Booster Gold
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Booster Gold is a 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
Michael Jon Carter was a football star in the 25th century, who was fired when he was caught betting on his own 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.
Booster Gold was originally based in Metropolis, the home city of Superman. He started his hero career by preventing the shape-shifting assassin Chiller 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. Amassing a small fortune, Booster founded Goldstar, Inc. (which later became 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.
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 is frequently partnered with fellow former Justice League member Blue Beetle; the pair were most recently seen in Formerly Known as 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 Kooeykooeykooey.
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 was able to design a new (albeit bulkier) costume to replace it, though this costume often malfunctioned. During a later battle with 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.
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.
After the events of DC's Identity Crisis mini-series, Booster Gold 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 friend the Blue Beetle discover who was manipulating Kord Industries. He was heavily injured in an explosion at Kord's home, and editors implied that he would again see action during the Infinite Crisis mini-series due to the Blue Beetle's death. It was also revealed that his companion Skeets had been dismantled for its 25th-century technology by the Checkmate organization.
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.
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.
In other media
Booster Gold also appeared in an episode of Justice League Unlimited. In that series, Booster is a bit of a pathetic figure who is dismissed by the superhero community, who dislike his showboating. As such, he is treated as a grunt assigned to relatively menial duties. Eventually, he has an important, if unappreciated, adventure on his own in which he realizes his limitations, but manages to prevail and gain some measure of honest self-respect.
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However, despite all that, more often than not he is used as an extra background character. The fact that he appears so often with so many of the Justice League ladies may be a testament to how much creators Dwayne McDuffie and Bruce Timm appreciate him. He is voiced by Tom Everett Scott while Skeets is voiced by Billy West.