A man from another time. A fool. An athlete. A glory hound. A hero. All these things can describe the man known as Booster Gold. How does a guy working the night shift at a museum become a superhero? Let’s find out!
Michael Jon Carter was born and raised in the 25th century. He and his sister, Michelle would make do without their deadbeat dad who fled when his gambling debts became too much for him. Michael was on his way to becoming a star athlete at Gotham University when his father came back into the picture and had Michael begin to cheat at games so his dad could win big in bets. Michael was eventually caught and kicked off the team and expelled. Disgraced, Michael would find work as a night guard at the local superhero museum. Realizing he could make it big if he just found a better time period, Michael would steal a plethora of superhero gadgets and the Rip Hunter Time Sphere on display and head to the past for a new chance at life.
Arriving in our present day, Michael would hit it big by rescuing the President of the United States from an assassin. Using his knowledge of history, Michael was able to help save the day in many ways but the longer he stayed, the more it would change due to his presence. He would soon find the celebrity he’d hope for and would make lots of money while saving the day. He’d even find his way onto the Justice League where he’d make many friends, such as with Blue Beetle, Teddy Kord. The two would become known as Blue and Gold and often start up ridiculous plans and schemes just because they could.
Over the years, Booster would gain fortunes and lose them from a variety of methods. His sister would come to join him as a superhero only to die from a dimensional being. Then would come the death of Ted and Booster’s devastation at the loss of his friends and family made him debate returning to the 25th century for good. He’d seek out the Time Master, Rip Hunter for access to time travel. A deal is struck, if Booster aides Rip with time anomolies, Rip would do everything in his power to help he save those he lost by using time travel to undo their deaths.
Using Michael’s notoriety as being a glory hound and screw up, he’d be the perfect time agent who could stop villains who would underestimate him. While he would travel through time and make some allies his effects on time would not go unnoticed by some, such as Batman, who would see evidence that he tried to save Barbara Gordon from being shot. Eventually, Michael was able to rescue Michelle due to the time anomoly of her being from the future but sadly, Rip would reveal that Ted couldn’t be rescued due to paradox. This wouldn’t stop Michael from going to rescue him anyway and creating a new timeline that would end up having Ted sacrifice himself to save reality.
While he recovered from the second time of losing his friend, he’d begin training his sister to join him on time travel adventures. When the Blackest Night happened, Michael would have to fight an undead Ted Kord, after this he’d find that someone had entered a headquarters he’d shared with Ted that only those two could access due to their DNA locks, this meant Ted could be back for real. Before he can do any research, Michael learns that Maxwell Lord, former backer of the Justice League International and the killer of Ted Kord, has returned from the dead and manipulated the world into not believing he committed any of his crimes. Michael would lead the resistance of people who could still remember things and help bring the world back to its normal state.
The Flashpoint event was something Michael was technically separated from the changes. He’d try to help repair the time line but things were so dire that the New 52 formed instead. There was now two Booster Golds, a new one who existed in the New 52 and the older one from the previous universe. Both would get involved with trying to keep reality from falling apart and older Michael would even get to hang out with a living Ted Kord again from the old universe.
There you have it! Booster Gold is definitely one of those characters that is more than meets the eye. He’s often seen as a perpetual screw up and that works to his advanrage. He’s a trickster hero, able to save people and still look the fool which makes him all the better at his next deception. He’s appeared on cartoons and on Smallville, maybe one day he’ll appear on the CW set of shows, I think he’d fit right in with the Legends of Tomorrow. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Booster Gold
Justice League International
Formerly Known As The Justice League
I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Justice League
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
