Warning: Spoilers for DC All In Special #1!The time has finally come for Superman, at least. With as many tries to be just like his idols as failures, Booster has had a tumultuous go as a superhero. As a man from the future living in the history of the greatest superhero age he used to read about in textbooks, Booster Gold is a fanboy among practical gods - and it looks like he's finally considered one of them.
The story of DC's All In initiative, which is launching a brand new Absolute Universe that exists alongside DC's main continuity, starts with DC All In Special #1 by Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson, Wes Craig, Daniel Sampere, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, Alejandro Sánchez, Mike Spicer, and Steve Wands. Brighter days are ahead for the heroes of the Justice League as they rebuild their famous Watchtower and assemble the Justice League Unlimited by handing out hip cards to heroes all across earth.
In a touching moment, the fame-hungry Booster Gold is offered a hip card to the big leagues by none other than Superman himself, who tells him that his growth as a hero is unquestionable. And so Superman welcomes Booster Gold with open arms into the Justice League.
Meet DC's "Worst" Superhero - the Time Traveling Booster Gold
Michael Jon Carter Wanted to Live Among His Childhood Heroes
Michael Jon Carter is a man from Gotham City of the 25th Century. He once was a gifted athlete at Gotham University, but he became a night-watchman for the famous Metropolis Space Museum after his career ended. There, he was surrounded by the Justice League heroes who became his idols.
Michael so desperately wanted to be among them and be beloved by them that he stole many of the artifacts from the museum, including a Legion Flight Ring and a time machine that allowed him to travel back in time to reinvent himself and create a timeline where he was a famous hero cemented in that very museum. And that wasn't the only superhero artifact Booster Gold stole, either.
Booster Gold wanted his superhero name to be Goldstar, but after his first superhero outing, he mixed up his own title with his football nickname, Booster, called so for how fast he was, and ended up giving the world the name Booster Gold, as a foreshadowing to the kind of accidental mishaps his messing around in time would reveal.
In the present, Booster Gold swiftly rose to fame among DC's heroes - but it wasn't exactly the fame he had intended. Trying to shortcut his hero-hood, he is known as a shameless promoter of brands, often cutting deals with corporations for profit and screen time. He has even been known to manufacture saves by paying off villains to pull their punches to never really put him in danger. And yet, through the years, Booster Gold has been slowly learning what it means to be a real underrated Justice League hero. However, there were a good many bumps along the way.
Booster Gold Has Had More Than Enough Screw-Ups
Booster Gold Witnesses Green Lantern's Death in the Alternate Timeline He Created
Before Booster Gold became DC's most important hero in DC All In Special #1, where he will be vital in maintaining the timeline, Booster treated time like a toy. In Batman: The Gift by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel, Batman was about to marry Catwoman, and Booster Gold, being the lovable screw-up he is, decided to give Batman a gift: he changed the timeline so that Batman's parents were never murdered, thinking it would be the greatest wedding gift possible.
Booster Gold’s Creator Celebrates TV News With Original Alternate Designs
With news of a new Booster Gold television show on the horizon, comic legend and creator Dan Jurgens provides a look at early designs for the hero.
What resulted was a near-total collapse of the timeline and a world in chaos without Batman. It was especially traumatic for Bruce Wayne, as he had to lose his parents again, and the memories of this alternate world, a kind of Flashpoint world but much darker, remained with both Batman and Booster Gold, as revealed in Heroes in Crisis by King and Clay Mann. In this arc, Booster himself is suspected to be the source of the massacre at Sanctuary, and no hero rushes to his defense, showing that at this low time, Booster Gold is not only considered a joke of a hero but is only a thin line away from the Justice League turning on him.
Booster Gold Goes From Full Failure to True Hero
Booster Gold's Iconic Pose on the Cover, by Kevin Maguire, of Booster Gold #32
Booster Gold has more than paid his penance. He has been through enough to realize that fame isn't everything it's supposed to be - that real heroes don't save people just to be celebrated for the saving. Even before Superman arrives, he tells his robot companion Skeets that he thinks he's ready to return to his own timeline, meaning his dreams of fame are finally over. With this doubt, he becomes a hero capable of reing the roster of this new Justice League.
Created by Dan Jurgens, Booster Gold is also well known for his time on another version of the Justice League: the sometimes-kooky Justice League International, where fans came to love him for his antics with his best friend, Blue Beetle Ted Kord. Check out the beloved Justice League International series, available both digitally and in collected editions from DC Comics.
It is when Booster Gold stops worrying about how to become a hero that he finally becomes one and earns a Justice League card from Superman. Booster has always been an outsider, and he usually makes up for it by being louder than everyone else just to get noticed. But in DC All In Special #1, Booster is wondering about his place in the world, and through that humility, he performs some heroic acts without worrying about recognition. Ironically, Superman recognizes this, and says the truth: the growth of Booster Gold is certainly unquestionable, and he's earned his spot on the Justice League.
DC All In Special #1 is available October 2nd, 2024 from DC Comics!
