scientists learn that the cause of Superman's illness is a nanovirus carrying a small grain of Kryptonite.

They proposed to shrink Steel, Superboy, and Supergirl to microscopic size, and send them into Superman's bloodstream to destroy the virus.

Lord Satanus later hires the Prankster to kidnap metahumans with dual personalities, particularly those with a light/dark duality, so he can draw power from them.

While Green Lantern and Hawkgirl bring down Loomis and his army of traffic-light-men, his rampage is just a distraction while Luthor breaks Kryptonite Man out of prison.

He offers a discount to any client whose plans include Superman, as he sees the Man of Steel's involvement as "the best kind of free advertising".

[18] Prankster later captures John Conaway at the Museum of Science and Industry and wrapped him with insulation that he had sold to dozens of homeowners in Illinois claiming that it would reduce the risk of electrocution, but it did not work and it had contributed to several deaths.

Nightwing is forced to change his plans again as the police arrive upon noting, with some amusement, that the Prankster is wearing high heels.

This evidence points to a man named Billy Lester, who records show did not exist until three years ago, and now works for the mayor.

Upon hacking every screen in the city, Prankster states that Mayor Wallace Cole is not what he claims to be and has been harboring Tony Zucco.

[22] As Nightwing attempts to rush Zucco to jail, the man shouts from the back of the Wingcycle that Wallace Cole became mayor of Chicago because of two events.

Tony had learned this because he shared a cell with William Cole, who had received a reminder from the boy of the crime he had committed: the same mask that the Prankster wears today.

These tricks include: ultrasonic devices that cause a person to laugh uncontrollably, high-voltage joy buzzers, exploding whoopee cushions, and nanobots.