Comics

Who Is Booster Gold? Origin Story, Powers, And DCU TV Show

After several projects kept getting stuck in development hell, it looks like Booster Gold will finally be gracing our screens.

The fan-favourite comic book character will be part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s (the new heads of DC Studios) quasi-reboot of the DC Universe (DCU), with his own HBO Max TV series in active development.

This comes after years of false starts, including a planned 2016 film to be produced by Greg Berlanti, who brought the Arrowverse to our TV screens.

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However, a tentative release schedule has been penciled in by Gunn and Safran, with the pair hinting that they have already been speaking with actors about the role.

Here’s everything we know about the DCU’s Booster Gold show so far – including a crash course on the character, for those of you unfamiliar with the comics.

Who Is Booster Gold?

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Safran put it best when introducing the project during the DC presentation, summarising the character as: “A loser from the future who uses his basic future technology to come back to today and pretend to be a superhero.”

First introduced in 1986, Booster Gold (a.k.a. Michael Jon Carter) was exactly as Safran described: a nobody who wanted to be worshipped as a hero, realising the only way he could do that was via travelling back in time.

In the comics, this involved stealing gadgets from a museum he worked at, technology that would seem impressive thousands of years earlier.

DC Comics

Travelling back from 25th Century Gotham City, alongside his trusty AI sidekick Skeets, Booster Gold set about using his knowledge of 20th century history to prevent major incidents – all in the hope of making enough money to start his own corporation, living comfortably in the past as a genius.

However, his ego tended to get in the way of his heroic aspirations, with other superheroes finding his shameless self-promotion insufferable.

Over the course of the comics, we see him grow into his responsibilities as a hero, even though Carter can never overcome the public perception of himself as a showboat.

The character has previously made brief appearances in Smallville (played by Eric Martsolf) and DC Legends Of Tomorrow (played by Scrubs star Donald Faison), but has never had a major role in live-action until now.

Will The Series Stay Close To The Comics?

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At the DC presentation, Gunn said of Booster Gold: “I think of it basically as the story of a superhero’s imposter syndrome. How did he deal with that?

“How does he try to use this future technology to be loved by people today? What is really at the base of that? It’s a character study, that’s going to be a very different type of show.”

This is only a basic outline, but it sounds like a perfect vehicle for Gunn, who via Guardians Of The Galaxy and Peacemaker has established himself as the pre-eminent creator of superhero daddy issues projects.

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Much like Star-Lord and John Cena’s anti-hero, Booster Gold is a pathetic comic character whose ego is his own worst enemy – and like Gunn’s approach to exploring those characters’ pasts, this will likely centre on Carter’s own fractured relationship with his dad.

In the comics, Michael Jon Carter and his twin sister never got to know their dad, who gambled away all their money and left the family home shortly after they were born.

The time travel going back centuries means we presumably won’t see him, but the show will likely analyse how that traumatic childhood experience left Carter with a desire to be loved by the masses.

When Can We See Booster Gold?

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Casting is likely to be announced very soon, with Gunn confirming: “We are talking to an actor about this right now. I think that’s going to happen.”

No release date has been revealed, but the series has been confirmed to be part of the first chapter of the all-new DCU, headlined Gods And Monsters.

The only confirmed release date in this phase is the live-action movie Superman: Legacy, which will release on Friday 11th July 2025.

DC Comics

With casting seemingly in full swing, it’s safe to assume a 2025 release date is the goal for this series, but we might see Booster Gold on our screens even earlier.

In the comics, when he eventually joins the Justice League his main partner is Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes – and with this year’s Blue Beetle movie being part of the all-important “Universe Reset”, this could be a project set up there.

We’ll find out if that comes true when Blue Beetle is released on Friday 18th August.

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Alistair Ryder

Alistair Ryder

Writer

Alistair is a culture journalist and lover of bad puns from Leeds. Subject yourself to his bad tweets by following him on Twitter @YesItsAlistair.