Booster Gold
Booster Gold is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the character first appeared in Booster Gold #1 and has been a member of the Justice League.
He is initially depicted as a glory-seeking showboat from the future based in Superman's home city, Metropolis, staging high-publicity heroics through his knowledge of historical events and futuristic technology. Carter develops over the course of his publication history and through personal tragedies to become a hero weighed down by his reputation.
The character has been portrayed in live action television by Eric Martsolf in Smallville and by Donald Faison in the seventh season of the Arrowverse series Legends of Tomorrow. Additionally, Tom Everett Scott, Diedrich Bader, and Bruce Timm have voiced Booster Gold in animation. The character will appear in an upcoming self-titled television series on HBO Max, set in the DC Universe media franchise.
Publication history
Booster Gold first appeared in Booster Gold #1, being the first significant new character introduced into DC Universe continuity after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The next year, he began to appear regularly in the Justice League series remaining a team member until the group disbanded in 1996. He and his former Leaguers subsequently appeared as the "Superbuddies" in the Formerly Known as the Justice League miniseries and its JLA: Classified sequel "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League".At Wizard World Los Angeles in March 2007, Dan DiDio announced a new ongoing series titled All-New Booster Gold, which was later published as simply Booster Gold. The series follows the events of 52 and was initially co-written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, with art by creator Jurgens and Norm Rapmund. The series focuses primarily on Booster Gold's clandestine time travel within the DC Universe. The series also features Rip Hunter, Skeets, and Booster's ancestors Daniel Carter and Rose Levin as supporting characters. The tagline of the series is: "The greatest hero you've never heard of!". Katz and Johns left the book after 12 issues. Jurgens and Rapmund stayed. Jurgens assumed writing duties following four issues by guests Chuck Dixon and Rick Remender.
In May 2010, Keith Giffen took over the Booster Gold title, linking it with the 26-week miniseries Justice League: Generation Lost, in which Booster worked with Fire, Ice, and Captain Atom to defeat the resurrected Maxwell Lord. From July 2010 through February 2011, Booster starred alongside Rip Hunter, Green Lantern, and Superman in the six-issue miniseries Time Masters: Vanishing Point, part of the "Return of Bruce Wayne" arc, which also reintroduced the Reverse-Flash and established the background for the 2011 DC crossover event Flashpoint. Jurgens returned to the main Booster Gold title with issue #44.
Development
Jurgens's 1984 series proposal for Booster Gold compared the hero to U.S. Olympic Gold athletes such as Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, and Caitlyn Jenner, who had turned "Olympic gold into commercial gold", selling multiple products based on their fame and past accomplishments. Booster's origin as a security guard at a future Superman museum was altered when writer/artist John Byrne was brought to DC to reboot Superman's origin in The Man of Steel.Legacy
Since his origin, other characters within the DC Universe have hinted that there is a greater purpose to Booster Gold than he knows.During the Millennium event, Harbinger reveals to Martian Manhunter that Booster is descended from the Chosen and that he must be protected. It is revealed that Booster is destined to come to the past to protect him from an unknown event in the future. In 52, Rip states that the moment Booster helped save the multiverse from Mister Mind would be remembered in the future as the start of Gold's "glory years." Later, in the new Booster Gold series, Rip hints at a "Carter heroic legacy." It is then revealed that Booster is important to the Time Masters, as he will train "the greatest of them all", being the father and the teacher of Rip Hunter himself, who willingly chose to protect his identity against other time-travelers, to pass through history as the only loser of the clan. Despite the general distrust of Booster, Rip and his descendants apparently know the truth, always honoring him.
Due to the complicated time-travel mechanics, Booster's future self, "currently" operating from an unknown era with his time-travel educated wife, still watches over his past self and his son, making sure that Rip Hunter gives his past self proper schooling. The older Booster acts in total anonymity, and has access to other "time-lost" equipment than his suit, such as Superboy's seemingly-destroyed "super-goggles".
Due to a temporal paradox, the future Booster is revealed to be a more experienced Time Master than his son Rip Hunter, but also that he personally tasked Rip to school his past self. It is also implied that the departure of the Hypertime concept, rather than a simple retcon, is Booster's work, as in the future he tasked himself with the role of pruning divergent timelines from each universe in the multiverse.
Fictional character biography
From the future
Michael Jon Carter was born poor in 25th-century Gotham City. He and his twin sister, slightly younger, Michelle, never knew their father because he left after gambling away all their money. Michael was a gifted athlete, attending Gotham University on a football scholarship. At Gotham U., Michael was a star quarterback until his father reentered his life and convinced him to deliberately lose games for gambling purposes. He was exposed, disgraced and expelled. His twin sister Michelle, the more responsible of the two, took on multiple jobs to support their ailing mother. Later, he was able to secure a job as a night watchman at the Metropolis Space Museum, where he studied displays about superheroes and villains from the past, particularly the 20th century.Michael's sidekick is a robot named Skeets. Skeets is a 25th-century security robot with artificial intelligence. He is capable of flight, cognition, and voice projection, which are all considered highly advanced for 21st century Earth. He also has historical records which give him a vast knowledge of what will happen between the 21st and 25th centuries, though its reliability has become questionable. He possesses numerous miniature tools and weapons kept within his shell, and is also equipped with a powerful energy blaster. He is apparently immune to reality and temporal manipulation.
With the help of Skeets, Michael stole devices from the museum displays, including a Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring and Brainiac 5's force field belt. He used Rip Hunter's Time Sphere, also on display in the museum, to travel to the 20th century, intent on becoming a superhero and forming a corporation based around himself to make a comfortable living. He is a shameless self-promoter whose obsession with fame and wealth irritates other heroes.
Carter's nickname as a football player was "Booster", but his chosen 20th century superhero name was "Goldstar". After saving Ronald Reagan, Carter mangled the two names, causing Reagan to introduce him as "Booster Gold". The name stuck. In a running joke throughout the DC Universe, people erroneously call him "Buster", to his chagrin.
Celebrity
Booster is originally based in Superman's home city, Metropolis. He starts his hero career by preventing the shapeshifting assassin Chiller, an operative of The 1000, from killing the President of the United States and replacing him. With the subsequent public exposure, Booster signs a multitude of commercial and movie deals. During his career, his sister Michelle Carter, powered by a magnetic suit, follows in his footsteps as the superheroine Goldstar. Booster is devastated when she dies battling creatures from another dimension. Amassing a small fortune, Booster founds Goldstar, Inc. as a holding company and hires Dirk Davis to act as his agent. During the Millennium event, Davis reveals that he is a Manhunter in disguise and that he siphoned money from Booster's accounts in hopes of leaving him no choice but to do the Manhunters' bidding. Although the Manhunters are ultimately defeated, Booster is left bankrupt.''Justice League''
Booster Gold is a key character in the late 1980s/early 1990s Justice League revamp by writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis. Booster Gold is frequently partnered with fellow Justice League member Blue Beetle, and the two quickly become best friends. The duo's notable appearances include a stint as superhero repo men, and as the minds behind the construction of a gaming resort, Club JLI, on the living island Kooey Kooey Kooey.After one too many embarrassments and longing for his old reputation, Booster quits the League to found The Conglomerate, a superhero team whose funding is derived from corporate sponsors. Booster and his team are determined to behave as legitimate heroes, but find that their sponsors compromise them far too often. The Conglomerate reforms several times after Booster rejoins the League, though without much success.
When an alien comes to Earth on a rampage, Booster coins the name Doomsday for it. While battling the entity, Booster's costume is destroyed. Blue Beetle is able to design a new, bulkier costume to replace it, although this costume often malfunctions. During a later battle with Devastator, a servant of the Overmaster, Booster is nearly killed and loses an arm. Again, Blue Beetle comes to his aid, designing a suit that acts as a life support system in addition to replicating the powers of Booster's previous costumes. This suit also includes a cybernetic prosthetic for his lost arm.