Booster Gold
| Booster Gold | |
|---|---|
| File:52number2.jpg 52: Week 2 Art by JG Jones | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Booster Gold #1 February 1986 |
| Created by | Dan Jurgens |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Michael Jon Carter |
| Team affiliations | Skeets, Justice League, The Conglomerate, Extreme Justice, Super Buddies |
| Notable aliases | Boost |
| Abilities | None, but possesses advanced technology allowing flight, power blasts, force-fields and enhanced strengh among other abilities. |
Booster Gold is a fictional comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe. Created by Dan Jurgens, he has been a member of the Justice League and first appeared in Booster Gold #1 (1986).
Background / History
From the future
Michael Jon Carter was a college football star in the 25th century, who was banned from the sport when he was caught betting on his own football games. He took a job as a night watchman at the Metropolis Space Museum, where he began studying displays about past superheroes and villains, particularly those of the 20th century. With the help of a security robot named Skeets, he stole various devices from the museum displays, including a Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring and Brainiac 5's force-field belt. He then used Rip Hunter's time machine (also on display in the museum) to travel back to the 20th century, intent on becoming a superhero and on starting a corporation based around himself to make a comfortable living. As such, he was a shameless self-promoter, whose obsession with fame and wealth irritated other heroes.
Celebrity
Booster Gold was originally based in Metropolis, the home city of Superman. He started his hero career by preventing the shape-shifting assassin Chiller, an operative of The 1000, from killing the President of the United States and replacing him. With the public exposure he gained from this rescue, Booster was quickly able to sign a multitude of commercial and movie deals. During his superhero career, he saw his sister Michelle Carter, powered by a magnetic suit, follow in his footsteps as the superheroine Goldstar. She would die soon thereafter, leaving him devastated. Amassing a small fortune, Booster founded Goldstar, Inc. (later Booster Gold International) as a holding company and hired Dirk Davis to act as his agent. During the Millennium event, Davis revealed that he was a Manhunter in disguise and had been siphoning money from Booster's accounts for months in hopes of leaving Booster no choice but to do the Manhunters' bidding. Though the Manhunters were ultimately defeated, Booster was left bankrupt.
Justice League
Booster Gold was a key character in the late '80s/early '90s revamp of the Justice League under writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis. Booster Gold was frequently partnered with fellow former Justice League member Blue Beetle II, and the two quickly became best friends. The pair were most recently seen in Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League. The duo of Booster and Beetle was responsible for some of the most memorable moments in the Justice League series, including a stint as superhero repo men and the construction of a gaming resort, Club JLI, on the living island Kooey Kooey Kooey. When an alien of awesome power came to earth and began a rampage of destruction, it was Booster Gold who coined the name Doomsday for it. In the ensuing battle with Doomsday, Booster's costume was destroyed. Blue Beetle II was able to design a new (albeit bulkier) costume to replace it, though this costume often malfunctioned. During a later battle with Devastator a servant of the Overmaster, Booster was nearly killed and lost an arm. Again, Blue Beetle came to his aid, designing a suit which acted as a life support system in addition to replicating the powers of Booster's previous costumes. This suit also included a cybernetic arm to replace the arm Booster had lost.
Extreme Justice
Not long after this, the Justice League fell apart and Booster Gold joined Extreme Justice, a team led by Captain Atom. It was while a member of this team that Booster made a deal with the super-villain Monarch, who fully healed Booster's wounds so that he could once again remove his battle suit. With his arm returned to him, Booster donned a new costume created in part from Skeets, who was able to aid Booster and even take control if Booster was rendered unconscious.
Infinite Crisis
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
After the events of the limited series Identity Crisis, Booster Gold temporarily hung up his costume and retired from crime-fighting. However, in Countdown to Infinite Crisis barely a year later, he once again assumed the role in order to help his best friend Blue Beetle discover who was manipulating Kord Industries. Over the course of the story, he is heavily injured in an explosion at Kord's home, and it is revealed that his companion Skeets has been dismantled for its 25th-century technology by the Checkmate organization.
The OMAC Project
In the pages of The OMAC Project, Booster Gold gathered together the old Justice League International heroes to investigate the disappearance of Blue Beetle and ultimately find his killer. By the series' end, he was ruined both physically and emotionally, having destroyed much of his gear in the fight against the OMACs, seen more friends fall in the battle, and lost his trust of the other heroes of the DC universe. In a moment of self-reflection, he realized that if only he had bothered to recall more of what was history in his native era, he might have been able to warn his friends. Giving a tender farewell kiss to the forehead of his wounded teammate Bea as she lay in a hospital bed, he dropped his trademark goggles on the floor and left, saying only that he had to "go home"; the implication being a return to the 25th century.
The new Blue Beetle
In the pages of Infinite Crisis, Booster Gold has resurfaced in the ruins of the Justice League's Watchtower on the moon, along with Skeets and an updated costume, again branded as a criminal in his time for "hijacking historical records". When Skeets failed to locate the absentee Martian Manhunter, Booster set off to search for Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle, whom he promptly took into the Batcave. Booster revealed to the Batman the object of the stolen records: the battle the Dark Knight was going to wage against Brother Eye would be a failure, but Booster, having stolen for himself knowledge from the future, implies that, with the aid of Jaime, they can change the past for the better. The mission is in fact successful, and Booster plays a pivotal role in the destruction of the satellite.
52: Looking back at Tomorrow
Following the events of the limited series Infinite Crisis, Booster has again taken up his "superhero for hire" persona in the pages of 52. Appearing with various advertisements on his costume and even making an impromptu advertisement in the middle of the street after defeating Mammoth, he presents himself as Metropolis' new hero. He is using Skeets' stolen knowledge from the 25th century to predict crimes before they occur.
However, at the memorial ceremony for Superboy, where his history states that "The greatest Justice League ever" will be formed, changes to the timeline have manifested themselves. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman do not appear (though a powerless Clark Kent does), and this paradox seems to cause Skeets to malfunction. Skeets later informs Booster that this must have been a glitch, though it might have been caused by someone altering the fabric of time. Several days later, Skeets informs Booster that an airplane is in need of assistance, but gives Booster the wrong location, resulting in Booster nearly colliding with the airliner. Booster does eventually save the flight, but opines that Skeets is still malfunctioning. Meanwhile, a newspaper article reads that hundreds are dead on a flight with almost-identical numbering. A week later, Booster defeats Shockwave in Metropolis and has invested in Akteon-Holt Pharmaceuticals due to Skeets' advice, but the company’s CEO, Mister Akteon himself, is soon arrested for securities fraud by the Secret Service. Skeets then concludes that he may be malfunctioning after all, though Booster tells him to get all the information he can on the whereabouts of Rip Hunter.
Bea approaches Booster and asks that he join in the search for the superheroes still missing after the Crisis. Booster says that he would do so, but that his schedule prohibits it, which Bea learns involves another endorsement deal. She is appalled, having thought that Blue Beetle’s death had changed Booster and his priorities, but Booster angrily dismisses Bea’s criticism, arguing that because he had risked his life saving the world, he was now entitled to put himself first.
Two weeks later, Booster hires an actor named Bob (or Bill) Castell to dress as a fake villain named "Manthrax" to participate in a staged incident in which Booster “saves” thousands of innocent people from him. Booster later reaches Rip Hunter's last known address in the middle of the desert. Within he finds several strange writings including the message “Time is Broken” and a room covered with the words "It's all his fault!", a reference to Booster Gold himself - or, possibly, Skeets.
A week later, Booster is approached by ex-teammate Ralph Dibny to aid him in his search for the mysterious "Cult of Conner". Distracted at the time, Booster cannot give Ralph his full attention. Dibny, whose wife Sue was murdered in the limited series Identity Crisis, remembers that Booster is from the future and becomes angry that Booster could have told him his wife Sue Dibny was going to die. Booster asserts that he never knew of Sue’s death, but Dibny does not accept this, and continues to excoriate Booster. The argument is interrupted by the explosion of a jackknifed propane tanker truck at the LexCorp building. Booster extinguishes the truck’s fire, for which he is interviewed by Lois Lane, but is interrupted by Castell, who complains that Booster’s check to him bounced, exposes the truth about their staged earlier altercation, and accuses Booster of staging the explosion. Dibny then joins the scene, and, grabbing a microphone, challenges Booster as to how many of his other heroic feats were staged, outright impugns Booster’s integrity, and blames him for the deaths of both his wife and Ted Kord.
Booster is later brought up on allegation of fraud, and later still, while moving into a less luxurious dwelling, complains that the mysterious new superhero on the scene, Supernova, may replace him as Metropolis’ star superhero. Skeets suggests they investigate why the current timeline has been diverging from their historical records, but Booster is fixated more on finding a way to regain his star stature from Supernova.
During the fifteenth week, Booster is seen obsessing over Supernova's increasing popularity and upset that his own hero approval rating has fallen to 2%. Frustrated, Booster attempts to engage a villain that had emerged with a nuclear submarine in downtown Metropolis, but he proves entirely ineffectual against it, accidentally shorting out the power of Metropolis' midtown district by attempting to alter the tracks of an elevated train in order to shock the monster.
The monster is defeated when Supernova arrives, but the new hero's mere presence is too much for Booster Gold (despite that Supernova appears genuinely concerned for Booster's well-being), leading the two to begin fighting. Suddenly, Booster realizes that the engines on the nuclear submarine have been damaged and will soon explode. In order to prove himself a greater hero than Supernova, Booster modifies his forcefield to absorb the radiation leakage and carry the submarine high enough into the air that the explosion doesn't harm anyone. Unfortunately, as Supernova catches his falling body, all that remains of Booster Gold is a skeleton wearing his costume, apparently killed by the radiation.
After 52 Week 15 was released, Dan Didio was interviewed about Booster's fate. [1] Didio confirmed that "This is the end of the character," though also saying "The repercussions of the death will play through the remainder of 52, and although this is the conclusion of character, it’s not the conclusion of his story." Template:Endspoiler
Powers
Booster Gold originally gained his powers from the stolen artifacts he brought back with him from the future. A power suit granted him super strength enough to lift several tons. A pair of wrist blasters allowed Booster to project force blasts of varying power; he could stun a foe at low power or blast through two feet of concrete at the highest power. In addition, these wristbands contained the primary controls and power supply for the suit as well as communications equipment to monitor all frequencies. Circuitry from a force field belt was incorporated into his costume allowing him to resist both physical and energy attacks. In addition, the force field could be used to repel objects with great force. The costume's goggles had infrared and magnifying capabilities as well. In addition to the powers from his suit, Booster could fly thanks to a Legion flight ring. The eighth issue of his title demonstrated that he had the power to absorb mass, and eject it either in its original form or as a melted mass, but this power has been forgotten by recent authors, and is probably not present in his current costume.
Booster's later costumes have used many different technologies to grant him his powers, but the powers themselves have remained basically the same despite changes to the source. Booster's third costume acted as a mobile life support system as well as granting him super powers.
Enemies
Some of his known enemies include:
- The 1000
- The Director
- Mindancer
- Blackguard
- Shockwave
- Rainbow Raider
- Mr. Twister II
- The Manhunters
- Devastator
In other media
Booster Gold has a speaking debut in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told," voiced by Tom Everett Scott.
A shamelessly showboating and self-promoting superhero, Booster is dismissed as a hopeless wannabe by his colleagues in the Justice League (similar to the early days of Flamebird).
Because of this, during an epic battle with Mordru, where half of Metropolis is taken out, Booster is partnered with Elongated Man (due to the fact that Plastic Man is already a stretcher, and Ralph Dibny is not needed) and the duo is assigned to crowd control.
However, Elongated Man is soon reassigned to the proper fighting, while Booster Gold continues to partake of menial duties. At one point, he even has to help a pregnant woman deliver her child, in the absence of qualified medical personnel (the battle with Mordru disrupted first-responders citywide).
The titular plotline happens because a scientist, in a freak accident, turns into a walking black hole, destroying the city where Mordru has not smashed it. Booster is caught up in a frenzied attempt to save a world ignorant of its plight, while trying to save his robotic sidekick Skeets and impress the scientist's beautiful colleague. His calls for help to the rest of the League are assumed to be complaining about his menial duties and he is hung up on, leaving him as the only one who can save the day.
A running gag develops as Booster is repeatedly mistaken for Green Lantern by civilians, despite the facts that the two heroes' costumes have no matching colors, patterns, and that the current Green Lantern (John Stewart) is African-American.
Eventually, Booster Gold manages to prevail and gain a measure of self-respect, even snagging a date. The only point of contention for him is that nobody even realised he managed to save their lives, since as far as the League is concerned, that near-cataclysm never occurred. When he returns to his post, he finds that the Justice League have some how defeated Mordru, and Batman scolds Booster for not following orders and leaving.
He is voiced by Tom Everett Scott while Skeets is voiced by Billy West.
In the final episode of the series, the show ends with all of the Justice League members charging out of the headquarters in waves. The last few waves correspond to "generations" of the League in the comics, and Booster is seen flying out as fellow-Giffen era Leaguers Fire, Ice and Elongated Man are seen leaving.
Trivia
- The Super Buddies TV promotional featured in Formerly Known as the Justice League, in a nod to the Golden Age controversy on Batman and Robin being a gay couple, featured Booster Gold and his best pal Blue Beetle as A heterosexual dynamic duo for the new millennium. The ensuing embarrassment led to the idea being dismissed.
- During the same series, Booster Gold claimed to have married a much older wealthy woman, Gladys, hoping to became her heir. His embarrassing matrimonial life (it was hinted that Gladys forced him to dress as Wonder Woman during their sexual performance) was erased due to the aftermath of Infinite Crisis. [2]